The Challenger Sale is based on one of the largest sales studies ever conducted. One key finding was that 53% of customer loyalty is driven by the sales experience – not brand, price, service, or even the product. This experience is largely dictated by a customer’s interaction with the sales person and company overall.
According to this research, every B2B sales person falls into five different profiles that define the skills and behaviours they use when interacting with customers. These profiles describe a rep’s natural mode of interacting with a prospect, and are not mutually exclusive –
- The Hard Worker
- The Lone Wolf
- The Relationship Builder
- The Challenger
- The Problem Solver
what about success…? 🚀 Perfect for complex sales in a B2B environment
40% of high sales performers primarily used a Challenger style – as opposed to one of the other four sales styles the book identified. • High performers were more than 2x likely to use a Challenger approach than any other approach. • More than 50% of all star performers fit the challenger profile in complex sales. • Only 7% of top performers took a relationshipbuilding approach – the worst performing profile.
BUT: … not for everyone… Sales strategy needs a tailored approach.
As sales complexity increases, so does the success rate of the challenger approach. However, this Challenger approach only worked better among high performers. Among average performers, all profiles were roughly as successful as one another. This is a disruptive finding, as most sales training and sales teams today are geared towards creating and encouraging the Relationship Builder, the least effective of the five profiles.
Small changes in strategy that can create a huge impact…💥
May the salesforce be with you.
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