SPIN Selling

Question 1

What does SPIN stand for?

Answer 1

1) Situation: data gathering, facts and backgrounds

“how long have you had your present equipment?”

2) Problem questions: explores problems, difficulties and dissatisfactions

“is this operation difficult to perform?”

3) Implication questions: take a customer problem and understand its implications

“How does SLOW BI affect the performance of your business?”

4) Need-payoff questions

“If we could get your BI queries down to sub second, how would that help you?”

Question 2

4 stages of sales call

Answer 2

1) Preliminaries: the warming up of events to start the call

2) Investigating: finding out facts, information and needs Spin Sequence:
- Situation
- Problem questions
- Implication questions
- Need payoff questions

3) Demonstrating capability: showing that you’ve got something worthwhile

Make benefits showing how your product / service meets explicit needs which have been expressed

4) Obtaining commitment: gaining commitment to proceed further
- Check that you’ve covered key concerns
- Summarize benefits
- Propose an appropriate commitment

Question 3

SPIN Strategy: what is the purpose?

Answer 3

the purpose in asking questions is to turn implied needs to explicit needs

-Situation: collects facts, information, and background data
What do you see as your objectives in this area?

Problem: probes for problems, difficulties or dissatisfactions. Uncovers implicit needs
What are the disadvantages of the way you’re handling this now?

Implication: take a problem the buyer perceives to be small and build it into larger problem
Is that the only implication doing X? Is Y also affected, for example?

Need-payoff question: build up the value of the usefulness of the solution
Is there any other way this could help you?
Why is that important to you?
How would that help?

Question 4

SPIN Model Sequence

Answer 4

-Start with situation questions to set the context
“Do you use Contortomate machines in this division?”

-Ask problem questions to gather implied needs
“And are they difficult for your operators to use?”

-Develop implied needs via implication questions to make buyer feel the gravity of the problem
“You say they are hard to use. What affect does this have on your output?”

  "If you've only got 3 people who can use them, doesn't that create bottlenecks?" 

  "It sounds like the difficulty of using these machines may be leading to a turnover problem with the operators you've trained. Is that right?" 

• Have the buyer state explicit needs with need-payoff questions
  
  • “You said it’s something you need to do. What benefits would you get from lower inventory levels?”
  • Allowing the seller to state benefits

Question 5

Call strategy planning

Answer 5

• Write down 3 potential problems this prospect could be facing and that your offering can help / solve
• Write down examples of sample problem questions that you could ask to uncover the problems above

-Implication question planning:
-List potential problems customer might face
-Ask yourself what related difficulties this may lead to
-For each difficulty, write down the corresponding question
Imagine the customer saying “So what?” Yes, I’ve got a problem - but I don’t think its serious. List the arguments you’d use to convince the customer that the problem really is serious - its causing a loss of efficiency, its increasing her costs, and its demotivating her people . Then turn each of your arguments into questions