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Blog · Forecast and pipeline

Win rate by segment, source and deal size: why one win rate is the wrong number

How to compute win rate from closed outcomes rather than open pipeline, why the team's single figure hides a 45 percent rate in one segment and a 12 percent rate in another, the three splits that matter, segment, source and deal size band, the minimum count that makes a split trustworthy, and how the split changes where the pipeline effort goes.

The short answerWin rate is won over won plus lost, among opportunities that reached an outcome in the period, never from open pipeline probabilities. One team figure of 28 percent is usually a 45 percent rate in the segment the company is built for, a 12 percent rate in a segment it keeps chasing, and everything between. Split by segment, by source and by deal size band, with a minimum count per cell so that three deals do not make a rate, it says where the pipeline effort should go, which one number cannot.

A sales team reports a win rate and it is one number. The closed outcomes say it is four numbers with a wide spread, and the spread is the finding. This guide sets out win rate from outcomes, the three splits, the minimum count, and what the split changes.

The measure

Per period:

Win rate = won ÷ (won + lost), among opportunities with an outcome in the period With no-decisions: won ÷ (won + lost + no decision)

Per cell: segment, source, deal size band, and any two of them together.

The rows you need

  • Outcomes: opportunity, segment, source, value, outcome, date.
  • Bands: deal size band boundaries, stated.

Opportunity identifiers only.

The assertion

outcomes in the period = won + lost + no decision

Every outcome in one class. An opportunity closed with no outcome recorded fails it and is listed.

A worked split

Team win rate: 28 percent, 410 outcomes.

Segment Outcomes Won Win rate No-decision share
Mid manufacturers 140 63 45% 8%
Enterprise 90 11 12% 31%
Small services 180 41 23% 22%
Source Outcomes Win rate
Referral 60 52%
Inbound 190 29%
Outbound 160 18%
Deal size band Outcomes Win rate
Under $20,000 210 34%
$20,000 to $100,000 150 24%
Over $100,000 50 14%

The enterprise segment wins one in eight and a third of its outcomes are no decision, which is a qualification problem. Referrals win at twice the inbound rate and the team generates the fewest of them. None of that is in 28 percent.

Two splits together

Segment × source Outcomes Win rate
Mid manufacturers × referral 24 63%
Mid manufacturers × outbound 48 38%
Enterprise × outbound 41 7%
Enterprise × referral 9 greyed: under 20

Enterprise outbound wins one in fourteen. That is a cell the pipeline should stop being filled from, and the cell says so with a count behind it.

Where it goes wrong

Win rate from open pipeline. The CRM's probabilities, averaged.

One number. Twenty-eight percent, describing no segment.

Small cells read as rates. Nine outcomes, four wins, "44 percent".

No-decisions in lost. A qualification problem read as a competitive one.

Every quarter, by cell

Mapped once, the outcomes and the bands produce win rate by segment, source and size, the pairs, and the counts behind each cell every quarter. Covirage builds this from the export as it is. The sales insights solution describes the setup, and the sales velocity guide covers the formula win rate sits inside.

Questions people ask

Should no-decision outcomes count as losses?

They are reported separately: won, lost to a competitor, and no decision. A segment with a high no-decision rate has a qualification problem, not a competitive one, and blending it into lost hides that. Win rate is shown both ways, with and without no-decisions, and labelled.

What is the minimum count?

Twenty outcomes per cell is a common floor; below it the rate is shown with its count and greyed, not used for decisions. A cell with eight outcomes at 50 percent is four wins, and the next four could be losses.

How is the split used?

To decide where to qualify harder and where to invest. A segment at 12 percent with the same cycle length as one at 45 costs almost four times as much per win. The split turns that into a rule for what gets into the pipeline.