Pursuit decisioning tool

How do you decide which deals to pursue?

Pursuit rules from your own leaders, tested against your own closed deals, and tracked against milestones on every live deal.

Example: this week's pursuitsChecked against your rules
Milestone metMissedNot due yet
The problem

Your leaders can often tell in week one that a deal will be lost, and the account team finds out in week eight.

Week 1

An RFP arrives from a prospect the team has never met.

Week 2

Three senior people are assigned for six weeks.

Week 8

The contract goes to the incumbent.

What the VP knew in week 1

"Without a relationship before the RFP, we are only there so the client can compare prices."

From a pursuit at a global IT services firm. The rule was never written down, so the frontline team never heard it.
What you use today

Each tool you have covers part of the pursuit decision, and none of them is built from your leaders' judgment.

CRM closed-lost reasons

Based on

A reason the rep picks from a list after the deal ends.

Cannot tell you

Why, and it arrives after the decision.

Gong and Clari

Based on

Activity: emails, meetings, call recordings.

Cannot tell you

What your leaders know that never comes up on a call.

MEDDICC and similar

Based on

The same questions for every company.

Cannot tell you

Which answers predict a loss at your company.

Mutual action plans

Based on

The steps the rep and the buyer agreed.

Cannot tell you

Whether those steps match what came before your wins.

Win/loss interviews

Based on

Buyer interviews after the decision.

Cannot tell you

Which of your open deals to pursue this week, and what to do on each.

Boost Win Rate

Based on

Your leaders' judgment, tested against how your closed deals actually ended, and tracked on every live deal.

Tells you

Which deals to chase and why, how to pursue them, and which milestones to hit.

What every live deal gets

Every live deal gets a go or no-go call, the activities to run, and the milestones to hit each week.

We interview your sales leaders about recent wins and losses and turn their judgment into rules. Every live deal is then checked against those rules each week, so you see which deals to chase and why, what to do on each one, and which milestones it has to hit.

1

Which deals, and why

A go, hold or walk-away call on each deal, with the leader's rule behind it.

Hospital network, $1.2MWalk away
Logistics renewal, $640KChase
State data program, $2.8MHold
Carrier migration, $900KChase
2

How to pursue them

The activities that came before wins at your company, in the order they mattered.

  • Meet the CIO before the Q&A deadline
  • Bring the delivery lead to the second meeting
  • Get the budget range confirmed in writing
  • Share one reference in the same industry
3

Milestones to track

What the deal should show by each week. A missed milestone triggers a decision.

Week 1
Hit
Week 2
Hit
Week 3
Missed
Week 3 missed: no CIO meeting. Call: hold, and reassign the solution lead until it is booked.
A deal, scored

Asked whether to chase the same deal, generic AI gives advice and your rules give a decision.

Example deal

A regional hospital network issues a $1.2M managed services RFP. No meetings before release. The incumbent is in year 6 of its contract.

Generic AI
Reasonable advice, and no decision. The team bids and spends six weeks on it.
The same AI with your rules
Walk away, unless you meet their CIO before the Q&A deadline on the 14th. You have lost 6 of your last 7 RFPs with no meeting before release, and 4 of 4 against an incumbent past year 5. If the CIO meeting happens, bid, and bring the delivery lead to it.
Rule 02: no senior meeting before release, no bid. Head of Sales, based on 13 closed deals Rule 05: an incumbent past year 5 keeps the contract unless the client names a problem. VP, Healthcare Milestone: CIO meeting booked by the 14th, or withdraw
How the rules stay right

The rules get more accurate every time a deal closes, because each outcome is compared with what the rules predicted.

Your pursuit rules
The 2-week pursuit review

In 2 weeks, we test your leaders' rules against 10 deals you have already closed.

Week 1

Your leaders' judgment becomes rules

45-minute interviews with 2 or 3 revenue leaders about recent wins and losses. You export 10 closed deals from the CRM that the leaders did not discuss.

Week 2

The rules are tested and put to work

We test the rules on those 10 deals, then run 3 live deals through generic AI and through AI with your rules, side by side.

You get

Three things you can act on the same week

The written rules with each leader's name. How well the rules would have called your past deals. A go or no-go call on 3 live deals with their activities and milestones.

Example test on 10 closed dealsEach square is one deal
WonLostFlagged by the rules
0 of 5losses the rules would have flagged
0 of 5wins the rules would have flagged by mistake
What you measure

Rule accuracy shows in 2 weeks, milestone hit rate in the first month, and win rate within two quarters.

Week 2

Rule accuracy

How many past losses the rules flag, and how many wins they flag by mistake.

Months 1 to 3

Milestone hit rate and hours on flagged deals

Whether deals hit their weekly milestones, and how much senior time moves off deals the rules flag.

Quarters 1 and 2

Win rate and revenue won on the deals you pursue

Both together, so the gain comes from winning more deals, not from bidding on fewer.

Start with your last 10 closed deals.

The review needs 2 or 3 of your revenue leaders for 45 minutes each and a CRM export. No IT project and no new tool for your team.

Week 1

Interviews with 2 or 3 of your revenue leaders, and an export of 10 closed deals.

Week 2

The written rules, the test on your 10 past deals, and a call on 3 live deals.

After that

A weekly check on every live deal, and the rules updated as each deal closes.

Request the 2-week review

We reply within one business day to schedule the leader interviews.