October 2016 ~ Philippe Lignac's Blog

The Challenger Sale: Five Steps To Implementing Commercial Teaching in Your Sales Presentation

After extensive research across a whole range of industries, CEB discovered that successful salespeople challenge their customers by not simply responding to their needs but actually redefining them. A good challenger provides insight, helps a customer avoid pitfalls, and offers products and services that the client doesn’t even know exist. This technique is called “Commercial Teaching,” and any teacher will tell you, it’s all about your presentation.

Philippe Lignac has been in the business of building engaging presentations and other marketing/sales collateral for over three decades. He believes that companies can achieve better results with well-constructed and well-designed presentations. Applying the lessons of The Challenger Sale and Commercial Teaching to your presentation can add additional levels of insight and persuasiveness and is another step toward more memorable presentations.

Here are some tips you can use to build content for each step of the presentation.

Step 1 – The Warmer

“I understand what you’re going through.”

Philippe Lignac Sales Director MDSL Procurcon Amsterdam

Most presenters love to start by talking about who they are and what they do. Unfortunately, leading off with talking about yourself doesn’t work any better in a client meeting than it does on a first date. If you show your audience you understand them, they will start to pay attention.

Here’s how you actually want to break the ice (no promises any of this will help your dating life):

Establish relevance. Address some typical problems they might be dealing with to show you understand where they’re coming from.
Demonstrate expertise. Show that you have the experience to understand what they’re dealing with and convey it with polished and professional visuals.
Create curiosity. Keep the slide content sparse to encourage open discourse, and build suspense.
Use interactivity. Interactive content is a great way to get the audience to start talking because they can decide what pain points they want to talk about.

Right now, the Commercial Teaching approach might not feel as comfortable as leading with your company’s highlight reel, but if you set the tone with thoughtful conversation instead of self-promotion, and it will pay off later.

Philippe Lignac Sales Director MDSL Procurecon Amsterdam

Step 2 – The Reframe

"The problem behind your problem."

Now that your audience is all warmed up, don’t just respond to their needs, redefine them. Time to break the news that their problems will not be solved with the solution they’ve imagined.

Stay relevant. Address the concerns they found most relevant during the warmer.
Be surprising. Make their heads spin with your new point-of-view focused on the true source of their problem.
Show excitement. Use bold graphics and animation to add drama.
Deliver with poise. Practice in the mirror. This is the most dramatic part of your presentation and also the riskiest because it is meant to shock. Make sure sticks quickly like a good punchline.

If all goes well, your audience will advance from mild curiosity to a strong emotional connection. Now they should be paying attention

Philippe Lignac Sales Director MDSL Procurecon Amsterdam

Step 3 – Rational Drowning

"Not just shocking, also true."

The Rational Drowning stage is all about backing up your Reframe with solid data. It’s very easy to get this far and want to immediately want start promoting your Product. Why not just get to the good part? Just because you laid it out brilliantly, doesn’t mean you have buy-in yet.

That’s why you need to hold off on the self-promotion a little longer and make sure they are completely sold on the problem by giving them the facts that back you up.

Make clear connections. Play off the visuals from the Warmer and the Reframe to leave no doubt.
Visualize data. Use visual metaphors to represent the information in a memorable way (avoid complex tables and charts).
Check for understanding. Make sure they get it before you move on. It’s ok to go back and review again.
Keep it rational. Build trust by engaging the left side of their brains. Every visual should serve a purpose here. No artistic flourishes. Just visual representations of data.

If you did it right, you proved your point with data and gave a clear display of expertise. By presenting information in a visual and engaging format, they will value your insight and how it makes them better at their job.

Philippe Lignac Sales Director MDSL

Step 4 – Emotional Impact

"Objects in mirror appear different now."

During a successful Emotional Impact step, your audience will feel personally connected to your presentation because you’re giving them a scenario that resembles their own situation. Once your client sees that connection, they will conclude it’s no longer an option to continue to do things the same old way.

Relate to pain. The emotional impact will come from your ability to connect your story to the pain they feel, so make sure the visuals help you do that.
Do your homework. The research will allow you to anticipate the customer’s challenges and create an appropriately stressful glimpse into the future.
Tell a story. The best way to impart a lesson is to tell a story. Tell the story of ignoring what they just learned.
Use infographics. Customers remember images long after the words fade. When they think about not calling you back, this is the visual they should see in their head.

You’ve challenged and changed the way your audience thinks, and they agree they can’t continue down the same path. For them, this is the darkest point of the presentation, and they are ready for new ideas.

Philippe Lignac Sales Director MDSL - Interview at EMM London

Philippe Lignac Sales Director MDSL

Step 5 – A New Way

"What they've all been waiting for."

With this step, you will feel an immediate release of tension in the room. The audience sees things will get better. You may be tempted to start promoting your product or service right away. Hold off just a little bit longer. You want them fully on board with the solution before introducing anything you’re selling.

Don’t get promotional (yet). Relate the visuals from previous sections to the solution, not to your product.
Alternate ending. You just created Emotional Impact by telling a story with an unhappy ending. Now revise the same visuals to glimpse into a better future if they decide to take action.
It’s still about them. The reaction you want is, “That’s how we should be doing it!”
Repurpose infographics. Since this step is an alternative version of your previous story, think about how you can update the same infographic accordingly.
Take your time. You’re not here to entertain them. You’re here to explain how they can do things better. Wait until they get it before moving on.

Your goal is to educate the audience. Unlike other sales presentations they sit through, this time they will have a better perspective on their problems. You are helping them do their jobs better, and this makes you much more valuable than simply having a good relationship or offering the lowest price

Philippe Lignac Sales Director MDSL - Interview at PEMM London

Philippe Lignac Sales Director MDSL

Step 6 – Your Solution

"We have the tools you need to solve your problem."

Now that you’ve gone through the process of the The Challenger Sale and built your Commercial Teaching presentation, this last part should come easy. If you followed the previous steps correctly, your product will be the perfect fit. Your approach to providing a solution greatly depends on what type of product you offer. A tech company might need a software demo, a financial firm might need a strategy diagram, and a logistics company might need an interactive map. These should be designed well, using the technology that’s the best fit. Whether that’s PowerPoint, an iPad app, or something else, make sure your salespeople have the right tools and know how to use them.

Philippe Lignac Sales Director MDSL - Interview at EMM London

Philippe Lignac Sales Director MDSL

Philippe joined MDSL 10 years ago to launch their Smart TEM solution, and has successfully been helping large organizations in proposing the right solution to better manage their costs, reduce their spend and optimize the way they procure telecom. Prior to this, Philippe enjoyed a flourishing career spanning 20 years, delivering high-tech solutions to large organizations. Since 2005, world leaders like Adidas, Volvo, Unilever, Nokia Networks, Facebook and many others have benefited from the services delivered by MDSL. Philippe continues to be at the forefront of MDSL’s steady growth of 20% per year, which is entirely based on organic development. Philippe is viewed as a thought leader in the Telecom Expense Management (TEM) market and is committed to delivering the right solution to customers and providing technology insight and proficiency.

Philippe Lignac's Blog

Philippe Lignac - discussing sales techniques, sales negotiations, sales management and other business topics

Oct 19, 2016

Sales Techniques - The Challenger Sales Adaptation

The Challenger Sale: Five Steps To Implementing Commercial Teaching in Your Sales Presentation

Step 1 – The Warmer

Step 2 – The Reframe

Step 3 – Rational Drowning

Step 4 – Emotional Impact

Step 5 – A New Way

Step 6 – Your Solution