Doug Rice summarized his favorite points from Spin Selling here: http://t.co/LXmf1hY5.
Here are my favorite take always: “Great questions mirror the buying cycle of the customer. The problem with the questioning of the unsuccessful sales rep is that it reflects the sales process rather than the purchasing process. S.P.I.N. stands for “Situation questions,”
“Problem questions,” “Implication questions,” and “Need-payoff questions.” These questions reflect the process a customer goes through when making a purchasing decision. First, they take account of their present situation. Then, they realize that there is a problem is some area. Next, they think about the negative effects the problem could have on their business. Finally, they evaluate the benefits of solutions. Traditional questioning jumps straight to benefits, without even bothering to discover if those “benefits” are relevant to the customer. SPIN selling walks the customer through the purchasing process in a manner with which they are more comfortable…
The successful salespeople highlighted the purpose of the call, gained agreement from the prospect, and simply moved forward.”
I read this book approx 20 years ago, and it’s still a classic. The author did extensive of research to quantify this questioning approach and used real world results. Several highlights come to mind:
*Problem questions are great, and they uncover implied needs that the customer has.
*Those implied needs are very often buying indicators for small sales, but not larger sales!
*Larger sales require that the implicit needs are translated to explicitly stated needs…the salesperson needs to assist in developing those, often in simple and clear terms. These are customer statements or requirements in which they need to or plan to take action. Taking action is key.
*The need-payoff questions are essentially implication questions, and they’re my favorite. They get the customer to focus on the solutions or positive factors rather the the usual problems. It’s a positive shift toward personal and professional aspects of the solution. It can also lead to a quantification of the solution (and developing an ROI).
This is a very good book that has foundations in research. It also contains information on improving sales in almost any product or service, making it very universal throughout your career.