In B2B sales, the best deals are won by sales reps who can challenge assumptions, reframe conversations, and bring unexpected insights to the table.

That’s the core idea behind the Challenger sales method, a framework designed to help sellers guide complex deals by teaching prospects something new rather than just asking them what they need. It’s an ideal approach for inbound sales teams working in crowded markets or working with indecisive buying committees. In those scenarios, Challenger offers a way to gain traction, build urgency, and push deals forward.

In this guide, we’ll explore how the Challenger method works, what sets it apart from traditional sales frameworks,and how tools like PandaDoc can help your team apply these principles in the real world.

What is the Challenger method and why does it matter?

The Challenger sales methodology is a framework built around the idea that top-performing reps don’t just react to buyer needs. They shape those needs by reframing perspectives, taking control of the sales process, challenging customers to look past outdated assumptions, and help buyers see problems in a new light.

The method was developed by Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson in The Challenger Sale and emerged from a multi-year study of thousands of B2B sales professionals. From research, the pair found that reps who consistently closed complex deals weren’t necessarily the friendliest or the most experienced. They were the ones who could teach prospects something new about their business.

Rather than focusing on relationship-building or discovery alone, Challenger sellers take a more proactive role. Their sales conversations revolve around aligning company products and services with a customer’s business in a way that helps the buyer realize what they actually need.

The approach makes Challenger a strong fit for long sales cycles, high-stakes purchases, and enterprise industries where differentiation goes beyond product features. Challenger sales reps lead the conversation in a way that builds credibility and drives action without coming across as pushy or aggressive.

How the Challenger process works

In short, the Challenger method is summed up as “teach, tailor, and take control.”

However, the actual sales process follows a more detailed flow designed to shift the buyer’s perspective and build momentum toward a decision.

Here’s how the methodology unfolds in practice:

1. Warm up the buyer

The process starts with a strong foundation of credibility. Before reps can reframe a buyer’s thinking, they need to show that they understand the buyer’s world and the challenges they face.

In the warm-up phase, reps use industry knowledge, ask smart questions, tell interesting stories, and make targeted observations to demonstrate that they’ve done their homework. This is a key moment in the sales conversation, because it helps potential buyers feel like they’re talking to an industry insider who has both the knowledge and the sales experience to help them solve problems.

A good warm-up becomes a relationship builder that opens the door to deeper conversations. For salespeople using the Challenger sales model, that’s critical because it gives them the ability to challenge a customer’s assumptions farther down the line.

Example

Emma begins her sales call by referencing the recent labor cost trends across the retail industry. She points out a few public data points and asks how the operations leader has been balancing budget targets with scheduling challenges.

The buyer sees that Emma knows the space and has a deeper understanding of the industry and its problems, building rapport and trust that goes beyond a generic sales call or product pitch.

2. Reframe the conversation

Once that rapport is established, the rep introduces a new angle. This is a way of seeing the problem that the buyer hasn’t considered, and it’s the step where the Challenger framework begins to take shape.

The key is to focus on a business problem that the buyer either hasn’t fully recognized or has misjudged in scope. Rather than reacting to expressed needs, the rep helps the buyer understand the real issue behind the scenes.

However, these insights aren’t just conversational touchpoints or random opinions. They need to be grounded in data, facts, or experience to gain traction. (In the Challenger process, using data to back up your points is called rational drowning.)

Example

The buyer says their main focus is controlling overtime costs. Payroll is cutting into profitability, and the company feels as though it’s already stretched thin.

Emma agrees that labor costs matter, but she also introduces a different angle: Stores are routinely understaffed during peak hours, which leads to lost sales and missed revenue. This isn’t a cost issue; it’s a revenue optimization problem. By providing more workers during busy times, the company could generate additional revenue and boost profits.

From Emma’s insights, the buyer needs to wrestle with their challenge in a new light and with renewed urgency. The company isn’t just losing money. It’s losing money every single day!

3. Drive emotional impact

After reframing the problem, the rep needs to drive the issue home. While the buyer may understand the problem logically, they need to feel the consequences of not solving it.

This could mean highlighting missed revenue, rising risk, internal inefficiencies, or pointing out competitive pressure. The best Challenger reps personalize these opportunities and their impact based on the buyer’s role, goals, and metrics so that the stakes are impossible to ignore.

Example

Emma walks the buyer through a quick back-of-the-napkin calculation.

Based on the company’s POS data, they’re missing roughly $150,000 a year in potential revenue due to poor shift coverage. She connects the missing revenue to broader goals, like improving same-store sales. Not only is the company losing daily profits; it’s also a widespread problem that the company hasn’t yet noticed.

Suddenly, the issue feels too big to postpone.

4. Present the value proposition

By now, the buyer sees the problem clearly and can feel the cost of inaction. They have a unique perspective, offered by the sales rep, and a pressing issue that needs to be resolved.

At this point, it’s time for reps to present their solution as a direct answer to the reframed problem (avoiding common sales objections in the process), and not as a list of random features and hit-or-miss benefits.

In the Challenger model, the true sales pitch happens after the buyer is already leaning forward. At this stage, the rep introduces the solution in a way that matches the buyer’s goals and makes the ROI too obvious to ignore.

Example

Emma introduces her company’s workforce analytics program.

Rather than diving into every single feature, she focuses on the predictive scheduling tool. This application is designed to use past sales data to anticipate foot traffic and automatically optimize shifts across multiple locations.

Emma is careful to position this solution as a strategic fix to a known revenue leak: An immediate answer to an immediate problem.

5. Deliver the solution

Finally, reps need to help the buyer visualize a path forward. At this stage, a rep steps into a leadership role and guides the deal through any internal red tape.

Rather than pushing for a hard close, this process is about making it easy for the buyer to close the sale. Working together, the rep tries to reduce friction, clarify next steps that decision-makers need to take, and stay in control of the process.

However, this isn’t always the final step in the process. To close deals, reps may still need to resolve complex sales issues, make concessions, or negotiate with stakeholders.

Example

Emma suggests a pilot rollout at three stores and shares benchmarks from similar clients. She outlines a ramp-up process, provides success metrics, and creates a timeline for a company-wide expansion.

The buyer leaves the call with a clear path and the confidence that Emma’s team will function as partners throughout this process.

What makes the Challenger different?

Most sales methodologies focus on identifying buyer needs and pairing them with product solutions. In many cases, it’s a transactional relationship. The buyer needs something; the seller has a solution.

The Challenger sales approach is different in that it’s meant to influence (not just identify) the customer’s needs. It’s a proactive approach that gives reps a guiding role in the buyer’s journey.

Below, you’ll find the core behaviors that set Challenger sellers apart:

Teach with commercial insight

Sales teams using the Challenger process need to know more than product specs or common pain points.

To become high-performers, these reps need to truly understand their target market and be able to offer tailored, data-based insights that can push the buyer to rethink how they’re approaching a core challenge.

This knowledge is critical, because many organizations will only seek a solution once they feel that they’ve isolated their problem. These preconceptions will make their way into the sales environment. If a rep lacks the knowledge to take control of the conversation and reframe the conversation, they won’t have the credibility required to offer an improved solution.

Challenger sellers need to teach as much as they sell. Reps must be able to expose unrecognized problems and guide buyers toward specific conclusions and real stakes.

Tailor messaging to the buyer’s world

In a traditional sales process, sales reps act less as problem solvers and more as product curators.

Typically, this approach involves helping customers assess a product’s feature set and working to understand how the product can improve existing business operations. Customers already know their pain points and have some kind of solution in mind. While most sales techniques can help reps offer the best solution available to solve these problems, the approach isn’t revolutionary and doesn’t challenge the customer’s assumptions.

With Challenger, reps are meant to take what they know about a buyer’s role, industry, goals, and internal politics and use that to take control of the customer conversation. Often, this approach requires prerequisite knowledge of the industry that goes beyond standard sales training, which is what makes Challenger selling both a highly effective approach and one that requires a considerable amount of expertise.

Push customers to think differently

One key differentiator between Challenger selling and other methodologies is that Challenger reps need to be comfortable introducing friction to a conversation.

The idea isn’t to create a combative environment. The questions should be tough, but in a healthy way. Top performers will Challenger will have no trouble pointing out blind spots and poking holes in buyer assumptions. Doing so builds credibility and increases customer loyalty while ensuring that reps stay in control as the solution comes together.

By pushing back, star performers can offer new insights and generate the authority they need to become an integral part of the conversation. When done correctly, sales reps become both partners and solutions engineers while working collaboratively with customers to create a unique product offering.

Guide the sale assertively

As momentum builds, reps using Challenger can’t step back. They need to jump in and take the lead by coordinating stakeholders, anticipating objections, and mapping a clear path to close.

When reps have earned buyer trust, this approach doesn’t come off as pushy or transnational. From the customer’s point of view, the rep is simply connecting the dots and laying down the next set of steps required to solve the problem.

To the customer, it should look as though the rep is going the extra mile to build a solution that exceeds the status quo. If reps are self-assured and confident, the buyer will be ready to follow when they step into the lead.

Best practices for implementing Challenger

Rolling out the Challenger methodology across a sales team takes more than a mindset shift. It requires a clear structure, ongoing support, and tools that reinforce the behaviors that make Challenger effective.

Here are four ways to embed the approach into your sales process at scale.

Train insight-driven reps

At the core of Challenger is the ability to teach, not just pitch, and that starts with insight.

To get there, reps need to understand their target industry, have the business acumen to engage with leading brands in the space, and maintain the confidence to lead challenging conversations. Training should go beyond product knowledge and focus on helping reps understand the buyers’ world, including their pain points, internal politics, market shifts, and performance goals.

Naturally, reps who have a strong external background in a given industry are great candidates for Challenger when speaking to customers within their field of expertise. For example, a former music teacher selling to music teachers will have an inherent advantage over reps who lack that background experience.

That said, self-assured and self-motivated reps can still learn enough about the industry to become sales leaders in the space. As part of their training, newer reps need to learn how to identify common industry patterns, uncover overlooked risks, and connect those insights back to real business outcomes. Companies can use roleplay sessions, cheat sheets and guides, loose frameworks (scripts) and other tools to bridge that gap until newcomers are comfortable in the space.

Align marketing and sales

Teaching insight is a team effort, and that effort should include marketing.

Many valuable moments in the Challenger process come from stories, data, and trends that originate in demand gen, content creation, and customer research. Case studies, whitepapers, and similar collateral can have a huge impact during a customer’s evaluative process, and seasoned reps can use that documentation as leverage to take control of the conversation.

For example, if marketing runs a report on industry benchmarks, sales can use that data to reframe a buyer’s expectations or create urgency around missed opportunities. Even small deliverables like one-pagers or spec sheets with industry-specific proof points can add huge value.

The goal with this information isn’t to pre-script some kind of sales strategy. It’s to give reps a library of relevant talking points that they can tailor to a customer’s needs and pain points in real time. That way, insights gathered by the marketing team aren’t trapped in a campaign. Instead, they become part of how reps teach, tailor, and take control with every conversation.

Create messaging playbooks

Even the most capable reps can benefit from additional structure, especially when a conversation isn’t following a predictable path.

If things are going a little off the rails, sales and messaging playbooks are a great way to get things back on track. These documents give Challenger sellers a way to stay grounded while challenging a prospect’s worldview or introducing a new problem.

A messaging playbook needs to go beyond a basic pitch deck or product sheet. These frameworks should include vertical-specific challenges and strategic reframing prompts, as well as commercial teaching points. Examples of how to link product capabilities to business outcomes, along with examples of other companies who have done so, can also be powerful motivators.

Reps using these playbooks don’t need to memorize them. They only exist to give reps a few talking points that align with typical Challenger-style tone, pacing, and positioning. It’s a field guide meant to help reps retain momentum while navigating the kind of high-stakes conversations that the Challenger system is known to handle.

Use sales enablement tools

Challenger works best when it’s reinforced by the systems your team uses every day. These systems play a major role in making the methodology stick because they give reps the flexibility to align documentation and outreach with a customer’s paint points.

For example, using customizable templates inside PandaDoc, reps can tailor proposals and quotes based on the insights uncovered during sales conversations. CRM integrations can prompt reps to log critical turning points during their sales calls. Document tracking tools can help reps identify internal champions and hidden stakeholders.

Automation can also play a key role by reducing the time reps spend on repetitive admin work. By eliminating these manual processes, reps are free to focus on crafting more thoughtful, insight-driven conversations.

Using Challenger with PandaDoc

To make the Challenger method stick, your team needs more than good training and industry insights. They’ll also need the right tools to bring control and personalization to every stage of the deal.

As an end-to-end document creation and automation platform, PandaDoc has all the tools you’ll ever need to create bespoke documents that improve sales performance and add value to the Challenger process.

Use flexible, adjustable templates

Challenger sales conversations often uncover unique pain points or business priorities. To be most effective, your sales proposals need to reflect those elements.

Using PandaDoc, sales teams can generate dynamic documents from pre-built proposal templates without starting from scratch. The level of editorial control can be tailored to your organizational preferences. Documents featuring company-approved legal language or specific layouts can be locked to minimize last-minute edits. Other documents may be heavily tweaked by sales reps before being sent.

Because Challenger is so personal, documents that look and feel like they were built just for the buyer will resonate well with this methodology. Customizable templates can help to reinforce value, drive key talking points home, and help reps control the conversation long after the call or meeting is done.

Personalized sales collateral

Relevant case studies, testimonials, success metrics, and similar collateral can go a long way toward teaching insights and educating customers.

With PandaDoc, it’s possible to customize documents with relevant content in just a few clicks. Built-in content libraries allow teams to store approved sections, case studies, and visuals, making it easy to assemble targeted proposals on the fly.

This approach shows the buyer that their concerns were heard and allows the document to become an extension of the current conversation. Rather than offering boilerplate language and a one-size-fits-all proposal solution, PandaDoc can help Challenger reps connect the right insights to the right solutions using deeply personal collateral.

Track buyer engagement

Even though Challenger pushes reps to take control of the sale, that’s difficult to do during off-hours. Using traditional tools, reps have no way to know what’s happening with a proposal once the document is sent.

WIth PandaDoc, reps can see exactly how buyers interact with the documents they receive. Notifications alert reps when a document has been viewed. Page-by-page tracking reveals where prospects linker, what they revisit, and who else views the file, so reps have added visibility when planning their next move. Combined with intelligence tools like LinkedIn or an integrated CRM, reps can even locate hidden stakeholders and work to loop them into the deal.

PandaDoc engagement insights make it easier to spot internal champions, identify deal blockers, and help to steer delicate proposals through buyer committees. In scenarios where timing and influence matter (true for most Challenger deals), having an added layer of visibility allows reps to stay one step ahead of buyer objections and feedback.

Automate repetitive tasks

In most sales environments, every minute spent on admin is a minute lost on insight, planning, or follow-up. The ability to reduce paperwork and keep reps engaged is what makes automation so important in modern sales environments.

PandaDoc is built to help reps automate key parts of the proposal process. Templates can be populated with CRM data. Content can be built based on pre-set rules and conditions. Built-in CPQ tools make quoting fast and easy.

The best part: Most of the automation workflows inside PandaDoc can be customized to fit your sales process. For organizations using Challenger, personalization and reinforcing a reframed message are critical to success.

Using the PandaDoc platform, newer reps can stay aligned with Challenger while more experienced sellers can scale their strategies without getting bogged down. The result is more focused conversations, faster proposals, and deals that move forward with added clarity.

Challenger alternatives

Although Challenger is a great model for shifting buyer mindsets and creating urgency, it can quickly become situational and may be a bad fit for more transactional deals.

Here are a few alternatives to consider when seeking to handle conversations that don’t quite fit the mold that Challenger represents:

• BANT. Short for Budget, Authority, Need, and Timeline, this classic framework helps reps qualify deals quickly based on key buying criteria. It’s lightweight and easy to apply but may fall short in more strategic or consultative sales cycles where deeper insight is needed.
  
• MEDDIC. A qualification framework focused on identifying decision criteria, economic buyers, pain points, and champions. MEDDIC is ideal for complex, multi-stakeholder sales environments and offers a structured way to assess deal health, but it doesn’t address how to shape the conversation itself.
  
• Solution selling. This methodology focuses on diagnosing the customer’s problem and offering a solution tailored to those needs. It’s effective in many B2B scenarios but relies heavily on buyer-defined problems, rather than proactively reframing those challenges like Challenger does.
  
• Consultative selling. A softer approach centered on building trust, asking questions, and recommending solutions based on discovery. Like Solution Selling, it focuses on identifying pain, but doesn’t typically involve challenging the buyer’s assumptions or leading them toward a new way of thinking.
  
• SPIN. Based on Situation, Problem, Implication, and Need-Payoff questions, SPIN is designed to guide discovery calls and uncover buyer motivation. It’s useful in the early stages of the sales process but lacks structure for navigating complex buying dynamics or creating urgency.

Because Challenger is such an intimate and involved sales solution, alternatives like BANT or SPIN can become great companion methodologies for the program.

In those situations, reps need to know when to use Challenger and when to switch to a different framework. Shorter or more transactional conversations that lack the moving parts of a traditional, Challenger-friendly scenario, may be better handled by alternative frameworks.

Scale your Challenger process with PandaDoc

Where the Challenger method helps sales teams drive results through stronger conversations, PandaDoc helps to turn those conversations into closed deals.

Featuring dynamic templates, personalized content, real-time tracking, and automation built for modern workflows, PandaDoc ensures that teams have everything they need to align proposals with the insight-driven stories that reps are telling.

Want to see how it works? Request a demo with a product expert to learn how PandaDoc can provide end-to-end support for your sales initiatives.