Notes from Spin Selling by Neil Rackham

-An important distinction: selling small ticket items is very different from big ticket items. In large ticket items there is a fear of making a mistake and the cost becomes significant. For smaller ticket items a lot of times people will buy it just out of impluse or because it satisfies an advantage (not a benefit as defined later).

-SPIN system:
Situation (data gathering)
Problem Identification -> creates dissatisfaction but not compulsion
Implication -> What is the result of the above "problem." Ask the customer "What happens as a result of your inefficient printer?
Need payoff -> "What would it do to your company if your printer could print faster?" etc.

Ch2:

-Traditional closing is ineffective and most buying managers are pissed off when people try to "close" them.
-You need to know what you are trying to do to advance. What kind of commitment are you looking to get?

Succeses as defined by Rackham:
Order (purchase)
Advance -> a true commitment to a next meeting, which involves getting a next date on the schedule.

Failure:
No-Sale (actively denying purchase)
Continuation -> A quasi-advance, where the potential buyer seems happy but there is no step taking to set up next meeting (positivity/smiling is not a sign of success there must be a new commitment or you will be soon forgotten).

Ch3:

-Perception of problem is not enough to sell large ticket item, the buyer must IN HIS OWN WORDS phrase the negative implications of the status quo.

Implicit - statement by customer of problem/difficulty
Explicit - statement by customer of intention to change system. <-- This is what you need.

The question is: How do you grow problem big enough to compel action?

Ch4:

-Do your homework, too many questions irritate the buyer.

-Summarize (after customer says the benefits himself): So from what you've said, because your Contortomat machines are so difficult to use, you've spent $25,000 in traning costs this year and you're getting expensive operator turnover. You've got bottlenecks in production, and these result in expensive overtime and force you to send jobs outside.

-Make sure that you don't offer solutions too early or you will automatically get objections. Have the buyer raise the objections.

-Practice doing these situation, problem identification, implications, need payoff with different items. It can even effect the other person in practice.

-Implication questions help build trust that your product/service will work and is relevant to the customer.

-First build up pain with implication questions and then use need-payoff questions to solve the problem. Get the customer telling you the benefits himself.

-Customers don't expect your solution to be perfect just to address their main needs.

-When buyers feel that their ideas are part of the solution, they gain enthusiasm for the product.

Ch 5.

Definitions of :

Features (specs of product/service)
Advantages (positive attributes of the product that do not satisfy root needs of customer)
Benefits (attributes of product that specifically address customer's main problems).

-Customers buy big ticket items based on benefits not features nor advantages.

-Use problem solving approach in sales call, best frame to use.

-Negative correlation in sales right after product launch of sales reps are too product-centered as are amazed about the bells and whistles of their product. Several months later, when sales reps, aren't as hyped about product they start to focus more on customer and sales tend to increase.

Ch 6: Preventing Objections

-If price is objective means you haven't created enough value and you have focused on features/advantages instead of benefits.

-Objection of price is sympton not the root cause.

Ch 7

-Introductory part of conversation not as important as traditional wisdom says on large ticket items.
-The invstigation part and asking the right questions is much more important.
-Modernly, people don't buy large ticket items as much from people based solely on liking them. The benefits of the product will get the sale over likability of the sales rep.

-At the end of the meeting reinforce all the benefits and then email it to them by email so that they can use it as a way to SELL to their uppers and other decision makers (very rarely a sole person decision with big ticket items).