The Challenger Sale

Taking Control of the Customer Conversation

Matthew Dixon, Brent Adamson | 4.18 | 6,525 ratings and reviews

Recommended by Danielle Morrill, Neil Rackham, Ken Revenaugh, and 3 others. See all reviews

Ranked #4 in Pitching, Ranked #5 in Sales — see more rankings.

What's the secret to sales success? If you're like most business leaders, you'd say it's fundamentally about relationships-and you'd be wrong. The best salespeople don't just build relationships with customers. They challenge them.

The need to understand what top-performing reps are doing that their average performing colleagues are not drove Matthew Dixon, Brent Adamson, and their colleagues at Corporate Executive Board to investigate the skills, behaviors, knowledge, and attitudes that matter most for high performance. And what they discovered may be the biggest shock to conventional sales wisdom in decades.

Based on an exhaustive study of thousands of sales reps across multiple industries and geographies, The Challenger Sale argues that classic relationship building is a losing approach, especially when it comes to selling complex, large-scale business-to-business solutions. The authors' study found that every sales rep in the world falls into one of five distinct profiles, and while all of these types of reps can deliver average sales performance, only one-the Challenger- delivers consistently high performance.

Instead of bludgeoning customers with endless facts and features about their company and products, Challengers approach customers with unique insights about how they can save or make money. They tailor their sales message to the customer's specific needs and objectives. Rather than acquiescing to the customer's every demand or objection, they are assertive, pushing back when necessary and taking control of the sale.

The things that make Challengers unique are replicable and teachable to the average sales rep. Once you understand how to identify the Challengers in your organization, you can model their approach and embed it throughout your sales force. The authors explain how almost any average-performing rep, once equipped with the right tools, can successfully reframe customers' expectations and deliver a distinctive purchase experience that drives higher levels of customer loyalty and, ultimately, greater growth. less

Read Full Book Summary Buy on Amazon

Want to learn the key points of "The Challenger Sale" in 21 minutes?

Get a full book summary of The Challenger Sale by signing up for Shortform.

Shortform summaries help you learn 10x faster by:

Being 100% comprehensive: you learn the most important points in the book
Cutting out the fluff: you don't spend your time wondering what the author's point is.
Interactive exercises: apply the book's ideas to your own life with our educators' guidance.

READ FULL SUMMARY OF THE CHALLENGER SALE

Reviews and Recommendations

We've comprehensively compiled reviews of The Challenger Sale from the world's leading experts.

Danielle Morrill Co-founder/MattermarkRecommends this book

Neil Rackham The history of sales has been one of steady progress interrupted by a few real breakthroughs that have changed the whole direction of the profession. These breakthroughs, marked by radical new thinking and dramatic improvements in sales results, have been rare. . . . Which brings me to The Challenger Sale and the work of the Sales Executive Council. . . . On the face of it, their research has all the initial signs that it may be game-changing. . . . My advice is this: Read it, think about it, implement it. You, and your organization, will be glad you did. (Source)

Ken Revenaugh This is a must-read book for every sales professional. The authors’ groundbreaking research explains how the rules for selling have changed—and what to do about it. If you don’t want to be left behind, don’t miss this innovative book that provides the new formula for selling success. (Source)

Rankings by Category

The Challenger Sale is ranked in the following categories:

Similar Books

If you like The Challenger Sale, check out these similar top-rated books:

Learn: What makes Shortform summaries the best in the world?

Learn More