The SPIN method is a tried and tested American method widely used in North America. It’s based on identifying the customer’s problem and proposing a solution.
The SPIN sales method
The SPIN method is based on 4 steps:
- Customer situation
- Customer problem
- Implication of the problem
- Needs pay off (Nécessité de bénéfice)
Situation
You should ask the customer general questions to get to know him better:
- Individual
- Family situation?
- Employment status?
- Leisure activities?
- Current solution?
- What are the advantages and disadvantages of the current solution?
- Client affaires :
- Organization?
- Structure?
- Customers?
- Solution used?
- What is the process used?
- What’s your role?
- What are the advantages and disadvantages of the current solution?
At this level, discovery is neutral, and is carried out mainly with open-ended questions.
Problem
In this phase, we try to define the problem with open or closed questions:
- How long does it take?
- What is the reject rate?
- Number of errors?
- How much does it cost?
- Are you completely satisfied with your current supplier?
Involvement
The implication uses highly oriented questions designed to highlight the consequences of the problem and even dramatize it.
- Company
- What losses does this entail for the company?
- What impact on your KPIs?
- How does this affect your strategic objectives?
- How are your employees affected?
- What impact does this have on your employee turnover rate?
- Individual
- What are the personal consequences?
- What are the consequences for your family?
- What are the psychological impacts?
- What impact will this have on your budget?
- Does it keep you up at night?
Need for gains
These are mostly open-ended or closed-ended questions designed to get the customer to tell us what benefits he or she would gain from applying your solution.
- Would it help if you used such and such a product?
- What would be the benefits for your team?
- Would this increase your profits?
Conclusion
Among sales techniques, SPIN is a good one, but it spends too much time twisting the customer’s arm, at the risk of frustrating him. The first three SPIN steps are covered by the S of the SOS sales technique. On the one hand, it’s simpler for the salesperson, and on the other, the situation, the problem and the consequences are often intertwined, so there’s no need to carry them out sequentially.
What’s more, the method puts more emphasis on the client’s dreams, which is more positive. It’s also more logical to end with the solution you’re presenting and how it relates to the customer’s objectives.
That said, SPIN works, so it’s a question of choosing what’s easiest for you to use.
Jean-Pierre Mercier
