The Challenger Sale

Matthew Dixon is a managing director and Brent Adamson is a senior director with the Sales Executive Council of the Corporate Executive Board in Washington, D.C.

The need to discover what high-performing salespeople are doing that their lower-performing colleagues are not drove Matthew Dixon, Brent Adamson, and their colleagues at Corporate Executive Board are investigating the most important skills, behaviors, knowledge, and attitudes for great performance. And what they discovered may be the most shocking revelation in decades to conventional sales expertise.

The Challenger Sale contends, based on a thorough analysis of hundreds of sales people across numerous industries and geographies, that traditional relationship building is a losing strategy, particularly when it comes to selling complicated, large-scale business-to-business solutions. According to the authors' research, every sales representative in the world fits into one of five unique profiles, and while all of these types of reps can produce average sales success, only one-the Challenger-delivers consistently high performance.

Rather than bombarding customers with facts and features about their organization and products, Challengers approach them with unique ideas about how they may save or make money. They personalize their sales message to the customer's individual wants and goals. Rather than caving in to every demand or complaint from the buyer, they are forceful, pushing back when required, and seizing control of the transaction.

The characteristics that distinguish Challengers are repeatable and teachable to the average sales representative. Once you've identified the Challengers in your firm, you can replicate their strategy and spread it throughout your sales staff. The authors illustrate how, with the correct tools, practically any average-performing agent can successfully redefine clients' expectations and create a differentiated purchasing experience, resulting in higher levels of customer loyalty and, eventually, greater growth.

Author: Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson

Link to buy: https://www.amazon.com/Challenger-Sale-Control-Customer-Conversation/dp/1591844355

Ratings: 4.5 out of 5 stars (from 3628 reviews)

Best Sellers Rank: #3,017 in Books

#13 in Sales & Selling (Books)

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