An effective challenger sales deck is made up of different building blocks that come together to tell a compelling and persuasive story.
Bring measurable insight: The first thing you peru dial code need is measurable insight to grab the attention and get the prospect to realise that you can add value in your meeting.
Show the status quo isn’t safe: Next you build on this insight to show that the status quo isn’t safe – ignoring an issue brings risk, or losses, or perhaps being left behind. You need to make it clear that the fact that the status quo is no longer safe isn’t the fault of the prospect – they aren’t stupid for finding themselves where they are. You don’t want them to get defensive. Rather, the world has slowly changed, and now they need to change too.
Introduce an exciting new world: at the end of the tunnel. Contrast the unsafe status quo with the shiny and beautiful new world that’s possible. You don’t directly talk about your solution at this point, but rather about the category that your solution sits within.
Make it all believable: And then finally, you try to make your claims believable. You show that changing does deliver what you say it will – less risk, lower costs, greater revenue – and you do that with stories, testimonials, analyst insights, or even customer data.
If you want to learn more about the challenger method and how you can apply it to your own sales decks then our blog post – How to make the ULTIMATE sales presentation – is a great place to start.
This ‘challenger’ model for sales and sales presentations is widespread. Yet, according to Matthew Dixon, the author of The Challenger Sale, and a newer book The Jolt Effect, around 40-60% of deals today end up stalled in no-decision. In other words, everyone learned how to disrupt the status quo, how to be a challenger, but the status quo is still winning.