This time of year, we have the privilege of hearing what our customers are planning for their sales kick off meeting and what they hope to achieve. I love hearing everyone’s plans – some pick themes: “Refuse to Lose,” “Swing for the Fences,” or “Reach for the Stars” are some I’ve heard lately. There are always the giveaways – t-shirts, mousepads, hats, pens, golf shirts, etc. And then all the events and activities to generate buzz and excitement. Casino night anyone?
Many of our customers are rolling out Challenger Selling with the start of the new year. Our customers seem to really like the concept – leveraging insight to foster better value-based conversations is key in this uber competitive buying environment. But they often struggle with how to make it consumable for sales teams and how they can monitor and measure its success.
Here are three ways to make sure your roll out of Challenger, and your sales kick off, is a success:
Don’t go it alone
Successful sales kick-offs are a team effort – but when rolling out Challenger, you need to harness the knowledge of your sales and marketing teams to craft compelling corporate insights and customer stories to support the Challenger Sales approach. Don’t do this in a vacuum. You need to get feedback and insight from the field, and research what’s happening in the market to create truly compelling insights. Then roll them out for sales to customize in their conversations, while monitoring what’s working and what’s not.
Don’t wait for 100%
One of our customers said so eloquently – “80% is good enough.” And he’s right. If you try and perfect the process or method, you’ll never get started and it will seem like a monumental task. Just get started. Then you monitor and adapt as needed. It will never be perfect, but if you have the systems in place to iterate, you’ll improve as you go.
Reinforce
The sales kickoff cannot be a one-time training event. If you think you’ll roll out Challenger, and step back and watch the deals come in, you’re going to be sorely disappointed. Challenger is a BIG shift in approach, and many reps struggle with the change. You need to have programs and systems in place to reinforce the methods well after the memories of kickoff have faded.
Share successes
The best way to help sales reps internalize Challenger is to “show them the money.” Once a rep starts getting traction, showcase what was done and how Challenger was leveraged to close the deal. Once other reps see it will put money in their pocket, they will be quicker to adopt.
We’re lucky to be able to work with our customers to use Qvidian Sales Playbooks to help rollout Challenger Selling. The flexible, adaptable framework allows them to roll it out quickly and iterate as they learn what works (or what doesn’t). The consistent reinforcement on all leads, accounts or opportunities is a friendly reminder for reps on how to approach the sale.
What are your goals for 2014? Are you adopting the Challenger Sales Model?
