A business can’t accomplish anything without sales. Sales is the charcoal that keeps the train going, it’s the water that provides nourishment to plants, and honestly, it\’s what going to keep the lights on in your business. It’s no secret we all want to increase our sales. It’s what’s going to allow us to grow! In this blog, I’m going to share with you a sales method that will increase your sales TREMENDOUSLY! It’s called SPIN Selling.
Back in the day salespeople did most of the talking in the sales call. They spoke highly about the product that they were selling. To the point where they focused more on the product that they are selling rather than the customer’s needs. As salespeople, you have to realize that you are in that sales call to solve the buyer’s problem not to talk their ears off.
But what if they focused more on what the customer needs rather than the product???
What is Spin Selling?
SPIN Selling is a sales method that was discovered by Neil Rackham, which was published in his book called “SPIN Selling” (1998).
It focuses on asking questions. This is will get the customer talking more in the sell call.
Huthwaite (founded by Neil Rackham) conducted a huge study of over 35,000 sales calls and they found that in the successful sales calls the buyer did most of the talking. The salespeople got them to talk by asking smart questions in a specific sequence.
SPIN is actually an abbreviation, it stands for:
• Situational Questions
• Problem Questions
• Implication Questions
• Need Payoff Question
These are the four phases of this sales method. I will go in detail about each phase further later.
Sales Process
Do your Research
Before you enter the sales call make sure you find out as much information as you can about the buyer. This gives you an idea of what to expect when you get into the sales call. The more you know also gives you more insight into the buyer. It shows you why a buyer might need what you are selling.
Build Rapport
Don’t just dive into asking questions. Build a rapport with the buyer. Remember the sales process is all about building trust. The more trust you build the more the buyer will open up to you. Talk about the person who introduced or a restaurant that\’s popular in the are. Just get the buyer to open a little bit before you talk business.
Set your Agenda
After you build rapport make sure to set your agenda for the meeting. It could be something like.
“So first I’m going to ask you questions to get to know more about your business. Then I’m going to tell you more about my company and see if we are a great fit for each other.”
Situation Questions
Situation questions are questions about the buyer’s current situation. These questions will get the buyer to open up about the well being of their present.
Examples:
• How many people do you currently have working for you?
• What are you doing to market your business?
• What are your company’s goals?
A great salesperson does his research of a company before a sales call so the situational questions that you ask should be important and something that you absolutely need to know. Sellers often make the mistake of asking too many situation questions. Please cut off unnecessary questions that the buyer would expect you to know.
Don’t say anything about your company in this phase. Remember it’s about the customer.
Problem Questions
This phase we dive deeper with our questions. Problem questions are questions that you ask the buyer regarding the difficulties or challenges that they are facing in their existing situation.
Examples:
• On a scale of 1- 10, how satisfied are you with the results from your marketing?
• What problems do you have with your current CRM?
• What challenges do you come across when you are making an effort to achieve this task?
Problem questions are important to ask during a sales call. Studies have shown that the most successful salespeople ask the most problem questions. They also ask these questions sooner in the meeting. It’s important to ask buyers about their problems because you want to know how your product could solve those problems. It gives you an idea of what angle to come from.
If you are selling a CRM system and the customer told you that they have trouble organizing their leads, you would sell them on the organization that the CRM provides not that the CRM works on mobile devices. We will talk more about this later on.
Implication Questions
Now that the buyer has told you their problems now it’s time to present them with a solution. SIKE! How do they know if their problems are worth solving yet? It’s time to make them feel the pain of their problems and we do this with implication questions. Implication questions are questions that you ask about the consequences if they don’t solve this problem.
It’s like putting a mirror in front of them.
Examples:
• What effect do these problems have on your business?
• How will you be able to achieve your company goals in this problem persists?
• What do your employees think about these problems?
Implication questions are powerful because they create pain. They show the buyer what would happen if they choose not to take action. These questions will create anxiety within a buyer and have them looking for a solution.
Need-Payoff Questions
Now the buyer feels the pain it’s time to get into the solutions. Need payoff questions set you up to offer a solution to the buyer’s problem. These questions ask about the usefulness of a solution.
Examples:
• If I told you that I had a way to solve that problem would you want to hear it?
• If you fix this problem what opportunities will come about?
• Why is it important to solve this problem?
Need-payoff questions set you up for you to talk about what you are selling and how it can solve their problems. Since you now know what problems they are having sell them on the solutions that will solve those problems don’t go too in detail about what doesn’t matter. Tell them what they need to hear. They want to know how you can solve their problems.
Oh yeah, you should be taking notes throughout this meeting because it shows that you are listening to them and that you are making note of they are saying.
Conclusion
This is a sure-fire way to see a boost in your sales. Remember we are here to solve problems not to talk people’s ears off. Find the problem and solve it simple!
