The JOLT Effect

Outline

The JOLT Effect (2022) reveals that many sales are lost not to competitors but to customer indecision. Based on the analysis of millions of recorded sales conversations, Matthew Dixon and Ted McKenna show that buyers often stall because they fear making the wrong choice. They offer a four-part JOLT method to judge indecision, to offer a recommendation, to limit exploration, and to take risk off the table.

• Many sales are lost to customer indecision, not to competitors.
• Buyers often stall because they fear making the wrong choice.
• The findings come from the analysis of millions of recorded sales conversations.
• The JOLT method has four parts: judge indecision, offer a recommendation, limit the exploration, and take risk off the table.
• Making each sales decision feel safer helps turn buyer hesitation into action.

Matthew Dixon and Ted McKenna are experts in sales and customer experience research. Dixon is a bestselling co-author of The Challenger Sale, The Challenger Customer, and The Effortless Experience, and has led large research programmes on how customers buy. McKenna is a technology entrepreneur and co-founder of Tethr, a company that uses AI to analyse customer conversations.