Good companies conduct deal post-mortems. Great companies use a systematic process, such as the Ford Quality 8D Process, to analyze lost profits due to a low price. This presentation analyzes just such an example.

1. WIN/LOSS PARADOX FOR
DEAL POST MORTEMS
JD DILLON
PPS 28TH ANNUAL FALL
CONFERENCE
26 OCTOBER 2017 (1545-
1630)

2. JD Dillon
VP Product Mgmt & Pricing
Enphase Energy
“Adding structure,
optimizing for efficiency and
driving profit”

3. WIN/LOSS PARADOX FOR DEAL POST
MORTEMS
As a result of this session, attendees can expect
to:
• Identify opportunities for learning from deal post
mortems
• Apply rigorous process to systematically improve
decision-making
• Formulate corrective actions to turn deal tactics into
pricing strategy

4. ADD STRUCTURE TO PRICING DECISION
MAKING
“Manufacturing is a
Solid…
Engineering is a
Liquid…
Sales & Marketing a
Gas.”
Jake Sredni“Your job is to add
structure to that gas.”
TJ Rodgers

5. USE THE WIN/LOSS PARADOX TO DRIVE
LEARNING
LOW HIGH
YES
NO
PRICE
CLOSE
DEAL
Undocumented
Problem
Business
Nirvana
Is this really
“lost biz?”
Companies
Live in Fear

6. 8D ROOT CAUSE / CORRECTIVE ACTION
PROCESS
D0: Awareness
D1: Team
D2: Problem
D3: Containment
D4: Root Cause
D5: Corrective Actions
D6: Implementation
D7: Preventive Measures
D8: Celebrate!

7. D0: INITIAL AWARENESS – DATA
GATHERING
• Engaged External Consultant for Pricing in January
• Pricing Centralized Organizationally in March
• New orders showed up in the 1st week of Q3
• Price showed a 7% reduction
Something happened worth analyzing

8. D1: USE A TEAM – MAKE IT CROSS-
FUNCTIONAL
• Pricing: Leader (Me), Pricing Specialist for Biz Unit
• Business Unit: General Manager, Marketing Manager
• Sales: Strategic Accounts, Korea Country Manager
Small Team, Pricing Ownership

9. D2: PROBLEM – QUANTIFIABLE TERMS
[Product] price reduced from $1.00
to $0.93 on [Customer] [Model] in
ww27.
Quantifiable terms w/ Object & Defect

10. D3: CONTAINMENT PLAN – BREADTH &
DEPTH
• No further reductions on [Product] during year Sales VP
ww30c
• [Distributor] book 4.5Mu @ $0.93 for Q3 Mktg Mgr
ww31c
• Memo to 14 Business Units reinforcing Process JD
ww38
3WI = Who, What, When, Impact

11. D4: ROOT CAUSES – WHY-WHY ANALYSIS
TYPE WHY WHY WHY WHY
Subjec
t
Matter
Needed
backlog
Only 1Mu on
backlog
Procurement
holding backlog
hostage
Negotiation
Tactic
Cultur
e
2nd Largest
Customer
Important
revenue
Can’t afford to
lose
Core Values bias
towards revenue
Perceived
competitive
threat
Downside too
high for losing
deal
Risk aversion Revenue risk
outweighs profit
risk
Biz
Proces
s
Poor internal
communicatio
n
Ambiguous
roles &
responsibilities
Previous pricing
100% owned in
business unit
Biz Unit Leader
sole decision
maker
Just sales
training
Focus not on
internal folks
Backwards plan
from sales
conference
Incorrect skill
level assumptions
No escalation
process
No
communicated
Not approved Pricing team
established ww24

12. D5: CHOOSE PERMANENT CORRECTIVE
ACTIONS
• Culture – Redefine what “winning” and “making numbers”
mean
• Business Process – Formalize internal communication
regarding pricing
• Subject Matter – Biz Unit must embrace & operationalize
segmentation
Address with Appropriate Depth

13. D6: IMPLEMENT & VALIDATE CORRECTIVE
ACTIONS
• Culture (numbers) – Include profit metrics in QBR BU VP
ww02
• Culture (revenue) – Define profit component of commissions
Sales VP ww02
• Business Process – Communicate escalation process
Sales VP ww48
• Subject Matter – Monthly Biz Unit pricing meetings
Pricing Dir Nov
• Subject Matter – Biz unit document segmentation strategy BU
VP ww40
Involve Entire Team in the Solution

14. D7: PREVENTIVE MEASURES
• Review team composition
• Ensure you have true Root Causes:
• Process Incomplete, Not Followed or Missing
• People Skills or Organization not adequate
• Culture leads to behavioral deficiencies
• Incomplete Five-Why analysis typically causes 8D to
fall short
• Preventive measures include Systems, Training and
Deployment
Continuously Monitor Implementation

15. D8: CONGRATULATE YOUR TEAM

16. 8D ROOT CAUSE / CORRECTIVE ACTION
PROCESS
D0: Awareness
D1: Team
D2: Problem
D3: Containment
D4: Root Cause
D5: Corrective Actions
D6: Implementation
D7: Preventive Measures
D8: Celebrate!

17. WIN/LOSS PARADOX FOR DEAL POST
MORTEMS
ATTENDEES CAN EXPECT SHOULD NOW BE ABLE TO:
• ID opportunities for learning
• Apply process to improve decision-
making
• Formulate corrective actions to turn tactics to strategy

18. JD Dillon
JDillon@enphaseenergy.com
(408) 772-3169
“Adding structure, optimizing
for efficiency and driving
profit as…
…VP Prod Mgmt, Enphase