The Challenger Sale

Summary

What's the secret to sales success? If
you're like most business leaders, you'd say it's fundamentally about
relationships-and you'd be wrong. The best salespeople don't just build
relationships with customers. They challenge them.



The need to
understand what top-performing reps are doing that their average performing
colleagues are not drove Matthew Dixon, Brent Adamson, and their colleagues
at Corporate Executive Board to investigate the skills, behaviors, knowledge,
and attitudes that matter most for high performance. And what they discovered
may be the biggest shock to conventional sales wisdom in decades.



Based on an exhaustive study of thousands of sales reps across multiple
industries and geographies, The Challenger Sale argues that classic
relationship building is a losing approach, especially when it comes to
selling complex, large-scale business-to-business solutions. The authors'
study found that every sales rep in the world falls into one of five distinct
profiles, and while all of these types of reps can deliver average sales
performance, only one-the Challenger- delivers consistently high
performance.



Instead of bludgeoning customers with endless facts and features about their
company and products, Challengers approach customers with unique insights
about how they can save or make money. They tailor their sales message to the
customer's specific needs and objectives. Rather than acquiescing to the
customer's every demand or objection, they are assertive, pushing back when
necessary and taking control of the sale.



The things that make Challengers unique are replicable and teachable to the
average sales rep. Once you understand how to identify the Challengers in
your organization, you can model their approach and embed it throughout your
sales force. The authors explain how almost any average-performing rep, once
equipped with the right tools, can successfully reframe customers'
expectations and deliver a distinctive purchase experience that drives higher
levels of customer loyalty and, ultimately, greater growth.