Do You Know Your Bid/Hit Ratio?
Most distributors understand the importance of knowing their bid/hit ratio, but it’s easy for the day-to-day hustle of taking care of projects and customers to push this critical metric aside. December is the perfect time to bring it back into focus.
Here’s a quick refresher on how to compute your Bid/Hit Ratio:
Bid Hit Ratio = Projects Won / Projects Quoted X 100
Ex: If you quoted 200 projects and won 120, your bid/hit ratio is 60%
Why It Matters
Understanding your ratio provides clarity at a glance:
- It reveals patterns you may have missed during the busy months.
- It helps you evaluate the true effectiveness of your team’s efforts.
- It creates a realistic baseline you can refine as you build next year’s projections.
Digging Deeper Into the Metric
Calculating your overall ratio is a great starting point but the real value comes when you break it down further. Segment the number by vertical market, contractor, customer type, project size, and even material type to uncover insights that don’t appear on the surface.
Your hit rate in healthcare may look very different from hospitality. Certain contractors may award you work regularly, while others rarely do. You may win more consistently with hollow metal packages than wood doors, or with specific hardware brands over others.
When you dig deeper into your ratios, you begin to see exactly where you are strongest, why you are converting, and where a small shift in focus could significantly improve your results next year.
How to Use This Insight to Increase Sales
After reviewing and reflecting on your ratio, here are practical ways to refine your approach and improve your sales performance:
- Quote with intention
Share your segmented results with your team so your quoting efforts focus on the project types, customer profiles, and markets where your hit rate is historically strongest.
- Strengthen your follow-up process
Implement a simple 2–3-touch follow-up cadence for every quote above a defined dollar amount. And be sure to gather as much information as possible on the projects you didn’t win.
- Review your “no-win” patterns
Identify trends in projects you consistently lose. Is it price? Timing? Market segment? Brand mix? Use that insight to either improve those areas or to redirect your efforts.
- Strengthen your manufacturer mix
If your hit rate is higher with certain product lines, lean in. Negotiate deeper discounts, build stronger partnerships, and position those lines more strategically.
Next-Level Approach: Align Efforts with Market Indicators
Take your strategy one step further by aligning your estimating efforts with key market indicators like the Dodge Momentum Index and the AIA ABI. When you pair your internal hit-rate data with external market trends, you gain a clearer picture of where to focus your energy — and which opportunities will yield the highest return.