Glossary
SPIN Selling
A sales methodology that revolves around questioning.
SPIN Selling says customers do not make buying decisions on logic alone; they need to be triggered emotionally. It labels four different types of questions and uses them to uncover a prospect's pain points and leverage an emotional response out of them.
• Situational questions — Tell you about the situation the customer is in. Have no impact on convincing someone to buy from you, but are required to establish the situation.
• Problem questions — Draw out pain points the prospect may have. Have a small impact on convincing someone to buy from you.
• Implication questions — Ask a prospect how a problem is impacting them and discuss the consequences of not solving the problem. These have a large impact on persuasion.
• Need-payoff questions — Ask the prospect to consider how their situation would change if the problem was resolved. Once a prospect starts imagining a world in which their problem no longer exists, they'll want their problem solved much quicker.
SPIN Selling teaches valuable lessons about questioning important to all sales reps, but it’s not a methodology that works well in B2B, c-suite or high ticket sales.
• Situational questions — Tell you about the situation the customer is in. Have no impact on convincing someone to buy from you, but are required to establish the situation.
• Problem questions — Draw out pain points the prospect may have. Have a small impact on convincing someone to buy from you.
• Implication questions — Ask a prospect how a problem is impacting them and discuss the consequences of not solving the problem. These have a large impact on persuasion.
• Need-payoff questions — Ask the prospect to consider how their situation would change if the problem was resolved. Once a prospect starts imagining a world in which their problem no longer exists, they'll want their problem solved much quicker.
SPIN Selling teaches valuable lessons about questioning important to all sales reps, but it’s not a methodology that works well in B2B, c-suite or high ticket sales.