What does SPIN selling mean?
I think that when it comes to selling high-value products a lot of classic rules don’t work and SPIN selling is the ideal sales methodology for making major sales. The term originated from the book, “SPIN Selling” by Neil Rackham in 1988. Rackham studied over 35,000 sales calls made by over 10,000 salespeople in 23 countries over a 12-year period. SPIN selling teaches you to ask situational ‘SPIN’ questions at an appropriate time to move clients through the sales funnel. SPIN questions are based around a framework of four key stages:
· SITUATION – Questions about a client’s process, tools, objectives, and responsibilities. Enabling you to learn about the client’s goals.
· PROBLEM – Questions about what challenges the client is currently dealing with to help them address their specific needs.
· IMPLICATION – Leading questions about problems uncovered in the previous step to help you understand how they negatively affect the client’s organisation. These questions will reframe the size of the problem and increase the sense of urgency in solving them.
· NEED PAYOFF - Questions about potential solutions to reveal and drive home that our product or service will benefit the client’s organisation.