Key Takeaway: Here is how to calculate win rate: deals won ÷ (deals won + deals lost) × 100. If your team won 30 deals and lost 70 in a quarter, the win rate is 30%. Count only deals that reached a decision, and leave open deals out. RevHeat recommends calculating it the same way every period, for the team and for each rep, so the numbers compare.
How to calculate win rate: the formula
Win rate (%) = won deals ÷ (won deals + lost deals) × 100
- Won deals: closed-won in the period.
- Lost deals: closed-lost in the period. Decide once whether “no decision” counts here, and apply it to every rep.
- Leave out: deals still open.
Win rate calculation examples
The numbers below are made up for illustration.
| Won | Lost | Win rate | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Team, Q3 | 30 | 70 | 30 ÷ 100 = 30% |
| Rep A | 12 | 18 | 12 ÷ 30 = 40% |
| Rep B | 6 | 34 | 6 ÷ 40 = 15% |
| New business only | 18 | 62 | 18 ÷ 80 = 22.5% |
Win rate by value
Count dollars instead of deals when deal sizes vary a lot.
Win rate by value = value won ÷ (value won + value lost) × 100
Example: $900,000 won, $2,100,000 lost. $900,000 ÷ $3,000,000 = 30%.
How to calculate win rate for your own team
Fill this in for each rep and for the team.
| Rep or team | Period | Won | Lost | Won ÷ (Won + Lost) | Win rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
What is the difference between win rate and close rate?
Teams use the terms differently, so write down your definition.
| Metric | Formula | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| Win rate | Won ÷ (won + lost) | How often you win once a deal reaches a decision |
| Close rate (one definition) | Won ÷ all opportunities created | How much of what enters the pipeline turns into revenue |
| Lead-to-close rate | Won ÷ leads | How efficient the whole funnel is |
For the same group of deals, close rate is never higher than win rate. It also counts deals that never reached a decision.
Published definitions differ too. According to HubSpot, win rate divides closed deals by the total number of deals in a period. By the table above, that is closer to a close rate. Neither is wrong. Pick one and use it for every rep.
Which mistakes make win rate wrong?
- Leaving lost deals open. A deal nobody closes out keeps the win rate high on paper.
- Counting “no decision” differently by rep. Decide once whether it counts as lost.
- Mixing deal types. New business, renewals and expansion win at different rates. Calculate them separately.
- Measuring over too few deals. A rep with five decisions in a quarter can swing 20 points on one deal.
What is a good sales win rate?
There is no single good number. Win rate depends on your market, deal size, how early deals enter the pipeline and how strictly reps qualify. Compare against your own history, by rep and by deal type, and watch the trend.
How do you improve win rate?
Look at what happens on calls in the deals you lose. RevHeat analyzed data from Objective Management Group on 12,745 salespeople. It compared the top 10% with the bottom 10% across 30 sales skills. Some of the largest gaps were in skills that decide deals:
| Skill | Gap, top 10% vs bottom 10% |
|---|---|
| Closing | 740.00% |
| Commitment | 476.92% |
| Reaching Decision Makers | 476.92% |
| Qualifying | 380.00% |
Better qualifying can lower the number of deals you lose by moving poor-fit deals out before they reach a decision. Better commitment and access to decision makers can raise the number you win.
Steps to take:
- Split win rate by rep. Find the biggest gap between your top and bottom performers.
- Listen to the lost deals. Which step in your sales process was skipped?
- Coach that one step with the exact words to use.
- Check the next calls to see if the rep used them.
- Recalculate next quarter.
For a longer walkthrough, see how to 3x your win rate.
RevHeat calls the weekly version of steps 2 to 4 The Enforcement Loop:
- Read every call. Not just the ones you had time for.
- Tell each rep what to ask on the next call. Word for word.
- Remember exactly what you told each of them.
- Watch the next call to see if they did it.
- Catch the slip and fix it before it becomes a habit.
- Roll what works into a sharper playbook. Then start over.
Why can’t your team say why a deal was lost?
The win rate tells you how many deals you lost. It can’t tell you why. The why is on the calls, and there are a lot of them. At about 3 calls a rep a week, a 10-rep team makes 364 calls a quarter. That is about 121 hours of listening. At 20 reps it is 243 hours, and at 100 reps it is 1,213.
So if your team’s loss reasons say “price” and “timing,” nobody was careless. Listening to every lost deal was never possible by hand. When those calls do get checked every week, here is what changes by size:
- 5 to 10 reps: By Monday you can say why the last one died.
- 20 to 50 reps: Managers report what happened instead of what they think.
- 60 to 100+ reps: The same word means the same thing in every country, and marketing gets what the buyer said rather than a rep’s memory of it.
FAQ
How do you calculate win rate?
Divide deals won by deals won plus deals lost, then multiply by 100. Leave open deals out.
Do you include open deals in win rate?
No. Only deals that reached a decision, won or lost, belong in the formula.
Should “no decision” count as a loss?
Pick one rule and use it for every rep. Counting it as a loss shows how often deals stall. Leaving it out shows how often you beat a competitor.
How do you calculate win rate in Excel or Google Sheets?
Put won deals in column B and lost deals in column C. In column D, enter =B2/(B2+C2) and format it as a percentage.
What is the difference between win rate and conversion rate?
Win rate counts deals that reached a decision. Conversion rate usually measures movement from one stage to the next, such as lead to opportunity.
How often should you measure win rate?
Monthly or quarterly, for the team and each rep. Use enough deals in each period for the number to be meaningful.
Related Reading
Ken Lundin is CEO of RevHeat, the Sales Enforcement company. Over 25 years he has sold, run sales teams and helped 200+ teams, including 5 unicorns, generate $1.5B in client sales, with two exits ($250M and $30M) and four appearances on the Inc. 500. He is a Forbes Business Council member and the author of Strategic Selling Unleashed, Broken Playbook and The SmartScaling Formula.