The Challenger Sale

Beware the “Challenging Won’t Work Here” Trap
A question we get from our members who operate global sales
organizations is whether the Challenger Selling Model is appropriate for
non-Western markets. The root of this question is typically based on the
concern that in certain markets, namely in Asia-Pacific, “challenging” is

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sometimes seen as aggressive, arrogant, and potentially offensive to
customers.
We argue that one of the fundamental precepts of the Challenger model
—that customers reward those organizations and those sales reps who bring
insight
to the table—is true regardless of where you sell or to whom you
sell. This is corroborated not only by our own customer loyalty study,
which included customers from around the world, but also by our members,
many of whom have years of experience managing sales organizations in
overseas markets. The desire for new ideas to help save money or make
money is not limited to Western customers.
However, some concepts likely need to be finessed so sales reps and
managers in certain geographic markets like Asia-Pacific don’t reject them
out of hand. We have found that some Asian sales organizations balk at the
term “Challenger” and don’t like the notion of “teaching” customers. Both
the problem and the solution are semantic in nature. While we would argue
for not watering down the Challenger message by giving it a different
name, it is relatively easy to shift terms like “teaching” to “sharing and
delivering insights.”
One of our members shared her experiences presenting the Challenger
work to her sales teams in China. She was surprised at the unenthusiastic
response to her first few presentations. After three such sessions with local
sales teams, she pulled one of her longtime direct reports aside to ask why
the sales managers and reps didn’t seem excited about the Challenger
concept—after all, their peers in the United States and in Europe were
really fired up about it. Her direct report explained that the sales teams 
did
find the research interesting, but they were concerned about some of the
language. He suggested a slight modification: Add the word “respectfully”
before she said things like “teach,” “challenge,” or “take control.” In the
next session, with this slight modification, she found the sales teams 
much
more engaged throughout the discussion—asking questions and talking
openly about how to “respectfully challenge” their customers’ thinking by
bringing new insights to the discussion.
While challenging holds in non-Western markets, the 
way
in which one
challenges is probably a little different. The way that ideas are introduced to
and discussed with the customer could vary based on cultural patterns of
behavior, but this is no different from the way selling has always been done.

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While the basic principles are the same for every culture, the execution
varies to meet local norms of behavior and dialogue. In other words,
challenge but tailor accordingly!