1. The SPIN sales method Neil Rackham Vilnius May 5th 2017

2. Station Breaks Station Break I learn from discussion and argument. . .
I don’t learn from listening. After 10 minutes my mind wanders. . .
I learn from discussion and argument. . .
You are probably like me . . .
So I will give you at least 1 discussion break every few minutes.
Station Break
©2010 Neil Rackham

3. Station Break
All sales depend on trust: what do you look for in a salesperson you can trust?
©2010 Neil Rackham

4. The E&Y Trust Study
E&Y, like other accounting firms, had an oversupply of highly trained professional auditors
They retrained them and redeployed them to sell tax and consulting services
Their sales results were abysmal
E&Y’s customer surveys showed that clients didn’t trust them
E&Y was outraged [in the days before the Arthur Andersen nasties] and asked me to look deeper.
©2009 Neil Rackham

5. The 3 C’s of Creating Trust
What clients look for in salespeople they can trust: C
Candor
Straightforward
No exaggeration
Honest about ignorance C
Professionally sound
Technically proficient
Experienced
Competence C
Concern
Cares about what the customer feels and thinks
Listens
Motivated by client’s interests
©2010 Neil Rackham

6. Station Break
Which of the three, Candor, Competence or Concern, do customers
most often complain is missing?
©2010 Neil Rackham

7. How Customers Rate Salespeople
Candor
83%
Competence
66%
Concern
35%
Percentage of consultative salespeople rated adequate or better
©2010 Neil Rackham

8. The “SPIN” Sales Success Studies
Calls Studied:
Researchers sat in on over 35,000 calls, the largest study in history
Duration: The basic research took us 12 years, from 1974 to 1986
Countries:
23 countries and 14 languages from North and South America, Europe and Asia
Behaviors studied:
we looked at 116 different behaviors that might be linked to sales success
©2014 Neil Rackham

9. Which of these methods is most effective for studying selling skills:
Station Break
Which of these methods is most effective for studying selling skills:
Interviews with top salespeople?
Questionnaires?
Asking customers?
Observing salespeople during sales calls?
©2010 Neil Rackham

10. The Easiest Thing to Measure: Time
How long is the call?
Who does most talking, buyer or seller?
©2010 Neil Rackham

11. Fundamentals of Successful Calls
In successful consultative calls sellers talk about products and solutions later in the call. [talking brochures can’t wait to talk about what they can offer]
In successful consultative calls customers talk more than sellers
In successful consultative calls sellers ask more questions
©2010 Neil Rackham

12. What We Were Taught About Questions
Open questions are more powerful
They get the customer to talk
They reveal unexpected information
©2010 Neil Rackham

13. Disturbing Research Findings
The top 16 IBM salespeople in Europe were no different from the rest of the IBM sales force in their use of open/closed questions.
A $250,000 research study couldn’t show that open questions brought more success than closed questions.
Either we do bad research or there’s something complicated happening here.
©2010 Neil Rackham

14. A Different Approach to Questions
We studied salespeople’s questioning behavior in IBM, Xerox, Olivetti, and 28 other companies.
We looked for a different way to classify questions.
We started by watching the sequence of questions used by successful salespeople.
©2010 Neil Rackham

15. Station Break
Think of at least 3 typical questions that a salesperson might ask a new customer at a first meeting.
©2010 Neil Rackham

16. Q ’s Typical Questions Who is involved in making purchasing decisions?
What system are you using now?
What’s your position in the company? Q ’s
Have you used our products before?
Who is involved in making purchasing decisions?
Who’s your current supplier?
©2010 Neil Rackham

17. Station Break
Who benefits most from fact finding questions like these: the seller or the buyer?
©2010 Neil Rackham

18. Situation Questions About facts and background
Create more value for the seller than for the customer
More in unsuccessful calls
Essential for selling big ticket or complex products / services
©2010 Neil Rackham

19. Q ’s Where Next? Are you satisfied with . . .?
What keeps you awake at night? Q ’s
Is it difficult to ?
What problems do you have with . . .?
©2010 Neil Rackham

20. Problem Questions About problems, difficulties and dissatisfactions
Situation
Questions
About problems, difficulties and dissatisfactions
More in successful calls
Create more customer value than Situation Questions
Inexperienced people don’t ask enough
©2010 Neil Rackham

21. After Problem Questions
Yes, it’s a slight problem . . .
Explain Our Solution!!!
Situation
Questions
Problem
Questions
A common failure even in very experienced salespeople.
Jumping in with answers too quickly
©2010 Neil Rackham

22. Station Break
If talking about answers/solutions too soon is wrong, then why do people do it?
©2010 Neil Rackham

23. Why People Offer Solutions Too Soon
It feels as if you’re adding more value
You’ve got busy clients, so you want to move forward
It’s the WORST thing you can do.
Your buyers expect you to talk about solutions
It’s easy to do and we get good at it
If you’ve got a great service you can’t wait to talk about all it can offer
©2010 Neil Rackham

24. The Most Powerful Questions
What will happen if you don’t take action?
Could this damage your competitive position? Q ’s
Could this lead to problems in other areas?
How could that hurt your customers?
What’s that doing to your costs?
©2010 Neil Rackham

25. Implication Questions
Explore the effects or consequences of a customer’s problems
Situation
Questions
Problem
Questions
Top salespeople ask 4 times as many.
Very powerful with decision makers.
Essential for selling big ticket or complex products / services
©2010 Neil Rackham

26. Station Break Neil’s old car How dissatisfied am I with my car?
It’s OK, It’s a cheap way to get me from point A to point B . . .
How dissatisfied am I with my car?
What are the implications of having an old car that could increase my dissatisfaction?
©2009 Neil Rackham

27. Implications of Neil’s Old Car
unreliable
lousy mileage
missed meetings
Cost
lost clients
More repairs
status
lost income
©2010 Neil Rackham

28. Q ’s Questions About Value Value Would it help if we could . . .
What is it you like about our proposal? Q ’s
Why would that be useful?
Value
Are there other benefits from our product?
How will this save you money?
©2010 Neil Rackham

29. Need-payoff Questions
Situation
Questions
Problem
Questions
Implication
Questions
Questions abut the value of our solution
Get the customer to talk about the benefits
Get a positive response
©2010 Neil Rackham

30. Selling to Influencers
Research shows that salespeople are more successful with influencers when they ask Need-payoff Questions.
Questions like, “How would this help you?” get the buyer to rehearse and practice what they will say to the decision maker on your behalf.
©2010 Neil Rackham

31. S P I N The SPIN Questions Situation Questions Problem Questions
about facts/data
negative impact on customers P
Problem
Questions
about dissatisfaction or difficulties
feelings and concerns I
about consequences/effects or problems
increasing seriousness of problems
Implication
Questions N
Need-payoff
Questions
about solutions and their value
how we can help
©2010 Neil Rackham

32. Does this model still work 30 years later?
The SPIN Questions S
Situation
Questions
Does this model still work 30 years later? P
Problem
Questions I
Implication
Questions N
Need-payoff
Questions
©2014 Neil Rackham

33. How Situation Questions change
Customers are becoming impatient with fact-finding questions
Homework and pre-call research is more important than before P
Problem
Questions I
Implication
Questions N
Need-payoff
Questions
©2014 Neil Rackham

34. How Problem Questions change
Situation
Questions
Problem Questions are still the important foundation for value- creating selling
But it’s not enough to ask about present problems: you have to help customers anticipate future problems P
Problem
Questions I
Implication
Questions N
Need-payoff
Questions
©2014 Neil Rackham

35. How Implication Questions change
Customers expect you to have a deeper understanding than ever before: Implication Questions achieve this
Top salespeople in are asking 4x as many Implication Questions as average salespeople
Situation
Questions P
Problem
Questions I
Implication
Questions N
Need-payoff
Questions
©2014 Neil Rackham

36. How Need-payoff Questions change
The new sales role is creating value: Need- payoff Questions are about value
In today’s b2b selling, Need-payoff Questions are more important than ever before
Situation
Questions P
Problem
Questions I
Implication
Questions N
Need-payoff
Questions
©2014 Neil Rackham

37. Signs of Change
Customers no longer want to spend time with salespeople unless they can create measurable value for the customer
The old sales role of explaining how our products and services are better than competitors is filled more conveniently and more objectively by the Internet
So traditional “talking brochure” salespeople create impatience and resistance and are failing everywhere.

38. Station Break
Is relationship building more important in complex sales today than it was in the past?
©2010 Neil Rackham

39. Relationships and Selling
The old wisdom
Build the Relationship
Make the sale
The relationship comes first
Relationship-building establishes trust
Trust makes sales
So invest in relationship-building

40. Relationships and Selling
The new wisdom
Create customer value
Earn the relationship
Customers no longer want relationships with salespeople
Instead they demand value creation
If a salesperson creates value, then customers reward them with a relationship

41. Some Interesting Research
1n 2010 I was asked by the Sales Executive Council to review some puzzling research they had conducted into effective selling
The research team spent two days with me going through their findings
I was interested: particularly because their main discovery was the opposite of what they were expecting: always a good sign
This research, published as The Challenger Sale*, has been widely misinterpreted.
The Challenger Sale, Dixon & Adamson, Penguin, 2011

42. Five Profiles for Sales Performance*
Hard Worker
Lone Wolf
Challenger
Reactive Problem Solver
Relationship Builder
©2011 Neil Rackham
*Source: Integrated Sales Executive Council 2009

43. “Relationship Builders”
Comparing High and Core Performers*
Core performers
High performers
“Relationship Builders”
Build strong client advocates
Help others
Give time freely
Get along with all
26% 7%
39%
23%
“Challengers”
Different view of world
Business understanding
Love debate
Push clients
©2009 Neil Rackham
*Source: Integrated Sales Executive Council 2009

44. Performance and Complexity of Sale*4%
54%
Relationship Builders
Challengers
HIGH Complexity
Low Complexity
20%
11%
Relationship Builders
Challengers
Percentage of High Performers
©2013 Neil Rackham
*Source: Integrated Sales Executive Council 2009

45. Most Important Challenger Skills*
Comfortable discussing money
Offers unique perspective & ideas
Behaves like an equal
Loves arguing about ideas and strategy
Focus on the future
Prepared to
push/pressure customer
©2011 Neil Rackham
*Source: Integrated Sales Executive Council 2009

46. Misinterpreting the Challenger Research
The research does NOT say relationship selling is dead; just that relationship-building, by itself, is no longer enough
The best Challengers are also Relationship-builders; inadequate relationships will always lose sales
Established consultative selling models, like SPIN Selling are not outdated, they are even more important skills for successful Challengers
The Challenger research is no “magic bullet”; its concepts are difficult to implement and may be more useful for marketing than for selling.
© 2013 Neil Rackham

47. World-class Sales Forces
Recruit salespeople who can act as the customer’s equal
Create customer value by solving problems especially future problems
Build their expertise, questioning skills and creative problem-solving capabilities
©2013 Neil Rackham