Here is how to calculate win rate: won deals ÷ (won deals + lost deals) × 100. If your team closed 30 deals and lost 70 in a quarter, the win rate is 30%. Count only deals that reached a decision — won or lost. Leave open deals out of the denominator.
Most teams know the formula. The problem is what they count. RevHeat’s analysis of Objective Management Group data — 12,745 salesperson evaluations across 30 sales skills — found a 740% gap in Closing between top and bottom performers. That’s the largest gap of any skill measured. Top performers don’t win more because they pitch better. They win more because they qualify harder. They reach decision makers earlier. They handle money conversations without flinching. The calls tell you which of those your team skipped. The win rate tells you it happened.
Key Takeaway: Win rate is won deals divided by won deals plus lost deals, multiplied by 100. Count only deals that reached a final decision — closed-won or closed-lost. Exclude open pipeline. If your team won 30 deals and lost 70 in a quarter, the win rate is 30%. The formula is simple. What separates high and low win rates is whether the rep ran the qualifying steps on the call.
TL;DR
- Win rate formula: won deals ÷ (won + lost) × 100 — exclude open deals from the denominator
- The 740% gap: RevHeat’s analysis of 12,745 salespeople found Closing had the largest performance gap of 30 skills measured
- Common mistake: leaving lost deals marked “open” inflates win rate without changing what actually happened
- Improvement lever: top performers qualify harder — Qualifying showed a 380% gap, Reaching Decision Makers 476.92%
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. Apply it to every rep.
- Leave out: deals still open.
The formula is the same whether you count deals or dollars. What changes is the numerator and denominator. Either count of deals or sum of deal value.
Win rate calculation examples
The numbers below are made up for illustration.
Example 1 — by deal count:
30 deals won, 70 deals lost.
30 ÷ (30 + 70) = 30 ÷ 100 = 30% win rate.
Example 2 — by deal value:
$900,000 won, $2,100,000 lost.
$900,000 ÷ ($900,000 + $2,100,000) = $900,000 ÷ $3,000,000 = 30% win rate by value.
Win rate by value
Count dollars instead of deals when deal sizes vary a lot. A rep who wins three $10K deals and loses one $200K deal has a 75% win rate by count. But a 13% win rate by value. Which number matters depends on what you are trying to forecast.
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. Use the same time period for every row so the numbers compare.
| Rep Name | Won Deals | Lost Deals | Win Rate (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rep A | 12 | 18 | 40% |
| Rep B | 8 | 32 | 20% |
| Team | 30 | 70 | 30% |
Export closed-won and closed-lost from your CRM. Group by rep and by close date. If your CRM lets you filter by decision date instead of close date, use that. It is closer to when the deal actually ended.
What is the difference between win rate and close rate?
Teams use the terms differently. Write down your definition and use it every time.
Win rate (as defined here): won deals ÷ (won + lost). Excludes open deals.
Close rate (common definition): closed deals ÷ all deals in the pipeline, including open. According to HubSpot’s sales statistics guide (2024), the average B2B close rate ranges from 15% to 30%. That depends on industry and deal complexity. That figure includes deals still in motion. So it is always lower than win rate for the same set of opportunities.
For the same group of deals, close rate is never higher than win rate. Close rate also counts deals that never reached a decision.
Published definitions differ. Some sources use “win rate” to mean what we call close rate here. Neither is wrong. Pick one definition and use it for every rep, every quarter. The consistency matters more than which formula you choose.
Which mistakes make win rate wrong?
- Leaving lost deals open. A deal nobody closes out keeps the win rate high on paper. If a rep has 40 “open” deals from last year, the denominator is missing 35 losses. The win rate is fiction.
- Counting “no decision” differently by rep. Decide once whether it counts as lost. If Rep A marks it lost and Rep B leaves it open, you are comparing two different formulas.
- Mixing deal types. New business, renewals and expansion win at different rates. Calculate them separately or the number hides what is actually happening.
- Measuring over too few deals. A rep with five decisions in a quarter can swing 20 points on one deal. Use quarterly or annual periods for individual reps. Monthly for the team.
- Ignoring deal size. A 50% win rate by count can be a 10% win rate by value if you lose the big ones. Track both.
What is a good sales win rate?
There is no single good number. According to Implisit’s 2024 sales benchmarking data, win rates in B2B SaaS range from 15% to 35%. That varies by deal size, sales cycle length, and how early opportunities enter the pipeline. A 20% win rate is strong if you qualify loosely and let deals self-select out. A 60% win rate is weak if you only count deals that made it to final proposal.
Compare against your own history, by rep and by deal type. Watch the trend. If your top rep is at 45% and your bottom is at 12%, the formula is not the problem. What happens on the calls is.
How do you improve win rate?
Look at what happens on calls in the deals you lose. RevHeat’s analysis of Objective Management Group data on 12,745 salespeople compared the top 10% with the bottom 10% across 30 sales skills. The largest gaps were in skills that decide deals:
- Closing: 740.00% gap (the largest of all 30 skills)
- Reaching Decision Makers: 476.92% gap
- Comfortable Discussing Money: 468.75% gap
- Qualifying: 380.00% gap
- Selling Value: 315.00% gap
Better qualifying lowers the number of deals you lose. It moves poor-fit deals out before they reach a decision. Better access to decision makers and comfort with money conversations raise the number you win. The skill gaps are measurable. The fix is checking whether the rep ran the step on the next call.
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 pipeline management 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 per rep per week, a 10-rep team makes 364 calls a quarter. That is about 121 hours of listening. At 20 reps it is 243 hours. 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. 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. If your team won 30 deals and lost 70 in a quarter, the formula is 30 ÷ (30 + 70) × 100 = 30%. Use the same definition for every rep and every period so the numbers compare.
Do you include open deals in win rate?
No. Only deals that reached a decision — won or lost — belong in the formula. Including open deals turns win rate into close rate, a different metric. Open deals belong in pipeline coverage and forecast calculations. Not in win rate.
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 when the buyer made a choice. Either is defensible. Inconsistency across reps makes the metric meaningless.
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 the cell as a percentage. Copy the formula down for each rep. Add a row at the bottom with =SUM(B:B)/(SUM(B:B)+SUM(C:C)) for the team total.
What is the difference between win rate and conversion rate?
Win rate counts deals that reached a decision — won or lost. Conversion rate usually measures movement from one stage to the next. Such as lead to opportunity or demo to proposal. A lead-to-opportunity conversion rate of 25% and a win rate of 30% are measuring different parts of the funnel.
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. A rep with 3 decisions in a month can swing from 0% to 100% on one deal. Quarterly or annual periods smooth the noise for individual contributors. Monthly works for team-level tracking.
What win rate should I target for my team?
There is no universal benchmark. Win rate depends on how early deals enter your pipeline. How strictly you qualify. Deal size. Sales cycle length. According to Pavilion’s 2024 SaaS metrics report, enterprise SaaS teams with rigorous qualification average 35-50% win rates. SMB teams with looser qualification see 15-25%. Compare against your own history and focus on the trend. Not the absolute number.
Can win rate be too high?
Yes. A 70%+ win rate often means you are qualifying too hard. You are leaving revenue on the table. If every deal you touch closes, you are likely passing on opportunities that would have converted with better discovery or negotiation. The goal is not to maximize win rate. It is to maximize revenue at an acceptable cost of sale.
How do I calculate win rate by stage?
Track how many deals advance from each stage and how many exit. For example, if 100 deals enter Discovery and 60 advance to Proposal, the Discovery-to-Proposal win rate is 60%. This is more accurately called a stage conversion rate. But some teams label it “stage win rate.” The principle is the same: advanced deals ÷ (advanced + exited).
What is the difference between win rate and quota attainment?
Win rate measures how often you close deals that reach a decision. Quota attainment measures revenue booked against target. A rep can have a 50% win rate and 120% quota attainment if the deals they win are large enough. Win rate is a leading indicator. Quota attainment is the lagging outcome.
Related Reading
- How to 3x Your Win Rate
- How to Create a Sales Forecast
- Sales Performance Review Template
- Sales Pipeline Best Practices: What the Data Says About Every Stage
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.