Win rate is the share of decided pursuits a contractor wins: won ÷ (won + lost). A pursuit still in qualification, estimating or negotiation hasn’t been decided, so it doesn’t count either way.
Why it matters
Win rate is the cheapest signal of fit. A contractor winning one bid in ten on hard-bid public work and one in three on negotiated repeat work is spending estimating hours in the wrong place. Split by lead source, owner type or estimator, it tells you which pursuits are worth the next proposal.
Worked example
Illustrative: over the last year a team decided five pursuits, won three and lost two, and still has seven open.
- Win rate: 3 ÷ (3 + 2) = 60%
- Counting the open seven as losses would show 25%, which is wrong: they haven’t been decided.
Common mistakes
- Dividing by every pursuit, including open ones.
- Counting no-bids or withdrawn pursuits as losses without saying so.
- Comparing win rates across very different work (public hard bid vs negotiated) as one number.
- Reading a win rate on five decisions as if it were on fifty.
How os.construction handles it
Win rate is a metric in Analytics, calculated as won ÷ (won + lost) from the opportunities in CRM. Split it by lead source, owner or month on the CRM & Pipeline pack. It’s a current-state count: reopening a pursuit changes it.