The Challenger Sale

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
PRINCIPAL CONTRIBUTORS
While this book has two authors on the cover, it is, like all CEB studies, the
product of an enormous team undertaking. At the top of the list of
contributors are three individuals who, along with the authors, formed the
core of the research team behind this work:
Karen Freeman
Karen served as research director for CEB Sales
Leadership Council from 2008 to 2010 and was the driving
force and principal thought leader behind the original
Challenger study, 
Replicating
the
New
High
Performer,
in
2009 as well as the follow-on manager effectiveness study,
Building
Sales
Managers
for
a
Return
to
Growth 
in 2010.
It was her unfailing commitment to delivering the most
powerful and provocative research possible—in effect, her
ambition to push the thinking of even our most progressive members—that
ultimately made the Challenger study the most successful ever delivered by
CEB Sales Leadership Council. Karen has also served as research director
for CEB Marketing Leadership Council, and was a recipient of the “Force
of Ideas” award, one of the highest honors bestowed on a CEB employee, in
2010. She is currently CEB’s managing director of learning and
development.
Timur Hicyilmaz

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Timur has served as CEB Sales Leadership Council head
of quantitative research since 2005. In this capacity, he has
been the quant “visionary,” survey designer, and principal
modeler and data analyst behind all of CEB Sales’ major
research initiatives, including all of the major quantitative
studies that underpin the findings discussed in this book.
Timur’s keen quantitative skills are second only to his
incredible capacity for using data to reframe the way
managers think about their organizations and his amazing depth of
knowledge in B2B sales and marketing. Timur currently serves as a senior
director within the Marketing & Communications practice and Sales &
Service practice of CEB, where he continues to oversee all of the practices’
quantitative research. To this day, he is one of our most sought-after
researchers for engaging in member conversations, especially around large-
scale strategic issues.