The Challenge Sales Model: Taking Control of the Sale

Challengers create momentum. Their deals don't get stuck nearly as often in "no-decision land" the way typical core reps deals tend to. This is because a Challenger will push things along, always thinking ahead to the next step.

Three misconceptions about taking control

1. Taking control is synonymous with negotiation

   Challengers take control across the entirety of the sales process, not just at the end. In fact, one of the prime opportunities for taking control is actually right at the beginning of the sale.

   If the contact hems and haws or gives an unclear answer, the rep pushes and explains that if they can't guarantee time with those key leaders, they'll be unable to check that everybody is aligned on the value of the solution, and therefore it doesn't make sense to continue engaging in further discussions.

   Customer invites a sales person to come in, analyze a problem, and generate creative solutions. Many sales organizations will spend well into the six figures to pursue a complex opportunity. All too often, though, the customer engages this free consulting work until the best solution becomes clear, at which point they go shopping for cheapest supplier.

   Complexity in buying process has less to do with bureaucratic hurdles suppliers put in the way of customers - though that surely is an issue in many companies - but with the fact that customers often don't know how to buy. Of course, customers don't lack the basic know-how of buying a complex solution from a supplier, but standard purchasing processes and protocols break down when every solution is unique, touching different parts of the organization. Challengers rather than assuming that customer knows how to execute the purchase of a complex solution - which can be a faulty assumption when it comes to solution selling - they teach the customers how to buy the solution.

   All of this is telling us that Challengers dont wait for price negotiation they take control of the sales process right from the beginning.

2. Reps take control regarding only matters of money:

   Challengers push the customer in terms of how they think about their world and their challenges - as well as the solution to those challenges.

   Commercial Teaching puts the Challenger in a position to take control by bringing new ideas to the table - ideas the customer hadn't thought of before. But customers are savvy and conventional wisdom didn't get to be conventional by being east to topple. There will be pushback, even if the Challenger is armed with compelling insights and supporting data. The Challenger's response when confronted with this pushback, however, is to take control of the debate.

   But taking control of the debate around ideas is critical not just because it shows that the sales rep isn't going to be a pushover, but also because those ideas the Challenger brings to the table are directly connected to the solutions that the supplier can offer to the customer. If the rep isn't willing to convince the customer that the problem is urgent, then he won't be able to convince the customer it's worth solving.

3. Reps who take control are aggressiveL

   People also confuse taking control - that is, the Challenger's tendency to be assertive during the sale - with aggressiveness. But these are actually two very different things. This is the last, but arguably most critical, misconception to address.

   If we think about sales rep behavior along a spectrum, we can array it with "passive" behavior on one end and "aggressive" behavior on the other.

   • Passive:
     • Subverts goals to the needs of others
     • Allows personal boundaries to be breached
     • Use indirect, accommodating language
   • Assertive
     • Direct pursues goals in constructive way
     • Defends own personal boundaries
     • Uses direct language
   • Aggressive
     • Pursues goals at the expense of professionalism
     • Attacks others personal boundaries
     • Uses antagonistic language

   There is a fine line between being assertive and aggressive/arrogant. A challenger rep will always be able to defend their position in assertive fashion.

4. Challenges thrive in ambiguity. They know how to navigate it and understand how it can be leveraged to their advantage. They display a remarkable level of comfort with silence during the customer conversation, as well as with keeping negotiation points and customer objections open and on the table longer than one normally would. It might be a bit of an overstatement to say they "like" tension, but probably isn't that far from the truth.