
The rep is comfortable discussing money Ĭhallenger sales rep take the customer out of their comfort zone.Īnd they do so with control, diplomacy and empathy.The rep understands economic drivers of the customer’s business.The rep has excellent two-way communication skills.The rep offers customer unique perspective.And this emerging model is something your best sales reps, your Challengers, do as a matter of course.Ħ Characteristics of a Challenger Sales Rep In the emerging Challenger model however, it’s supplier-generated insight that is valuable to the customer. In traditional model, it’s customer-generated intelligence that is valuable to the supplier. However just as important as the direction of the information flow is the nature of the information. The link between stakeholders and decision maker is significantly stronger, and the rep’s ability to influence the sale in C-Suite is not as strong as stakeholders’ ability to do so. In the emerging approach however begins with the rep approaching the stakeholders so he can indirectly approach the decision-maker.

The link between stakeholders and decision makers is relatively weak. In the traditional approach, reps pull information from customer stakeholders to present the decision-maker with a more finely tuned pitch. This further underlines the importance of Challenger sales reps, high-performing individuals who respectfully challenge their customers’ perspectives rather than simply agreeing and responding to the perceived needs of those customers. As sales become more complex the gap between sales performers widen dramatically.
