What Is Win Rate?
TL;DR
Win rate is the share of closed deals that were won, calculated as deals won divided by all deals closed in the same period, won plus lost. Open deals are excluded, because putting undecided deals in the denominator makes the rate move whenever prospecting volume moves.
How is win rate calculated?
Deals won divided by deals closed in the same period, where closed means won plus lost. A quarter holding 12 wins and 28 losses gives a win rate of 12 divided by 40.
Open deals are left out on purpose. Include them and every undecided deal enters the denominator, so the rate falls whenever prospecting picks up and rises whenever it stops, which is the opposite of what the metric is meant to show.
What makes a win rate misleading?
The entry point. A team counting every contacted lead as a deal and a team counting only deals with a held meeting will report very different rates for identical performance, which is why the figure travels badly between companies and even between segments inside one company.
Stalled deals are the other distortion. Opportunities never formally lost sit open indefinitely and never reach the denominator, which quietly flatters the rate. A rule that closes a deal after a fixed period of no activity is what keeps the number honest.
Frequently asked questions
There is no figure worth quoting, because the number depends entirely on what a team counts as a deal in the first place. The comparison that means something is against your own earlier periods, and between segments, with the definition held constant.