The Challenger Sale

Step 2: The Reframe
This is 
the
central moment of a Commercial Teaching pitch, as the entire
conversation pivots off what you’re about to do next.
Building off the challenges your customer just acknowledged in step 1,
you now introduce a new perspective that connects those challenges to
either a bigger problem or a bigger opportunity than they ever realized they
had. Mind you, you’re not expected to actually come up with the insight in
the moment. For reasons we addressed in the previous section, that kind of
spontaneous flash of brilliance is not only too hard, it’s actually a bad idea.
Rather, this is something you’ve come well prepared to discuss. (In fact, it
may have been a brief mention of this insight that won you the visit in the
first place.) That said, at this point, your goal isn’t to lay out the
explanations and implications of the insight in any great detail—that will
come in a few minutes. Rather, the Reframe is simply about the insight
itself. It’s just the headline. And like any good headline, your goal is to
catch your customer off guard with an unexpected viewpoint—to surprise
them, make them curious, and get them wanting to hear more.
Remember, the reaction you’re looking for here is definitively not,
“Yes! I totally agree! That’s exactly what we’re working on!” but rather,
“Huh, I never thought of it that way before.” If your customer’s first
reaction to your insight is enthusiastic agreement, then you haven’t actually
taught them anything. And that’s a dangerous place to be. Sure, it always
feels great when your customer says, “I agree!” But if you’ve just
articulated a problem they’ve already thought of, chances are pretty good
they’ve already thought of a solution too. At best, you’re now “teaching at
the margins.” Doing this is actually bad for 
two
reasons. First, if you fail to

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provide unique insight, then you fail to provide unique value. Second, if
your customers have already begun to consider possible solutions, you’ve
lost a significant opportunity to skew their thinking toward your solution.
Practically speaking, it’s like failing to get ahead of the RFP. You’re
responding
to customers’ needs rather than 
defining
them. And that’s a
recipe for increased commoditization.
If you’re going to reframe, then be sure you really reframe. This is not
the place to be timid, as the entire approach rests on your ability to surprise
your customer and make them curious for more information. You’ve just
bought yourself another five minutes. So what’s next? Well, you’ve shown
your customer a different way to think about their business, now you’ve got
to show them why it matters.