1. The Core Elements of the Challenger Selling Style

2. Tip for expanding size of video screen

3. What sets Challengers apart from their peers?
What sets Challengers apart from their peers? 6 attributes are statistically different for Challengers
What sets Challengers apart from their peers?
Offer their customers unique & valuable insights
Have strong two-way communication skills
Know each individual customer’s value drivers
Can identify economic drivers of customers’ businesses
Are comfortable discussing money
Can pressure their customers to take action
Teach
Tailor
Take control
The Challenger Sale, 2011, Mathew Dixon and Brent Adamson

4. Elements of effective teaching
Challenging customers to rethink current assumptions & approaches
This reframing links challenges they may be aware of with bigger problems or opportunities than they ever realized
These insights require reps to know the part of their customer’s business that relates to their capabilities better than customers know it themselves
Results in a “huh, I never thought of that before” rather than “Yes, I totally agree! That’s exactly what we’re working on.”
Quantifying financial impact to customer (losses or foregone gains)
Leads customers to your unique strengths
Applies to substantial segment of customers
Results in customers making more money or saving more money
The Challenger Sale, 2011, Mathew Dixon and Brent Adamson

5. Elements of effective tailoring
Industry
Minimal
Company
Layers of tailoring
Role
Individual
Optimal
The Challenger Sale, 2011, Mathew Dixon and Brent Adamson

6. Decision drivers vary widely by role Drivers of sales representative loyalty
Relative impact compared w/ most important decision driver
The Challenger Sale, 2011, Mathew Dixon and Brent Adamson

7. Top marketing and sales organizations tailor messages by role
The Challenger Sale, 2011, Mathew Dixon and Brent Adamson

8. Keys to taking control of the sale
Separate viable prospects from price shoppers
Viable prospects grant access to senior decision makers
Create urgency to address previously unrecognized opportunity/cost
If problem is not urgent, it’s probably not worth solving
Define customer decision timeline needed to capture opportunities
Gain commitment that up-front consulting investments will result in some form reciprocal investment by the customer
Gain agreement to park pricing questions until supplier can establish full extant of incremental sales and savings they’re able to generate
The Challenger Sale, 2011, Mathew Dixon and Brent Adamson
NOTE: Challenger’s take control throughout the process, not just at the end

9. Summary
What sets challengers apart from other reps is their ability to teach, tailor and take control of the conversation
Challengers teach by reframing assumptions and then quantifying the ability of their offerings to either make more money or save more money. Teaching must lead to your unique strengths
Effective challengers also tailor their pitches depending on the industry, company, role and individual that their speaking with. This is critical because decision drivers can vary widely by group
Finally, challengers take charge of the conversation by separating viable prospects from price shoppers, creating urgency and gaining commitment to explore a bigger picture view of their opportunities