The Challenger Sale

Todd
 
Burner
Todd Burner served as the day-to-day project manager on
both the 2009 
Replicating
study as well as the 2010
Building
study. As team leader, Todd devoted more time to
these research studies—including countless early morning,
late evening, and weekend hours—than anybody on the
team. A perfectionist at heart, Todd held his team to an
incredibly high bar, knowing that only the most insightful
content was worthy of our members’ time and attention.
Without Todd’s intellectual rigor, commitment to excellence, and dedication
to his team, it is doubtful that these studies would have been delivered on
time, let alone at the standard they were. A gifted business leader, Todd
currently serves as a research director in CEB’s IT practice.
WITH SINCERE THANKS

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Beyond the principal contributors to this research, there is a long list of
individuals and organizations without whose commitment and support this
research and this book would never have seen the light of day.
First, we owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to the leadership of our
firm, especially our chairman and CEO, Tom Monahan, and the general
manager of our Sales & Service practice and Marketing & Communications
practice, Haniel Lynn. It was their commitment to our company’s core
values, especially what we call the “Force of Ideas,” that kept the
organization steadfastly focused on delivering major, groundbreaking
research to our members, even in the depths of the recession when it might
have been easier and more expedient to focus resources elsewhere.
With the support of Tom, Haniel, and our company’s senior leadership,
we were able to concentrate the firepower of a truly awesome research team
on discovering and defining the Challenger Selling Model. Specifically, we
wish to thank current researchers Jamie Kleinerman, Victoria Koval, Patrick
Loftus, Patrick Spenner, and Josh Setzer; we also wish to thank current
CEB Sales Leadership Council director Nick Toman, who has continued to
lead the team in exploring the Challenger Selling Model and building
resources to help our members implement it within their own organizations.
We also owe a tremendous amount to a number of former CEB
researchers who each had a profound impact on the work in this book: Mary
Detterick, Brianna Goode, Jason Grimm, Rob Hamshar, Hadley Heffernan,
Andrew Kent, Aaron Lotton, Ashok Nachnani, Laurel Nguyen, Woody
Paik, Tom Svrcek, Alex Tserelov, and Barry Winer.
Beyond the research team, we are supported by an all-star cast of
executive advisers who bring the content to life for our members. The
advisory function, which is headed by Tom Disantis for our Sales & Service
practice and Katherine Evans for our Marketing & Communications
practice, plays a critical role in the research process at CEB. In addition to
Tom and Katherine, advisers who’ve heavily influenced this work include
Dave Anderson, Anthony Anticole, Anthony Belloir, Jonathan Dietrich,
Michael Hubble, Doug Hutton, Meta Karagianni, Rick Karlton, Matt Kiel,
Ted McKenna, Peter Pickus, and Stacey Smith.
Where our member advisers leave off, our professional services team
delivering CEB sales effectiveness solutions picks up. They customized
engagement-level support to companies looking to implement any and all of

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the elements of the Challenger Selling Model. Led by Executive Director
Nathan Blain, Practice Leader Simon Frewer, and Member Services Leader
Sean Carr, the team is a world-class outfit, and the offering they have
created in this space, the Challenger Development Program, is the envy of
the industry.
Beyond these three individuals, many collegues from our professional
services team including Joe Bisagna, Charlie Dorrier, and Jason Robinson
provided ongoing feedback on this work. On this point, Jessica Cash
deserves a special thank-you for spending countless hours with this
manuscript, helping us to significantly sharpen the teaching and insights
contained herein. We also owe a tremendous amount to the facilitators who
deliver CEB sales effective solutions—former sales and marketing leaders
from our member companies, such as Tyrone Edwards, former head of
North American sales at Merck, and Drew Pace, former head of sales at
Bank of New York Mellon—who have continued to help us spread the word
about the Challenger Selling Model and refine our thinking on what it
means to take control of the customer conversation.
Ours is a unique craft and we and our teams rely heavily on the thought
leadership and mentorship of those in our company who are best at what we
do. Eric Braun is the head of research for our Sales & Service practice and
Marketing & Communications practice and has been intimately involved in
the Challenger research, alternately serving not just as chief of research
quality control but as insight “Zen master” to our team. His fingerprints are
all over this research, and the end result is much better for it.
Before Eric assumed this role, we had the privilege of studying under
several research legends and masters of the “CEB Way,” including Pope
Ward, Tim Pollard, Derek van Bever, and Chris Miller. At different points
in time over the past decade, these individuals taught us what it means to
deliver research and insight worthy of our members’ time and attention.
Last but not least, we are indebted to our own commercial team at CEB.
Very early on, we were fortunate to be able to tap into the experiences and
insights of our own “homegrown” Challengers such as Kevin Hart and
Kristen Rachinsky. These individuals let us sit in on their sales calls and
endured our many questions about why they sell the way they do.
Outside of CEB, we of course owe thanks to Neil Rackham, author of