The Challenger Sale

MAKE SURE YOUR TEACHING PITCH IS
“BOLD”
We see a lot of companies slip into “safe mode” as they develop their
teaching pitches. They might start with something insightful and
genuinely provocative, but as more and more people get their hands on
it internally, it gets watered down to the point where it’s more of a
suggestion than a provocation.
A great tool we’ve seen to ensure that teaching pitches don’t lose
their edge as they work their way through the organization is the “SAFE-
BOLD Framework,” developed by Neil Rackham and KPMG. The
framework functions as a grading exercise for evaluating the strength of
a teaching pitch. To quote Neil and KPMG, “A successful teaching pitch
must do four things well. First, it must be 
big
. Done well, it will be seen
by the customer as more expansive and farther-reaching than an
ordinary idea. Second, it must be 
innovative
. It has to push the envelope

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with new, often untested and unique approaches. Third, it must be 
risky
.
Big ideas mean that we are asking our own companies and our
customers to take a big risk in adopting our idea. And lastly, it must be
difficult
. The idea itself must be hard to do—either because of scale,
uncertainty, or politics—otherwise, why would a customer hire you to fix
it for them?”
The framework is a simple tool that forces you to grade a potential
teaching pitch along these four dimensions. The best ideas will score
closer to the “BOLD” end of the continuum—they will be big, they will
outperform (from a riskiness perspective), they will be leading-edge (in
terms of innovation), and they will be difficult to implement for the
customer. At the other end of the spectrum are the “SAFE” ideas, which,
in contrast, are small, feel easily achievable (in terms of risk), are
“follower” ideas (versus progressive, innovative ideas), and are seen as
easy to implement.
Source: KPMG, Neil Rackham.