The SPIN Sequence

In sales, one of the most important skills that I have learned is the SPIN sequence. In Personal Selling 1, SPIN was one of the main topics throughout the course. At the beginning of class, I had no idea what SPIN was, however, by the end of the course, I was able to utilize it effectively in sales role plays. You may be wondering what SPIN stands for, so I'll break it down for you. SPIN refers to the 4 types of questions that a salesperson should ask, and they are; situation, problem, implication, and need-payoff. Situation questions are typically asked first, to gain knowledge about the potential buyer, such as their job position and who their current suppliers may be. Problem questions are typically asked next, and they can include questions about any problems they may have with their current products. Implication questions are questions asked to see if the problems they have are affecting their business operations, and need-payoff questions are questions that are asked to see if your product can solve their problems. During the course we were also asked to interview a salesperson. During my interview, the salesperson mentioned multiple times how important the SPIN sequence is, and it gave me real life situations when SPIN should and should not be used. Along with the interview, we were also tasked with participating in 3 sales role plays. These ranged from selling barbecue sauce to selling computer software, but with SPIN, I was able to do them. I learned that the development of the SPIN sequence is extremely important to anyone in the sales field, and Personal Selling 1 helped me with that.