What is SPIN selling? Stages, questions & examples

Neil Rackham, founder of the Huthwaite Research Group and author of the best-seller SPIN Selling, says there are two types of selling: transactional and consultative. With the proliferation of ecommerce and self-service, he claims that “more than 80 percent of transactional sales moved out of face-to-face selling” and that sales “mostly happen online without the mediation of a salesperson.” This shift means B2B sales teams need to pivot to more “consultative” roles, learning as much as they can about their customers so they can offer the best solution. Asking questions is a crucial way for a salesperson to assess a prospect’s current situation, identify their needs, and build rapport with them. But sometimes, it’s hard to know the right questions to ask. You want to learn more about the prospective buyer, but you don’t want to come across as robotic or pushy. The SPIN sales model shows sales professionals how to pick the right questions with the most impact. By using SPIN selling, you’ll be able to discover customer needs, uncover pain points, overcome objections, and experience more sales success.

What is SPIN selling?

SPIN selling is a sales technique designed to help sales reps close difficult, complicated deals. The acronym SPIN stands for different types of questions:

• Situation

• Problem

• Implication

• Need-payoff

SPIN selling questions

Each type of question carries out a particular function of the sales process. The SPIN selling questions are meant to build on each other so reps can reach the ultimate goal: winning the sale.

• Situation questions help reps learn more about each prospect’s current state. They’re asked during the opening stage of a sale.
• Problem questions probe prospects’ frustrations and pain points. These types of questions are asked during the investigating stage.
• Implication questions give prospects a chance to voice their frustrations with the problems they mentioned in the previous stage. These questions are asked when sales agents are ready to demonstrate the value of their product or service and how it can solve those problems.
• Need-payoff questions ask buyers how important or urgent it is for them to solve their problem and what the benefits would be. This is a closing tactic used in the final phase of the sale.

History of SPIN sales

Rackham introduced the methodology in his 1988 sales book, SPIN Selling. In the book, he outlines a sales process framework for developing and timing structured questions that sales reps should ask in person or on sales calls to close more deals. He also encourages reps to become trusted advisors—his goal is to teach salespeople how to build lasting relationships with clients through effective, ethical selling. SPIN Selling has remained a best-seller since its publication, and the namesake technique is one of the most popular sales methodologies still used today. Read on to learn how you can implement this timeless strategy in future sales opportunities.

The 4 stages of SPIN selling

According to Rackham, there are four basic stages to every sale:

1. Opening

2. Investigating

3. Demonstrating capability

4. Obtaining commitment

The SPIN selling stages build off one another and correspond to a category of SPIN questions. The stages could all happen during one sales call or over several months of interactions—it just depends on the customer and the process.

Stage #1

Opening

• In the beginning, don't push your product

• Focus on building a sincere relationship

• Gather as much information as you can

• Ask questions and show interest in your leads

At the beginning of the SPIN selling process, reps shouldn’t push their products or services on leads. Instead, focus on gradually building a sincere relationship. Gather as much information as you can about them—their role, their frustrations, and so on. CRM software helps with this learning phase and improves the quality of sales relationships by making it easy to manage customer information and track interactions.

By showing interest in your customers as people, rather than just viewing them as a source of revenue for your company, you’re more likely to build trusting relationships.

Let's say you sell time-tracking software, and you meet a brand-new lead. At this point, don’t begin by telling them how much more productive your software can make their team. Instead, collect information by asking high-level questions such as:

• Who’s responsible for tracking time?

• How does your team currently track time?

• Why did you choose to track time that way?

By showing interest in your customers as people, rather than just viewing them as a source of revenue for your company, you’re more likely to build trusting relationships.

Stage #2

Investigating

• Find out what's frustrated leads in the past

• Investigate pain points to build trust and credibility

• Reassure leads that you have their best interests in mind

• Overcome objections

In the previous SPIN selling stage, you started to establish a genuine relationship with the prospect. In the investigation stage, you’ll go even further by asking questions to uncover information about the prospect's problems (which your product or service may be able to solve). By digging into customer needs and challenges, you’ll be able to establish yourself as knowledgeable and trustworthy. To continue our time-tracking software example, a sales rep should be narrowing in on pain points by asking the following questions in Stage 2:

• What issues do you have with your current processes for time-tracking?

• How time-consuming or cost-prohibitive is it for your team to track their time accurately?

• Has your current time-tracking process ever failed?

• What are the biggest challenges your company faces with tracking time?

Understand what has frustrated leads in the past, and you’ll be ready to explain why your product or service won’t involve those roadblocks.

Stage #3

Demonstrating capability

• Tie your solution to the prospect's problem

• Demonstrate value and capability

• Showcase features

• Provide product demos

You’ve established rapport and built a solid relationship with your prospect, so they’re likely ready to listen to how your products or services can solve their problems. In your sales presentation, walk them through the features and explain how those features can benefit their company. Say, for example, the prospect mentioned their company has a distributed workforce. You might highlight that your software is cloud-based, allowing users to access their data from any device, no matter where they’re located.

Stage #4

Obtaining commitment

• Obtain commitment and receive payment

• Handle the paperwork

• Thank the new customer

• Celebrate!

At this stage, the sales team successfully converts the prospect into a paying customer. The customer will select the product or service that best meets their needs and provide billing information. This is also the stage in which the sales team should reflect on what went well and what didn’t—use each customer journey as a learning experience to optimize future deals. Once this stage is complete, you can celebrate a job well done.

34 examples of SPIN selling questions

To discover what made top salespeople so successful, Rackham and his team at Huthwaite studied more than 35,000 sales calls over several years. They found that there are four types of strategic questions you should ask your customer in order to close more deals. Additionally, these four types of questions each correspond to a specific stage of the sales process. Here are 34 SPIN question examples that you can use in your next sales call.

Why SPIN selling still works

Sales reps have a reputation for going on and on about their products or services instead of listening to decision-makers. The SPIN selling method flips this sales training approach on its head. With its carefully crafted questions, the SPIN model puts listening to prospects at the forefront of sales interactions—you can say goodbye to one-sided conversations. Integrate the SPIN questions into future sales calls to build deeper connections with leads and move them through your pipeline.