Win rate
Win rate is the share of decided deals that you won: deals won divided by deals won plus deals lost, for the same period. Open deals are not counted.
In plain words
Win rate is the share of decided deals that end in a sale. Take the deals closed as won and the deals closed as lost in a period, and divide the won ones by the sum of both. Open deals stay out: the customer has not decided on them yet.
Both parts come from the deal status in your CRM. Won: the deals moved to the won status in the period, counted by close date. Lost: the deals closed as lost in the same period. Filter both by close date. Filter by creation date and a slow month will borrow results from a fast one.
Formula
Win rate = Won ÷ (Won + Lost) × 100%
Use deals closed in the same period, whatever month they were opened.
Why open deals stay out
| Won | Lost | Open | Correct rate | With open counted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 4 | 12 | 4 ÷ 8 = 50% | 4 ÷ 20 = 20% |
How it is usually misread
- Open deals in the bottom of the formula. The rate falls every time the pipeline grows, even when nothing got worse.
- Mixed periods. Won this month divided by deals opened this month mixes two different groups of deals.
- Different rules for “lost”. Two sellers can look far apart only because one closes dead deals and the other leaves them open.
Which decision it supports
Where to spend coaching time. A falling win rate with a healthy pipeline points to qualification or the proposal stage. Read it next to average deal size and sales cycle length before you change anything.
How to use it
Look at win rate once a week, over a rolling four or eight weeks. One week holds too few decided deals to mean much. The head of sales reads it for the team and for each seller, with the count of decided deals in the next column. The owner needs the team number once a month.
It tells you where to spend your time. If win rate falls while inquiries hold steady, check qualification and the proposal first; advertising can wait. A seller with plenty of decided deals and a low rate needs help in the conversation. More inquiries will not fix that.
Win rate sits between conversion, which counts every step, and the forecast, where you multiply the open pipeline by it. Pipeline coverage depends on it as well: the lower your win rate, the more pipeline the same plan needs.
Common mistakes
- Putting open deals in the denominator. The rate then climbs by itself as old deals close. Count won and lost deals only.
- Leaving dead deals open. A deal nobody has touched for weeks is lost in practice. Close it with a reason, or the rate looks better than it is.
- Comparing sellers on a handful of deals. Example (invented numbers): three wins out of five and three out of eleven can both be luck. Put the number of decided deals next to every rate.
- Mixing channels and deal types. A referral and a cold inquiry win at different rates, so split the rate by channel before you draw any conclusion.
NEXT STEP · TOOL
By Friday, the head of sales opens the CRM, filters the deals closed in the last eight weeks and counts won and lost deals for each seller. One table: won, lost, the rate, and the count of decided deals beside it. Then take the five most recent lost deals with an empty loss reason and ask each seller to fill it in. Try one simple rule and see if it holds: under ten decided deals, a seller's rate is marked as early and nobody compares it yet. From next week, the loss reasons sit in the column next to the rate.
Questions
Should disqualified deals count as lost?
Pick one rule and write it down. What matters is that everyone counts the same way, so the number means the same thing every week.
What is a good win rate?
It depends on your offer, market and how early you open deals. Compare your team with its own past quarters before comparing with anyone else.
The seven numbers to check every week in one spreadsheet, a 13-page guide to reading them and a numbers agreement for your team. Works with any CRM or a simple spreadsheet.