Before we start selling, we need to do some planning. The SPIN technique is used by progressive organizations who wish to develop efficient and powerful sales plans.
Basically it is about asking the right questions during the sales process.
The ten step sales process is:-
The planning
1 Identifying markets
2 Identify the problems
3 Identify the features
4 Identify the benefits
The sales call
5 Ask SPIN (Situation, Problems, Implication, Need) Questions
6 Provide proof that you can deliver
7 Show cost and the benefits
8 Provide a guarantee
9 Close
10 Record the process
Let’s look at each step:-
The Planning
1 – Identifying markets.
Which 20% of your customers provide 80% of your profits?
Which 20% of your products provide 80% of your sales?
Which 20% of your customers give you 80% of your problems?
What gives us an edge in each market?
Step 2 – Identify the Problems
What are the problems the customer is having? Try to identify at least ten. They may be problems involved with profit, sales, training, risk, cash flow or even processes to name a few.
Step 3 and 4 - Features and Benefits
Taking the problems identified above we now place them into a Features and Benefits table. In the Features column we identify how we can fix the problem and then in the Benefits column show the benefits to the customer. We recommend you try to add at least four features and benefits to each problem.
The Sales Call
Step 5 – SPIN Questions
Situation Questions:
This is where you probe for the background to the buyers needs. Dont ask too many Situation questions at the face-to-face meeting, research can establish background prior to your meeting.
Some examples of Situation questions are:
Are you satisfied with your current supplier?
Are you worried about retaining your staff?
Are you experiencing strong competition?
Problem Questions:
A problem question establishes the buyers problems and difficulties. They help establish the needs. Natural sales people ask a lot of Problem questions. They help you establish an understanding of the buyers current problems. They provide a link to your product or service.
Some examples of Problem questions are:
How many people do you have leave each year?
Are you having any problems generating sales?
Are you experiencing any problems with profitability?
Implication Questions:
These reinforce the importance of the buyers problems to generate sufficient energy to promote action. They provide emphasis and clarity. They stress the consequence of the problem and are particularly relevant when dealing with decision makers.
Some examples of implication questions are:
Has the skill shortage resulted in more errors?
Could the transfer of coordination to Contractors result in a loss of customer contact?
Has the current work pressure caused a loss of staff?
Need Questions:
The need questions link the value or benefits of the solution to the buyer. They anticipate objections as they demonstrate the value of your product/service solution.
The Need questions naturally lead to commitment and action.
Some examples of Need questions are:
How valuable would it be to reduce the level of waste in your organization?
How much profit would you make if we could reduce your inventory by half?
How valuable would it be to enable your team to be trained on-line at home?
Remember it is essential to make sure that you are focusing on solving the customers problems and then linking your product benefits to each problem as shown in the example in Step 3 and 4.
Step 6 – Provide proof that you can deliver
This can be achieved by providing your customer with evidence that you have the ability to deliver the product or service. Here you may provide details of previously satisfied customers who are willing to be contacted.
Written testimonials from other customers, streaming videos, CDs can also help in providing proof
Step 7 - Show Costs and the Benefits
List your costs. Sometimes this may need to be done by stages of implementation, for example some services provision. In other cases it might be add on components. What does each cost area deliver in benefits to the customer?
Step 8 - Provide Guarantee
This removes any concerns that your customer may have. This can be a money back guarantee, replacement or rework.
For example: If I could guarantee that your team would be trained by the target dates and that all of them passed the set performance standard, would you be prepared to pay $20,000 for the training in advance?
Step 9 – Close
Here we script the close by asking questions like;
Did you like our proposal?
What was the best part of the proposal?
What Barriers do you think will occur?
If the responses are predominantly in the positive you can proceed to ask for an order or contract.
Step 10 – Process
Finally implement the sales process by arming your sales people with the information generated from this planning process and using it to develop your sales materials.
Document it step by step, providing areas for measuring, continuous improvement, updates and ongoing training.
If you need a hand to prepare and execute the sales plan contact your Partnercorp business consulting team anytime.
