The Challenger™ Sale
Authors: Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson
© The Corporate Executive Board Company, 2011, All rights reserved
This is without question the most valuable piece of research I have ever read about selling.
In the books Forward by Professor Neil Rackham in 2011 he writes: “It’s too soon to know whether this is the breakthrough we’ve been waiting for. Only time will tell. On the face of it, their (Corporate Executive Board’s) research has all the signs that it may be game changing. First, like other examples, it flies in the face of conventional wisdom. But we need more than that. Many crazy ideas violate conventional thinking. What makes this different is that, like other breakthroughs, once sales leaders understand it, they say, ‘of course! It’s counterintuitive, but it makes sense. I should have known.’ The logic you’ll find in The Challenger™ Sale leads to the inescapable conclusion that this is very different thinking and it works.”
Since that time I have practiced and applied the “Challenger™ Sale” tactics with sales teams I led.
Based on this experience the case is proven, it does work. And the results can be dramatic.
I’ve witnessed sales teams producing +30% overall productivity improvements year on year. I’ve seen big contract win rates increase from 20% to 50%+, and contract $sizes increase by over 100% year on year. The results I’m referring to were produced by sales teams in Asia.
And which sales people benefit the most? Yes you are right, it’s the average performers not the top performers. In many instances the top performers already led with the right behaviours, and the book provides the insights you need to know how to diagnose your top performers in your circumstances and provide the guidance needed for average performers to emulate the same behaviour.
The Corporate Executive Board (CEB) is the world’s leading member-based advisory company. This “Challenger™ Sale” isn’t a one off breakthrough in selling from the CEB. They have consistently produced insights and breakthrough business ideas for their member organizations across a variety of sales and marketing topics which I consider to be equally as valuable. For example they have published “the anatomy of a world class sales organization” to their members and over the years I have found this to be a valuable resource to diagnose issues and priorities for improvement. This is something that’s incredibly valuable when deciding what sales productivity improvement projects should be funded and what should not.
The Corporate Executive Board is my key information and research source on selling strategies. Without any hesitation I recommend their book “The Challenger™ Sale”. And if you are in the business of selling products and services across multiple countries and want to improve the chances of your sales organization delivering on your growth plans, then I recommend you consider taking the extra step and subscribe directly to the Corporate Executive Board to obtain all of their insights.
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