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SPIN Selling Introduction:SPIN Selling, a model, was the brainchild of Neil Rackham, a British research psychologist who authored

a book of the same name in 1988. SPIN Selling is based on extensive research by Rackham and his company, Huthwaite. They examined large, complicated sales scenarios. After analyzing more than 35,000 sales calls they were able to put to rest a variety of traditional myths about closing sales. The original survey showed that in successful sales calls it's the buyer who does most of the talking, which means that the salespeople are asking questions. Asking questions means that the salesperson is building Rapport with the buyer; building sales rapport with the buyer allows the buyer to feel more comfortable talking. SPIN SELLING:SPIN selling is a precisely defined sequence of four question types (4 types of questions) that enables the salesperson to move the conversation logically from exploring the customers' needs to design solutions, or to in Rackham's terms, to uncover Implied Needs and develop them into Explicit Needs that the salesperson resolves. SPIN Selling proposes there are four types of questions, thus SPIN stands for: Situation Questions As the name suggests here sales person assesses the ground or terrain by asking questions to the buyer. The motive here is to clarify the current situation of the customer. Example: "Would you describe your current account documentation system?" Situation Questions are essential, but Rackhams research found that Situation Questions shouldnt be overused. In fact, one characteristic of unsuccessful sales calls, they found, is that they contain a higher than average number of Situation Questions. Rackham advises not to ask a question to elicit information that you easily could have obtained before beginning the call. Problem Questions:Here questions are asked to identify the customers problem. Experienced and successful sales persons ask more problem question to delve deep in to the customers problem. Example: "So you're having trouble retrieving account-sensitive data on a timely basis?" Motive of asking these questions is pretty simple which is to uncover the difficulties. The more you realize that customer difficulties, better it gives you an opportunity to be of service. Huthwaite's research suggests that the effectiveness of these questions is inversely proportional to the size of the sale under consideration. They are most effective in smaller-ticket transactions. Implication Questions These are questions about the "effects, consequences, or implications of the customer's problems. Situation ( questions ) Problem ( questions ) Implication ( questions ) Need-payoff ( questions )

Example: "What kind of closing opportunities do you think your people have missed because of the data-retrieval problem?" They are strongly linked to success in larger-ticket sales, and yet they're more difficult to phrase than either Situation Questions or Problem Questions. These questions are essential to ask as these questions make a customer conscious of hidden complications or of potential difficulties that may arise if steps are not taken to remedy the immediate problem. They make the problem seem more acute to the buyer. Need-Payoff Questions Need-Payoff Questions are linked to success in more complex sales. They can be especially useful when you're talking to top decision makers (or those who will influence them), and they increase the likelihood that your solution to be accepted. Example: "If you could get quicker, more reliable retrieval, what overall gain in revenues might you realize?" These questions focus the customer's attention on the solution rather than the problem, and they encourage him or her (with assistance of Sales person) to outline the benefits that your solution will provide his or her company. Thus a good Need-Payoff Question both pre-empts objections and enlists customer buy-in. What is SPIN SellingPutting these four questions together in an orderly sequence, Rackham gives the following thumbnail definition of the SPIN Selling model: The seller uses Situation Questions to establish a context leading to Problem Questions so that the buyer reveals Implied Needs which are developed by Implication Questions which make the buyer feel the problem more clearly and acutely leading to Need-Payoff Questions so that the buyer states Explicit Needs allowing the seller to state Benefits which are strongly related to sales success. As long-winded as that summation may be, the logic of the process is common sense. As Rackham acknowledges, the SPIN model isn't a revolutionary discovery. It's simply "the way most successful people sell on a good day when the call is going well

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