The traditional approach to selling and marketing no longer works in today’s buying environment. Deals are becoming increasingly complex, and customers have access to more information earlier in the sale than ever before. As a result, customers are buying in new ways, delaying initial contact with suppliers and requiring greater consensus to move forward.
Winning organizations lead with insight and challenge customer assumptions to mobilize customers around a purchase.
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For the first time, our customers know more about us than we know about them.
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Vice President, Sales
Health Care Industry
We studied thousands of customers and sales professionals around the world, spanning every major industry, geography, and go-to-market model. We discovered that customers have fundamentally changed the way they buy, which has forced companies to evolve how they sell.
Sellers who perform best in this new, complex sales environment have a distinct set of behaviors and skills. And these high-performers are known as Challengers.
View a summary of the insights, concepts, and groundbreaking research featured in The Challenger Sale. Understand why Challenger sellers succeed in the new buying environment and how you can begin to find them in your organization.
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We've learned that insights are powerful; that language within our business has changed as a result of [the Challenger™ model].
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Kendra Hammond
Chief People Officer
Vita Group
As you invest in building your sales teams skills, reinforcing these new behavioral shifts is critical. To do so, organizations turn to video technology to gain visibility across highly distributed, global teams. From there, companies can easily continue development, embed key skills, and create a place where sellers can receive quick manager feedback and coaching.
With our video technology, your sales teams and managers can deploy video-based programs for sellers to practice Challenger skills and sharpen sales execution.
Implement Challenger™ with these Components
The customer purchase experience is your greatest point of differentiation when it comes to winning sales and driving customer loyalty. Leading B2B commercial organizations address this by helping their sellers develop a specific set of skills and behaviors.
We equip you to build your sales organization's capability by hiring and managing key talent using the Challenger™ Selling model, training sellers on a proven strategy, and developing managers for better coaching.
Customers are already 57% through the purchase process before they approach a supplier. This means you need disruptive insights to engage them early. Give your customers a credible, surprising way to operate more effectively, which leads back to your unique strengths.
We support your team to create these insights—from developing an initial set of Challenger messages to embedding the required capabilities for sustaining the strategy.
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. Read The Challenger Sale to learn more about our ground-breaking research and findings. Find out why it’s recommended by leading sales experts and has sold more than 400,000 copies across the globe.
Meet the team behind The Challenger Sale.
Michael Cremen
Executive Vice President, Global Sales
Hitachi
Learn why Hitachi decided the Challenger approach was right for its organization and the biggest changes they’ve seen as a result of the transformation.
Adrian West
Head of HR
Cisco
See how Cisco approached the consideration and implementation of the Challenger model across its global organization.
Jeff Lowe
Vice President of
Sales and Marketing
SMART Technologies
Hear how the Sales and Marketing teams at SMART Technologies found value in partnering with CEB on their Challenger journey.
GM directly attributed 27,000 sold vehicles to the Challenger model, totaling nearly $400 million, including 54 accounts won over from direct competitors.
Challengers at SAP closed
26% more deals faster and
generated 27% more revenue for
the organization.
Nine months following the Challenger Development Program™ vAuto recorded 248% annual growth in its sales to independent auto dealers.
Thinking about bringing the Challenger model to your organization? Your no-nonsense guide awaits.
Use supplemental tools, including the Challenger self-assessment, coaching guide, and book discussion guide, as you think about starting the Challenger journey.
Learn how to create commercial interactions your customer will value.
We appreciate your interest in CEB. If necessary our team will be in touch soon.
Thank you,
CEB
CEB’s Brent Adamson, Karl Schmidt, and Anna Bird discuss the challenge of consensus buying and the commitment it requires from Sales and Marketing to win over Mobilizers and help them get deals done.
CEB’s Pat Spenner introduces The Challenger Customer and how the book brings much larger trends to life—consensus buying, corporate clockspeed, and how difficult it is to make decisions in business today.
In 2012, software group SAP decided to launch a new way of selling worldwide. In just three years, it turned 5,500 salespeople into creative marketers who closed significantly more deals.
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There are others implementing The Challenger Sale who are working on issues similar to ours. That network has been wonderful.
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Wendy Gallery
Vice President, Sales
Cars.com
