Neil Rackham spin sales. Spin selling technology in examples

Neil Rackham graduated from the University of Sheffield (UK) with a degree in experimental psychology. Neil Rackham is a partner at the Go To Market Partners consulting company (advises Motorola, IBM, Kodak, Honeywell corporations). Founder and CEO of Huthwaite Inc. (a leading sales consulting, training and research firm), author of several best-selling books, including SPIN Selling, Major Account Sales Strategy, and Building the Right Partnership (Getting Partnering Right).

A recognized pioneer, Rackham brought research and analysis to the field of sales management.

Books (3)

Strategy for working with clients in large sales

This is the third book in the SPIN series by Neil Rackham. It looks at the sales strategy from the buyer's point of view. Rackham defines the main stages of the buying process and shows how to develop an effective sales strategy to achieve maximum impact on the buying decision at each stage.

The book offers an effective way to improve the performance of sales managers, sales coaches and salespeople involved in the marketing of high-value products and services.

Selling using the SPIN method

The most recognized method of sales today. The method was developed on the basis of research conducted over 10 years. 35,000 customer meetings conducted by 10,000 salespeople in 23 countries were analyzed. Used by high-end salespeople worldwide.

It is generally accepted that in sales: - the right methods of closing the transaction increase your chance of success - it is necessary to tell the buyer about the benefits of your product or service - it is important to be able to work with complaints - open questions are more effective than closed ones "It's all insignificant," says Neil Rackham. He and his research team found that many of the methods designed to sell low-cost, small-scale products are ineffective when selling high-value products.

Rackham developed his own sales technique - the SPIN sales technique: Situational Questions, Problem Questions, Extraction Questions and Guiding Questions. SPIN sales technology provides the sales professional with a set of simple and practical tools. They have been tested and actively used in world-famous companies and have proven their effectiveness.

Selling using the SPIN method. Practical guide

This method has revolutionized complex and high-volume sales around the world… This method is used today by half of the Fortune 500 companies to train their sales representatives…

In this practical guide, you'll find the tools you need to master this revolutionary method... immediately. Written by the author of the acclaimed bestselling book Selling with the SPIN Method, this long-awaited book aims to facilitate the adoption of SPIN technology.

Learn from: - individual diagnostic exercises - case studies from leading companies - practical suggestions for scheduling appointments - inspirational questionnaires - examples of difficult sales situations.

Reader Comments

Igor Shubin/ 28.11.2014 The publication of the book “Sales by the SPIN method. A practical guide” was almost inevitable. The growing popularity of the original edition of SPIN Selling has also led to increased dissatisfaction. A growing number of people who had read Neil Rackham's first book and were convinced of the correctness of its ideas now needed further help and advice on how to put the technology into practice. In the original edition, however, there was no description of practical tools that would allow one to move from knowledge of theory to its effective use in real sales. Readers were left with too many “How?” questions.

Headed by Neil Rackham, Huthwaite ran training programs aimed at mastering the SPIN method. In large corporations, in whose interests the study was conducted, which became the basis for the creation of technology, there were no problems with passing trainings. However, most sellers do not work for large organizations. They had neither the resources nor the justification for undergoing costly training. Tools, exercises, and practical tips to help salespeople turn the right concepts into productive sales are what this book consists of.
All Rackham's books (and there are 4 of them), practical examples and tools for preparing for negotiations using the SPIN method - www.spin-sales.rf

At one time, working in a large company, I was trained in sales. It was led by a fairly well-known coach, and everything was organized at a decent level. However, during the training, I had the feeling that we were being taught some tricks of traveling salesmen who, by all means, need to “suck in” their goods. The importance of asking open-ended questions, how to deliver presentations, how to deftly respond to objections, and how to use closing techniques have been repeatedly emphasized.

Watching the sales process in practice (we sold expensive business solutions), I saw that the process of interaction with the buyer in reality does not fit into the training schemes. After reading Neil Rackham's SPIN Selling, everything fell into place. I realized that the tricks of small sales are useless, if not harmful, for large ones. Despite the fact that the book was published a long time ago and is recognized around the world as the No. 1 guide to large sales, perhaps not everyone is familiar with its conclusions. Therefore, we at MakeRight.ru have prepared an abbreviated version of our summary especially for Megamind readers:

Large sales are fundamentally different from small ones and require a different approach. What?

Developed by Neil Rackham, the SPIN methodology for large sales is based on Huthwaite's 12-year study of 35,000 customer encounters in 23 different countries around the world and examined 116 factors that have a significant impact on the bottom of the sale. Interestingly, no one has done such large-scale sales studies before.

What is the difference between large sales and small sales?

One of the main differences is the duration of the transaction. You may need to have many meetings with different people. And even if you gave a brilliant presentation, it is far from certain that this will help the sale.

The most important thing is that " the psychology of sales that require multiple meetings is fundamentally different from sales from one meeting».

Also, large sales are distinguished by a large amount of obligations of the buyer. Agreeing to a big deal is a big decision. There is also an increased risk in case of error in large sales, and they are usually characterized by a long relationship between the seller and the buyer.

Neil Rackham describes an experiment that clearly shows the difference between a big sale and a small one. A spectacular presentation of the product was held in front of potential customers. Everything seemed good - potential clients remembered from 5-7 key points of the presentation from the eight listed. They also said that the likelihood that they will purchase the product is high. It seems that such a result can be rejoiced?

But... A week later, all potential buyers replied to the researchers that they had forgotten most of the information, and the purchase of the product was no longer included in their plans.

So why didn't the sale go through despite a great presentation and good customer feedback after the sale?

The fact is that if the contract was concluded immediately after the presentation, then, most likely, if it was successful, the seller would conclude a deal. However, big sales usually don't close immediately after the presentation. They require a long study of the conditions and much more time. The time before the closing of the transaction is significantly stretched.

Based on his research, Neil Rackham drew a number of significant conclusions:

• many of the skills that made for successful small sales prevented successful large sales;
• the style of conducting large sales, requiring several meetings to establish business relationships, is significantly different from the style of the transaction based on one meeting;
• as the volume of sales increases, the behavior of the buyer changes significantly and requires different skills from the seller.

In addition, for large sales, the assertive style familiar to small sales, when the seller tries to immediately overcome all objections of the buyer, telling him about the advantages of his offer, is not suitable. There is a great danger that this will sharply alienate a potential client.

“The rule is this: you can be assertive if you have the opportunity to take an order here and now; but if you part with a customer without receiving an order from him, being assertive will reduce your chances of ultimate success. And because the buyer won't re-engage with you, you may never know where you went wrong. So the pushy, tough style works for small, one-time sales, and it usually works against you if it takes multiple meetings to close a deal.”

In general, large sales are not characterized by the impulsiveness that can determine the buyer's behavior when he makes small purchases. " As the size of the sale grows, the importance of rational elements increases.". Customers are more likely to make an informed decision based on in-depth study of the offer and with the involvement of experts within their company. Decisions are often made collectively and not at all by the persons with whom the meeting was held or to whom the presentation was shown. Purchasing decisions can be made by people that a sales manager might have no way out of.

“Major purchases, by definition, require major decisions from the buyer, and this affects the psychology of the sale. With a small sale, the buyer thinks less about value. As the size of the sale increases, salespeople must build perceptions of the value of their products and services. Building perceptions of value is perhaps the single most important skill for making big sales.”

Research has shown that salespeople usually fail when they unknowingly describe the benefits of a product. Successful sellers, on the other hand, take a different approach - revealing the value of the offer.

In addition, large sales usually involve a long-term relationship between the seller and the buyer. Therefore, the sale itself becomes part of their relationship. Relationships are of fundamental importance in large sales as opposed to small ones.

“In a large sale, the product and seller are often seen as one entity by the buyer.”

What factors influence sales success?

Observing how salespeople work, Neil Rackham's team conditionally divided each meeting into 4 parts:

1. Start of the meeting - actions before the start of sales, which are designed to set up a sale.
2. Research - obtaining information from the client through questions.
3. Demonstration of Capabilities - In this stage, the seller shows that he has a solution to the customer's problems.
4. Obtaining commitments. In small sales it's usually closing the deal, in large sales it's what Neil Rackham calls "progress" - gaining access to the decision makers or agreeing to test the product. It is important to note that if the seller considers the meeting successful, this does not mean that it is such in fact, even if positive feedback is received from the client. The main criterion for success is progress.

The notion that the key to success in sales is the beginning of the meeting has taken root. But, as it turned out during the study, in large sales, the beginning of the meeting is not critical. The second stage turned out to be the most important and decisive - research, when the salesperson asks a potential client a series of questions, the answers to which allow him to better understand and know the needs of the client. As the author notes, with the help of such leading questions, the average salesperson can improve their sales results by 20 percent.

Importance of questions

Neil Rackham explains why questions are so important in sales:

• Questions help clients speak. In successful meetings, the buyer usually talks more than the seller;
• Questions focus attention. For example, a teacher asking questions to the audience attracts much more attention than just giving a lecture;
• A salesman who excels in explanations will not convince people at all. People don't give up on their beliefs so easily, and a salesperson who insists they're wrong is more likely to cause rejection than to make progress. But competent questions just can contribute to the fact that people will change their beliefs.

Questions help to find out the needs of the client. It is foolish to try to sell a person what he does not need.
The questions are definitely important. In any sales training, you hear about the importance of questions. Moreover, it is believed that it is better to ask open-ended questions, that is, those for which it is not enough to answer “yes” or “no”. Where did this belief come from and is it true? Neil Rackham's research team found that there is no relationship between open questions and successful meetings. Some of the sellers used them, some did not, but this did not affect the outcome of the meeting.

But what questions help sell, if not open?

We identify needs - hidden and explicit

The researchers suggested that it is not open questions that affect the success of the sale. Important questions that help to find and reveal the needs of the buyer. A sales specialist needs to understand that the buyer has not only explicit, but also hidden needs. What are hidden needs?

“Latent needs are the buyer's presentation of problems, difficulties, and grievances. Typical examples are the phrases “Our current system has insufficient throughput”, “I am unhappy with the waste rate”, or “We are not satisfied with the current speed of the process.
Explicit needs are specific statements by the buyer about the need or desire for a purchase. Typical examples of explicit needs are “We need a faster system”, “We are looking for a more reliable machine”, or “I want to be able to backup”.

Hidden needs indicate that the client is dissatisfied with something, he has a problem.

He may want to fix the problem or leave things as they are. How does he make a decision? Based on the equation of value - weighing the cost and importance of the decision. If the customer feels that the cost of solving the problem is too high compared to the magnitude of the problem, they will not buy. If he sees that the problem is serious, he will acquire its solution. Therefore, the salesperson must direct their questions to identify hidden needs, and then show the client how significant his problem is. It should be remembered that the client himself may not understand how significant the problem is and how much it costs him to delay in solving it.

As for explicit needs, as Neil Rackham notes, they clearly indicate the client's willingness to purchase. In successful meetings, the client expressed more explicit needs. How should the seller act so that the client expresses more explicit needs?

If we are talking about small sales, then it is necessary to ask questions that identify problems (hidden needs), and then offer their solution. In large sales, a different approach is required - "the purpose of questions in a large sale is to identify hidden needs and develop them to the level of explicit ones."

How to do it? Using the SPIN technique developed by Neil Rackham.

SPIN sales

SPIN is an abbreviation for four types of questions:

WITH- situational
P- problematic
AND- extracting
H- guides

These questions are aimed at clarifying specific data. As the author notes, many sales trainings teach you to ask situational questions. For example, “how many years has your company been in operation?”, “what are your indicators ...?” etc. But in large numbers, such questions begin to annoy potential customers. As it turned out during the study, successful meetings are characterized by a smaller number of situational questions compared to unsuccessful ones. Sometimes they can indicate poor preparation of the seller. The author advises only a little time to devote to such issues and only when necessary.

P- problematic. These questions are aimed at finding out hidden needs, possible problems and difficulties that potential customers have. They are good for success in small sales, but not in large ones. Their role in large sales is to provide the raw material for building the sales process. These are questions in the spirit of “Are you satisfied with this?” or “Are you having difficulty with that?”.

• write down before the meeting three possible customer problems that your proposal can solve.
• write down questions that can identify these problems.

As the author notes, if you cannot do this, then it is better not to go to a meeting at all and not waste either your own or someone else's time.

However, in large sales, it is not worth spending too much time on problematic issues. The most important task is to turn the identified hidden needs of a potential client into explicit ones. What can help this?

As the author notes, " enough evidence has been collected that the main and only difference between salespeople who are amazingly successful in large sales and average sellers is that successful people are able to develop hidden needs to the level of explicit ones. The question is how do they do it?».

A study by Neil Rackham's team found that successful salespeople ask questions in meetings to:

• the problem began to be seen by the client as more serious. That's what extractive questions are about - they reinforce the problem.
• the solution to the problem began to seem more meaningful to the client. For this, guiding questions are used.

AND- extracting questions. They are aimed at making the client perceive the problem as more serious.

Example:

« Salesperson (retrieving question): From what you've said, the difficulties in using these machines can lead to a turnover problem for your trained operators. Right?

Buyer (realizing that the problem is more serious than it seemed): Yes, people do not like working on these machines, so operators usually do not stay with us.

Salesperson (pulling question): How perceptible is agent turnover in terms of training costs?

Buyer (gradually realizing the severity of the problem): It takes about two months for an operator to gain sufficient experience and approximately $4,000 in salary and benefits for each operator. In addition, we pay Contortomat $500 to train new operators at their Southampton plant. Also add about a thousand for transportation costs. It turns out that we spend more than 5 thousand dollars on training each operator, and this year we have already trained five.”

Exploratory questions should be used in meetings with decision makers.

Neil Rackham recommends preparing extraction questions ahead of time by:

• write down a possible problem of a potential client;
• suggest what difficulties are associated with it;
• write down questions that you can ask about each difficulty.

However, when using pull questions, care must be taken not to plunge the client into unnecessary sad thoughts about problems that will spoil his mood. Therefore, you need to be able to switch in time to a different type of questions - to guides.

H- Guiding questions. Their task is to focus the attention of a potential client on the way out of problems.

“Typical examples of such questions are: “Is it important for you to solve this problem?”, “Why do you find this solution so useful?” or “Could it be useful to you in something else?”.

Guiding questions also reduce the number of objections.

The advantage of guiding questions is that the salesperson does not need to overcome the resistance of the client and describe the benefits of the product, since the client himself will name the benefits and agree with himself rather than with someone else.

An example of using guiding questions:

« Seller (guiding question): If you can control subscribers' access to the long-distance network, will it help you?

Buyer: This will certainly prevent some unauthorized long distance calls, most of which are the result of illegal long distance use.”

However, it is important to remember that it is best to avoid asking guiding questions at the very beginning of the meeting, as they make the buyer tense and defensive, as, for example, in the case of the question: “If I show you something worthwhile, will you be interested?”. Another example of an inappropriate start to a meeting: "If I now show you a way to increase productivity, will you include us in the list of bidders?" or “Are you interested in a faster way to work with invoices?” and also they should not be asked if you do not have a suitable solution for them.

Summarizing the above, we can draw the following conclusions:

1. Successful sellers start the meeting with situational questions - to get general information. But they strictly observe the measure, since situational questions in large numbers can annoy the buyer or annoy him.
2. Salespeople then quickly move on to problematic questions, which bring to light problems, difficulties, and dissatisfaction. By asking problematic questions, they find out the hidden needs of the buyer.
3. In small sales, solutions can be offered at this stage, but for large sales to succeed, probing questions are needed to make the latent need larger and more pressing.
4. When the buyer agrees that the problem is serious enough to justify action, successful salespeople ask guiding questions that encourage the buyer to focus on solutions and describe the benefits of implementing the proposed solution.

Benefits in large sales

You can often hear the opinion that the salesperson needs to show the client the benefits of the offer, and not just list the characteristics. This seems quite logical, but another surprising discovery made as a result of Neil Rackham's research was that " benefits, in the sense that we have all been taught, are ineffective in large sales and are very likely to cause a negative response from the buyer».

The study found that descriptions of the characteristics of the offer have a small positive effect in small sales, but in large sales they have a negative effect if used at the beginning of the meeting or neutral if used later. In addition, characteristics are usually more responsive to users than to decision makers.

To delve deeper into the issue of demonstrating benefits in the sales process, researchers have identified two types of benefits:

1. Benefit Type A is an advantage. Shows how the seller's offer can help the buyer.
2. Benefit type B is a benefit. Shows how the seller's offer satisfies the explicit need of the buyer.

Advantages have a positive effect on small sales, but in large sales it is the benefits that are more effective, - “ By encouraging sellers to use the benefits more often than the benefits, we achieved sales growth of more than 30%».

In order to present a benefit, you must know the explicit need of the customer. Most often, this requires developing it from a latent need with the help of extracting and guiding questions.

If you describe this strategy in terms of psychology, then sellers need to shift their attention from their offer to the needs and desires of the client.

“Have you ever noticed that sales suddenly start to rise at the very moment when salespeople become frustrated with a new product and lose their enthusiasm? While the product is new, it is predicted to be an unprecedented success, the sellers are full of enthusiasm and devote a lot of time to mastering it. But once they are disillusioned with the novelty, their focus shifts from the product back to the customer.”

Objections?

Another finding from the Neil Rackham team's research challenged the conventional wisdom that it takes a lot of time to manage objections. Most often, objections are caused by the seller himself, and not by the client. Successful salespeople get a lot less objections because they know how to prevent them in time.

For example, price anxiety is more common among potential buyers during meetings in which the salesperson lists many features. Psychologically, this increases attention to the price. This will be a plus if you are selling an inexpensive product. After listening to the list of characteristics, the buyer will prepare for a high price. And will be pleasantly surprised low. But when selling expensive items, this method is ineffective and will cause objections from buyers - listing characteristics will force them to focus on price.

Another approach that provokes customer objection is to describe the benefits of the offer (that is, statements that show how your offer can help the buyer take advantage of it).

Advantages are objectionable because they address a problem that has not yet been clearly formulated.

What should be the correct approach to objections?

It should be focused on preventing objections. First you need to create the value of your offer for the buyer with the help of extracting and guiding questions, and only then reveal your capabilities and ways to solve the problems of the buyer.

Start and end of the meeting. How to avoid mistakes

Research by Neil Rackham concluded that one of the most common mistakes at the start of a major sale is prematurely talking about the possibilities and solutions.

“How often do you discuss your products, services, or solutions during the first half of a meeting? If this phenomenon is not uncommon in your practice, it is most likely a sign of an ineffective start to the meeting.

Keep in mind that the beginning of the meeting is not the most important part of a big sale, and focus on asking the right questions to the client.

When it comes to closing deals, Neil Rackham's team was in for some unexpected discoveries. It disproved the need for frequent use of various closing techniques during the meeting. Closing is, to a certain extent, a way of putting pressure on the buyer. Perhaps it works well in small sales, but in large ones it causes a negative reaction.

"Closing techniques, like all other forms of pressure, lose their effectiveness as the 'size' of the solution increases."

The study found that sellers who frequently used closing techniques closed fewer deals than those who did not.

However, it is important to understand that the absence of a closure also has negative consequences for the meeting. For the meeting to be successful, the seller needs to get a commitment from the buyer. Successful salespeople use four sequential steps to do this:

1. Pay attention to research and demonstration of opportunities.
2. Make sure all key questions are covered: We have found that sellers who excel at getting commitment from buyers always take the lead and ask the buyer if there are any other questions or points to consider.».
3. To sum up the benefits: Successful salespeople put all the pieces together, summarizing the key points of the discussion before moving on to making a commitment. In small sales, summing up is not necessary, while in large sales it almost always helps to focus on key issues. Be sure to summarize key issues, especially benefits».
4. Suggest a commitment: " At the moment of making a commitment, successful salespeople don't ask, they tell. The most natural and most effective way to bring a meeting to a successful conclusion is to offer the buyer the next step.».

Keep in mind that in large sales, a commitment may not mean closing a deal. This is, first of all, progress - for example, scheduling a meeting with senior management, an agreement to hold a presentation.

In order for the closing of the meeting to be successful, you need to know what goals you want to achieve.

“Don't be content with deferral goals like 'gather information' or 'collaborate in the future'. However, do not set yourself unattainable goals. It is necessary to support the promotion of the sale and offer as closing actions that ensure the progress of the sale.

How to move from theory to practice

Neil Rackham gives a number of tips on how to properly master the SPIN method in practice:

• Practice only one type of behavior at a time. When mastering the SPIN method, you concentrate on one type of question in turn.
• Practice the new behavior at least three times. Failure is natural. " Never judge if a new behavior is effective until you have practiced it at least three times.».
• Quantity is more important than quality (better to sell at least somehow than unsuccessfully trying to sell "well").
• Practice in safe situations. " Always try new behaviors in safe situations until you feel comfortable. Don't use important meetings to practice new skills».

The following steps will help you improve your SPIN selling skills:

1. Focus on the exploration stage instead of the demonstration stage. What you ask the customer is more important than what you tell them.
2. Arrange the questions in the order of SPIN. Start with situational and problematic questions and only after them move on to extracting and guiding questions.
3. Analyze your product in terms of solving customer problems, rather than looking at it in terms of features and benefits. Plan questions that you can then use for these purposes.
4. Plan, implement and review. Planning should be combined with the analysis of the meetings.

Neil Rackham recommends asking yourself the following questions after every meeting:

1. Did I meet the goals of the meeting?
2. If I were to have this meeting again, what would I do differently?
3. What new things have I learned that can be used in future meetings with this client?
4. What new things have I learned that can be used elsewhere?

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Hello, friends. In this article, we will learn how to use the SPIN sales technology. It will come in handy in order to make especially large sales.

This whole system was created just to teach sellers to make big deals. The author of this model, Neil Rackham, constantly emphasizes that large sales are inherently very different from small sales (that is, sales of low-cost products). First, we will analyze what the SPIN sales technology is, and then we will look at specific examples of how it works.

SPIN sales technology - what is it in simple words?

All SPIN technology is based on the right questions. That is, the meaning here is simple - whoever asks questions (and listens carefully to the answers) controls the conversation. Only the questions must be asked in the right order and in the right order.

What is important for large sales. We call large sales such sales where a person has to part with a sufficiently large (from his point of view) amount of money in order to purchase a product.

In small sales, the most successful salespeople are those who talk a lot themselves. They literally "talk" people to buy what they offer. For this, for example, it is better suited.

It's not like that in big sales. The seller should be more silent and listen, just guiding the buyer with the right questions to close the deal. It sounds simple, but in fact there are many pitfalls. The creators of the system distinguish only four types of questions: WITH situational, P troubled, AND enticing and H guides (according to the first letters of these words, the abbreviation SPIN is formed).

Let's now look at each of these types of questions with specific examples to understand how they work.

Situational questions - first acquaintance

When you are just getting to know your potential client, the first thing to do is to ask situational questions. These are questions that allow you to establish contact with a person and find out primary information about him and his business.

Let's say you're selling the latest CRM system for small businesses. Its cost is 350 thousand rubles. For a small business, this is quite a lot of money.

Therefore, you choose face-to-face meetings (or at least face-to-face Skype calls) as your sales model. At the agreed time, you meet or call up your potential client - the owner of an online store selling children's clothing. After the standard “hello” and “thank you for taking the time to meet,” you move on to situational questions.

In our specific example, these questions might be:

• How long has your online store been running?
• How many items of goods do you have open at the same time?
• What is the store traffic?
• What are your main traffic sources?
• How are orders processed?
• What is your percentage of paid applications?

All of these questions ask for some facts about the current situation in the business of your interlocutor. And this is where you have to be very careful. Situational questions don't really help sales at all.

Novice and inexperienced salespeople spend the most time on situational questions, because they are afraid to ask really important questions (problematic and extractive). It seems to them that while they fill up the interlocutor with questions about his business, they “warm up” him and move towards the successful completion of the transaction.

In fact, everything happens exactly the opposite. Situational questions tire your potential client, he begins to get bored, because he does not understand where and why this conversation is moving. As a result, he tries to complete the meeting with you as quickly as possible.

Therefore, experienced sellers of expensive goods never get stuck at the dating stage for a long time. They ask a couple of situational questions to establish contact, and then move on to problematic questions.

Problematic issues - identifying needs

As you might guess, problematic questions are aimed at finding out what difficulties and problems our potential client has at the moment. At the same time, it is very important that the interlocutor himself voiced these problems. That is, you don’t have to say something like “You know, many companies that operate in your market have such and such problems.”

And yet, do not be shy to ask "uncomfortable" questions. You may be surprised, but problem questions arouse much more interest among potential customers than the same situational ones, for example.

Returning to our example of selling CRM for 320 thousand rubles, here are some problematic questions you could ask the owner of an online store selling children's clothing:

• Are there any difficulties with the delivery of orders at the moment?
• Is it difficult for operators to process a large number of simultaneous requests?
• What are the problems with optimizing ad spend?
• Are there any problems with maintaining a customer base and repeat sales?
• Is there enough time to hold promotions for those who have already become your clients?
• Do employees have time to collect feedback from customers after the sale?

See what's happening? Of course, you, as an experienced seller, are probably more or less aware of all the problems that your potential client, the owner of an online store, may have.

These are problems with the prompt processing and delivery of orders, the problem with tracking exactly where the client came from, and which advertising worked best. There is also a problem with maintaining a customer base, because almost no one has enough time to work with those who once bought something. And collecting feedback is a necessary thing, but hands never reach it either.

You know all this, and therefore you specifically ask such questions to a potential client in order to “reveal” his needs. Do you think that after such questions, he will immediately realize everything and buy your CRM? Not at all.

The creators of SPIN sales technology claim that problem questions work especially well in small sales. That is, if you are selling something inexpensive and small, then often only problematic questions will be enough for you. But it's not that easy in big sales.

Most interlocutors will answer you that, they say, yes, there is such a problem - maintaining a client base, and we have not held promotions for a long time, and there is not enough time to collect feedback. Such problems do exist.

But if immediately after that you voice your proposal - "Then let's supply you with our CRM for 300 pieces, and you won't have these problems anymore" - you will be asked politely (or maybe impolitely). Are you joking? 300 thousand rubles for collecting feedback from customers? No, thanks.

Problematic questions only reveal the need. In the SPIN technology, the most important is the following type of questions - extracting. And after identifying the problems, you need to move on to them.

Extracting questions - amplify the need

I must say right away that there is a small problem with the translation. SPIN sales technology is an American development. And in English, this abbreviation also sounds like SPIN. Accordingly, the translators have done their best to match the titles of the questions with such words in order to preserve the original sound. Hence we have AND enticing questions.

In English, they are called Implication (literally - strengthening, involvement). That is, in Russian this type of questions should have been called "Reinforcing questions". This name is more understandable than "extracting". But let's stick to the official translation so as not to get confused. The main thing here is to understand the meaning of these questions.

And the point is precisely to reinforce the problems that were raised in the previous stage. And again, it is very important that not you, but the potential client himself, begins to tell you why this problem is not as small as it might seem at first.

For example, let's take the problem of running promotions for customers who have already bought something from an online children's clothing store. As far as we remember, a business owner never has enough time and hands to carry out some kind of promotions for existing customers. Bought and thank you.

And then we start asking extractive/reinforcing questions. In our example, the dialogue might sound something like this.

You: Do you have enough time to work with the base of existing customers? Like holding promotions?

Shop owner A: Actually, we don't often work with existing clients. We hold promotions regularly, but only for new ones - we give additional advertising about discounts in the store for the holidays.

You: What kind of sales conversion do you think you could make based on your existing customers? Could you make, say, 2%?

Business owner: I think we could do more. We have a good product, and people are usually satisfied with the quality, they recommend us to their friends.

You: How many contacts do you currently have in your customer base? How many additional sales could be made?

Business owner A: Now we have almost 3,000 active customers. That is, if at least 5% of them made repeated purchases in the amount of 3-4 thousand rubles, then this would work, uh ... ( counting on a calculator) 450 - 600 thousand rubles of income.

You: How often could you hold such promotions?

Business owner: Yes, at least every month, we have enough holidays in our country, thank God.

Business owner: Well, one new client costs 1500 rubles on average, and the average check is 3000 rubles. So we need .. ( again counting on the calculator) 225 thousand rubles of advertising expenses to earn 450,000 rubles. Yes, it seems that selling to existing customers is much more profitable. You can do at least half a lama additionally ...

As you can see, the store owner himself came to the conclusion that we led him to. Of course, we could immediately tell him without a calculator - What are you, an idiot? It is much more profitable to sell existing customers on your base, because you do not need to spend money on advertising, and they already know you and trust you.

But we let the person come to that conclusion on his own. Then the impact will be much stronger. In addition, if we immediately lay out everything ourselves, then our interlocutor will probably forget half of what we said. And the next day he will have to "sell" our CRM to his business partners. And he will need arguments in order to convince them. And if he came to some conclusions “by himself”, then the probability is much higher that these conclusions will not fly out of his head.

Similarly, we go through all the other problems - with the collection of feedback, with the delivery of goods, with the acceptance of applications, and so on. And after that we move on to the final type of questions, after which it is already possible to close the deal.

Guiding Questions - Closing the Deal

Here, too, there is a small "jamb" with the translation. In the original, the name of this type of questions sounds like "Need-Payoff" (that is, literally - you have to pay for it). By asking such questions, we lead the interlocutor to the conclusion that they really need to be paid for solving the problems that we identified and strengthened in the previous stages.

If you like, with the help of these questions we will summarize everything that was said during the conversation. For example, in the case of an online store owner, guiding questions might sound something like this:

• Tell me, did I understand correctly that you would like to solve the problem with a large percentage of outstanding orders?
• Do I understand correctly that you now want to regularly hold promotions on the base of existing customers to increase income?
• In other words, is it really important for you to know exactly what source of advertising the client came to you from, so as not to overpay for ineffective advertising and maximize the use of the most profitable sources?
• Would a new CRM with an automated SMS system solve this problem?
• and so on

At this final stage of communication, our potential client already subconsciously understands that he cannot get out of the deal. And do not be afraid that your questions may sound like pure manipulation.

Firstly, most people will not hear the manipulation (they are not professional sellers like you). And secondly, even if they are professional sellers and hear all your "tricks" - it's okay.

It is said that it is easiest to sell to sellers. Because they listen carefully as you do it. And if they hear your manipulations, then they, as a rule, are very pleased with themselves (they feel their superiority over you - a fool who considers himself more cunning than the Odessa rabbi). And in such a complacent state, they also tend to "descend" to the conclusion of the transaction.

Therefore, do not be afraid to explicitly "taunt" a person to conclude a deal. In the end, he just reaffirms everything that was said before.

After such a summary. you can now safely proceed to the announcement of your proposal, knowing that you will not meet any objections.

That is, if a person has just said that it is important for him to make promotions every month, and you offer him a tool that will allow you to carry out promotions automatically for each new client on specified days (public holidays, birthdays, etc.) - automatically generating a special page for this client on your site, with special offers for his interests, and SMS mailing will be carried out by your CRM completely free of charge, and this will allow you to earn from 500 thousand additional money per month - well, who will object to this, right?

And in the same way, you use other identified and amplified problems to make a valid offer. This is how SPIN selling works.

And yes, don't forget that when dealing with large clients and large deals, you may need to hold several meetings before closing the sale. Then it might not be possible to ask all types of questions at once. The main thing is to understand the sequence and meaning of all this technology. And it actually works really well.

I hope this article was helpful to you. Don't forget to download my book. There I show you the fastest way from zero to the first million on the Internet (squeezed from personal experience over 10 years =)

See you later!

Your Dmitry Novoselov

SPIN selling is a universal selling technique that allows you to identify and amplify the needs of customers, influence their selection criteria, and deal with customer doubts and objections at the final stages of the transaction. The SPIN method is based on understanding how people behave in the process of buying and using Situational, Problematic, Extracting and Guiding questions. The first letters of each type of questions were abbreviated SPIN or SPIN (Situation, Problem, Implication, Need-Payoff Questions). What are these questions, how to formulate and ask them?

At first it seems very simple. First, we ask the client general questions about the current situation (Situational) - then about the problems in it (Problem) - then about the consequences of these problems (Extracting) - and finally about the benefits of solving problems and their consequences (Guides). Such a sequence of questions allows you to show the client his own problems, make him think about their consequences and want to solve them, independently realizing and talking about the benefits.

That's why SPIN sales are often tried like this: How are you doing with...? ( situational) - What difficulties do you face? ( Problem) - What do they lead to? ( extracting) - How important/beneficial would it be to get rid of this headache? ( guide). But everything is not so simple. There are many important nuances of SPIN selling, which you will learn about by reading this material to the end.

Explore SPIN selling on our website to sell a lot and easily:

The essence of SPIN sales - stop "selling", look for and solve customer problems

Stop selling. Your client will not change supplier, equipment, or his way of doing business that suits him. Why? Because everything is fine without you! That is why most customers are indifferent to your offer and presentations. Of course, the client may be hooked by the offer of some kind of “super benefit”. But do you really have it? If so, why hasn't a line of customers lined up for you yet? Stop just talking about your offer and company. This does not work.

Let's be honest, you don't have any super advantageous offer for the client, which would be 2-3-10 times higher than the offer of any competitor. But your client can come to a decision on the need for a deal if you help him see the problems and want to solve them. Do not sell your products and services! Sell ​​Problem Solving! What difficulties, problems and inconveniences can you solve with your proposal? What difficulties do clients experience in doing without you or working with others? So, the first thing you need to do is to translate the characteristics and strengths of your proposal into the language of the problems to be solved.

If you are selling equipment whose strength is reliability, then the problems you can solve are unplanned repair costs and losses due to the shutdown of equipment in use, the need to maintain a reserve fund, etc. It is necessary to ask the client about these problems and their consequences.

Distribution - ask what special discount systems the supplier provides to the client and whether he helps to save the client's money by offering worthy alternatives from his huge range (of course, you count on a negative answer).

No headache - no shopping. If the client is satisfied with the current supplier - why change it? If there are no problems and difficulties when working with existing equipment, its reliability and performance are satisfactory - why should a client buy a new one? Would you? Yes, what it is for you! There are many things in life that can be improved... The client knew this long before you called him.

Right now, think about what problems, difficulties and inconveniences your offer can solve for customers - this is the essence of SPIN sales. Stop thinking about how to "sell" - look for problems that you can solve. And those who have these problems are your customers. SPIN questions are the tongs you use to grab hold of your clients' problems and bring them to light.

Stop praising your offer and invite clients to discuss cooperation or take the first steps towards each other. It doesn't work well. Prepare to talk about the client, not yourself. About the problems, difficulties and dissatisfaction of customers.

For example, the equipment that your potential buyer is currently using is quite difficult to operate. In this case, you first ask if there are any difficulties with the operation of the existing equipment, and then move on to the consequences. Do these difficulties lead to an increase in the number of defects, is there always enough qualified personnel, how often do you have to stop the line for maintenance and readjustment, how long does it take and how much does it cost him in the end?

By asking about problems and their consequences, you show the person that what he considered “normal” actually creates problems, a lot of problems. Since there are many of them, this issue becomes important and needs to be addressed. It is like a medical examination revealing a serious disease that was previously ignored.

Situational, Problematic, Extracting and Guiding Questions

Your first selling task is not to paint your offer. You need to show the client his own problems so that he "squirms in his chair." Only by realizing their own problems, their consequences and size, your potential client himself will come to a decision about the need to purchase. How to achieve this? With the help of Situational, Problematic, Extracting and Guiding Questions! What are these questions? How to formulate and set them?

WITH Situational Questions- questions about the current situation, about what is now. So, if you sell equipment, then you should ask what the client is using now, whether the production has its own repair service, what load the line is working with and how long ago the equipment was updated. The answers to these questions should lead your conversation to the issues you want to explore and develop.

These questions are necessary, but will not make the client fidget in his chair. Therefore, it is necessary to reduce their number, focusing on those areas in which you plan to find difficulties and difficulties. How to do it? First, list the problems that your proposal can solve for a potential buyer. Then think about what information you need before asking "How comfortable are you with...?" or “Are there any difficulties with...?”

Examples of Situational Questions:

• What equipment are you currently using?
• How is the training process for new employees organized?
• How often do you carry out preventive maintenance of this equipment?

Impact of Situational Questions: do not have a positive effect on clients, but are generally needed, in moderation.

P Problem Questions- questions about the problems, difficulties and dissatisfaction of customers. Understanding what problems you can solve and asking about them, you will find out the Hidden needs of customers. These needs are the foundation of successful sales. You can amplify them so that the need for a solution becomes clear and desirable for the client. Keep in mind, the customer doesn't need your product or service. He has his own tasks that need to be solved. And the most important will be the tasks associated with solving existing problems.

Examples of Problem Questions:

• How often do you perform unscheduled maintenance on this equipment?
• As far as I understand, your supplier always offers shipment within 3 days without prepayment? (expecting a negative answer)
• How satisfied are you with the performance of this line?

Impact Issues: allows you to lay the foundation of the sale - to find out Hidden needs that can be developed. Determine dissatisfaction. No headache - no sale. If you want to sell more - help the buyer see the existing problems and their scale. Then he will want to solve them - with the help of your proposal.

AND Extraction Questions- Questions about the consequences or impact of problems that have come to light. Extraction Questions should reinforce the dissatisfaction identified by Problem Questions. They must show the buyer that "there is a problem and more than he thought." How to do it? Asking about the consequences of problems, their relationship to other problems, their impact on the client's business performance.

Does the current supplier not always meet deadlines? How often does this happen? What does this lead to? How does this affect your sales? Does it affect the fulfillment of your plans? How exactly? To ask such questions, you need to understand what problems, difficulties, dissatisfaction about which you ask can lead to. How do they affect the profit, costs, revenue of the client. These questions will not automatically come to your mind. It is necessary to plan them in advance, plan based on knowledge of your own offer and understanding of the client's business.

Examples of Extraction Questions:

• If your equipment is difficult enough to operate, does this lead to the need for more frequent maintenance?
• Does the need for such maintenance affect the downtime of this line?
• If you translate this downtime into lost profits, how much do you lose on this in a month?

Impact of Extraction Questions: the most powerful SPIN selling tool. With their help, you increase the severity of problems in the client's mind, you help the client understand that the problem is bigger than he thought and something needs to be done about it.

H Guiding Questions questions about the importance or usefulness of solving the problem. If Extractive questions are aimed at strengthening problems, then Guiding questions are aimed at determining the benefits of solving them. How useful would it be for you...? Is this task important? How will this help? Would it help if...?

By answering Guiding Questions, clients convince themselves of the value and need for problem solving. It remains only to make your offer. After all, your product or service eliminates the difficulties and inconveniences! Therefore, Guiding Questions help prevent objections. Why object if the client says: “Yes, it is important for me to do this,” and you: “I think we can help you with this.”

Examples of Guiding Questions:

• Would reducing equipment downtime allow you to earn quite a decent amount?
• Would an easier-to-operate line not only reduce downtime, but also make it easier to recruit maintenance personnel?
• In addition, it will significantly reduce the time and cost of training new employees. As far as I understand, this is important enough for you?

Impact of Guiding Questions: Prevent objections. By answering Guiding questions, customers themselves convince themselves of the usefulness of not your proposal, but the solution of their problems. And then they find a way to this solution - with the help of your proposal!



An example of using SPIN questions to sell an expensive product

What equipment is currently used in your production?
Buyer: Well, we have been using RSU-3 machines for 5 years now.
Seller (Situational question): Do you do your own maintenance?
Buyer: No, through service providers. We do not have many of these machines to support our repairmen.
Seller (Problem issue): RSU-3 is unlikely to win the reliability championship. How long do you have downtime or does it run like clockwork?
Buyer (does not perceive the problem as serious): Not more often than others. If we had more money 5 years ago, perhaps we would have chosen something more reliable, yes.
Such stops and times are treated calmly until they begin to consider how much they cost. For 5 years, probably, a decent amount has run up?
Buyer (without much enthusiasm): I am not a financial director to keep such records. But in 5 years we probably spent no less than the cost of the machines themselves on their maintenance.

To begin with, we are looking for a starting point - the problems, difficulties and inconveniences that the client has. Your task is to get him to take a close look at his situation, existing problems and their consequences. The client must feel the need for your offer before you make it.

And the best salespeople find or shape customer needs where average salespeople miss them. The best look for problems, dissatisfaction and difficulties of the client - Hidden Needs, and develop them to the point where the client has a desire or understanding of the need for changes / purchases - and this is already Explicit Needs. Proper SPIN selling is about identifying Hidden Needs and developing them to the Explicit level.



Seller (Retrieval question): By and large, this could be overlooked if it were not for the current orders to be subcontracted. Or do you organize it differently?
Buyer (still considers the problem not serious): This happens infrequently, sellers usually negotiate with customers to increase production time. Or they are trying to blow my mind.
Seller (Retrieval question): You know, last week I talked with the chief engineer of Krasny Oktyabr, they use the same DCS-3, and he said that after repairs, the performance of these DCSs decreases. How are you doing with this?
Buyer (gradually realizing the severity of the problem): Yes, this is indeed a problem. And taking into account the fact that the plan is not declining and our sales are growing - great. We have to drive machines to wear. And this leads to new repairs, and to marriage. It's true.
Seller (Retrieval question): And how much has your marriage grown?
Buyer: Not critical, of course. We include it in the cost. Although you have to raise the final price. And our sellers are not happy about it.
Seller (Retrieval question): Losing clients?
Buyer: I think that they need to negotiate better, and not turn the arrows on us. Although, of course, this situation does not make their work easier.


You need to show that the problem is serious enough. Show that you can't just ignore it. Therefore, we rationalize the problems and consequences, convert them into money - into costs or lost profits.

Seller (Retrieval question): Well, I hope this does not affect you, in production, does it? Those. Prize and marriage are not connected with you?
Buyer: Are you kidding me? Sometimes this is a total disaster. Last year, we almost all went without a salary, when the operator did not immediately realize that the machines began to live their own lives.
Seller (Retrieval question): Wow, how much did you end up losing in money?
Buyer: Decent, more than decent.
Seller (summarizing): It turns out that your DCS-3 require maintenance more often than you would like, no longer withstand the load that you give them, and besides, they hit not only sales, but also your own pocket?
Buyer: It seems so ... To listen to you - it's time to change them for a long time ...
Seller (Guiding question): Let's guess. Do you really get more than you spend? If so, then perhaps we can seriously discuss it.

What happened in this example? Before talking about his equipment and its strengths, the salesperson masterfully helped the client see his own problems and want to solve them! This is the essence of SPIN sales. Want to learn how to sell like a pro? Come to our 5 week.

How People Make Large Purchase Decisions - The Psychology of SPIN Selling

What are your customers doing and thinking about during the buying process? How do they buy? How do you make decisions about large purchases? Think about it for a minute. Yes, all people are different, but when making a decision on a serious purchase, everyone goes through several specific stages. For example, now you have a car, a new car. You are satisfied with it, it suits you completely. Do you want to change it and buy a new one after seeing an ad on TV or walking past a car dealership? No. Why? Because it suits you!

And in what case are you ready to consider the possibility of replacing it? If problems arise with your car: it breaks down, breaks down, becomes obsolete, will require frequent repairs, if your friend Vasya buys a cool car and hurts your pride. In general, you will be ready to think about buying a new car when you are no longer satisfied with the existing one. First, he will cease to please you, then - to arrange. This is the stage Recognition of Needs.

How to turn a client who “needs nothing” into a ready-to-deal? It is necessary to find out his current situation and develop dissatisfaction with it! Problems, difficulties, inconveniences, envy, missed opportunities - this will make the buyer fidget in his chair, ceasing to think "I'm fine." In large purchases, desires do not just appear. You will not change anything in the existing situation if it suits you completely. Emotions are not the main thing here. When was the last time you emotionally bought yourself a new apartment or car?



The buying process always begins with Need Recognition - the individual must decide that the existing system, equipment or suppliers are not to their liking. If everything suits - why change something? The more difficulties and dissatisfaction felt by customers, the stronger the desire to change the current situation - to acquire something that they do not already have or to change an existing supplier.

And the SPIN selling technique will help you identify this dissatisfaction and develop it to the point of action - the fundamental readiness to buy. But do not rush to rejoice, the sale has just begun. Not only you can offer a client a cure for a headache.

What will you do if you have a slight headache? Most likely nothing. And with severe pain - take a pill. No pill - You go and buy it. The stronger the perceived problem, the greater the desire to solve it.

Awareness of their problems and dissatisfaction leads people to a principled purchase decision. In the case of a small sale, you can celebrate the victory. But in large transactions, the next stage comes - Estimates of different options.

Yes, your offer lies before the buyer, but is it optimal? Or is there a better and cheaper one? People determine what to look for in this transaction, by what criteria to compare several offers. They decide what is important and what is not when choosing from the available options. And the price is not always in the first place. After all, you don’t buy the cheapest car, apartment and tourist package either, right? Price is not the only and in most cases not the main selection criterion in large transactions.

Large purchases, by definition, carry serious risks. Therefore, before making a final decision, your customers often find themselves at the stage Resolution of Doubt. Remember the blue and red pills for Neo? There is something to think about before deciding what to drink! What can go wrong? Suddenly you let me down? Maybe "the best is the enemy of the good" and leave everything as it is? Clients drive these fears in a circle, the transaction freezes in place. Look at your sales forecast. Surely, it is full of such deals! Want to better understand customer behavior and learn how to influence it? Come to our online training "Strategy and Tactics of Big Sales".

SPIN Selling is a set of tools and techniques that will help you move customers from one buying stage to another. To do this, it is necessary to consistently solve quite specific tasks: to find out and develop the problems of customers, to determine and influence their selection criteria, to help cope with doubts at the final stages of the transaction.

SPIN selling method - step by step instructions for use

It does not matter what exactly you are selling: industrial equipment, country houses or consulting services. To sell more successfully, you must help the client see the need for change, build his selection criteria in your favor and deal with possible doubts and freezes in the transaction. And you can solve these problems with the help of SPIN questions.

1 First, formulate problems that you can solve for clients. Customers do not need your products and services. Clients need to solve their own problems and challenges. Why do they need what you sell? What difficulties do they experience doing without you or working with others? If your equipment is the most reliable - the problems that you can solve are unplanned repair costs and losses due to stopping the equipment in use, the need to maintain a reserve fund, etc. Selling personnel assessment systems - ask about how often new employees do not pass the probationary period and whether after passing it they really get on the board of honor, and not on the list of middle peasants.



A need is not a need, it is a reason that causes a need, this is what is now a problem and a headache for customers. No problem, no purchase. If the client is satisfied with the current supplier - why change it? If there are no problems and difficulties when working with existing equipment, its quality and reliability are satisfied - why should a client buy a new one? That's right, no need.

What you sell should become part of the client's business, somehow affect his work. So stop talking about your offer and company. Think about what problems, difficulties and inconveniences you can solve. Then think about who is most likely to have these problems. Your potential customers are companies with problems that you can solve. SPIN questions are a tool for dealing with these problems.

2 Look at the situation through the eyes of customers. Purchases are made by individuals, not companies. And these specific people are responsible for something specific in their workplace, they do quite specific actions for this and experience difficulties in doing so. Also very specific. So, the commercial director is responsible for the implementation of the sales plan, for this he organizes the work of the commercial department, but constantly faces difficulties in operational management and control due to the lack of a sales model and strategy. It is simply often not clear to him whether the seller did everything in a particular sale, what exactly to teach his managers and what to control in order to increase sales.

Do you sell audits of sales departments or CRM systems? Be prepared to ask: “Does the lack of a sales strategy lead to difficulties in operational management, when it is not clear what to control and whether everything is done in the sale as it should be? How does this ultimately affect the implementation of the sales plan? You speak the language of the client, talking about his goals, objectives and difficulties, and not about your offer. And to do this, you need to understand what your customers are responsible for, what they do for this and what difficulties they face. This is how you start the buying process at the Recognition of Needs stage - bring the client to the idea that the current situation needs to be changed.

3 Prepare SPIN questions about problems and their consequences. If you have thought through the previous 2 points, now you are presenting problems that you can solve for customers. This is a necessary condition for conducting sales using the SPIN method. In real transactions, you will not be able to identify and develop all the problems that you have formulated. Therefore, there should be several possible problems, 4-5. If the conversation about one of them comes to a standstill, you will switch to the next one.

By asking about problems and their consequences, you show the client that what he considered “normal” actually creates problems, a lot of problems. And since there are a lot of them, it would be nice to do something with them. Since there are many of them, this issue becomes important and needs to be addressed. This is the essence - to change the picture of the client's world, to make the client see problems that he did not pay attention to before or did not attach importance to them. You can learn more about the rules, methods and features of formulating the problems to be solved, “working” SPIN questions and the technology of doing big sales on our website.

4 Start the conversation in a way that asks, not tells. So, you have prepared questions that will make the client see the problem and its scope. If so, you need to ask, and you need to start communication with the client in such a way that you do not tell him about your offer, but ask questions. The usual small talk is not good for this. AIDA is not good either. These techniques allow you to start a conversation. But you do not need the conversation itself, you need to discuss issues that are problematic for clients.

How to start communication so that in the future it is you who ask the client questions, and not talk about your offer? Most sellers don't know how to do this. And the scheme is simple! Answer the questions in your presentation: “Who are you?”, “Why should the client communicate with you?” and ask permission to ask a few questions.

For example, it may sound like this: “Ivan Ivanovich, good afternoon! My name is Igor Shubin, I am the head of the SPINCAT Academy. We are engaged in building and optimizing sales strategies. Perhaps our ideas and experience will help you start selling smarter and more than your competitors. But first, I would like to know more about how you sell now. Mind if I ask a few questions?"

5 Help the client see all the benefits of your offer. If you have prepared good questions about problems and their consequences, chained them up and asked the client, then you will pass through the Recognition of Needs stage (provided, of course, that you have chosen a client who really has these problems). The client is aware that his situation needs to change. He begins to feel the need to change suppliers or buy something new for himself. But then what? Sale done? No! Your offer, for sure, will not be the only option for the client.

If you are not a monopolist in your market, then the client will also communicate with your competitors and compare options. And by what parameters will he compare them? Does he understand what criteria to consider? Can he tell exactly how to compare different options for reliability or convenience? No! Maybe he will consider only the price? Let's be honest, you are also a living person who makes purchases. Do you always choose only by price? Most likely, almost never. Only the price is taken into account either by marginals who have no money at all (but what kind of potential customers are they then), or if the difference between the proposals is incomprehensible, if they seem to be the same.

If you want to win at the next stage of the purchase - the stage of Evaluation of various options - find out the criteria for choosing a client, offer additional criteria (which are your strengths) and weaken the importance of those requirements on which you are inferior to competitors. And this is also the stage of SPIN sales, although the questions about needs, the classic SPIN chains of questions, are no longer used. You have asked them before. What exactly to do if the client says that he will take into account, first of all, the cost, and your offer is far from the cheapest. Refuse a client? Weak move. You can use the strategies of Displacement, Reformulation, or Alternate Solution. In general, you must find out and influence the decision criteria to your advantage. Otherwise, he will simply choose another offer.

6 Find out and eliminate customer doubts. Okay, you have worked on the needs and criteria for choosing customers, made a commercial offer. You have shown that you can solve the client's important business problems and meet his selection criteria (which you have formed yourself). What's next? Do we sign and pay? No matter how! Resolving doubts is the next stage that clients go through. What can go wrong? Are there negative reviews about you? What if I haven't thought of everything? The greater the decision for the person who makes it, the greater his fear of making a mistake. Make a public mistake.

What does it take to successfully pass this stage? To understand what exactly can stop or disturb the client and help him cope with these stoppers. To do this, you will need not only emotional intelligence, but also the tools of psychologists and coaches. Most sellers simply wait for the client's decision by calling him once a week. It's not an option. You need to talk to the client. “Ivan Ivanovich, it seems to me that we have not discussed all the important issues. Tell me, maybe you are not quite sure about that (and here you name the possible doubt of the client)? What can we do to resolve this issue? Would it make sense to do the same...?” So you find out the client's stoppers and help to overcome them.

7 Know how to negotiate and do not make unilateral concessions. If you successfully find out and deal with the customer's doubts in the previous stage, you will have a bonus level - the stage of making the final decision. This is where customers ask for discounts or make other demands. Demanding some concessions on your part. Yes, you can give a discount. But after all it can give and competitors. And they can give a discount more than you. So how do you win then? Understand what concessions will have the strongest impact on the client, be able to bargain and plan non-price concessions, be able to convince customers with questions, not arguments. This is what successful negotiators can do that average salespeople can't. You will be able to implement the concept of "Win - Won" in practice - you will win at the final stage of the sale.



How to build a solution to these problems in a single system? How to keep in mind all the necessary tasks, questions and arguments? What pitfalls will you encounter and how to get around them? Learn to sell like a pro and earn significantly more in just 5 weeks by completing our online training "Strategy and Tactics for Big Sales" or by making a personal breakthrough in .

The SPIN selling method really works! But for it to work in your sales, you need to study it. Superficial acquaintance is not enough. Unfortunately, or fortunately, SPIN selling is difficult to master. Unfortunately, because you will have to spend a fair amount of time and effort on studying. Luckily, because many of your competitors won't find the will or the tenacity to do so.

You can test your knowledge and understanding of the SPIN selling technique by taking a short test on our website. You can learn more about the rules and features of formulating “working” SPIN questions and other trouble-free sales technologies at our online training “Strategy and Tactics of Big Sales”.

SPIN-selling is a sales technique based on 4 types of questions: situational, problematic, extracting, directing. How to use the SPIN sales technique to improve my skill level as a sales manager, I will describe in this material.

This is not a review of Neil Rackham's SPIN Selling. This is a method of using his technology in the realities of the Russian market. Neil Rackham is an outstanding human being. He managed to systematize what many sales stars intuitively understood, but could not explain it to the younger generation. I definitely recommend reading the book SPIN Selling. Neil clearly lays out the statistics on the shelves and creates a coherent system. But not being a person with sales experience, he added a lot of information that is relevant, but not of practical use.

Therefore, I took the liberty of telling you how I use the SPIN selling technology in my work. This scheme is simple and easy to apply, and it takes a little ingenuity and constant practice to actually apply it.

2. Where can the SPIN technique be used?

On one of the coaching forums, I ran into a heated discussion about where Neil Rackham's technology could be used. It is difficult for me to understand these disputes, because having understood the essence of the system, the SPIN technique is used not only in sales or training, but also in the family. For example, I don't get into an argument with my strict grandmother, but I just ask her a few questions and that's where the objections end. I would call SPIN not only a sales technology, but a conversation technology. So my answer is SPIN can be used not only in any kind of sales, but also in any kind of persuasion.

3. What is the essence of SPIN sales technology?

If you tell a person:

"- You are a fool!" – how does he react? In most cases, he is offended or starts arguing.

If he himself says:

"- I'm a fool!" – can he be offended and argue with it? Of course, there are individuals who constantly argue with themselves, but they are dealt with in a special institution.

What's happening? In the first case, I give information that he needs to believe. He is in no way involved in this decision, so it is alien to him, and he will resist it. In the second case, the interlocutor himself makes this decision, it is already his own and he will defend it and fight for it.

So, we just have to get the person to say it himself. This is the whole point of SPIN - the technique of asking questions. 🙂

“- Buddy, you repeatedly repeat the same mistake. What are these people usually called?

Of course, I simplified the chain of questions, but this is enough to understand the essence of this.

4. How to formulate questions that will lead a person to a certain opinion?

In fact, everything looks very simple in theory, but all the problems with using the classic version of SPIN sales. How to formulate these questions? This is where my know-how begins. The mechanism that allows you to convey information to the trainees at the training, make sales and convince your grandmother.

Let's take the previous example. I want to convince a person that he is a "stupid". If I want to convince him, then, most likely, I think so myself. And if I think so, then some actions of a person made me think so. Therefore, I do not tell the person the conclusions I came to - "that he is a dumbass", but I focus on what made me think so - "the repeated repetition of the same mistakes." That is, I give him my logical chain. The more far away I start my chain, the more independent his decision will be. The more he has to put in the effort to form conclusions, the more valuable this decision will be, and the less he will doubt it. But in order for a person to make a decision, he needs to be convinced of this, for this there are certain types of questions in the SPIN-selling technique.

5. Why do we need as many as 4 types of questions?

In fact, 4 types of questions are just steps in building a logical chain. The chain can consist of 1 question, as in our example, or maybe 20 - 30, as is most often the case in sales. Questions can answer all types at the same time, or they can only lead to thoughts. There is no need to think that "Now I will ask such and such a question." It is very difficult. You just need to build this chain in your head and follow it without thinking “what type of question did I ask now?”. Well, it is 4 types of questions invented by the author of SPIN sales, Rackham, that will help us build these chains.

In our example of a booby, we assume that we know about the mistakes repeated several times by our interlocutor. If we don't know, as often happens with a client, we need to find out.

“Is this not the first time you have made such a mistake?”

That is, a situational question gives us and the interlocutor the basis for building a logical chain of SPIN.

A situation is just a situation – it is neutral. In order for a person to behave in one way or another in different situations, you need to give him a reason. The best reason might be a problem. It needs to be identified and identified. Who should do it? The interlocutor. That is why we ask these problematic questions – without them, it is impossible to build a chain of SPIN sales.

“- If you do not draw conclusions from past mistakes, then this can be repeated all the time?”

With this question we define the problem. Unless, of course, the interlocutor himself came to such a conclusion.

We figured out the situation with the help of a situational question, we identified the problem with the help of a problematic one, now according to Rackham we must EXPAND this problem. To indicate what difficulties the client will have in connection with this problem, how this can affect his whole work and life.

“- So, if you have a habit of repeating the same mistakes, you will constantly mark time?”

“- If you do not draw conclusions and take concrete measures to correct mistakes, will you always suffer losses in such situations?

We helped the interlocutor understand what the refusal to realize that he is a "stupid" can lead to.

Now the simplest question remains - to direct a person in the right direction, to suggest a solution. Guiding questions are the last link in the SPIN selling chain.

“- What are the names of people who understand that they constantly suffer losses and mark time because they cannot draw the right conclusions?”

What remains to answer the interlocutor? Most likely, to voice what you wanted to convey to him. But we will go a little further. It is unlikely that we will need to explain to the client in sales that he is an idiot, we need to get him to act. In this situation, we can ask another guiding question and steer it in a different direction:

“- And if you develop a mechanism for analyzing your mistakes and always draw conclusions from them, will this allow you to make fewer identical mistakes?

I hope it’s clear what the interlocutor will answer, and I hope you understand that we were selling this phrase to the interlocutor 😉

6. How to sell using SPIN technology?

In the practice of using SPIN, it is very difficult to separate one type of question from another, and understand which one should be asked now. To master the SPIN selling technique, you need to:

• know the product very well;
• know possible customer situations;
• prepare all types of questions for each situation;
• train.

You can start by listening to recordings of your conversations with clients and, pausing the recording from time to time, come up with questions that we could ask in the situation in which the client finds himself. With all the simplicity of the approach to such a sale, without a lot of practice it will be quite difficult for you to formulate. Try to use SPIN in real sales, I'm sure you will succeed.

And if there are any difficulties, we will be happy to prepare the right questions for your business and teach you how to use them. call