Do you know SPIN Selling ? How do you apply this methodology to your sales process? Are you sure you’re doing this right?
Know the main mistakes salespeople commonly make when applying SPIN to sales and learn how to avoid them. And how you can turn into a good sales representative like in Sky Marketing.
Also, you might end up missing out on some information that you could use simply because you’re not paying attention to what the lead is talking about.
After all, you have your head on what is the next question you have to ask.
To address these negative consequences, the idea is that you try to embody the mindset of listening to understand.
A good practice might be not to have this script in a cast.
When you’re going to ask a question, you shouldn’t know exactly what the next one is, which is even good so you don’t get too focused on it.
You can make an arrangement with yourself:
- Whatever this lead says, I’m going to try to take at least one piece of information from what he said and delve into it;
- I won’t let him tell me anything without picking up some hook and going deeper, to make sure I’ve covered that whole area and can move on to the next steps.
Mistake #1: You want to follow SPIN to the letter
Salespeople want to ask the situation questions first, then the problem, implications, and need-to-resolution questions.
The ideal would be to follow this logic inside the SPIN.
However, we know that in conversations and in different contexts you cannot apply SPIN exactly the same in every meeting you do.
So, if instead of applying SPIN you need to apply NIPS or PINS, that’s no problem, as long as you can connect all the dots.
If you make this connection, it doesn’t matter what order you’re doing it. If you keep following this very closed order, your conversation becomes like an interview.
You ask a question, the lead responds, and you change the subject to the next question. This is classic in an interview. You’re not delivering anything of value, you’re just pulling from the lead.
Like error #1, the lead may convey important information that you should delve into, but you’re following a frozen script.
Then, instead of delving deeper, you go on to the next questions. 🙁
Mistake #2: You run SPIN Selling for yourself
You don’t run SPIN for your lead. There are definitely many benefits to running this framework within your sales pitch:
- You can get more information;
- You get to customize your sales;
- You can generate lead urgency in a much simpler way.
Despite that, you should be running SPIN for the lead, because it’s a great way to educate them and make them adapt the information from your speech within their context.
The mistake here is that you are using SPIN as a weapon of persuasion, not as a tool for education and value creation.
This is how top performers guided by Neil Rackham , author of SPIN Selling, applied this methodology.
It wasn’t for them, it was for the lead, a way for him to better understand the situation, generate urgency and make him understand the importance of solving his problem now.
The positive consequences for the seller come from bonuses on the SPIN, they cannot be the main motivation to apply this methodology in your process.
Mistake #3: You just start SPIN in the meeting
When you enter the call, you will start to investigate the lead’s situation, the problems, the implications and the need for a solution.
In some scenarios this works, but most of the time the team of capital smart city already have access to this information before we even join the conversation.
If you do a well-done survey, or if you have a data enrichment tool, even before entering the meeting, you will already have a good idea about:
- What is the status of that lead?
- What is the context in which it is inserted in the market?
- What solution does he sell?
From this you can even deduct some of the other points of SPIN, based on the knowledge you have about your customers and your market.
In order for you not to be wasting time asking questions that Google could have answered, you have to do this research first.
You already enter the conversation with a minimal idea of the context and situation, so that you can have direction in the rest of the steps of the process.
Mistake #4: You don’t update your speech
SPIN Selling will continue to be SPIN Selling 20 years from now, just like it was SPIN Selling 20 years ago.
However, it is with your speech that you fill SPIN, it is how you really differentiate yourself from your market and it is what will impact your results.
These triggers can be used, but if you apply them in your speech like the rest of the market does, or did 10 years ago, it won’t work.
You need to update this speech over time.
Do you have a SPIN running fine now? Excellent! But what guarantees that 2 years from now this will still run well?
- Who guarantees that 2 years from now the lead won’t be used to this type of speech?
- Who guarantees he won’t be used to the questions asked in that order?
- Who guarantees he won’t figure out that you’re using a known technique on him?
You always have to be careful to keep updating this speech and the way you apply SPIN over time.
Mistake #5: You think SPIN is a hard skill
Hard skill and soft skill are concepts that we work a lot internally.
Hard skill is an easier skill to learn, a little more operational.
If I were to assemble this Flipchart, it would come all disassembled, but I would have the assembly instructions and I would be able to follow them.
After reading the instructions, I already know how to assemble a Flipchart. I don’t need to incorporate this skill, it’s not a mindset, it’s instructions that I read and followed to the letter.
This is what we see sellers often do with SPIN.
The idea is not to get stuck with these 4 letters, or get stuck in the order they are arranged in the acronym. You have to incorporate this as a mindset.
It’s having the consultative mindset, being there to educate the lead, not just to sell. It’s being there to understand the lead’s situation and knowing that without it you won’t be able to really help them, generate value and educate them.
So instead of focusing on what the situation questions and the problem questions are, focus on how you’re going to generate value for that lead.
The rise in plot sales in park view city Lahore is also because of the way the sales team uses SPIN. Focus on how you can be consultative to the lead and whether or not he closes, he’s going to leave that meeting with something he can take home and start applying.
Conclusion
Just remembering:
- #1 Ask to understand, not to answer;
- #2 You don’t need to be stuck with the SPIN order, you don’t need to follow everything to the letter;
- #3 Run the SPIN for your lead, not you;
- #4 Don’t just start SPIN at the meeting, do your homework, research, and gather as much information as you can;
- #5 Don’t keep your speech the same, change it, test it and find a better way to do it once you see that the technique is starting to saturate;
- #6 Absorb SPIN as a soft skill, a mindset you must follow in that conversation, not a closed framework you must obey.