The Challenger Sales Model: Recap

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOTm5V3U1e8

Last week, Evan Addams joined us for class again and lectured off of a book called, The Challenger Sale. In the contents of the book, the author outlines 5 different types of salespeople: the Hard Worker, the Relationship Builder, the Lone Wolf, the Problem Solver, and the Challenger. Mr. Addams briefly summarized each sales technique, however he mostly highlighted the rise of the Challenger. Since Addams did not have a lot of time to really dig deep into the nuances of the Challenger, I decided to do some of my own research on the salesperson and I found a short video describing the shift from questioning to challenging in sales calls.

The video portrayed above is a great way to describe the Challenger sales rep because it proves that the technique works by interviewing 2 business people who have seen the Challenger in action. The most interesting part of the video was the transition from talking about sales representatives to talking about a “Mobilizer.” A Mobilizer is anyone who acts as a Challenger and gets a group of people to seek solutions to their problems. What is fascinating about a Mobilizer is that they can be any individual in the workplace – not just a sales rep. The 2 business people interviewed emphasized the fact that Mobilizers are  going to change the way businesses are run because they simply change the atmosphere of each conversation. Whether it be between employees, employer to employee, or customer to company.

This analysis is rather uplifting because if we do not see ourselves as salespeople, we can still be a Challenger in other parts of our organization. It is also important to note that finding Challengers can be beneficial to a rising business. As entrepreneurs, if we come across a Challenger Accountant or Customer Service Rep, we can utilize that person’s abilities to improve our startup or business venture.