The Sales Executive Council surveyed over 450 sales managers at more than 30 companies around the world about their reps. What we found are these sales consultant five profiles:
- The Hard Worker—always willing to go the extra mile. He/she is self motivated and does not give up easily. He/she seeks out feedback and tries to identify opportunities for improvement.
- The Challenger—the debater on the team. He/she has a deep understanding of the customer’s business and isn’t afraid to share his/her views, even if they are different. He/she is assertive in dealing with internal and external stakeholders, tending to push people out of their comfort zone.
- The Relationship Builder—focused on serving the customer. He/she is adept at building and nurturing customer relationships by being highly accessible to customers and responsive to their specific needs.
- The Lone Wolf—self-confident, follows his/her own instincts instead of the rules.
- The Problem Solver—detail oriented, reliable, and naturally drawn to solving client issues. He/she excels at handling the post-sale service issues that can harm a client relationship
The one that consistently performs the best is the Challenger. Why? A close look at Challengers shows three defining characteristics that seem to matter:
First, they can teach customers something new and valuable. Challengers compellingly offer their customers unique perspectives for competing in their markets—not deep dives into the supplier’s products and solutions. This approach can powerfully differentiate the sales experience in the customer’s eyes. And the degree to which the perspective offered ties back to the supplier’s unique strengths positions the supplier to win the business.
Second, Challengers tailor their messages to individual customers based on the customer’s desired outcomes. This characteristic is also a “select for” trait in the economic downturn. As customers become more risk averse and pull more people into the sales process, the range of desired benefits expands. Consultants who can tailor across a more diverse group of people involved in the sales process are more likely to win in a consensus buying environment.
And third, Challengers assert and maintain control in sales conversations. Not only is this type of rep more likely to stand firm when customers push back, he/she is also likely to create tension—constructively. That means pressuring the customer’s ideas and timelines in a positive way intended to bring the customer to a better outcome. It makes sense that this behavior provides reps an advantage. In the face of intense risk aversion by customers, reps who can move customers outside of their comfort zones (without alienating them) can drive action.
If Challengers are more likely to win in the current environment, who is most likely to lose? Surprisingly, it’s the Relationship Builder. How can that be when so many sales teams place so much emphasis on strong relationships?
To be clear, our conclusion isn’t that strong relationships don’t matter—they do. But they are not enough. Relationship Builders “overdose” on relationship strength, working around the customer, agreeing with the customer and seeking to remove tension. From the customer’s perspective, Relationship Builders might make interactions feel good, but hardly memorable or valuable. Challengers understand this and take a very different approach – they would rather be respected than liked.
If Challengers are winning in the downturn, who will win in the recovery and beyond? It seems Challengers will have the upper hand there too. As the immediate pressures facing customers fall away, managing through complex sales will return to its previous place as a top concern. Accordingly, we looked at rep performance in high and low complexity sales environments and found that the Challenger wins—by far. The combination of teaching, tailoring and assertiveness that serves this group so well in the current economy provides a real advantage to Challengers in moments where sales complexity matters.
How Do you Get More Challengers in your team?
Build them! What can you do to build Challenger consultants in your organization? You need to enable your sales consultants to do three things:
1. Teach for Differentiation—Enable your consultants to offer unique perspectives that reframe how customers view their financial investments and set your offerings apart in the marketplace.
2. Tailor for Resonance—Equip your consultants to tailor your message to a variety of customer personalities to win approval for your proposal.
3. Assert Control—Encourage your consultants to deliberately guide conversations to ensure your teaching message sticks and that your pricing holds steady in the face of rising customer risk aversion.
Some Challengers are born—others are made. You can, and should, boost their numbers on your team to succeed in the downturn and beyond.
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