Like consultative selling, SPIN selling focuses on building relationships to achieve more sales success. SPIN stands for Situation, Problem, Implication and Need-Payoff, the four categories of questions sales reps should use during sales calls. When done well, this method can spotlight issues prospects may be facing, enabling sales reps to position their offering as the best solution.  

How can you get SPIN selling right? A post on the Highspot blog explains the basic approach of SPIN selling, along with some best practices. We cover the post in this issue of PromoPro Daily. 

What Are The Four Stages?

  1. Opening or preliminaries. This is your chance to build rapport through casual conversation. According to the post, a strong opening should give the prospect breathing room to get to know you. Avoid diving into a hard sell.

  2. Investigating. In this stage, dig deeper into the prospect’s business. Don’t jump to conclusions or make assumptions. Instead, the post advises guiding the prospect to self-diagnose their problems.

  3. Demonstrating capabilities. This could involve speaking about your solution’s features, advantages or benefits.

  4. Obtaining commitment. Lastly, you’ll want to ask for a specific next step, whether it’s another call or some other kind of follow-up. The post notes that prospects may not want to agree to whatever you ask them for, so be prepared to handle objections.

SPIN Best Practices

  • Ask open-ended questions. It’s never a good thing when prospects respond with a basic yes or no. You need more from them to fully understand where they’re coming from. That’s why you should always pose open-ended questions. The post says you don’t always need to jump in with a follow-up question. Even just responding with something like, “Oh?” can provide more information.

  • Don’t dominate the discussion. If you’re always affirming what the other person says with an anecdote or personal opinion, you’re wasting valuable time. Instead, the post recommends paraphrasing to show you’re listening.

  • Keep it brief. Yes, the SPIN method involves questions, but you don’t need to cover all four stages in a single call. The post says that most SPIN conversations will happen over a series of calls, so don’t rush. Instead, take your cues from the prospect and move at their pace, even if you don’t get through all your questions.

  • Practice. It’s essential to practice the SPIN approach just like you would any sales method. By practicing, you can build confidence in mastering SPIN questions before you ever try them out on a prospect. The post recommends coaching and sales training along with practical application, like role playing.

The SPIN strategy can be an effective way to enhance sales conversations. Instead of following a sales script word for word, use this question-based approach to have more meaningful discussions with prospects.

Compiled by Audrey Sellers
Source: The Highspot blog. Highspot is a sales enablement platform.