About the Book
From the bestselling co-author of The Challenger Sale, a paradigm-shattering approach to overcoming customer indecision and closing more sales.
In sales, the worst thing you can hear from a customer isnât âno.â Itâs âI need to think about it.â When this happens, deeply entrenched business advice says to double down on your efforts to sell a buyer on all the ways they might win by choosing you and your business. But this approach backfires dramatically. Why? Because it completely gets wrong the primary driver behind purchasing decision-making: once purchase intent is established, customers no longer care about succeeding. What they really care about is not failing....
For years, sales expert Matthew Dixon has been busting longstanding business myths. Now in The JOLT Effect, he and co-author Ted McKenna turn their trademark analysis and latest research to the vital and growing problem of customer indecisionâand offer a shocking new approach that turns conventional wisdom on its head. Drawing on a brand-new, first-of-its-kind study of more than two and a half million sales conversations from across industry, they reveal the surprising truth that high-performing sales reps grasp and their average-performing peers donât: only by addressing the customerâs fear of failure can you get indecisive buyers to go from verbally committing to actually pulling the trigger.
Packed with robust data, counterintuitive insights, and practical guidance, The JOLT Effect is the playbook for any salesperson or sales leader who wants to close the gap between customer intent and actionâand close more sales.
What people are saying...
âEvery last person in sales should rush to buy this book. Fresh, interesting, evidence-based, and above all PRACTICAL, The JOLT Effect will spark a transformation in the way we sell.â
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- Dan Heath, NYT bestselling author of Switch, Made to Stick,
the Power of Moments, and Upstream
âDixon and McKenna have mined a massive trove of data to extract piles upon piles of golden nuggets of sales insight. They show how weâve misunderstood what really holds back buyers. And with a deft combination of analytic rigor and practical guidance, they chart a path to doing better. THE JOLT EFFECT is essential reading for sales professionals in every field.â
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- Daniel H. Pink, #1 NYT bestselling author of To Sell is Human and The Power of Regret
"The JOLT Effect debunks long-held sales beliefs. The psychology behind buying decisions is a valuable perspective that is not taken into account in traditional selling methods. This will differentiate the sales approach for our organization."
- Melissa Murray Bailey, CRO, Hootsuite
"No decision is the single most difficult objection to answer and The JOLT Effect has delivered clear insight as to how to manage through this evergreen objection that every rep faces but never wants to talk about."
- George Burns, VP of Sales, ClearlyRated
"The JOLT Effect is such a logical extension of the brilliance of The Challenger Sale... I expect it to have a similarly major impact on the GTM sales motion that I and my fellow sales professionals deploy."Â
- Mitchell Bayer, VP of CRO Partnerships, physIQ
"Looks like the guys at DCM Insights have cracked the code on the #1 issue we have all been facing for years. Practical ideas, relevant actions which are grounded in contemporary data-driven research."
- Ken Powell, Chief Customer Officer, OSG
"The JOLT Effect is the missing link for selling to today's indecisive customers."
- Fraser Marshall, GM, Organizational Development and Learning, DMG MORI USA
"I love this. The JOLT Effect articulates what we intuitively know but struggle to teach our salespeople."
- Rachel Merrick Maggs, Senior Director, Litera
"The JOLT Effect is a must read for every organization looking to turbocharge commercial performance. Matt Dixon and Ted McKenna use their pivotal research to break down everything sellers need to know to overcome customer indecision."
- Constantine Alexandrakis, CEO, Russell Reynolds Associates
The JOLT Effect turns conventional thinking on its head. Through a fascinating combination of modern machine learning-based analysis and troves of research into human psychology and behavioral economics, the authors show us that our biggest competitor in sales isnât actually the customerâs preference for the status quo, itâs their inability to make a decision. Sales leaders, managers and reps cannot afford to ignore this book.â
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â Jim Nystrom, EVP Global Sales, Dialpad
Addressing this indecision requires a new sales playbook. Many of our instincts have us doing exactly the opposite of what we should be doing. In The JOLT Effect, Matt and Ted provide a deep understanding fo what drives decision and how sales people can help customers gain confidence in their decision. If you want to address the huge lost opportunity due to no decision made, if you want to help your customers become more confident in the decisions they do make, JOLT is your guide."
- David Brock, author of The Sales Manager Survival Guide and CEO, Partners in EXCELLENCE
"The JOLT Effect is an absolute game changer â bringing the most fascinating current psychology insights together with the practical applications needed to succeed in B2B selling. After buyers have endured the uncertainties of today's macroenvironment, every salesperson needs The JOLT Effect to help clients access the solutions they need."
- Jean Martin, Senior Partner and Global Head of Product, Mercer
"This is the most important advance in sales thinking since The Challenger Sale. In The JOLT Effect, the DCM Insights team shines a bright spotlight on the biggest and, for years, largely unspoken challenge facing sales teams: no decision. This research has already made a big impact on how we view deal progress and has given us the tools we need to shift our sales strategy and drive more revenue. This is required reading for any sales professional looking to overachieve in an increasingly challenging buying environment."
- Connor Marsden, EVP, North America Service Cloud, Salesforce
JOLTÂ Effect News
Harvard Business Review
Matt Dixon and Ted McKenna write about what makes customer indecision so dangerous and lay out the "JOLT method" to overcome indecision and grow businesses.
Forbes Article: JOLT Effect
Tethr's CEO Robert Beasley shares why sales teams should talk to indecisive customers differently.
How do you change indecisive prospects into buyers?
Matt Dixon writes about an unexpected reason why some potential purchasers sit on the fence rather than commit.
The best way to get a customer off the fence? Get to know them.
Matt Dixon shares the surprising findings of how high performing sellers judge the level of buyer indecision.
Winning by Design + The JOLT Effect
Jacco van der Kooij talks with Matt Dixon about how Winning by Design is partnering to bring JOLT Effect solutions around buyer indecision.
The Sales Enablement Brew
Ted McKenna sits down with Carly Lehner and Malvina El-Sayegh on how to deal with customer indecision and the fear of messing up in the current economic environment
Aaron Evans Sales Training
In an interview with sales enablement influencer Aaron Evans, Matt Dixon explains how to avoid "Think it Overs" with potential customers.
Why Sales Stall and How to Fight Back
Salespeople spend valuable time on conversations that lead to dead ends because customers can't decide. So how do you navigate a conversation with a buyer in a way that can help them avoid analysis paralysis or other forms of indecision?
A Talk on the Buyer Side
Host Kevin Dixon is the founder of Boxxstep, a platform that aligns "the selling with the buying." This podcast gives a sneak peek of The Jolt Effect.
Sales Intelligence Weekly Podcast
Sales Intelligence is the global leader in Win Loss and Customer Experience Analysis. With podcast host Ryan Cueller, Matt Dixon discusses how to predict no-decision deals.
Kevin Legg Interview
Matt Dixon sits down with Kevin Legg, founder of the business skills company SAGE. They discuss customer indecision and other ideas behind The JOLT Effect.
