In this conversation, Matt Dixon, Founding Partner of DCM Insights and author of The Challenger Sale, shares insights into modern business development. He reveals the new breed of professionals called 'activators,' who excel by proactively building relationships and understanding client needs. Dixon discusses the shift from traditional client loyalty to a more dynamic approach, where preemptive networking and collaboration are key. He emphasizes the importance of storytelling in sales, highlighting how it can transform client engagement.
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insights INSIGHT
Changing Client Loyalty and Buying
Business buyers now complete most of their purchase research before contacting vendors.
Client loyalty is declining, making incumbent advantage less reliable for professionals.
insights INSIGHT
Consistency in Business Development
Activators maintain a consistent, daily commitment to business development.
They build habits around small daily sales activities despite many disliking selling.
insights INSIGHT
Collaborative Client Relationships
Activators bring colleagues into client relationships to serve complex needs.
This collaboration creates stickier client relationships, reducing client churn.
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Matt Dixon's "The Activator Advantage" explores five distinct business development personas, highlighting the 'Activator' profile as the most successful. The book delves into the strategies and habits that define activators, emphasizing proactive value creation and relationship building. It challenges traditional sales approaches and offers a data-driven perspective on achieving top performance. The research is based on a survey of 3,000 professionals, revealing insights into how activators manage their networks and turn rejection into opportunity. The book provides actionable frameworks for readers to adopt the activator mindset and improve their business development outcomes.
To Sell Is Human
Daniel Pink
The Challenger Sale
Taking Control of the Customer Conversation
Brent Adamson
Matthew Dixon
Based on an extensive study of thousands of sales reps across multiple industries, 'The Challenger Sale' argues that classic relationship building is less effective, especially in complex business-to-business sales. The authors identify five distinct sales profiles, with the 'Challenger' being the highest performer. Challengers approach customers with unique insights, tailor their message to the customer's needs, and assertively take control of the sale. The book provides a framework for identifying and training sales reps to adopt the Challenger approach, which can lead to higher customer loyalty and greater growth.
Atomic Habits
James Clear
Atomic Habits by James Clear provides a practical and scientifically-backed guide to forming good habits and breaking bad ones. The book introduces the Four Laws of Behavior Change: make it obvious, make it attractive, make it easy, and make it satisfying. It also emphasizes the importance of small, incremental changes (atomic habits) that compound over time to produce significant results. Clear discusses techniques such as habit stacking, optimizing the environment to support desired habits, and focusing on continuous improvement rather than goal fixation. The book is filled with actionable strategies, real-life examples, and stories from various fields, making it a valuable resource for anyone seeking to improve their habits and achieve personal growth[2][4][5].
Matt Dixon: The Activator Advantage
Matt Dixon is Founding Partner of DCM Insights, a global training and advisory firm, and a leading expert in business development and client experience. His first book The Challenger Sale was a #1 Amazon and Wall Street Journal bestseller, and translated in a dozen languages. His newest book with colleagues Rory Channer, Karen Freeman, and Ted McKenna is The Activator Advantage: What Today’s Rainmakers Do Differently*.
At lot of us know the traits of the kind of person who’s successful at attracting new business. What many of us don’t know, is that what’s working today is actually different than what we traditionally think. In this conversation, Matt and I a take a detailed look at the professionals who are landing the most new business – and what they’re doing that works.
Key Points
The loyalty that once existed between professionals and their clients has changed substantially in recent years.
A type of professional called an activator represents the highest performance in business development.
Activators assume their best clients will leave at some point and are consistently working to build a pipeline of opportunities.
Many professionals tend to protect client relationships. In contrast, activators actively bring colleagues into these relationships.
Activators don’t wait for inquiries. They make opportunities happen by building relationships before paid work begins.
Activators go way past birthdays and factual knowledge about others. They discover what’s important to their clients as individuals.
Activators go way past “as is” content and work hard to thoughtfully connect it to a prospect or client’s situation.
Finding it hard to make an impression in a noisy marketplace? Many listeners have reached out to David Hutchens to help their organizations get traction through the power of story. If you’re planning an offsite or training to get better, get in touch with us to start the conversation with David or any of our other expert partners.
Coaching for Leaders 
