The best sales people don't build customers-they challenge them.

Based on a quantitative study of more than 6,000 sales reps in multiple industries and geographies, "The Challenger Sale" argues that classic relationship building isn't enough, especially when it comes to selling complex, large-scale solutions.

It turns out every sales rep in the world falls into one of five distinct profiles: the hard worker, the problem solver, the challenger, the relationship builder, and the lone wolf. While most of these reps can deliver average sales performance, only one-the challenger- consistently outperforms the others.

The authors' research shows that customers will reward suppliers who can deliver a new perspective during the sales process and reframe their expectations. The book explains how to deliver a distinctive purchase experience that drives higher levels of customer loyalty and, ultimately, greater growth.

About the Author

Matthew Dixon is a managing director and Brent Adamson is a senior director with sales and marketing practice of The Corporate Executive Board Company.

Reviews

The most important advance in selling for many years. Neil Rackham, author of SPIN Selling The amazing thing is that the Challenger sales rep has been hiding in plain sight all these years. The Challenger Sale breaks the winning elements of this powerful approach into a set of teachable skills that can take even a top sales team to a new level of results delivery. Dan James, former chief sales officer, DuPont