To the challenger go the spoils

At the height of the recession, Matt Dixon and Brent Adamson set out to learn how B2B salespeople were adjusting to the bad economy. But as conditions improved, the pair—who work for the sales and service practice of the Washington, D.C.-based Corporate Executive Board—realized that the buying habits of customers had changed. Moreover, they discovered that salespeople who were succeeding were cut from a different cloth than those who had thrived in the past.

Just before the publication of their book on the subject, The Challenger Sale: Taking Control of the Customer Conversation, Dixon and Adamson spoke with PROFIT senior editor Deborah Aarts about what it takes to get ahead in today’s cutthroat sales environment.

What led you to study the habits of salespeople today?
Adamson: The impetus was really the challenges that sales organizations are facing in the environments they sell into. Heads of sales were telling us, “We have our best salespeople on our best customers, and we run exactly the plays we know will win—yet, we’re not winning.” That was really interesting to us. And it has intensified. Even if you’re world-class in all the areas you should be world-class in when it comes to sales, it’s no longer enough.

You categorize salespeople today into five archetypes. What are they?
Dixon: First, we have the Relationship Builder, who fits the classic sales profile: he tends to be quite generous with the customer, and acquiesces to whatever the customer wants.

Second, we have the Lone Wolf, who does everything her own way. She follows her own rules, not yours. She’s defined by her lack of notes, her lack of adherence to sales processes and her desire to redo everything your marketing department puts into her hands.

Third, we have the Problem Solver. He is pretty much a customer-service rep in a sales rep’s clothing, as he’s very focused on post-deal execution and making sure all problems are addressed. The customer loves him. But his manager hates him, because the rep is more focused on serving out the deal he has just signed than signing a new one.

Fourth, we have the Hard Worker. She gets in early, stays late and bangs out more calls than anyone else. She’s very eager and open to feedback.

Finally, we have the Challenger. We call him the debater on the team. He comes in with a provocative and often unique point of view vis-à-vis the customer’s organization; usually, this is a unique way to make or save money that perhaps the customer hadn’t realized before. He goes very deep into the workings of the customer’s business, he’s very in tune with how the customer makes money and he’s willing to give the customer a piece of his mind.

You argue that, today, the Challenger consistently outperforms other types of salespeople, showing more success in complex sales environments than all other archetypes combined. Why?
Adamson: At a high level, it’s because the Challenger is selling the way the customer wants to buy. As the economy continues to be unpredictable, virtually every company has done everything it can to take costs out of the system. So, they’re stretched thin. At the same time, customers are buying larger and more complex solutions than ever before—these require a lot of research and due diligence to understand what they’re buying and what their options are.

As deal complexity goes up—and it will continue to do so—our research shows that the No. 1 thing customers value in dealing with a supplier is insight. They don’t want to hear about a supplier’s product or service. They want the supplier to teach them something new about their own businesses.

How can you identify a Challenger?
Dixon: Challengers are defined by three things: their ability to teach and give new insights, their ability to tailor a message to different stakeholders and their ability to take control of their conversations with customers. The last is not about being aggressive with customers; it’s about being unwilling to acquiesce to every customer demand, keeping the conversation focused on value and pushing for progress in moving down the sales process.

When hiring, you can identify Challengers by using various behavioural interview techniques or diagnostic tools. But it’s important to note that Challengers can be made—they’re not necessarily born. With support, any sales rep can be equipped to play the role of the Challenger when in front of a customer. They need training, and coaching to reinforce their learnings. And they need tools to help them understand what will resonate best with particular clients. Without those insights, the Challenger will be partially armed at best.

To which types of organization is the Challenger approach best suited?
Dixon: It is most appropriate for B2B companies that are on a journey from selling simple products and services in a transactional way to more complex solutions—bundles of products wrapped in services that are more expensive, higher-value and long-term. Nearly every B2B organization we interact with is on that journey.

If a company is simply selling products in a purely transactional environment, we’d argue that you’d want Hard Workers instead of Challengers. That’s a different sales environment.

Your research found that Relationship Builders—which most people consider to be the best with customers—are actually the least effective salespeople. Does this mean relationships don’t matter?
Dixon: Relationships do still matter. If your customers don’t like you and you have no relationships, you have a bigger problem. You at least need to earn the right to get in the door to challenge their assumptions.

Adamson: The problem with the Relationship Builder is that his approach is based on a single idea: “Whatever you need, let me know; I’ll take care of you.” He’s the master of the quarterly check-in call to ask, “Hey, how are you doing, what do you need?” That looks great on the surface, but it’s a horrible recipe for success in an environment in which the client’s most likely response will be “What I really need is a discount, or not to buy anything this quarter.”

Dixon: The difference is that the Relationship Builder uses the relationship as an end in itself. By contrast, the Challenger leverages the relationship to a greater good; he uses the relationship to challenge the customer with new, thought-provoking insights. That’s why the Challenger ends up building stronger relationships with the customer than the Relationship Builder. The Relationship Builder may be well liked, but the Challenger is respected by the customer.