Book Review - "The Challenger Sale", Matthew Dixon & Brent Adamson

It's a while since I posted a book review on here, so I thought it was about time I got back into the habit.

Selling has changed a lot since I started my first sales job back in the 1990s. Even before the pandemic I was advocating the importance of consultative selling, leading with empathy, and ensuring every conversation was centred around the customer, not the salesperson/company doing the selling. The last 12 months have taken our VUCA world (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous) to the next level, and made this approach pretty much essential.

An overview

So what's the TL;DR version?

The concept is essentially that in order to close more sales, rather than being a consultative seller who starts by building relationships, asking open questions and diagnosing client requirements, the most successful sales people are 'challengers'.

Challengers are more successful than relationship builders because they take control of the customer conversation rather than letting the customer stay in the driving seat. It recognises that great sales people help customers see problems they didn't even know they had.

In a bit more detail...

The idea is that challengers start with a hypothesis of what the client needs based on their experience and expertise rather than starting from scratch with open questions. By positioning themselves as experts with insights to share rather than salespeople looking for business problems to solve, they are demonstrating (rather than talking about) their ability to add value before any selling happens.

When delivering sales training (particularly, though not exclusively, to recruiters), I have always stressed the importance of positioning yourself as an expert with valuable insight, market intelligence and commercial acumen. By doing your homework and researching your customer before starting a conversation with them, you should naturally be having the kind of higher level, strategic discussions that build credibility, build confidence and - most importantly - allow you to genuinely add value to your customers. The natural side effect of this will inevitably be more sales.

This book is helpful in that it gives this approach a name - being a 'challenger' - and would be a useful read for anyone struggling to feel more in control of the sales process with their clients, and who is interested in building their client retention.

As the book says, 53% of customer loyalty comes from how you sell, not what you sell. Those who are still sending out bulk mailers with marketing material, this book reminds you that at least 80% of that ends up in the trash. Those who are still opening sales calls with elevator pitches telling their customers how great they are are, this book neatly sums up why that's not the best plan.

As an added bonus, it may help those who lack confidence talking about price and has a decent section on negotiation.

A pretty good book!

Disclaimer: I don't get paid for any reviews I write, which means I can tell you my honest opinion.

Most of my reviews tend to be around the topics that relate to the training I deliver - business development, recruitment, leadership, emotional intelligence, inclusion...

I am a firm believer in lifelong learning - as a trainer it's important that I spend a significant amount of time on my own personal development, so I can share the latest ideas and techniques with my clients.

If you've got any book recommendations for me, let me know at [email protected].

If you want to find out more about the training I deliver, you can reach me at the same email address, or connect with me on here, or message me on Twitter (@SarahHGordon1)