THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER: OVER HALF A MILLION COPIES SOLD Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson share the secret to sales success: don't just build relationships with customers. Challenge them! What's the secret to sales success? If you're like most business leaders, you'd say it's fundamentally about relationships - and you'd be wrong. Matthew Dixon, Brent Adamson, and their colleagues at CEB have studied the performance of thousands of sales reps worldwide. Their conclusion? The best salespeople don't just build relationships with customers. They challenge them. Any sales rep, once equipped with the tools in this book, can drive higher levels of customer loyalty and, ultimately, greater growth. And this book will help them get there. ______________ 'If you wish to become a better sales person, buy and read this book and when you have finished buy The Challenger Customer and read that!' Amazon Reader Review 'Read it, think about it, implement it. You, and your organization, will be glad you did' Professor Neil Rackham, author of SPIN Selling

What's the secret to sales success? If you're like most business leaders, you'd say it's fundamentally about relationships-and you'd be wrong. The best salespeople don't just build relationships with customers. They challenge them.

The need to understand what top-performing reps are doing that their average performing colleagues are not drove Matthew Dixon, Brent Adamson, and their colleagues at Corporate Executive Board to investigate the skills, behaviors, knowledge, and attitudes that matter most for high performance. And what they discovered may be the biggest shock to conventional sales wisdom in decades.

Based on an exhaustive study of thousands of sales reps across multiple industries and geographies, "The Challenger Sale" argues that classic relationship building is a losing approach, especially when it comes to selling complex, large-scale business-to-business solutions. The authors' study found that every sales rep in the world falls into one of five distinct profiles, and while all of these types of reps can deliver average sales performance, only one-the Challenger- delivers consistently high performance.

Instead of bludgeoning customers with endless facts and features about their company and products, Challengers approach customers with unique insights about how they can save or make money. They tailor their sales message to the customer's specific needs and objectives. Rather than acquiescing to the customer's every demand or objection, they are assertive, pushing back when necessary and taking control of the sale.

The things that make Challengers unique are replicable and teachable to the average sales rep. Once you understand how to identify the Challengers in your organization, you can model their approach and embed it throughout your sales force. The authors explain how almost any average-performing rep, once equipped with the right tools, can successfully reframe customers' expectations and deliver a distinctive purchase experience that drives higher levels of customer loyalty and, ultimately, greater growth.

From the authors of the internationally-bestselling business classic The Challenger Sale 'A handbook of practices that will help you get into your customers' heads, deliver good value, and win the sale' Daniel H. Pink, author of To Sell is Human and Drive --------------------------------------------------------------- In The Challenger Sale, Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson overturned decades of conventional wisdom with a bold new approach to sales. Now they reveal something even more surprising: the highest-performing sales teams don't focus on friendly, attentive customers. Instead, they target challenger customers. Challenger customers are sceptical, less interested in meeting and ultimately indifferent as to who wins the deal. But they also have the credibility, persuasive skill and will to challenge the status quo that will get a deal to the finish line far more often than customers who are easier to connect with. Based on new research from thousands of B2B marketers, sellers and buyers around the world, The Challenger Customer shows you how to find these 'mobilizers' and equip them with the tools to effectively challenge their own organizations on your behalf. This ground-breaking book is the blueprint you need to make the sale again and again.

Everyone knows that the best way to create customer loyalty is with service so good, so over the top, that it surprises and delights. "But what if everyone is wrong?"
In their acclaimed bestseller "The Challenger Sale," Matthew Dixon and his colleagues at CEB busted many longstanding myths about sales. Now they've turned their research and analysis to a new vital business subject--customer loyalty--with a new book that turns the conventional wisdom on its head.
The idea that companies must delight customers by exceeding service expectations is so entrenched that managers rarely even question it. They devote untold time, energy, and resources to trying to dazzle people and inspire their undying loyalty. Yet CEB's careful research over five years and tens of thousands of respondents proves that the "dazzle factor" is wildly overrated--it simply doesn't predict repeat sales, share of wallet, or positive wordof-mouth. The reality:
"Loyalty is driven by how well a company delivers ""on its basic promises and solves day-to-day problems, not on how spectacular its service experience might be. Most customers don't want to be "wowed"; they want an effortless experience. And they are far more likely to punish you for bad service than to reward you for good service."
If you put on your customer hat rather than your manager or marketer hat, this makes a lot of sense. What do you really want from your cable company, a free month of HBO when it screws up or a fast, painless restoration of your connection? What about your bank--do you want free cookies and a cheerful smile, even a personal relationship with your teller? Or just a quick in-and-out transaction and an easy way to get a refund when it accidentally overcharges on fees?
"The Effortless Experience" takes readers on a fascinating journey deep inside the customer experience to reveal what really makes customers loyal--and disloyal. The authors lay out the four key pillars of a low-effort customer experience, along the way delivering robust data, shocking insights and profiles of companies that are already using the principles revealed by CEB's research, with great results. And they include many tools and templates you can start applying right away to improve service, reduce costs, decrease customer churn, and ultimately generate the elusive loyalty that the "dazzle factor" fails to deliver.
The rewards are there for the taking, and the pathway to achieving them is now clearly marked.

A new breakthrough idea about how to win customer loyalty from Matthew Dixon, the bestselling author of The Challenger Sale Everyone knows that the best way to create customer loyalty is with service so good, so over the top, that it surprises and delights. But what if everyone is wrong? In their acclaimed bestseller The Challenger Sale, Matthew Dixon and his colleagues at CEB busted longstanding myths about sales. Now they've turned to a new vital business subject - customer loyalty - with a book that turns conventional wisdom on its head. Companies devote untold time and resources trying to dazzle customers. Yet CEB's careful research proves that is wildly overrated: loyalty has a lot more to do with how well companies deliver on their basic promises than on how dazzling the service experience might be. Forget bells and whistles and just solve your customer's problems. The Effortless Experience lays out the four pillars of a low-effort customer experience, with robust data, in sights and profiles. Here are tools and templates you can start applying right away to improve service, reduce costs, and ultimately generate the elusive loyalty that the 'dazzle factor' fails to deliver. The rewards are there for the taking, and the pathway to achieving them is now clearly marked. 'A business detective story, in which cherished truths are systematically investigated-and frequently debunked' -Dan Heath, coauthor of Decisive, Switch, and Made to Stick Matt Dixon is Executive Director of the Sales & Service Practice at CEB. He is a frequent contributor to the Harvard Business Review, and his previous book, The Challenger Sale, was a Wall Street Journal bestseller Nick Toman is Senior Director of Research for CEB's Sales & Services Practice and is a frequent contributor to the Harvard Business Review. Rick DeLisi is Senior Director of Advisory Services for CEB's Sales & Service Practice and a noted public speaker and facilitator.

Skylar Speer has the perfect plan, to get away with the perfect murder. With the help of her best friend, she brings this plan to life but the consequences of her decision are catastrophic.

After Rick Travis, his son, Mike, and shipmate Yorgo arrive in Gibraltar on their broken-down yacht, they meet Jasper Wells. A retired American soldier who lives on an old power boat on the sea, he tells Mike the story of lost Spanish gold, a tale that begins before the Spanish Civil War and ends after World War II. Information Jasper learned at the American military attache office in Madrid indicates that all the Spanish gold reserves were not transferred to the Soviets. Some of the gold was even being misappropriated by Republican leaders as late as 1936. A thrilling story of international crime, Death by Gold is a modern take on the quest to recover mythical sources of riches from the past.