This White Paper responds to this article, which appeared on the Harvard Business Review Blog. The HBR article introduced a new selling style called the Challenger:
- It categorizes salespeople into 1 of 5 styles.
- It concludes that salespeople who belong to the “Challenger” style dramatically outperform relationship builders.
I agree with the overall premise but there is nothing new here. Objective Management Group, Inc. (OMG) has been identifying great salespeople for 24 years and while we don’t call the best salespeople “Challengers”, we certainly know the blueprint. Their sales DNA, a combination of sales specific skills and strengths -‐ their sales core competencies – are consistent with those of the very best salespeople, the elite 6%. As a matter of fact, OMG has a number for it…