Challenging Customers
Want to grow your sales? Don't hire a relationship builder...
Engaging Tweets
How do you offer your customers something that your competition doesn’t?
How do you make your products and services stand out from the competition?
Challenge your customers and your profits will grow
What happens to your sales growth when you train your sales team to be Challengers?
Create loyal customers by challenging your customers
Challenging your customers will give your business wins
Why risk the future of your business by not challenging your customers?
Create a sales team of Challengers for business success
How you sell has become more important than what you sell
Why risk the success of your business by being nice and likeable in a sales meeting?
Do you want to be your customers friend, or do you want to grow your business?
If you apply a ‘the-customer-is-always-right’ approach to your business sales, you will not grow your business
You will win more sales if you start challenging your customers more
What happens when you challenge your customers more in sales meetings?
Being your customers ‘friend’ will not grow your profits
Time to start challenging your customers rather than thinking ‘the-customer-is-always-right’
There are 5 types of sales person – choose the right one for business success
What happens when you train your sales team to be the right type of sales person?
5 types of sales person – which one do you choose?
Why risk the future of your business by not choosing a Challenger for your sales team?
Be a Challenger not a Lone Wolf
Start changing the behaviour of your sales team and become Challengers
Challengers – the future of your sales team and the future of your business
For business success you need to have Challengers in your sales team
Help your customers make the right choice by being a Challenger
What happens when you take the same approach to selling as Xerox did?
Time to take selling seriously like Xerox did
Xerox took selling seriously, what happens to your business when you do the same?
Are you ready to rethink your sales strategy like Xerox did?
Be pro-active to sales like Xerox did and change your approach, the results will surprise you
Xerox changed the fortunes of their business when they changed their approach to sales
If big business can make changes to their selling approach, then so can you.
If SAP can train 5,500 people to be Challengers, then surely its worthy of your time and attention
When it comes to selling your products and services, can you afford not to take the Challenger approach seriously?
What happens when you follow the example of SAP and train your sales team to be Challengers?
Why risk the future of your business by not training your sales team to challenge your customers?
Time to train your sales team to be Challengers – your sales growth depends on it
Stop thinking your sales approach is always the right one…
Stop delivering the same selling technique to all your customers – SAP changed their approach with dramatic effect and so can you…
Improve your profits when you improve the way you sell
SAP changed their approach to selling with dramatic effect and so can you…
Succeed at being a challenger by using all 3 skills when it comes to selling
Teach, tailor, control – all 3 are needed to be a successful Challenger type sales person
Selling is hard – but use the power of 3 for success in your business
Learn 3 different skills and you will succeed in becoming a challenger
Relationship builders are not your best source of sales growth, so who is?
Train your sales team to be a team of Challengers and watch your business grow
How to win more sales for your business with a team of Challengers
Why teach, tailor and control can make a real difference when it comes to your ability to win future business
Train your team in the skills of challenging your customers and beat the competition
4 steps can set you on the right path to better challenge your customers
How to grow sales by challenging your customers more….
LinkedIn Updates
1. Whether you sell complex solutions or simple products and services, one thing is clear, buyers are more informed than ever before. So how, in this ‘customer-knows-everything’ world, do you stand out, make a difference to your customer, get noticed, get chosen? Click here to learn how…
2. With the information your customers can gather online, including all the good, the bad and the ugly from social media, most buyers can determine who they want to buy from without even seeing a member of your sales team. If you want your customers to buy more, evidence says you should avoid building ‘the-customer-is-always-right’ relationships. Click here to discover that the key to loyal customers and sales success is to challenge and probe your customers to think differently.
3. We all want to be liked by our customers, we want to have a good relationship with them, it makes the interactions easier after all. But building a ‘the-customer-is-always-right’ relationship is not the way to grow your business, click here to learn why?
4. Building a relationship with your customers, being nice and likeable, thinking ‘the-customer-is-always-right’, being generous with your time and working hard for your them are all worthy skills… BUT Do they mean you win a sale, or future sales? How likely would existing customers be to re-purchase from you just because you get on well? Click here to learn to learn how to grow your business by challenging your customers.
5. Selling is not easy, because buying is not easy, they are many factors in play when it comes to a buyer making the right choice.
Click here to discover why a buyer’s decision and loyalty are based much more on how your sales person sells your product or service than what it is he or she is actually selling.
6. Click here to learn why the sales person who represents your business at a sales meeting plays the largest part in determining whether your customers will be loyal to your business or not.
7. Whether you are a small or large business, there is always room for improvement, change, new ways of thinking. When was the last time you looked at the current sales experience you offer your customers? Click here to discover the importance of looking at a fresh approach to the way you sell to your customers.
8. Xerox looked at their sales experience and found a lack of training, an unfamiliarity with the customers and several other issues that were resulted in the customers receiving an uninspired sales experience. Taking on board the phrase ‘How you sell is more important than what you sell’, they adopted the Challenger approach in 2013. Click here to learn the difference this approach made to your business and the difference it can make to yours. Over the years, the world of the salesman has dramatically changed.
9. Customers now go into sales meetings well prepared, with a raft of information and have more choices before them than ever before. This means that the sales/buying process for both sides can be more complex and creates a great burden to get it right.
Click here to learn what difference Challenger training would make to the way your sales team sell your products and services?
10. Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson were driven to find out what made for successful selling in 2009. Their findings are in their excellent book, ‘The Challenger Sale’.
Dixon and Adamson discovered that the skills, attitudes, behaviours and knowledge of being a Challenger can be learned.
Click here to learn that if your business installs the tools, training and coaching plus a reward and recognition process you’ll build a more ‘challenging’ sales team.
11. Most sales training has traditionally been focused on building non-challenging relationships with your customers. The challenger approach is very different, click here to learn how and the difference it can make to your business.
12. The Challenger approach encourages your sales people to challenge and probe your customers’ way of thinking and to deliver insights and value to them instead of maintaining a cosy non-challenging relationship with them.
Click here to learn that success at being a challenger depends on a combination of 3 skills – teach, tailor, control.
13. If you believe that you can grow your sales by building ‘the-customer-is-always-right’ relationships, you are going to struggle. It can be hard to acknowledge that ‘Relationship Builders’ are holding your business back but if your sales team are Relationship Builders then this is almost certainly the case. Click here to learn that to grow your business you need a sales team of challengers.
14. You need to have a sales team of ‘Challengers’, who are trained and skilled at challenging your customers’ thinking. Click here for 4 tips that can set you on the right path to better challenging your customers.
Facebook Posts
1. Whether you sell complex solutions or simple products and services, one thing is clear, buyers are more informed than ever before. So how, in this ‘customer-knows-everything’ world, do you stand out, make a difference to your customer, get noticed, get chosen? Click here to learn how…
2. With the information your customers can gather online, including all the good, the bad and the ugly from social media, most buyers can determine who they want to buy from without even seeing a member of your sales team. If you want your customers to buy more, evidence says you should avoid building ‘the-customer-is-always-right’ relationships. Click here to discover that the key to loyal customers and sales success is to challenge and probe your customers to think differently.
3. We all want to be liked by our customers, we want to have a good relationship with them, it makes the interactions easier after all. But building a ‘the-customer-is-always-right’ relationship is not the way to grow your business, click here to learn why?
4. Building a relationship with your customers, being nice and likeable, thinking ‘the-customer-is-always-right’, being generous with your time and working hard for your them are all worthy skills… BUT Do they mean you win a sale, or future sales? How likely would existing customers be to re-purchase from you just because you get on well? Click here to learn to learn how to grow your business by challenging your customers.
5. Selling is not easy, because buying is not easy, they are many factors in play when it comes to a buyer making the right choice.
Click here to discover why a buyer’s decision and loyalty are based much more on how your sales person sells your product or service than what it is he or she is actually selling.
6. Click here to learn why the sales person who represents your business at a sales meeting plays the largest part in determining whether your customers will be loyal to your business or not.
7. Whether you are a small or large business, there is always room for improvement, change, new ways of thinking. When was the last time you looked at the current sales experience you offer your customers? Click here to discover the importance of looking at a fresh approach to the way you sell to your customers.
8. Xerox looked at their sales experience and found a lack of training, an unfamiliarity with the customers and several other issues that were resulted in the customers receiving an uninspired sales experience. Taking on board the phrase ‘How you sell is more important than what you sell’, they adopted the Challenger approach in 2013. Click here to learn the difference this approach made to your business and the difference it can make to yours. Over the years, the world of the salesman has dramatically changed.
9. Customers now go into sales meetings well prepared, with a raft of information and have more choices before them than ever before. This means that the sales/buying process for both sides can be more complex and creates a great burden to get it right.
Click here to learn what difference Challenger training would make to the way your sales team sell your products and services?
10. Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson were driven to find out what made for successful selling in 2009. Their findings are in their excellent book, ‘The Challenger Sale’.
Dixon and Adamson discovered that the skills, attitudes, behaviours and knowledge of being a Challenger can be learned.
Click here to learn that if your business installs the tools, training and coaching plus a reward and recognition process you’ll build a more ‘challenging’ sales team.
11. Most sales training has traditionally been focused on building non-challenging relationships with your customers. The challenger approach is very different, click here to learn how and the difference it can make to your business.
12. The Challenger approach encourages your sales people to challenge and probe your customers’ way of thinking and to deliver insights and value to them instead of maintaining a cosy non-challenging relationship with them.
Click here to learn that success at being a challenger depends on a combination of 3 skills – teach, tailor, control.
13. If you believe that you can grow your sales by building ‘the-customer-is-always-right’ relationships, you are going to struggle. It can be hard to acknowledge that ‘Relationship Builders’ are holding your business back but if your sales team are Relationship Builders then this is almost certainly the case. Click here to learn that to grow your business you need a sales team of challengers.
14. You need to have a sales team of ‘Challengers’, who are trained and skilled at challenging your customers’ thinking. Click here for 4 tips that can set you on the right path to better challenging your customers.
Blog Posts
BLOG 1 – Train your team to challenge your customers for increased sales growth
Whether you sell complex solutions or simple products and services, one thing is clear, buyers are more informed than ever before.
With the information they can gather online, including all the good, the bad and the ugly from social media, most buyers can determine who they want to buy from without even seeing a member of your sales team.
And if they do see someone, buyers have normally worked out what they want, when they want it, how much they are willing to pay and from who.
So how, in this ‘customer-knows-everything’ world, do you stand out, make a difference to your customer, get noticed, get chosen?
If you want your customers to buy more, evidence says you should avoid building ‘the-customer-is-always-right’ relationships…
The key to loyal customers and sales success is to challenge and probe your customers to think differently.
Click here to learn how to create a sales team of challengers and the difference this will make to your business
BLOG 2 – Make your sales meeting about the experience rather than about the relationship
We all want to be liked by our customers, we want to have a good relationship with them, it makes the interactions easier after all.
Building a relationship with your customers, being nice and likeable, thinking ‘the-customer-is-always-right’, being generous with your time and working hard for your them are all worthy skills…
BUT
Do they mean you win a sale, or future sales?
How likely would existing customers be to re-purchase from you just because you get on well?
Here’s what a global head of sales in the hospitality industry had to say about this:
“…this is really hard to look at. Because for the last ten years it’s been our stated strategy to hire effective relationship builders…”
What’s reassuring is that even big businesses make this mistake, they also prefer to focus on building submissive, non-assertive relationships with their customers rather than challenging them…
However, Neil Rackman, founder of a world-renowned sales training company says:
“It (a customer relationship) is a reward that the sales person earns by creating customer value.
If you help customers think differently and bring them new ideas – which is what the Challenger sales rep does – then you earn the right to a relationship”
So successful selling and a profitable relationship with your customer comes from challenging them and not from just having a cosy relationship with them.
A subtle but vital distinction.
To be successful in sales you need to recruit Challenger sales people, not Relationship Builders, and then train all your existing sales people in the skills of being a Challenger – click here to find out how…
BLOG 3 – Change your sales team into Challengers and change the fortunes of your business
Selling is not easy, because buying is not easy, they are many factors in play when it comes to a buyer making the right choice.
This becomes even more important when you realise that in a recent study a notable finding was that 53% of the buying decision is based on the overall sales experience that the customer receives, as opposed to price, quality, reputation, product or branding, like many businesses believe.
This means that the sales person who represents your business at a sales meeting plays the largest part in determining whether your customers will be loyal to your business or not.
A buyer’s decision and loyalty are based much more on how your sales person sells your product or service than what it is he or she is actually selling.
A large study of 6000+ sales people across 90 companies points to 5 different profiles of sales people that categorises them by the skills and behaviours they use while interacting with customers.
Which one best describes your team’s current approach to selling?
The Hard Worker - Doesn't give up easily, is very self-motivated, interested in feedback and personal development. Will be the first to arrive at work and last to leave, always does the extra work and will go the extra mile. The hustle never stops for hard workers.
The Challenger – They have a different view of the world, like debate and will push the customer to think about their business differently. They have a depth of knowledge and understanding about the customers business. They will challenge the customers thinking, they will express controversial views and are excellent communicators. Among star sellers, Challengers are the most common.
The Relationship Builder – Classic sales rep, wants to be the customers friend, thinks that the customer liking them will lead to future business. Their primary focus is the relationship with the customer, they bend over backwards to meet the customers needs. Much sales training encourages Relationship Builders, but they are the least effective of them all.
The Lone Wolf - Follows their own instincts, very self-confident, often arrogant, delivers results, but is difficult to manage, they break rules, they do what they want often ignoring the sales strategy of the business
The Reactive Problem Solver - Highly detail-oriented, highly dependable, is very focused on the detail, will deliver a quick response to the customer and is always good at following up with the customer.
The evidence says it’s the Challenger is the most likely to be the sales star in more complex sales.
Click here to build the Challenger skills in your business to grow your sales, business and profits.
BLOG 4 – Xerox leads the way with their Challenger sales approach
Whether you are a small or large business, there is always room for improvement, change, new ways of thinking.
When was the last time you looked at the current sales experience you offer your customers?
Xerox looked at their sales experience and found a lack of training, an unfamiliarity with the customers and several other issues that were resulted in the customers receiving an uninspired sales experience.
Taking on board the phrase ‘How you sell is more important than what you sell’, they adopted the Challenger approach in 2013 and consequently achieved sales growth worth £52m.
They moved away from their old selling approach and started challenging customers on the importance of colour.
By using a Challenger insight (research showed that 77% of students agreed that colour boosted focus, interest and memory) they transformed the way they sold to their customers, sharing this insight and challenging their customers thinking…and saw a 17% increase in sales.
Kevin Warren the CEO of Xerox US sales said:
“We want our sales force to deliver insight and value, not sales pitches. That’s why our entire organization is being trained on the skills and behaviours that make Challengers successful”
How many Challengers do you think you have in your sales team?
Time to make a change and start challenging your customers? What have you got to lose?
Click here to start delivering business insights to your customers with the Challenger approach to selling.
BLOG 5 – Make time to teach your sales people to be Challengers – the future of your business depends on it…
Over the years, the world of the salesman has dramatically changed. Customers now go into sales meetings well prepared, with a raft of information and have more choices before them than ever before.
This means that the sales/buying process for both sides can be more complex and creates a great burden to get it right.
The best businesses make this work by challenging and probing their customers way of thinking.
Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson were driven to find out what made for successful selling in 2009. Their findings are in their excellent book, ‘The Challenger Sale’.
Matthew Dixon believes:
“The Challenger approach has evolved into a new and different approach to deliver an uncommon experience to customers because buyers are demanding a better sales experience.
Specifically, customers reward suppliers who offer unique and valuable perspectives on the market and educate them on new issues and outcomes.
It’s how you sell, not what you sell”.
Dixon and Adamson discovered that the skills, attitudes, behaviours and knowledge of being a Challenger can be learned.
And if your business installs the tools, training and coaching plus a reward and recognition process you’ll build a more ‘challenging’ sales team.
It worked with great effect at SAP (a global software solutions business).
SAP felt that there was a shift in their customers’ expectations of their sales rep. Their customers were now expecting SAP’s sales people to have a deeper understanding of their business sector, business challenges and processes.
In response to this between 2012 and 2016 SAP enrolled 5,500 sales people in Challenger training.
As a result, they closed 20% more deals than before the training - they also generated 15% more sales opportunities than those sales staff who had not had the Challenger training.
What difference would Challenger training make to the way your sales team sell your products and services?
What difference would Challenger training make to your sales, profits and the growth of your business?
Can you afford NOT to give Challenger training a try, click here to release the potential in your sales team.
BLOG 6 – Sales success comes from the magic of 3 skills to challenge your customers
Most sales training has traditionally been focused on building non-challenging relationships with your customers.
The Challenger approach is very different. It encourages your sales people to challenge and probe your customers’ way of thinking and to deliver insights and value to them instead of maintaining a cosy non-challenging relationship with them.
Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson believe that success at being a Challenger depends on a combination of 3 skills – teach, tailor, control.
They state:
“If you teach without tailoring your approach to the different individuals within an organisation, you come over as irrelevant.
If you tailor to but don’t teach your customers something new, you risk sounding like every other supplier.
If you take control but offer no value, you risk being simply annoying.”
The combination of the 3 really matters.
According to Dixon and Adamson’s book – ‘The Challenger Sale’:
“a Challenger rep is defined by the ability to do 3 key things well”
- Teach customers something new and valuable about how to compete in their market
- Tailor their sales pitch to resonate with the decision-makers ‘hot-button’ issues
- Take control of the discussion around pricing and challenge the customers thinking around the problem
When was the last time your sales people taught your customers something new, or shared a valuable business insight about your customer’s own business sector?
And what about tailoring the sales pitch to include other people involved in the buying process at your customer’s end – for example the engineers, production operatives, quality dept or distribution team?
And when was the last time your people challenged or pushed back on your customer’s wishes on price, delivery date or other issues raised during your sales meeting?
Remember price, brand, reputation, product, quality and customer support are not as important as your customer’s experience of the sales process - 53% of purchase decisions are based on how you sell not what you sell.
Click here to take the time to look at the Challenger approach to winning new and repeat sales in your business.
BLOG 7 – Challenge your customers and your profits will grow
If you believe that you can grow your sales by building ‘the-customer-is-always-right’ relationships, you are going to struggle.
It can be hard to acknowledge that ‘Relationship Builders’ are holding your business back and preventing you from sales growth, but if your sales team are Relationship Builders then this is almost certainly the case.
You need to have a sales team of ‘Challengers’, who are trained and skilled at challenging your customers’ thinking.
Here are 4 tips that can set you on the right path to better challenging your customers:
Relationship Builders are not your best source of sales growth
Relationship Builders have their place, however they are not your best source of sales growth. Challengers are, they create constructive tension in challenging customer conversations, using a combination of 3 skills…
Build your sales people’s TEACHING skills and knowledge
Teach your customers something about their business sector they did not know, or challenge their current approach, share new business insights that deliver value or save them time or money.
Build your TAILORING skills and knowledge
Seek the support of all the people involved in your customer’s team. In a complex decision your customer’s decision will require the buy-in of several of their team, tailor your message to each of the people involved.
Build your sales people’s ability to assert CONTROL when it’s needed
Don’t give in to all your customer’s demands, where necessary, press the customer a little or push back on some of the issues. Remember however, if you take control of the meeting but fail to deliver any value to the customer, you will come across as annoying!
Just 3 skills needed to change the way you sell to your customers.
Just 3 skills for your sales people to learn how to become Challengers.
Click here to discover how to have more challenging conversations with your customers…
Engaging E-mails
Monthly email to share the business breathrough with your contacts
Subject: Challenge your customers and grow your business...
Preview text: Your complimentary business breakthrough
In a highly competitive world, what can you do to stand out and get your buyers to choose your products and services over your competition?
Building a ‘the-customer-is-always-right’ relationship is commendable but not your best source of sales growth.
To grow your business, you need to have a sales team willing and able to have challenging conversations with your customers.
In this ‘challenging customers’ edition of Business Bitesize you will learn, in the time it takes to drinka cup of tea:
- the 3 key ‘challenger’ skills and why one skill is not enough
- the difference adopting the ‘challenger’ approach made to Xerox sales figures
- how unique insights and challenging your customer can bring a massive pay-off for both you and them
You will grow your business and your profits when you and your sales team build ‘challenger’ selling skills to help your customers navigate the maze of complexities they are dealing with.
Click here to start having challenging and profitable conversations with your customers.
Email to go with Blog 1
Headline:
Subheading:
Business Breakthrough Subscriber Resources