The Challenger Sale

Greg van Doorn

The Challenger Sale

This is one of the first books i have read. When i was a territory manager at HP Enterprise. I was fed up doing the same things and having the same output so i wanted to try something new. I can’t really remember how i dug up this title, i think i saw it passing by somewhere on Twitter. The title “ Challenger Sales “ cought my attention.

It had a big wow effect on me in the beginning as it wipes away a lot of the old consultative selling methods, giving you as an account manager insight on the renewed buying process of a customer.

There are 4 different kind of account managers according to this book. The lone wolf, the hard worker, the relationship builder and of course the Challenger. The Challenger disrupts the way a customer is looking at your product or service by teaching ( there are actually 3 t’s in this book. teach, take control and tailormade for resonance ) a customer about concrete goals he can achieve by buying your stuff. He then creates the urgency to obtain it as soon as possible and gets the customers commitment on the goals he can achieve so the deal should be yours.. The insights you give a customer are more or less predictable, more profit by better working customer care departments, ordering processes ect, you ( should ) know all about it.

What’s good about this book ? Well, the way it’s written. It’s fun to read as iIt makes fun of consultative selling and tells you about the things salespeople are doing wrong. For instance talking about your service, your organisation, your marketing department instead of uncovering what your buyer really needs and on how you can achieve it together with your customer.

As i have been reading this book from an account managers perspective, there is a lot of marketing, sales and sales organisation management stuff going on here. As i want to put what i have learned into action right away that part doesn’t work for me. It was helpful in way creating sales pitches in which i builded a teach. Customers and partners were extra willing to have a discussion with me regarding their IT infrastructure after my first 15 seconds on the phone ( not really cold calls i will share something with you on that topic soon ).

Going forward reading other books, blogs and articles. The Challenger Sale doesn’t really tell anything new and it’s also a bit dogmatic. Do customers want to be tought ? They do have acces to every information source you might have so trying to tell them something all the time might be less effective then putting energy in other methods. It’s great sales refreshment, has very inspiring examples and get’s you creative in engaging your customers. You should read this one. It’s fun and if you don’t really read a lot about sales it will give you a great platform to work from.

If there is anything you like to add or ask me, please let me know.

Greg van Doorn