SST® & SPIN: A Paradox
SST® Newsletter October – November 1997
Practitioners of SST™ know that one of the essential tools for understanding the client's business and personality is asking good questions. We have been heavily influenced by the work of Neil Rackham and the SPIN model he has advanced. Fundamentally, he found that the questioning process is an extremely powerful selling behavior. The SPIN acronym is easy to remember: S stands for Situation questions, which gather basic information about the client and his or her business. They ask, "What have you got?" P or Problem questions probe for dissatisfaction, difficulties and disappointments.
" If you could improve three things about your current service, what would they be?"
I or Implications questions separate the adults from the children in successful selling by asking about the consequences or implications of a problem. "The last time your network went down, could you tell me the effect it had on productivity? Morale? Overtime? Lost opportunities?" Finally, N or Needs Payoff Questions ask about the positive value of solving a problem. "What would it mean to your business if your network went down less frequently?"
Fundamentally, that's SPIN. Conceptually it is simple. Ask these questions. You can even write them down before your interview. Indeed, you should write them down. In most interviews it's even O.K. to refer to the questions and to take notes. It's empirically proven that if you ask these questions, especially with major accounts, you will have a greater probability of succeeding.
Yet, we consistently find that asking SPIN questions is difficult. Jeff Frank of Dun & Bradstreet put it this way, "SPIN is easy to say. But, it's hard to do."
Conceptually, the Successful Selling to Type SST® model is far more challenging. It's anchored in Carl Jung's theory of personality types. And, while we emphasize the four communication styles of ST Stabilizers), SF (Communicators), NF (Catalysts) & NT (Visionaries) there are as many as sixteen personality types.
While Rackham and his colleagues have followed SPIN Selling with Major Account Sales Strategy, Managing Major Sales and Getting Partnering Right (all published by McGraw Hill) there are hundreds of publications on Jung's work and its applications to counseling, team building and education. Successful Selling to Type: SST® is unique in applying Jung's model to selling.
And herein lies an interesting paradox. SST®, although more difficult intellectually, is easier to learn and to implement. In a recent follow-up assessment with a client we asked, along with nine other questions, "Have you found any parts of SST® difficult to apply? Which ones?" Head-and-shoulders, the SPIN component of SST® stood out as the most difficult one to use in the field. Here are some representative comments:
"Sometimes the interview just takes off and I don't get to ask the questions I planned."
"The SPIN process doesn't always flow the way you want it to."
"SPIN doesn't always apply."
Okay, you ask," So what does it mean?" It could simply be that asking questions, of any nature, is more difficult than offering our views. In school, and probably most homes, we are rewarded for the answers we give rather than the questions we ask or the understanding we achieve. Thus, when we get into sales where, instead of letter grades and gold stars, we are seeking commissions and compensation, we tend to give answers. After all, that's what we have been taught.
New age Guru Steven Covey addresses this issue in his Seven Habits of Highly Successful People. Seek first to understand, he asserts. Then, seek to be understood. In the SST® model, Rackham's SPIN is essential to thorough understanding of the client's business problems and his or her preferred communications style. In SST®, we employ SPIN when we are seeking to understand.
Then, when we are seeking to be understood, we communicate in the preferred language of our client. SPIN may be easy to say but hard to do. But, it's clearly worth learning.