The “Closed-Lost” Autopsy

What It Is

The Closed-Lost Autopsy automatically triggers when a deal is marked lost, analyzing all available data—call recordings, emails, deal progression, and rep notes—to understand why the deal didn't close. It categorizes losses, identifies patterns across multiple losses, and generates actionable insights for improving win rates.

Why It Matters

Most teams mark deals lost and move on. The learnings die with the opportunity. Systematic autopsy reveals whether you're losing to competitors, price, timing, or your own process. These patterns are invisible without structured analysis.

Who It's For

• Sales leaders wanting to improve team win rates
• RevOps teams tracking competitive dynamics
• Product teams needing market feedback
• Enablement teams identifying training gaps

Required Tools

• CRM with opportunity stage tracking
• Call recording platform (Gong, Chorus)
• GPT-4 for analysis and pattern extraction
• Knowledge base for storing insights (Notion, Confluence)
• Reporting tool for trend analysis

Required Fields/Properties

• Loss reason (required field before close)
• Competitor (if applicable)
• Call recordings from deal
• Email thread history
• Deal timeline and stage progression

Definitions Required

• Loss reason taxonomy (standardized categories)
• What constitutes a 'competitive loss' vs. 'no decision'
• Autopsy depth by deal size
• Distribution of insights (who sees what)

Autopsy Summary Template

📋 *CLOSED-LOST AUTOPSY*
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

**Deal:** {{company_name}}
**Value:** {{amount}} | **Cycle:** {{days}} days
**Rep:** {{ae_name}} | **Lost:** {{close_date}}

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

## Loss Summary
{{loss_summary}}

## Primary Cause: {{loss_category}}
{{detailed_explanation}}

## Timeline Analysis
- **Engaged:** {{first_meeting_date}}
- **Momentum shift:** {{momentum_shift_date}}
- **Lost at stage:** {{final_stage}}

## Competitive Factors
{{#if competitor}}
**Lost to:** {{competitor}}
- Their positioning: {{competitor_positioning}}
- Our gap: {{our_gap}}
{{else}}
No direct competitor—lost to status quo/no decision
{{/if}}

## Objections Raised
{{#each objections}}
• {{objection}} → {{how_handled}}
{{/each}}

## What We'd Do Differently
{{#each recommendations}}
• {{recommendation}}
{{/each}}

## Re-Engagement Potential
**Score:** {{reengagement_score}}/10
**When:** {{suggested_timing}}
**Trigger to watch:** {{reengagement_trigger}}

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

<{{call_recordings}}|🎥 Call Recordings>
<{{crm_link}}|🔗 View in CRM>

Monthly Loss Pattern Report

📊 *MONTHLY LOSS PATTERN REPORT*
{{month}} {{year}}
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

**Total Losses:** {{total_lost}} deals | {{total_value}}
**Win Rate:** {{win_rate}}% (vs. {{last_month_win_rate}}% last month)

## Loss Breakdown

| Reason | Count | Value | % of Losses |
|--------|-------|-------|-------------|
{{#each loss_reasons}}
| {{reason}} | {{count}} | {{value}} | {{percentage}}% |
{{/each}}

## Competitor Scorecard

| Competitor | Losses | Win Rate vs. Them |
|------------|--------|-------------------|
{{#each competitors}}
| {{name}} | {{losses}} | {{win_rate}}% |
{{/each}}

## Common Objections (This Month)

1. {{objection_1}} ({{objection_1_count}} mentions)
2. {{objection_2}} ({{objection_2_count}} mentions)
3. {{objection_3}} ({{objection_3_count}} mentions)

## Process Insights

- Most losses occur at: **{{highest_loss_stage}}** stage
- Average cycle before loss: **{{avg_cycle_lost}}** days
- Deals without exec engagement: **{{no_exec_rate}}%** lost

## Recommended Actions

{{#each action_items}}
- [ ] {{action}} (Owner: {{owner}})
{{/each}}

<{{dashboard_link}}|View Full Dashboard>

Competitive Loss Alert

🚨 *Competitive Loss Alert*

**Lost to {{competitor}}** | {{company_name}} | {{amount}}

Quick Summary:
{{quick_summary}}

Why They Won:
{{#each competitor_advantages}}
• {{advantage}}
{{/each}}

What They Said About Us:
"{{competitor_quote}}"

*This is loss #{{competitor_loss_count}} to {{competitor}} this quarter.*
*Win rate vs. {{competitor}}: {{win_rate}}%*

<{{autopsy_link}}|View Full Autopsy>
<{{battlecard_link}}|Update Battlecard>

Loss Reason Validation

| Rep-Entered Reason | AI Analysis | Match? | Notes |
|-------------------|-------------|--------|-------|
| Competitor - Feature | Competitor mentioned, but pricing was primary | Partial | Pricing concern in 3/4 calls |
| Price - Over budget | Accurate - budget cut mentioned explicitly | Yes | CFO killed project |
| Timing - Not priority | Actually lost to competitor | No | Rep coded incorrectly |
| No decision - Went dark | Champion left company | Partial | Should be 'Timing - Key stakeholder left' |

Test Cases Checklist

• Deal marked Closed Lost → autopsy generated within 1 hour
• Competitive loss → routed to product and marketing
• $100K+ loss → deep autopsy with call transcript analysis
• Third loss to same competitor this month → pattern alert fired
• Rep-entered reason differs from AI analysis → flagged for review

Common Failure Modes

• Garbage in, garbage out: Reps enter 'Other' or wrong loss reasons. Enforce data quality with required fields and validation.
• Autopsy fatigue: Too many autopsies overwhelm the team. Prioritize by deal size and batch smaller deals.
• Insights not actionable: Reports say 'we lost on price' but don't recommend fixes. Always include concrete action items.
• No follow-through: Recommendations aren't tracked. Assign owners and due dates to autopsy action items.

Troubleshooting Tips

• If loss reasons are inconsistent: Simplify taxonomy and retrain team
• If autopsies aren't read: Shorten format, lead with key insight and recommendation
• If patterns aren't emerging: Need more data—patience, or segment differently
• If product ignores feedback: Present in their format with quantified impact

KPIs to Track

• Win Rate Trend: Measurable improvement quarter-over-quarter
• Competitive Win Rate: Improvement against top 3 competitors
• Loss Reason Accuracy: >80% match between rep entry and AI analysis
• Autopsy Action Completion: >70% of autopsy recommendations implemented
• Time to Insight: Autopsy delivered within 24 hours of close

Suggested Dashboard Widgets

• Loss Reason Distribution: Pie chart of primary loss categories
• Competitive Win/Loss Tracker: Win rate by competitor over time
• Stage Drop-off Analysis: Where in pipeline deals are lost
• Autopsy Action Tracker: Recommendations made vs. implemented