The Challenger Customer

1. Customer Consensus is the New Commercial Battleground

Much of the commoditization pressure suppliers face today isn’t the result of customers’ willingness to settle for “good enough,” it’s their failure to agree on anything more.

The 1 of 3 Problem. Suppliers often find themselves in a frustrating scenario where they are one of three considered, yet forced to compete solely on price, eroding margins and hindering growth. This isn't due to a lack of perceived value, but rather the customer's internal struggle to achieve consensus on a premium solution.

The Rise of the 5.4. The average number of stakeholders involved in a B2B purchase has increased to 5.4, each with diverse perspectives, priorities, and levels of knowledge. This diversity, while potentially beneficial, often leads to dysfunction, indecision, and a reversion to the lowest common denominator.

Diversity Drives Dysfunction. As stakeholder diversity increases, so does the likelihood of internal conflict, disagreements, and an inability to collaborate effectively. This dysfunction stems from divergent mental models, where stakeholders struggle to find common ground and agree on a shared vision.

2. Mobilizers: The Key to Unlocking Consensus

To win today, you need a Challenger inside the customer organization.

Beyond Advocates. Traditional "coaches" or "champions" are no longer sufficient in today's complex buying environment. Suppliers need to identify and equip a special breed of customer stakeholder: Mobilizers.

Mobilizer Defined. Mobilizers are individuals focused on marshaling internal resources and buy-in, compelling their colleagues to think and act beyond the status quo, irrespective of supplier. They are change agents who can navigate internal politics and drive consensus.

Mobilizer Profiles. Mobilizers come in three distinct flavors:

• Go-Getters: Pragmatic project managers focused on results.
• Teachers: Visionary communicators who inspire others.
• Skeptics: Cautious analysts who demand proof and rigor.

3. Commercial Insight: The Catalyst for Change

In the end, what has long seemed to salespeople like a well-designed strategy to “stick it to suppliers” or beat them up on price is more often than not a function of a far less sinister but arguably infinitely more intractable problem: the inability of customer stakeholders themselves to achieve broad agreement on a common course of action in the first place.

Beyond Thought Leadership. Commercial Insight goes beyond simply providing information or expertise. It challenges customers' existing beliefs and assumptions, revealing previously unseen opportunities or risks.

The A-to-B Framework. Commercial Insight involves breaking down the customer's current mental model (A) and building up a new, more compelling vision (B). This process creates cognitive dissonance and motivates them to change.

Commercial Insight Defined. It's insight that meets the “frame-breaking” bar, but simultaneously leads the customer back to that particular supplier as the only one able to help them take action on that insight.

4. Unteaching: The Art of Reshaping Customer Beliefs

Insight, in other words, isn’t designed just to teach customers something new that they’ve never thought before, but to unteach them something that they already have.

Challenging the Status Quo. The most effective way to drive change is not to simply present new information, but to challenge customers' existing beliefs and assumptions. This involves "unteaching" them something they already think they know.

The Power of Contrast. Commercial Insight highlights the cost of inaction, demonstrating how customers' current behaviors are costing them time, money, or opportunities. This creates a sense of urgency and motivates them to seek a better solution.

Building and Breaking Mental Models. Mental models are the underlying beliefs and assumptions that drive customer behavior. To change behavior, suppliers must first understand and then challenge these mental models, replacing them with a new, more compelling vision.

5. Tailoring: From Individual Resonance to Group Convergence

If suppliers don’t create convergence, their customers will.

Two Types of Tailoring. In the consensus-based sale, tailoring takes on two distinct forms:

• Individual Tailoring: Connecting with Mobilizers on a personal level, understanding their motivations and priorities.
• Group Tailoring: Aligning diverse stakeholders around a shared vision, creating a common understanding of the problem and the solution.

The Limits of Individual Resonance. While individual tailoring is essential for winning over Mobilizers, it is insufficient for driving high-quality deals. Suppliers must also find ways to connect those Mobilizers to the rest of the buying group.

Building a Collective Yes. The goal is to create a "Collective Yes," where all stakeholders are aligned on a common vision and committed to a shared course of action. This requires a shift from tailoring to win individual buy-in to tailoring to win organizational consensus.

6. Collective Learning: The Path to Shared Understanding

Unlike customer diversity, which is largely out of suppliers’ control, customer dysfunction is something they can do something about.

Beyond Individual Buy-In. The key to unlocking consensus is Collective Learning, where stakeholders explore, debate, and build on each other's perspectives, finding points of unrecognized agreement and arriving at a shared decision.

Reducing Dysfunction. Collective Learning reduces group dysfunction by fostering a common language, encouraging mutual understanding, clarifying group objectives, and overcoming individual biases. This creates a more functional buying group capable of making informed decisions.

The Power of Norming. Collective Learning facilitates "norming," where stakeholders learn from one another and establish collective expectations. This process leads to a shared vision and a commitment to a common course of action.

7. Taking Control: Guiding the Purchase Journey

If a purchase decision is going to stall, more likely than not it’s going to stall far earlier than most suppliers would anticipate, particularly if they’re focused only on watching for signs of customer disagreement around the value of their offering.

Beyond Selling, Facilitating. In a 5.4 world, suppliers must shift from simply presenting their solutions to actively facilitating customer learning and consensus-building. This involves understanding stakeholder power structures, managing productive debate, and guiding the group towards a shared vision.

Commercial Coaching. Suppliers must coach Mobilizers on how to navigate the internal landscape, address stakeholder concerns, and build support for the proposed solution. This involves providing them with the tools, resources, and guidance they need to succeed.

The Importance of Bounding. While prompting stakeholders to share their concerns is essential, it's equally important to bound the conversation, focusing on specific challenges and objectives. This prevents the group from becoming overwhelmed and reverting to the lowest common denominator.

8. Demand Mobilization: Shifting from Lead Generation to Insight-Driven Engagement

If we don’t understand how these groups of people work together—if we sell only at the individual level and not simultaneously at the collective level—there’s a good chance we’ll miss what has become the most important dynamic in B2B selling today: finding a way to connect the diverse individuals that comprise a buying group around a higher-level vision than where they’re most likely to land on their own.

Beyond Lead Generation. Traditional demand generation efforts often focus on generating leads that are "ready to buy," neglecting the importance of shaping demand and creating high-quality leads. This approach can lead to commoditization and smaller deals.

Mobilizing Demand. A new approach is needed that focuses on mobilizing demand by engaging Mobilizers early, challenging their mental models, and equipping them to drive consensus within their organizations. This involves creating content paths that confront and connect stakeholders.

Rethinking Lead Scoring. Lead-scoring criteria should be adjusted to reflect confrontation and connection, rewarding leads that have been "disrupted" by content and that have connected buying group stakeholders to one another. This shifts the focus from purchase readiness to mental model disruption and stakeholder alignment.

9. Marketing Talent: Cultivating the Skills for Insight-Driven Success

Commercial Insight isn’t an individual sales technique nearly as much as organizational commercial strategy.

Beyond Digital Skills. While digital skills are important, marketing teams also need to cultivate skills related to Commercial Insight creation, such as customer understanding, investigative abilities, and business acumen.

The Customer Native. The best Commercial Insight marketers possess a deep understanding of their customers, their motivations, their decisions, how they speak, and what they're thinking. This allows them to anticipate customer needs and challenge their existing beliefs.

Cocreative Teams. Building and deploying Commercial Insight is a team sport that requires collaboration between marketing, sales, product, and other functions. These teams must foster an environment where sharing and building on one another's ideas is encouraged.

10. Managing Blockers: Neutralizing Resistance and Fostering Agreement

You’ve got to have more than someone to talk to. You need someone willing to own the vision and make things happen.

The Blocker Challenge. Blockers are customer stakeholders who actively resist change and try to prevent deals from closing. They can derail consensus-building efforts and undermine even the most promising opportunities.

Strategies for Managing Blockers. Suppliers must proactively identify and manage Blockers, using a range of strategies:

• Social Pressure: Leveraging influencers and Collective Learning to encourage Blockers to reconsider their position.
• Tailored Dialogue: Communicating directly with Blockers, addressing their concerns and highlighting the benefits of the proposed solution.
• Targeted Concessions: Altering the deal to address specific Blocker concerns without compromising the overall value proposition.
• Escalation: Involving senior leaders to overrule Blocker influence (a last resort).

The Importance of Proactivity. Ignoring Blockers is not an option. Suppliers must actively engage and manage them to prevent them from derailing deals and undermining consensus.

Last updated: February 7, 2025