A primer on Challenger/Insight selling based on the July/August 2012 issue of HBR and the Challenger Sale book by Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson of the CEB.

1. INSIGHT SELLING and the CHALLENGER SALE
A primer
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2. Get a primer on insight selling and the
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3. Executive summary
Customers don’t need Over the last three decades, B2B selling has evolved from a transactional (product-price) approach, to a p. 5
you the way they used relationship-based process, and to a solutions-based model. Today, this way of selling is being challenged by
to. procurement-savvy teams that cut the grass under your best sales reps’ feet.
Solutions selling has Solutions selling is largely driven by suppliers’ attempt to escape a dramatically increasing commoditization of p. 6
been the holy grail for a their products and services.
long time…
… but it has increasingly Selling ever bigger, more complex, disruptive, and expensive solutions requires a lot of “discovery” time and p. 7
become a burden to effort, from both sides. The result is a “solutions fatigue”: traditional, time-tested sales techniques have
both customers and become a burden to both customers and suppliers, and an alarming number of half-completed deals remain on
suppliers the table. This has lead customers to react and engage with suppliers in a very different way.
Can one type of sales Among different profiles of sales executives, the one that has a much higher chance of being successful today, p. 8
rep make a difference? particularly in complex sales, is the “Challenger”. This is the one who uses a deep understanding of a
customer’s business to serve them and to teach them, pushing their thinking, and providing different views on
how to manage and compete.
The characteristics of Insight Selling is about targeting customers that can act quickly and decisively, teaching them something new p. 9
Insight Selling and provocative about how to compete in their market. Messages are tailored to the specific metrics and
economics of the company and its key individuals. All along, the Challenger is in control of the sales,
pressuring the decision making cycle.
The Insight Selling The best sales conversation present the customer with a compelling story about their business first, teaches p. 10
conversation in practice them a new perspective, connects this with their reality, and then leads to how it can be realized via unique
differentiating capabilities.
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4. Executive summary
The advantages of By proactively proposing a solution tailored to specific customer needs and leveraging your unique p. 11
Insight Selling capabilities, you are more in control. You are likely to gain faster widespread buy-in, to increase your chances
to win the deal, while gaining the loyalty and respect of your customers.
Think about the Insight selling gives you a “Blue Ocean” way of competing where you are in the lead of customer proposals p. 12
possibilities and you play by your own rules.
Winning at Insight Insight selling requires ad-hoc resources, processes, and tools in strategic planning, marketing (insight & ideas p. 13
Selling requires specific generation), sales and HR. Only a handful of large, often international, players are capable of hosting these
capabilities capabilities in-house, particularly in terms of insight generation and the relative ability to create innovative
proposals underlined by a deep industry and customer knowledge.
How can you build these Choosing the right build, buy, rent and partner model depends on the economics of your business, the breadth p. 14
capabilities? of your target markets and your ability to enter an adjacent business in a sustainable way.
Partnering Partnering with a management consulting firm could be the most effective shortcut to building insight-selling p. 15
capabilities.
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5. The problem
Customers don’t need you the way they used to.
Over the last three decades, B2B selling has evolved from a transactional (product-price) approach, to a relationship-
based process, and to a solutions-based model. Today, this way of selling is being challenged by procurement-savvy teams
that cut the grass under your best sales reps’ feet.
Our legacy The new reality
B2B used to be about relationship, product, and Armed and skilled customers make you come
solution selling short in the sales cycle
• Since the 1980’s, best practices in B2B selling and marketing • In the current economic environment, B2B customers have
moved away from the traditional transactional and then learned to buy with greater care and reluctance than ever
relationship-based approach to a more solutions-oriented one. before.
• Sales reps have become experts at discovering customers’ needs • With increasingly sophisticated procurement teams and the help
and at selling them “solutions” based on a relatively complex of procurement consultants, B2B customers can readily define
combination of products and services. solutions for themselves.
• Part of the deal is to find and nurture an “anchor” within the • According to a recent study*, nearly 60% of a typical purchasing
customer organization who can help navigate the company and decision – researching solutions, ranking options, setting
drive the deal to completion. requirements, benchmarking pricing, etc. - is completed before
even having a conversation with your sales teams.
• The whole process is focused on attaching your company’s
solution to a customer problem, on justifying why it is better • To win a deal, you have to get ahead of the RFP. But even if you
than the competition, and on providing “evidence and can, it is increasingly no longer sufficient. It is very likely that you
reference” to the expected benefits. will not get away of the RFP process and that you will have to
play by rules set by your customers, or its procurement
consultants.
• Relationships continue to be key, but good relationships are
more the result and not the cause of successful sales.
5 ⎥ Insight Selling and the Challenger Sale - A primer ⎥ http://www.straligence.com/2012/09/24/insight-selling/ (*) CEB research, 2012 – Panel of 1,400 companies

6. The problem
Solutions selling has been the holy grail for a long time…
Solutions selling is largely driven by suppliers’ attempt to escape a dramatically increasing commoditization of their
products and services.
The product-solutions selling continuum
Most companies have the ambition to be
positioned as solutions providers
Advice & Needs-Based Customer Fully
Silo-Based Product
Service Wrap- Product Process Integrated
Product Sales Bundling
Around Customization Enhancement Partnership
Product Solutions
Selling Selling
Nature of Supplier reacts to purchase orders Supplier viewed as a trusted advisor
relationship
Selling Strong knowledge of product portfolio Boardroom-level engagement with customer
skills
Customer Quality product / service at good price Strategic insight on the customer’s business
expectations
A shift to solution selling results in customers’ expecting you to actually “solve” a real problem and not just to supply a reliable product.
This implies that you not only understand the customer’s underlying problems or challenges as well if not better than they do themselves, but also
that you can identify new and better means of addressing those challenges, articulate clear benefits form using limited resources, and determine
the right metrics to measure success.
6 ⎥ Insight Selling and the Challenger Sale - A primer ⎥ http://www.straligence.com/2012/09/24/insight-selling/ Straligence, Adapted from CEB research, 2012

7. The problem
… but it has increasingly become a burden to both customers and suppliers
Selling ever bigger, more complex, disruptive, and expensive solutions requires a lot of “discovery” time and effort, from
both sides. The result is a “solutions fatigue”: traditional, time-tested sales techniques have become a burden to both
customers and suppliers, and an alarming number of half-completed deals remain on the table. This has lead customers to
react and engage with suppliers in a very different way.
Solutions Fatigue Customer buying trends
The solutions-based discovering process Customers have been taking initiatives and four major trends are
has become a burden emerging
• What is keeping you up at night? What are your 1 Consensus-based sales 2 Increased risk aversion
competing challenges?
• The payoff of complex solution is • The uncertainty of a pay-off in large
• The problem with providing an answer to these uncertain and C-level executives and complex deals pushes
questions is that it can often take the feel of a increasingly require the widespread executives to ask for a shared-risk
protracted ping-pong match between the supplier support of their teams in a large and reward agreement. Here the
and the customer. purchase decision. This leads to lead KPI is the performance of a
even longer selling efforts to align customer’s business, not the one of
• The customer explains their needs, the rep
the interests of all involved parties. the supplier’s product or service.
summarizes their understanding, the customer
confirms whether or not the rep got it right; a 3 Greater demand for customization 4 The rise of third party consultants
proposal is made, the customer reviews and amends
it, and on and on. • A solution approach implies that • Customers increasingly rely to a
customers look for an offer that is neutral third-party to “extract
• This requires a huge amount of customer tailored to their needs. They see maximum value” from the purchase
involvement at an early stage… before they see any customization as part of the decision, i.e. help them reduce the
value. solution, and do not intend to pay a risks, costs and complexity linked to
premium for it. To the sell-side, this the solution. Needless to say, this
implies longer times and higher adds pressure to the sales rep and
efforts and costs. can extend the sales cycle.
7 ⎥ Insight Selling and the Challenger Sale - A primer ⎥ http://www.straligence.com/2012/09/24/insight-selling/ Straligence, Adapted from CEB research, 2012

8. Searching for a solution
Can one type of sales rep make a difference?
Among different profiles of sales executives, the one that has a much higher chance of being successful today, particularly
in complex sales, is the “Challenger”. This is the one who uses a deep understanding of a customer’s business to serve
them and to teach them, pushing their thinking, and providing different views on how to manage and compete.
The Relationship The The The The
Builder Problem Solver Hard Worker Lone Wolf Challenger
• Builds & nurtures • Highly reliable in • Always willing to go • Tends to follow own • Always has a
strong advocates in responding to the extra mile. instincts instead of different view.
the customer internal and external • Doesn’t give up the rules. • Has a deep
organization. stakeholders. easily. • Self-assured. understanding of the
• Generous in giving • Detail oriented. • Self-motivated. • Difficult to control. customer’s business.
Sales Profiles time to help others. • Ensures that all • Interested in • Loves to debate.
• Gets along with problems are solved. feedback and • Pushes the customer.
everyone. development.
7% 12% 17% 25% 39%
Top performers The highest percentage of top sales performers is found under the Challenger profile
High
Low
In complex environments, the Challenger is by far the profile that is most likely to succeed. The Relationship
Complexity of Builder is highly unlikely to succeed in complex sales environments.
sales In environments with low complexity, the most successful profiles are the Hard Worker and the Lone Wolf.
INSIGHT SELLING
8 ⎥ Insight Selling and the Challenger Sale - A primer ⎥ http://www.straligence.com/2012/09/24/insight-selling/ Straligence, Adapted from CEB research, 2012

9. Insight selling
The Characteristics of Insight selling
Insight Selling is about targeting customers that can act quickly and decisively, teaching them something new and
provocative about how to compete in their market. Messages are tailored to the specific metrics and economics of the
company and its key individuals. All along, the Challenger is in control of the sales, pressuring the decision making cycle.
Insight vs Solution Selling • Targeting based on the potential for change, not to
buy. Focus on customers that can act quickly and
Traditional solution selling is based on finding a hook to a decisively, that are not paralyzed by structures or
TARGET
recognized need. Insight selling challenges the customer relationships that hamper change.
and makes it aware of unknown needs. • Firms where demand is emerging, pushed by
organizational or market/industry drivers.
Solution Selling Insight Selling
• Delivering insight that reframes the way customers
Target Has a clear vision and Is agile, has emerging think about their business and their needs.
customer established demands. demands, or is in a state of TEACH • Teaching customers something new, thought
flux. provocative, and valuable about how to compete in
their market.
Info What need is the customer What unrecognized need
requirements seeking to address? does the customer have?
• Communicate sales messages in the context of the
Engagement After the customer has Before the customer has customer, focusing on customer value drivers,
timing identified a problem that the pinpointed a problem. TAILOR economics and performance indicators.
supplier can solve. • Messages are tailored to different types of functions
and individuals within an organization.
Focus of the Ask, understand the Offer provocative insight
conversation customer’s need and find a about what the customer
“hook” for your solution. should do. • Using control, diplomacy, and empathy, the Challenger
pushes the customer out of its comfort zone, focusing
Flow of Asking questions so that the Coach the customer about TAKE on the value added, not on price discounts.
information customer can steer you how to buy, and support it CONTROL • Challengers pressure the customer’s decision making
through the purchasing through the process. cycle to reach a decision more quickly and kill
process. ‘indecision inertia”.
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10. Insight selling
Insight selling in practice
The best sales conversation present the customer with a compelling story about their business first, teaches them a new
perspective, connects this with their reality, and then leads to how it can be realized via unique differentiating
capabilities.
The insight-based sales pitch
Present what’s Why your solution
Warm up Reframe Rationalize Bind emotionally needed is unique
1 2 3 4 5 6
Leverage Fear Make the Demonstrate
Surprise with a Present the
Build credibility: Uncertainty & customer see the how your
new perspective, capabilities
“I know your Doubt via data challenge solution is better
making them required to seize
world” based on value /opportunity as than anyone
wanting more the opportunity
drivers their own else’s
• Present industry • Introduce a new • Lay out the • Paint a picture of • Point by point • Introduce the
challenges perspective that business case why how other review of the capabilities that are
experienced by connects challenges the new companies went specific capabilities truly unique to your
similar companies. to either a bigger perspective is down the same the customer would organization and
• Introduce your problem or a bigger worth considering. road by connecting need to grow, to that can help the
assessment of the opportunity than • Leverage data that the pains in the save money, or to customer seize the
customer’s key the one the directly connects to story to the pains in mitigate risks. opportunity and/or
challenges. customer ever the customer’s the customer face the challenge.
• Leverage realized. economic drivers, organization.
benchmarking. i.e. present ROI in
terms of solving the
challenge, not on
buying a solution.
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11. Insight selling
The advantages of Insight selling
By proactively proposing a solution tailored to specific customer needs and leveraging your unique capabilities, you are
more in control. You are likely to gain faster widespread buy-in, to increase your chances to win the deal, while gaining
the loyalty and respect of your customers.
Before the deal After the deal
You proactively pitch to your own unique strengths Insight selling strongly drives customer’s loyalty
Greatest • Supplier has widespread
Accelerate • Much of the heavy lifting is done before drivers of  Helps me avoid support across my organization
loyalty potential land
time to individual reps go in front of the customer, • Supplier is easy
• Helps me shorten mines
decision considerably reducing “solution-fatigue”. the buying cycle  Helps me
to buy from
navigate  Offers unique,
• Matches alternatives valuable
• With a pitch tailored to the specific interests of communication perspectives on the
Increase and the company, those who most benefit from it to my • Collaborates with the market
preferences other suppliers  Educates me on new
accelerate become your internal advocates and allies within issues and outcomes
widespread the customer organization. They help you sell • Portrays a realistic  Provides ongoing
support your proposal to the different stakeholders. picture of purchase advice or
DECISION costs & difficulties consultation
MAKERS • Excels in
diagnosing our  Helps me
• As you craft a proposal that combines customer’s specific needs • Helps me improve quantify
my professional financial
Increase your challenges and your unique capabilities, you are • Remains readily standing and meet value
accessible KPIs
chances of less likely to go through a competitive bid, incl.
winning the formalities of the procurement department • Advocates for me within
• Supplier adjusts to the organization
and/or third parties. our unique needs and
• Proactively specifications • Demonstrates a
Weakest accelerates decision high level of
• As you are being proactive, you are more in drivers of making professionalism
loyalty
Take control control of the sales process, guiding the
customer on how to make it happen. Weakest drivers of Greatest drivers of
loyalty loyalty
END USERS AND INFLUENCERS
11 ⎥ Insight Selling and the Challenger Sale - A primer ⎥ http://www.straligence.com/2012/09/24/insight-selling/ Straligence, Adapted from CEB research, 2012

12. Insight selling
Think about the possibilities
Insight selling gives you a “Blue Ocean” way of competing where you are in the lead of customer proposals and you play
by your own rules.
Imagine if you could:
• Know your customers’ industry as well as, or even better than, they know it themselves.
• Combine the strengths of a management consulting and research firm with your unique business capabilities.
• Trigger a series of workshops together with key customer executives to challenge the status quo and imagine new opportunities.
• Proactively propose insightful solutions to multiple industries and customers, widening your portfolio of opportunities and increasing
your win rates.
• Keep competitors at bay by proposing solutions that strongly fit your unique capabilities with the economics and operational/growth
targets of your customers.
• Turn the sales process upside-down by having customers come to you for your unique advantage instead of having your sales-reps
make cold calls.
Imagine if you had the insight and capabilities of
a management consulting firm in your go to market model.
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13. Organizing for Insight Selling
Winning at Insight Selling requires specific capabilities
Insight selling requires ad-hoc resources, processes, and tools in strategic planning, marketing (insight & ideas
generation), sales and HR. Only a handful of large, often international, players are capable of hosting these capabilities in-
house, particularly in terms of insight generation and the relative ability to create innovative proposals underlined by a
deep industry and customer knowledge.
Multinational Large national Small – Medium
Area / Function Capability / Requirements player player player
• Differentiating capabilities that are clearly defined, understood and
Strategic communicated.
Planning
• Target industries and customers segmented also based on needs.
• Ability to leverage insight and supporting data across industries and markets.
Insight & Ideas
• Ability to generate and quantify customer-specific insight, incl. competitive,
Generation Machine
financial, operational challenges.
• Innovation capabilities to define a new point of view on the customer’s business,
(Marketing,
products, business model, etc.
Sales, R&D,
• Ability to quantify the economic impact of your proposal on your customer’s
Operations, Accounts
bottom line.
Mgmt, etc.)
• Ability to define the impact of your proposal on your customer’s organization.
• Processes and sales metrics adapted to insight selling.
Sales
• Sales culture supporting insight-selling and “Challengers”.
• Performance metrics and processes that include a link to the customer’s business
Post-Sales
or operational performance.
• Recruitment process optimized to hire “Challengers”.
HR • Marketing and business development staff capable of supporting sales rep in the
identification of new opportunities and the generation of new insight and proposals.
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14. Organizing for Insight Selling
How can you build these capabilities?
Choosing the right build, buy, rent and partner model depends on the economics of your business, the breadth of your
target markets and your ability to enter an adjacent business in a sustainable way.
Description / Example Issues, who is it for
• Recruit industry professionals and consultants in view of
• Time and effort required to build the team and
creating a dedicated team responsible for generating insight
supporting processes and tools.
Build and supporting your sales reps.
• Suitable if you are restricting your activities to a highly
• Equip the team with the industry databases, knowledge
specialized niche market.
tools, and processes required to perform their analysis.
• Potential cultural mismatch jeopardizing your
• Acquire a specialized consultancy with the skills and
effectiveness and return on investment.
resources to generate insight in the markets you compete in.
Buy • Suitable if you are restricting your activities to a specific
• Acquire and extend the industry databases and knowledge
market and have a high-margin business justifying the
tools required to generate insight.
investment.
• Address conflicts of interest cased by the core business
• Partner with a consulting firm that is capable of covering of the partner, i.e. consulting activities with your target
Rent your industries with rented resources and tools. customers.
• Ad-hoc collaboration, typically on a time and material basis. • Suitable for ad-hoc, large strategic pursuits, and new
market / services development.
• Relatively independent go-to-market JV leveraging the • Willingness of consulting firm to limit its services to your
JV / Alliance
capabilities of the consulting firm and your key company and your markets.
competences. • Suitable if you cover a large number of customers in
• Collaboration based on a shared risk-revenue model. multiple industries.
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15. Opportunity
Partnering
Partnering with a management consulting firm could be the most effective shortcut to building insight-selling capabilities.
INSIGHT-BASED GO TO MARKET
Your teams Marketing and
Solution specialists Sales
business development support
Co-development Development of Collaboration
Ad-hoc research Facilitation of
of insight with industry thought with your teams
on customer innovation
your leadership on proactive
Consulting firm’s industries, workshops with
marketing, sales collateral for proposals and
services markets and your customers
and technical sales & marketing on answering
customers and your staff
staff efforts competitive bids
On demand, based on your specific needs
Collaboration Medium to long term partnership linked to a specific industry / market
mode
Partnerships – Joint Venture
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16. www.straligence.com
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