SPIN Selling by Neil Rackham

SPIN Selling book is a classic salesman book. I read it mostly to be more familiar with the most common selling techniques used on me.

I thought it will be more harsh and pushy, but I was suprised in a good way that the selling technique was very civil and more about providing a common good and not using any dark patterns.

4 golden rules for learning

  1. Practice only one behaviour at a time
  2. Try the New behaviour at least 3 times
  3. Quantity before Quality
  4. Practice in safe situations

The selling call stages:

  1. Preliminaries (warm-up)
  2. Investigating (finding out facts, information and needs)

Here comes the SPIN sequence:

  • Situation questions (about facts, background, what he is doing now, too many can bore/irritate customer)
  • Problem questions (about customer’s problems, difficulties, dissatisfactions. Linked with success in smaller sales, less powerful in major sales)
  • Implication questions (About consequences or effects of a customer’s problems. Increases customer’s perception of value in the solution, crucial in major sales)
  • Need-payoff questions (About the value, usefulness, utility that the customer perceives in a solution. Linked to success in the major sales)

Demonstrating capability

Show that you’ve got something wothwhile to offer

  • Make Benefits (not Features or Advantages), show how your product/service meets Explicit Needs which have been expressed.

Obtaining Commitment

Gain an agreement to proceed to a further stage of the sale

  • Check that you’ve covered key concerns
  • Summarize the Benefits
  • Propose an appropriate level of commitment