Between 2 Churns: Ryan Sorley

Hello and welcome.

My name is Jay, an account executive with over 14 quarters of experience. And today we are here with Ryan Sorley, head of Losing at. Sorry, Win Loss Win Losing at Clue. Ryan has a new book, Blind Spots, which will be available for purchase on April 2nd. Welcome, Ryan.

Thank you.

So Ryan, did you write this book yourself or did an intern do it and you slapped your name on it?

I wrote it myself with help from a ghost writer actually who helped pull it all together. There was no intern involved though.

Sounds like an intern wrote that. What's the book about?

It's about winloss. It's about how to build a best in class win loss program.

Okay, what's that?

What's a Win loss program or a book?

Winnie Lossy Win Loss, whatever that thing is.

It is understanding why you win and lose deals against key competitors so that you can learn from those that research to be able to make improvements within your go to market.

Sorry, what was that?

You want me to repeat myself?

No, it's fine. Thank you for coming. What's it like to write a book?

What's it like to write a book?

Yeah, sorry, I couldn't even pretend to be interested in that one. Sorry about that. Why don't you just write a podcast like every other middle aged guy?

I do have a podcast actually.

Right here. Oh, look at that. Would you look at that? Good for you.

Thanks.

So you wrote a book. Do you have any other midlife crisis hobbies that you're doing right now?

No. Growing a beard? Actually, yeah, trying to.

Okay, hold on.

Not really a hobby.

I would like to do a segment real quick. Since you're Mr. Win Loss, I have deal notes from some of my past deals. I would like you to read them and decide whether it was a close won close lost or no decision. So if you could just please read those off one by one.

All of them?

Yes. And decide after you read it if it's a one or loss or no decision.

Okay. Rapport building was great. Really hit it off. Asked to go out to dinner later, conversation went nowhere. Follow up texts, no reply. I think it was our pricing that would be a loss.

Next one.

No decision.

Oh, I. Oops, no decision.

No decision. Decision. Who cut these pieces of paper so regularly?

Can you please read the deal note? Ryan?

Deal was six months in the pipeline. Talked about onboarding quite a bit. Don't forget to pick up the following. Bananas Fruit gusher.

Oh, that's my grocery list.

Gatorade. What's a gusher?

That's my grocery list. It's very personal. I don't like that you're saying that on camera. Thank you. So, Ryan, you founded Double Stuff or Double Check Research. When was the last time you double checked your work? Because this actually was an email I got from you recently in my spam folder. Hey, Jay, I need money. Can you please click on this link? I need the money right now so bad. So if you send it to this account, you would help me so much.

Where was the.

Please.

Sorry. I'll work on that.

You're the VP of Win Loss at Clue. That's correct, yes. Why aren't you the VIP of Win Loss?

I don't know if there is a VIP of winloss anywhere. That would be a new role. I like the idea of that though.

Thank you. We could. We could work together on that.

Sure.

Well, you're the VP of. You should make the vip. You could do it here.

Yeah, that sounds like a board level decision. We'll talk. We have a board meeting today. We should float that by the board.

Board. Get on it. So you do Win Loss. You run winloss for clients. When did you start becoming a win loser?

Sorry, sorry, sorry. I guess I always have been.

You don't have to say that about yourself.

I think we all have a little bit of Win Loser in us.

Not me. I have no lose rate. Zero. Like Charlie Sheen winning. So let's talk CRM. Commission reduction machine. What say you?

Bad data.

You hate commission.

Hate CRM data.

What's so bad about it?

It's wrong.

How do you know?

Because I study this for a living.

Oh, and you wrote a book about it, didn't you?

I happen to have done that as well.

Is it true in Win loss interviews you ask the buyer about their sales experience?

Yes.

So why do you hate salespeople then? Because I don't. Go to your exes and interview them. Why? They broke up with you.

I don't hate salespeople.

But I wouldn't. Stop playing these mind games with me. Right.

I don't know what's happening.

I'd like to do another segment if we could. Sponsored by Blind Spots Podcast about blind spots. Could you please place the blindfold on? Make sure you can't see anything quicker.

It's a little bit tight. Mess up my hair. Okay.

Okay. Can't see anything.

I can hear things though.

So what I'm going to do is I'm going to. Because you're so good at Win loss and guessing who's a winner and who's a loser. I know it's all guessing game. I'm going to hold up photos of people and you're going to say, are they a winner or are they a loser? Okay, I'm holding up the first person.

Winner.

Winner or loser?

Winner.

Winner or loser?

Winner.

Thank you, Ryan. Winner or loser?

Winner.

Sounds like you're just answering winner to every single one here, Ryan.

I am.

Can you please.

You want a loser?

Are you sure? Are you sure you want to. All right. Winner or loser?

Winner.

Winner or loser?

Winner.

Winner or loser?

Winner.

Winner or loser?

Loser.

Final question. Ryan, thank you so much for being here. My mom says I'm a loser. When do I interview her about that?

When do you interview your mom about thinking that you're a loser?

Correct.

You shouldn't interview her. You should have somebody else. Do you have a sibling?

They also think I'm a loser. There's a bias.

You should have an independent third party. Maybe somebody from Clue. Like a VIP research analyst. Yeah. Yeah. You need somebody unbiased in there.

So when do I become a winner in that exchange?

After you take the advice that comes out of that interview. We find out all kinds of things about you while your mom thinks you're a loser. And then we can flip those into actions that will change the way that she sees you potentially.

I'm picturing it right now.

Dishwasher, do your chores.

The lawn is mode. It is. Okay, I see it. Thank you.

That was weird.

I'd like to do a final segment with the VIP of Winloss. If we could do a mock win loss interview where you ask me questions. I am me, and you ask me questions, trying to decide what happened if I'm a winner in. You're so confused.

Okay. Mock interview. And I'm interviewing you.

You're a vip Win loss.

Right. But you would be the who. Just you.

I don't know.

You're the expert and I'm interviewing you. About what?

I did a deal. And it's closed. Lost.

Okay. So why do you think you lost that deal?

I plead the fifth.

Who do you think you lost it to?

I plead the fifth.

What were their key objectives?

I plead the fifth.

How did our solution align with those objectives?

I played the fifth.

What would you do differently if you had the chance?

I played the fifth. Thank you so much for joining us. This has been our interview with Ryan Soar, Loser. Thank you for watching between two turns. Thank you.