“THE CHALLENGER” 5 MINUTE SUMMARY AND COMMENTS

As seen on Bendaygo.com

If you’ve been in a sales room, chances are that someone has suggested you read The Challenger. It was most likely a manager if you remember being 22 and fresh in your new sales gig.

I realized that I am pessimistic about the book. I usually do question any type of source that boxes psychological findings about humans and attaches them to projected results. I don’t think it’s that easy, then again, the book doesn’t say it’s easy. But they do provide some interesting findings. 

The Challenger analyzes top performers and found that there are some commonalities among them. The findings can be useful, but I think humans are much more complex than the book lays out. Especially in different situations. Personally, I feel as though I’ve been evaluated differently in various companies as a sales professional.

The main question I have about the book is all of the variables. What about people who were selling something they didn’t believe in? How about the ones with bad guidance? Turns out I was a better salesman when I sold SaaS compared to car wax.

If it’s been a while since you read the book here are the five personality types:

40% of top performers had the challenger style. Only 7% of top performers took the relationship builder approach. In the other performance metrics other than “top performers,” the other profiles were roughly equally represented.

Another interesting finding is that “the challenger Sales Model believes anyone can become a Challenger if they build the right combination of skills.”

1. Challengers are made, not just born
2. It’s the combination of skills that matters
3. Challenging is about organizational capability, not just rep skills
4. Building the Challenger sales force is a journey, not an overnight trip

So theres the reason why the book’s been pushed on me. The Challenger profile is not innate. It can be taught. So my managers were telling me to get better at sales.

I asked a few sales directors in tech about the book and a few got back to me. Jeffrey Britt, a leader over at Alemba in New York City shared some of my thoughts as well:

“The real world personality types do not exactly match up with “The “Challenger” book because it is the real world. I would NOT use the book’s findings to hire sales professionals. Remember – the author is “selling” The Challenger sales book to make money!”

I more or less received a number of responses like this. It seems like the industry takes the information and keeps some of it in the back of their minds but it’s not a main driver. Jeff also added: “The Challenger sales approach may work in some sales situations & may not work in many others – it is just another sales book – not the Sales Bible.”

I think that was my problem, that I viewed this book as a “bible” of some sorts in the sales world. It seems as though most sales directors do share my thoughts on the book.

In terms of The Challenger profile, it sounds like a motivational thing. If you’re going to “challenge and debate” a customer, it usually means you’ve prepared on the offering as well as studied up on their business to understand what is truly best for them. Also, the reasons why someone shows up to work really drives an individual. But hey, that’s just my opinion.