- Before
- Watches the win rate fall from 64% to 55% with a CRM that says “Price” and a readout still weeks away.
- Now
- Asks why in plain words, sees each reason's deal count and the buyer saying it, and signs only the findings she stands behind.
One question, from “why did we lose?” to a signed readout
Kestrel & Vane's Technology Services business sells KV Assure, licensed per seat, to hospitals and health systems. The first half of FY27 closed with 14 healthcare deals lost, $18.6M of contract value. Here is what happens when the VP Sales asks why, screen by screen, in the working solution.
- 01Thursday morning
The half-year, and what needs her
Dana Whitcombe · VP Sales, Health SystemsThe H1 analysis finished overnight. Dana's home screen shows the healthcare win rate at 55% — 17 of 31, down from 64% in H2 FY26 — $18.6M of contract value lost across 14 deals, and 4 of 14 CRM loss reasons the buyer contradicts. Needs you lists four items: approve the H1 findings, due 21 Oct; one quote the checker removed; 4 CRM corrections; 4 interview proposals.
“9 of 14 losses partly on price per seat — mostly shared workstations billed as named seats.”
- 02One question
“Why did we lose healthcare deals in H1?”
The agentsShe asks in plain words. The theme agent sets the scope — healthcare, KV Assure, April to September 2026, lost: 14 deals, $18.60M. The intake agent reads 14 bids and 11 debriefs, two of them formal public-sector debriefs read as score sheets, then 9 interviews with consent checked on each, 38 call notes and 14 CRM records. Each agent's step shows as it runs, through to her review.
“Only deals you are allowed to see are read.”
- 03The answer
Each reason a column, headed by its deal count
Theme agentFour themes, every loss under at least one: price per seat, 9 of 14 deals; integration took too long, 5; no reference our size, 4; security review late, 3 — marked Emerging, below the 4-deal minimum. Under each column are the buyers' own words, with the role, the deal, the source and the date. Of 19 quotes, 18 are verified and 1 removed.
“Your rate per seat was fine. What killed it was paying a full seat for every shared workstation on the floor.” — Director of Clinical Engineering, St. Brennan Health System
- 04One click
Every quote opens the passage it came from
Dana Whitcombe · VP SalesShe opens the Northgate University Health quote. It comes from the written post-award debriefing, requested on 4 June within 3 days of the award notice: “Offeror's price score: 22 of 30. The successful offeror's evaluated price was 18% lower over five years.” The passage sits in its context, marked Verbatim match and In context, with the $3.2M deal beside it.
- 05Working with the agents
The agents report, ask, and answer back
Quote checker and challenger agentUnder the answer, each agent reports what it did and asks for a decision. The quote checker removed Fairhaven Health's “Honestly, price was what decided it”: the sentence goes on to say the four-month go-live came first. It suggests moving the quote to integration, which would then rest on 6 deals; Dana moves it. She asks whether the seat tier would have saved St. Brennan. The challenger: closer, not certain — about 21% lower, within 3% of the winner, and the 16-week plan was the other reason.
The quote checker can remove a quote, never rewrite one. A person decides where it belongs.
- 06Argued against
Price holds — but it is the seat count, not the rate
Challenger agentThe CRM check agent puts numbers on the price theme: 18–24% above the winner per seat, median 23%, deal by deal — $41 against $33 a seat a month at St. Brennan. The challenger tests it against the 17 wins: we were dearer than the runner-up in 6, and 5 of those 6 offered the shared-device seat tier. Verdict: holds, refined. The fix becomes a seat tier, not a discount.
“The rate alone does not lose deals; the seat model does.”
- 07The CRM check
Four loss reasons the buyer contradicts
CRM check agentThe CRM says Price for 12 of 14 losses; buyers named price in 9. At Penrose Regional, Westbrook Senior Living and Thornbury Medical Alliance the buyer named the integration plan; at Oakmere Cancer Institute it was the security review, not Timing. Dana asks the agent to select the four and sends them. Each now sits with its account owner to confirm.
“Corrections go to the account owner; nothing is written to the CRM until they confirm.”
- 08A thin theme
Four interviews proposed, none sent without a yes
Interview agentSecurity review late rests on 3 deals: questionnaires went back after 19, 23 and 26 days against 10-day deadlines. To confirm or drop it, the interview agent proposes security questions for the two pending interviews at Oakmere and Kingsreach, and two wins for contrast — Cedarline Health Network, where security cleared in 6 days, and Bellhaven University Hospital. The questions are drafted; each account owner approves outreach first.
The interview agent never contacts a buyer without the account owner's approval.
- 09Her decision
Approve, edit, reject or hold — each with a reason code
Dana Whitcombe · VP SalesReview and approve lists each finding with the agents' recommendation. With the open quote question answered, she applies them: price per seat, integration (now 6 of 14) and references approved with A1, Evidence sufficient; security review late held with W1, Await interviews. Any finding can be changed, edited with a reason such as E2, Narrow to a segment, or rejected with one such as R1, Too few deals.
- 10Signed and shared
She signs; each finding becomes an owned fix
Dana Whitcombe · VP SalesShe picks the audiences — sales leadership and product and pricing with names shown, the proposal team and enablement with names hidden — confirms she has read the findings and the quotes behind them, and signs. Held and rejected findings are not shared. Each approved finding becomes a fix with an owner and a measure: a shared-device seat tier (Leo Marchetti, 30 Nov), an 8-week integration plan with a named engineer (Hannah Brooks, 13 Nov), a reference bench of three systems over 800 beds (Tomasz Wilk, 15 Dec).
“Pilot since 1 Sep: 3 won, 1 lost, 2 open — 4 decided, too few to call.”