The Order Of Questions in the SPIN Selling System PDF

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The Order Of Questions in the SPIN Selling System 1. Situation Questions 2. Problem Questions 3. Implication Questions 4. Need-Payoff Questions

Situation Questions Situation questions are questions in the sales process that ask for background or facts. They are key to understanding a context for uncovering buyer problems. The situation type questions are the first questions you want to ask after you have introduced yourself to the prospect and established your trust and credibility. The theory behind the SPIN system is to talk about your product and your products benefits as late into the sales interaction as possible. To do this you will need to get a conversation going by asking questions, starting with situation questions. Stage 1 Questions Examples of situation questions would be (I will use examples related to my customer who provides office coffee. 1. What kind of coffee brewing system do you use right now? 2. How often do you get coffee delivered to your location? 3. Are there any areas of opportunity for improvement with your current coffee supplier? 4. How many cups of coffee do you go through a day? Stage 2 Questions After asking Examples of stage 2 questions after the buyer has given you specific piece of information to probe further on. 1. How long does your current coffee machine take to brew a cup of coffee? 2. Am I right in thinking that placing your coffee orders over the phone is very time consuming? 3. When did you first notice an increase in the prices you were paying for your coffee? 4. Has the number employees complaining about the coffee increased over time?

Situation questions are the first questions you should be asking during a sales interaction because they do not put the prospect on the defensive, get them talking to you and gives you further information so that you can start to steer the conversation towards outlining some problems. This leads into the second type of questions to ask which are problem questions. .

Problem Questions: Problem questions are questions in the sales process that ask about the prospects problems, difficulties or dissatisfactions. This step is critical as once the prospect realizes they have a problem, they will realize they have a need and people only buy once they realize they have a need or want

Problem Question Examples: Examples of problem questions would be (I will use examples related to my customer who provides office coffee. 1. Do you have any challenges with your current office coffee system? 2. Do you ever have people waiting in line to get their coffee? 3. Do you currently ever run out of office coffee supplies before your next delivery? 4. Do any of your coffee supplies currently cost more than what you would like? Often a great next step after you find a problem is to follow it with a question that asks more about the problem. A great way to do this is to use questions asking where, when, who, how often and what happens if/when. Examples of follow-up problem questions would be: 1. How long does it take for your current service provider to respond when you have a breakdown? 2. How often does your coffee machine break down? 3. Who usually has to deal with the problem when you run out of supplies? 4. When did you receive the significant price increase?

Summary If you can use problem questions well though, you can get the prospect engaging with you and realizing they have a problem and they want it corrected. The next steps are to get them to realize all of the implications the problem creates, what the benefits would be of having the problem corrected and that you can correct the problem.

Implication Questions Implication questions are questions in the sales process that ask about the problems consequences, effects or impacts. This step is critical as once the prospect realizes they have a problem, as pointing out the implications can show the problem is a much larger concern then initially thought. The idea is to extend and expand the effects of the problem and link the problem to other potential problems to make the buyer eager to find a solution.

Implication Question Examples

Examples of implication questions would be (I will use examples related to my customer who provides office coffee.

1. How has the problems with your office coffee system affected your staff? 2. Has having people wait in line for coffee affected your teams ability to respond to client calls? 3. Has running out of coffee supplies before a sales meeting ever caused a sales meeting with a prospective client to get off to a bad start? 4. Has a visitor to your office ever been left with a bad image of your company because your coffee did not taste very good?

Asking implications questions should be a component of any sales call. The implication questions you ask should be well thought out, if possible even plan out ahead of time what your implication questions will be. When asking an implication question you need to be careful not to ask a question that the prospect

will say an implication does not exist. If this happens, the prospects interest in buying will decrease. That is why it is best to plan out your implication questions before hand. If you only find out the problems the prospect is having in the sales call though, you will need to do your best and think on your feet. Always error on the side of caution though and don't ask the question if you think there is a chance the prospect will say there is no implication. If this is the case continue to ask problem questions until a you identify an implication. Another thing you need to be careful not to do is identify an implication that you can not fix with your product or service. If you do this, the prospect will look for another supplier who can also fill that need. You will also want to be careful you do not ask implication questions too early in the call before you have built rapport or in relation to sensitive areas (organization politics, personal issues, decisions the buyer recently made). If you do this you will probably have an uncomfortable buyer who no longer wants to talk to you. Be sure to also vary the way you ask your implication questions so that your conversation sounds natural.

Examples of how you could start an implication question are

1. What effect does that have on... 2. How often does that cause..... 3. What does that result in when..... 4. Does that ever lead to......

To make your implication questions feel natural and flow in the conversation you will also want to link them to other parts of the conversation like buyer statements, your own observations and other related stories you can tell. If you do a good job of showing the magnitude of the impactions your product or service can solve you will be well on your way to making an easy sale. The next and final questions to ask are need/payoff questions.

Need-Payoff Questions Need-Payoff questions are questions in the sales process that ask about the value, importance or usefulness of the solutions. This step will have a large influence on how much the prospect is willing pay. If you can show that there is a very high probability of a high payout by purchasing the product or service, the prospect will be willing to pay a lot for your product or service.

Examples of need-payoff questions would be (I will use examples related to my customer who provides office coffee).

1. How much time could you save if you used a coffee service company that looked after your ordering for you? 2. Would it be useful to have a coffee machine that brewed a cup of coffee in 15 seconds instead of 2 minutes? 3. If you could decrease the number of missed prospect calls from sales staff waiting in line for coffee, how many additional sales do you think you could make in a year? 4. Could the single cup brewing system we are suggestion also reduce waste as no stale coffee would need to be poured down the drain? 5. Would you receive positive recognition from your management by going to a a coffee system that is environmentally friendly?

Rationale For Need-Payoff Questions:

Need-payoff questions also do three important things.

1. They stir up positive emotions because they are helpful, constructive and focus on a solution. 2. They reduce objections because they cause buyers to explain how your product or service will help, and in doing so, convince themselves of the value of your product or service. 3. They move the discussion forward towards action and commitment.

After asking the initial need-payoff questions it is often benefical to ask additional questions to extend the perceived value like:

1. Is there any other way this would help you? 2. Besides saving costs, would the service also enhance your image? 3. What Keys To Keep In Mind When Asking Need-Payoff Questions

When asking need-payoff questions you will also want to ask question that make the buyer actively specify payoffs. The way to do this is to ask pointed questions in how the solution could benefit them. So instead of asking "would that be useful to" ask "what would that enable you to do that you can't do now". Another way to approach this is to ask "would that be useful to" and then follow-up that question with "what would that enable you to do that you can't do now". Why you want to do this is that when buyers tell you the specific payoffs they will receive from a solution they will be more committed to your solution, feel more ownership for the decision and feel compelled to take immediate action.

Another key is that you will want to ask need-payoff questions before describing your solution. You want to do this so that the buyer is eager to listen to your about your solution. If you have not set the groundwork for why they need your solution the prospect will lose interest. As always when asking questions you will want to stay away from sensitive areas. As with all questions these areas are touchy company politics, personal topics and recent buyer decisions.

If you can do a good job of asking need-payoff questions you will be rewarded in three ways. First, the buyer’s attention will be on how the solution will help, not on product details. This can be very helpful especially when your product or service does not have all the features the buyer may have initial thought they wanted. Secondly, the buyer will explain the benefits of your product to you the seller. I think anyone can see the power in this so I see no need to elaborate further and thirdly, the buyer's enthusiasm and confidence in your solution are increased tremendously. Any time you have an enthusiastic prospect it makes it almost impossible NOT to close the sale....