I just published my first solo report as an analyst, Sales by Design, Not by Challenge. The report puts forth the concept of how to apply design thinking to the sales process. Any good sales person will say that sales is an art, it requires understanding the customer’s business objectives, organizational nuances, and being clear that the ultimate goal is to come to a mutually agreed upon outcome. Sales by Design, as explained in the report, helps sales teams understand what the customer’s organizational persona in order to anticipate the customer's needs and manage the sales process accordingly. Sales teams are then able to focus on co-innovation and co-creation of solutions with the customer.
When talking about sales strategies, it’s hard to not come across the Corporate Executive Board’s (CEB) book, The Challenger Sale, which advocates the hiring and development of sales representatives that fit a defined "challenger" persona as per CEB's surveys, are the most effective. The book first published over five years ago based on survey data post the financial crisis of 2008. The selling environment then versus now has changed significantly with the rise of the digital age. The abundance of information and resources available to buyers and customers in today's social and digitally-driven environment has changed the rules of engagement. We at Constellation have received a healthy number of client inquiries regarding the Challenger methodology. I want to be clear that Sales by Design isn’t about dispelling The Challenger Sale; Sales by Design and Challenger are by no means mutually exclusive. Organizations can utilize Sales by Design alongside or as an alternative to Challenger.
In addition to client feedback, I personally tried to implement The Challenger Sale at a prior company. After a recommendation from a former colleague, I read it, found it interesting and bought copies for my global marketing team. As the head of marketing at a mid-size company, the messages around sales and marketing collaboration resonated with me and we went about rethinking our corporate deck and sales collateral. At the same time, we brought the book to sales and other executive leadership to look at for broader adoption and it quickly became evident that without top-down support from the CEO with dedicated budget and resources for consistent training, recruiting, content development etc, we could not get it off the ground. This doesn’t mean that Challenger doesn’t work for all organizations, but there needs to be acknowledgement of the commitment in time and resources required to make it work.
Executives can quickly spot the sales reps trying too hard to be “Challengers”. They are often overly aggressive, pushing their solutions regardless of fit and are “unafraid to push and discuss money” often at the wrong time. Hearing these concerns from both clients and other sales teams, it became clear that customers have started to tune out these Challenger-type sales reps. Maybe these are “Challengers” gone wrong, but the more buyers are aware of the style, the less effective it becomes.
As a prior marketing and sales operations executive, I had the privilege to work with some of the best sales people and see them in action. Their success stemmed from their ability to adapt their selling style to the customer’s organizational style. The key to successful selling isn't about the seller's personas and how not to be a “relationship” builder but someone who “pushes customers", but establishes genuine rapport and has a willingness to partner. Sellers leverage both information and technology to their advantage to make meaningful connections and to stay on top of the customer’s personal and organizational developments. Sales by Design will teach sales teams how to partner with customers to apply design thinking in the sales process to co-create and co-innovate solutions - a win win for both.
I invite you to join in the dialog and share with me your thoughts. If you are not a Constellation client, you can download the Table of Contents and an excerpt of the report, Sales by Design, Not by Challenge, here.
