This is what rockstar sales reps do that average ones don’t
According to the research and data collection in the B2B sales book, “The Challenger Sale” there are 5 types of sales reps but one dominates: The Challenger.
The Challenger is both a type of rep and a company’s approach to marketing & sales but because the organization’s role is more marketing & messaging related, we’ll focus on the rep in this essay.
As a rep, the challenger likes to debate, always sees the world differently, and is not afraid to push or pressure the buyer. While traditional sales training focuses on asking questions to uncover pain points then provide a solution (a strategy which closes exponentially less business in complex sales), challengers are more consultants, helping the buyer navigate different options and find previously unknown opportunities.
Challengers believe the buyer doesn’t know what they want or need. Why? Because B2B solutions are complicated, multivariate, require bundled products and services, involve multiple decision makers, have long sales cycles, and cost 100’s to millions of dollars. Challengers teach buyers to look at their business differently and uncover previously unknown opportunities like new markets, significant savings, or increased throughput.
According to the book, the challenger does 3 things: teach, tailor, and take control.
Teach: the consultant who helps the buyer discover relevant business opportunities that add value to their business. Teaching is done at 2 levels 1) the seller’s organization via marketing and messaging and 2) the sales rep’s 1x1 ability to teach the buyer.
Tailor: discover what the decision maker wants then tailor the narrative and strategy to that. Complex, high-ticket sales require customized solutions. Challenger reps map the product’s core competencies to what buyers actually care about. For example, in discovery if you find out the CEO is concerned about poor response times in customer service, tailor your message to that instead of only cost savings.
Take Control: challenger reps steer the conversation and are assertive. Not in an aggressive, annoying, or overly controlling way because you’ll lose business. But assertive and confident to reframe conversations, like price. If asked for a 10% discount, rather than roll over on the request, the rep reframes pricing from cost to value. He involves the buyer in the whole product offering and consults the buyer through it. He might reframe it as, “if price needs to come down, which of these aspects of the product are you willing to give up?”