Over the last several decades, more suppliers have begun selling complex “solutions,” or bundles of products and services, rather than just simple products. In The Challenger Sale, authors Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson of CEB’s research arm explain this new sales approach, how to replicate it in your sales force, and why sales success today-whether in a good or bad economy-depends on it. Researchers with the business advisory firm CEB set out to learn these reps’ secrets to selling in bad times by surveying thousands of sales reps in companies around the world.Īs it turned out, the reps’ success had nothing to do with the economy and everything to do the fact that they responded to customers’ needs in a new way: they pushed customers to think and act differently. Yet a handful succeeded in selling despite the downturn. But the results of a huge research study of sales reps in the wake of the 2008-09 recession upended that thinking and led to a new model for business-to-business, or B2B, sales.ĭuring the recession, business dried up for most sales reps. It’s long been conventional wisdom that the key to sales success is building strong relationships with customers. 1-Page Summary 1-Page Book Summary of The Challenger Sale
