Challenger Sale: Teach, Tailor, Take Control
The Challenger Sale is a B2B methodology where top reps win by teaching buyers something new about their business, tailoring the message to each stakeholder, and taking control of the conversation.
What is Challenger Sale?
Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson published 'The Challenger Sale' in 2011 after CEB studied 6,000 reps. Their finding: the highest performers were not relationship builders but 'Challengers' who pushed buyers' thinking. The methodology became dominant in enterprise SaaS through the 2010s.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What are the 5 Challenger profiles?
- Hard Worker, Challenger, Relationship Builder, Lone Wolf, and Reactive Problem Solver. The CEB research found Challengers outperformed all others in complex sales.
- What is a 'commercial insight' in the Challenger Sale?
- A perspective on the buyer's business that they didn't already know, that reframes how they think about a problem, and that leads logically to your solution.