Sales leaders everywhere are looking for ways to improve sales rep productivity. But productivity isn’t just about efficiency—it’s about effectiveness. The most productive sales reps don’t just make more calls or send more emails; they focus on the right actions that move real opportunities forward.

Challenger research shows that the highest-performing reps consistently master three skills that drive both buyer motivation and measurable productivity gains:

  •  Identify Mobilizers
  • Creating Constructive Tension
  • Clarifying the Cost of Inaction

Together, these skills motivate buyers, move deals forward, and drive measurable productivity gains across teams.

Why Boosting Sales Productivity is Crucial in Today’s Selling Environment

Before jumping into a fix, sellers should take a step back to reevaluate the playing field.

Unmotivated buyers can frustrate the most skilled sellers. Getting them moving once more can be nearly impossible. And it only seems to be getting more complicated. What gives?

Buying groups are growing, making it harder to pinpoint the right point of contact and more likely that an unknown stakeholder can step in to stall a deal. When we surveyed a large sample of B2B buyers in 2019, we saw the typical buying group increase incrementally every few years from 5.4 in 2009 to 6.8 to 10.2 to just under a dozen in 2019. Moreover, Gartner research shows buyers spend less time than ever with vendors, with 75% preferring an entirely rep-free buying experience.

Another looming factor is unspoken indecision. In 2020, research published by Matt Dixon and Ted McKenna in “The JOLT Effect” showed medium to high levels of indecision in as many as 89% of all deals. Shockingly, 40-60% of lost deals can be attributed to indecision.

While indecision is best battled by following The JOLT Effect playbook, sellers struggling broadly to motivate decision-makers can return to the three key Challenger skills: identifying Mobilizers, honing Constructive Tension, and emphasizing the Cost of Inaction.

The Mobilizers: The Productive Rep’s Priority

Mobilizers are the stakeholders who drive consensus and catalyze change. Productive sellers make them their focus because Mobilizers don’t just talk about change but make it happen.

Go-Getter

  • Mindset: Results-oriented and action-driven.
  • Behavior: Pushes for improvement, seeks solutions, and wants to implement new ideas quickly.
  • Why they matter: They champion innovation and can accelerate internal approvals when they believe in your solution.

Teacher

  • Mindset: Insight-driven and influential through knowledge.
  • Behavior: Shares ideas across the organization, educates peers, and enjoys spreading new thinking.
  • Why they matter: Teachers amplify your message and help socialize your insight within the buying group.

Skeptic

  • Mindset: Analytical, challenging, and cautious.
  • Behavior: Questions assumptions, demands evidence, and tests your logic.
  • Why they matter: Once convinced, Skeptics become your strongest internal validators because they’ve pressure-tested your case for change.

Talker: high activity, low productivity

Talkers are friendly, receptive, and easy to meet with, but they rarely help you close. Sellers who spend too much time here risk high activity with low yield, the opposite of productivity.

Guide

  • Mindset: Supportive and cooperative.
  • Behavior: Offers advice, introductions, and information but lacks decision-making authority.
  • Why they matter: Can create the illusion of progress without driving action.

Friend

  • Mindset: Relationship-focused and loyal.
  • Behavior: Engages warmly, agrees often, but avoids conflict or escalation.
  • Why they matter: Prioritizes comfort over change; their positivity masks lack of influence.

Climber

  • Mindset: Ambitious and politically minded.
  • Behavior: Sees your project as a way to advance personal goals, not organizational priorities.
  • Why they matter: Can derail momentum if their agenda doesn’t align with yours or the broader business need.

The Blocker: The Productivity Trap

Blocker

  • Mindset: Defender of the status quo.
  • Behavior: Actively resists change, raises objections, and protects existing processes or vendors.
  • Impact: Engaging too heavily with a Blocker drains time, morale, and momentum—the ultimate productivity killer.

How Mobilizers Accelerate Sales Rep Productivity

Challenger research shows that top-performing reps focus on Mobilizers, the customer types most likely to advocate for change and push internal consensus.

When reps spend more time with Mobilizers and less with Talkers or Blockers, they see dramatic improvements in deal velocity and win rates. Productive sellers:

  • Map buying groups early and tag conacts by archetype
  • Prioritize meetings with Go-Getters, Teachers, and Skeptics
  • Use insights and Constructive Tension to activate Mobilizers’ influence.
  • Politely disengage from Talkers who stall progress.

Use Constructive Tension to Motivate Buyers

Highly productive sales reps don’t just manage opportunities—they manage thinking.

The most productive sales reps use Constructive Tension to challenge buyers’ assumptions and highlight risks in the status quo. Constructive Tension isn’t confrontation; It’s collaboration with purpose. It helps buyers see the gap between where they are and where they could be.

Constructive Tension fuels meaningful buyer conversations, turning indecision into urgency. Sellers who master this skill:

  • Ignite urgency in stagnant deals
  • Build buyer conviction and reduce indecision
  • Strengthen value without lowering price

Constructive Tension converts polite interest into meaningful momentum, turning time spent talking into time spent advancing deals.

Clarify the Cost of Inaction to Close Deals Faster

Even the most productive sales reps can hit roadblocks when buyers lose urgency. That’s where the Cost of Inaction (COI) comes in. By quantifying what a buyer stands to lose by delaying change, sellers can reignite momentum in stalled deals.

Teaching reps to calculate and communicate COI helps them create urgency without pressure—boosting both buyer motivation and sales rep productivity.

Top performers quantify COI by asking questions such as:

  • “What happens if this issue continues another quarter?”
  • “What’s the opportunity cost of not solving this now?”
  • “How much efficiency could your team gain by changing course?”

By attaching numbers and outcomes to inaction, sellers turn why buy into why buy now—shortening the sales cycle and amplifying sales rep productivity.

Sales Rep Productivity Is About Focus, Not Speed

Improving sales rep productivity isn’t about doing more; it’s about doing what matters most.

They prioritize:

  • The right buyers (Mobilizers)
  • The right conversations (Constructive Tension)
  • The right outcomes (Cost of Inaction)

Enablement leaders can reinforce this focus by coaching sellers to qualify rigorously, lead insight-driven conversations, and measure productivity by revenue impact, not activity volume.

When reps align effort with influence, they can achieve higher output with less wasted effort. Challenger-trained reps don’t just sell more; they sell smarter.

Contact us today and learn how to turn your sellers into Challengers.

Sarah Cheatle