|
 Must reading for the real sales professional
A breath of fresh air. The profession of Sales is plagued with all sorts of nonsense, most of it annecdotal at best. Little actual research has been done to identify good processes for sales professionals and consequently we get idiotic advice ranging from "Always Be Closing" and endless manipulative closing techniques for doing so, to recommendations on how to sell "anything to anybody." Such sales tactics are precisely the reason salespeople have been saddled with negative stereotypes.
SPIN Selling is the result of extensive observation and analysis of sales calls by behavioral researcher Neil Rackham. His findings are both practical and useful, and are well presented in this book. As sellers, we might give some thought to how we would like to be treated as customers - something that should not be a revelation, but is. We should understand the customer's goals and objectives and help them be successful if we want to be successful. Forget your scripted sales pitch, leave your brochures in your briefcase, ask questions and listen to your customers to understand their needs BEFORE presenting your product. Surprisingly, this will actually shorten the selling cycle and will result in better long-term customer relationships. Rackham's concept of an "Advance" as an objective way to measure the progress of a sales call is, alone, worth the price of this book.
As a sales professional with many years' experience, and now as sales training manager for a division of a Fortune 500 company, I highly recommend this book and the methodology Rackham describes. There are other good books for salespeople - but if I could only recommend one, this would be it.
 An Excellent Approach to Sales
SPIN Selling in an excellent approach to sales.
It focuses on asking the right questions:
Situation Questions
Problem Questions
Implication Questions
Needs-Payoff Questions
In this way the four questions create the acronym SPIN.
The book offers details on which of these question styles are most important and which ones are over-emphasised and how that is dis-advantageous, particularly in the complex sale.
Highly beneficial!
One of the classic sales books.
I have read this book several times and have listened to it in audio format as well and it is clearly a must read book for anyone getting into selling. It is important to note that the book focuses on a single sales call which does not result in a close which is what complex selling it but it does not focus on the strategy and tactics to win the end deal. The author is not a salesperson so it is a third party studying salespeople. The 30000 sales calls in the study is a little miss leading because the author did not go on 30000 sales calls (do the math). I have not seen any better high level framework for a single sales call then SPIN. If you are looking for a strategy book Strategic Selling is great and covers the many different players in a deal. Solution Selling is good but a little to structured. The maverick selling method Selling includes strategy and highly complex selling by modeling the very top sellers. All these books are for the complex sale which requires buying involvement from several people in the target requiring a strategy to move the deal to closure.
SPIN is a MUST for the Consultative Sales Person
I first learned about SPIN back in 1983 with my first job out of college. I can tell you that I've used it religously since then to help me close millions of dollars of business that I wouldn't have closed without the knowledge that SPIN provides. Rackham articulates exactly how you should frame your sales meetings so that you are asking the absolutely perfect questions that lead to expressed (explicit) needs that your customers want to solve with your help. Without asking the right questions, (and in the right order), you will get more objections than necessary, and you will lose sales opportunities. If you want to be a schlocky 'Herb Tarlick' type salesperson, then this isn't for you. But if you want to impress your clients with your ability to create solutions that they love, then SPIN will definitely get you there. Get the book, and also purchase the SPIN fieldbook. Develop your own set of questions, and PRACTICE! You will be glad you did!
Super book!
Full of great advice for people who don't want to sell, but they have to. Not your typical sales technique book full of hype, this book tells you what to do in a meaningful way.
[...]
|
