The Champion Sell (Book Synopsis)

The Champion Sell (2023) teaches five "elite" sales habits that build buyer champions who help win deals. The book asserts that buyer champions are vital to winning deals; in fact, the mantra of the book is: no champion, no deal. These habits create the following in a buyer champion: emotional connection, leading vision, inspiration, trust, and empowerment.

Audience and Goal

This book is for anyone who is serious about their sales craft that wants to make life-changing money. It's applicable to both individual sellers and sales managers at any level of experience.

Definitions

“Elite sellers” are maniacal qualifiers who take the emotion out of the sell. Elite sellers target one or more people within the prospect company who can become buyer champions. A buyer champion is someone that can persuade the economic buyer and other key stakeholders to make a purchase. The economic buyer is someone that can commit to a purchase. Other key stakeholders are people that can prefer a purchase and make consensus in support of a purchase, but they cannot commit to a purchase.

(E): Emotional Connection

People make buying decisions--not companies. And people have emotions. People make buying decisions in this order: survive, thrive, and think. Will this purchase help me survive? Will it help me thrive? And how? The first two stages are emotional and the last one is intellectual. Buyers go through these three stages at every step of the buying process, whether the seller is prospecting, demonstrating, or negotiating. An elite seller knows when and how to make an emotional connection with a buyer; they know when and how to engage a buyer's intellect.

Build an emotional connection through prospecting messaging and discovery and presentation meetings.

Prospecting Messaging

For each buyer role or persona, define the problems they’re trying to solve and positive outcomes they desire and relate those facts to the solution you provide. By mentioning the prospect’s problems, this caters to their need to survive. By addressing positive outcomes, this caters to their desire to thrive.

Include “Customer Value Proof Points” such as respected peers that use your solutions in order to pique a prospect’s emotional interest.

Get creative. Try making short Youtube videos in addition to written messaging. Reference anything from the prospect’s personal life such as where they went to school or their hobbies.

Discovery and Presentation Meetings

Try to meet in person. Failing that, try to meet over video conference. Those make it easier to build an emotional connection vs an audio only meeting.

Tailor the presentation to the prospect’s company and the person taking the meeting.

Be as concise and relevant as possible in demonstrating why your solution is unique and better for the prospect. This reduces the chance of losing the emotional connection.

(L): Leading Vision

Vision: show the buyer how they can achieve the future they desire.

Value: show the buyer that reaching that vision alone is enough. Furthermore, in order to induce urgency of purchase, show the buyer the negative consequences of delaying. Finally, in order to charge a premium price, show the buyer how much value this would be for them.

Certainty: a champion must develop a deep belief in the outcomes that your solution promises to deliver. Achieve buyer certainty through Proof Events.

Proof Events: proof of concept, free trial, pilot program, free samples, custom demo, simulation, or a reference from an existing customer. If a person can experience the positive results of what you sell, even if it’s just a limited example, they’re far more likely to develop a vision for it.

Position the vision by identifying cases for change and identifying outcomes at various levels of the organization.

Identify one or more cases for change:

* Enablement

* Speed

* Risk Mitigation

* Efficiency

* Transformation

Identify one or more outcome levels:

* User

* Operational

* Business

* Integrated

Provide one or more buyer proof points:

Customer case study that shows problems, outcomes, and value metrics to define the scale of results. Close with a statement of solution differentiation.

Solution differentiation: show how your solution is different—for the buyer.

The statement of differentiation must be:

* Succinct

* Relevant

* Relatable

(I): Inspiration

You must inspire the buyer champion to commit.

Buyer Commitments:

* Risk

* Advocacy

* Economic authority

* Urgency (balance of fear and desire)

How to inspire commitment:

* Purpose (internal and external)

* Plan: prescribe the success attributes that realize the value of your solution for the buyer

* Promise: set a buyer’s expectations of future results

Success attributes:

(To what can the buyer attribute their potential success from your solution; one or more should be present)

* Primary capabilities

* Credible processes

* Premium services

* Special terms

* Internal qualities

Criteria of a promise (all should be met):

* Relatability to the purpose

* Conviction of the seller

* Legitimacy in the claim

* Validation from your champion

If a deal is slowing down and urgency is waning, then look for and resolve any gaps in commitment; also consider testing your champion with a strategic request to ensure they are still a champion.

(T): Trust

Be an intentional trust builder. Trust closes deals.

How trust can play a part in the closure milestone:

* Forces of trust: doubt, stress, friction

* Trust tax: historical biases due to prior experiences or results

* Disguise of trust: uncovered trust issues due to other stakeholders or miscommunications with your buyer champion

Is trust restoration in our control and is there value for the buyer should trust be restored? All trust restoration steps should be done and in order.

How to restore trust:

* Identify the trust gap root cause

* Gain a shared agreement on a trust restoration plan

* Ask for a commitment of action upon restored trust

* Hold champions accountable

How trust is scaled (or quantified):

* Time

* Risk factors

Understand where your situation fits within the quadrants of high vs low by time vs risk. Scale trust according to needs of your situation’s quadrant.

The path to trust:

* Character

* Credibility

* Competencies

Apply trust building to the sales process through these habits:

* Projection (of character)

* Precision (of credibility)

* Proving (of competencies)

Projection of Character

Sales Character Tendencies:

* Server

* Intellectual

* Entertainer

* Guide (Be the Guide)

How character is projected:

* Integrity

* Positivity

* Kindness

Precision of Credibility

Credibility is built through the precision of:

* Communication

* Capabilities

* Claims

Proving of Competencies

Two types of competencies:

* Assumed (the buyer assumes your solution has these)

* Success (the buyer seeks these and needs proof)

Examples of Competency Proof:

* Solution Requirements (direct: technical validation event or indirect: product-led growth)

* Trusted Advisor or Subject Matter Expert (either someone from your company or a buyer’s peer in the field)

* Business Advocate or Partner (for immature buyer companies: offer playbooks and staff for onboarding help)

* Customer Service and Support Levels (don’t undersell this; show how your solution is supported)

(E): Empowerment

Empowerments:

* Justification

* Consensus

* Negotiation

There may be a need to adjust business justifications based on drift of people and processes over the potential months that it has taken to get to the winning of a deal.

Essential Business Justifications:

* Purpose

* Solution

* Differentiation

* Impact

* Risk

Alignments of Consensus:

* Prioritization of Purpose

* Personal Decision Criteria

* Ownership of Decision Process

Parts of the Decision Process:

* Steps

* Timeline

* People

Champion-based Negotiation:

* Communication

* Messaging and Information

* Guides (Value Threshold and Leverage)

Summary

The Champion Sell (2023) shows salespeople and sales managers how to build buyer champions and win deals as a result. It teaches sellers to sell to people--not companies. It focuses on honing sales craft through five habits. It promises life-changing money for those who can incorporate these habits into their sales work.

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