What Is SPIN Selling and How It Helps You Close More Sales

SPIN selling is a sales strategy created by Neil Rackman in 1988 when he published his book by the same name. It focuses on building relationships with customers and understanding their problems. 

The SPIN selling technique helps close more sales by building trust between customers and salespeople. Sales are more organic when sales professionals listen to their customers' needs and offer solutions to help. 

Discover the benefits of SPIN selling and how to get started below. 

What is SPIN selling? 

SPIN—an acronym for situation, problem, implication, and need payoff—encourages salespeople to get to know their customers and their needs. Without SPIN selling, salespeople may need to convince customers they have problems getting them to purchase their products, which would fix their problems. With a SPIN selling strategy, salespeople create a relationship with customers so that customers will define their problems. Then, the salesperson only needs to explain how their product will fix their customers' problems.

Let’s take a closer look at each part of the acronym SPIN. 

S: Situation

The first letter of SPIN stands for situation. What is the customer’s current situation? What goals, challenges, resources, tools, and other environmental factors affect their decision-making process? When SPIN selling was created in 1988, sales professionals couldn’t access tools like LinkedIn and Google. Salespeople need to gather a lot of basic information at sales calls that you can easily locate on the internet today. Modern situation questions dig deeper into company processes and ask questions you can’t easily find through a Google search. For example, you might ask a potential customer: 

• Why does your company do things this way?

• What tools support your process?

• How much time does this task take every week?

P: Problem

Understanding the problems your customers face is the next step of SPIN selling. From a sales perspective, your customer’s problems are areas of opportunity where you can eventually recommend solutions. At this stage, you don’t want to be quick to conclude. Take your time to investigate your potential client’s pain points and frustrations because, when you understand your client’s big picture, you will have the tools to recommend solutions with fewer objections. Example problem questions include: 

• What challenges do you face in your role?

• Are you satisfied with your current processes? 

• How effective are your current tools?

I: Implication

Once you have a clearer picture of the areas of frustration your client experiences, you can start to probe the implications of these problems. How much do these frustrations cost the client in terms of time, money, or other resources? These questions help you and the client understand the urgent problems and whether finding a solution makes more sense. For example, you could ask your client: 

• If you had more resources, what decisions would you make?

• How much time does this process take every week?

• What are the hidden costs of these tools?

N: Need payoff

The last step of SPIN selling is to help the customer understand what solution would work best and why the solution is needed urgently- their need. The customer has identified their problems and defined the factors contributing to their success or failure. Now, you help paint a picture of what success looks like. What would it look like if these problems were never fixed? What would it look like if you could find a solution? For example, you could ask: 

• Would you find it valuable to try this another way?

• Do you think resolving these bottlenecks would help you reach your goals?

• Why is being able to use this tool important to your team?

All together, SPIN selling leads customers through their own sales process. 

Read more: What Is a Sales Data Analyst, and How Do I Become One?

How does SPIN selling help boost sales?

SPIN selling boosts sales because it’s a sales process that’s helpful for both the salesperson and the client. Some of the benefits of SPIN selling include:

• Insight into decision-making processes: SPIN selling can help you understand how and why your customer makes purchasing decisions so you can tailor your approach to their needs. 

• Building trust: By listening to the customer’s needs and allowing them to draw their own conclusions, you build trust with the customer that you aren’t trying to sell them something they don’t need. 

• Fewer objections: The SPIN selling technique brings clients to their own conclusions, resulting in fewer objections about why the product isn’t going to work for them. 

• Less aggressive sales: By asking questions, you lead customers through the sales cycle without getting pushy or trying to tell them what they need. 

Potential drawbacks of SPIN selling

Although SPIN selling can be effective, you’ll also find challenges associated with the technique. For one thing, SPIN selling can be time-consuming. You will need the space to have a detailed conversation with your client and get to know the ins and outs of their needs. That doesn’t always happen quickly. 

Another disadvantage of SPIN selling is that it can be less relevant in today’s sales environment, as it is based on an existing product. It doesn’t take into account product upgrades and service developments. 

Who uses SPIN selling?

SPIN selling can be used or adapted to any sales environment, whether selling to individual consumers, in a business-to-business deal, or at an enterprise scale. Three potential careers using SPIN selling include sales development representative, business development representative, and sales representative. 

Sales development representative

Average annual salary in the US (Glassdoor): $49,398 [1]

Job outlook (projected growth from 2022 to 2032): 4 percent [2]

Education requirements: The most common degree for a sales development representative is a bachelor’s degree, typically in business or marketing. 

As a sales development representative, you will generate and qualify leads for the sales team by reaching out to prospects and learning about their needs. Depending on your role in the sales team, you may refer qualified leads to other sales professionals who specialize in closing deals. 

Business development representative

Average annual salary in the US (Glassdoor): $82,411 [3]

Job outlook (projected growth from 2022 to 2032): 4 percent [2]

Education requirements: The most common degree for a business development representative is a bachelor’s degree, typically in business or marketing. 

As a business development representative, you will seek new business opportunities and focus on building long-term relationships. You will act as a liaison and your client's main point of contact. In this role, you may also manage other aspects of business development, such as finding new vendors. 

Sales representative

Average annual salary in the US (Glassdoor): $147,598 [4]

Job outlook (projected growth from 2022 to 2032): 4 percent [2]

Education requirements: The most common degree for a sales representative is a bachelor’s degree, although associate degrees and high school diplomas are common. 

As a sales representative, you will represent your company’s products and services and sell to potential customers. Depending on the industry and size of your sales team, you may be selling directly to consumers or in a business-to-business setting. 

How to get started in SPIN selling

Typically, you can start an entry-level sales job with a high school diploma to gain experience. To advance in your sales career, you can pursue a degree or take courses to gain skills and specialize in sales strategies such as SPIN selling. 

Some of the characteristics that may help you succeed in SPIN selling include:

• Charisma

• Patience

• Enthusiasm

• Active listening

• Good social skills

• Attention to detail

SPIN selling tips 

To get the most out of SPIN selling, here are a few more tips:

• Use online tools to inspire your “situation” questions. You can learn a lot about your potential clients on their websites, social media presence, reviews, and user feedback on their company or product. 

• Ask open-ended questions. SPIN selling aims to allow your customers to lead you organically through the sales process. Open-ended questions help you get the most information without inadvertently leading the conversation. 

• Practice active listening. Your client won’t always completely understand your problems. Listen actively to what they are saying to pick out patterns they might not have considered and paraphrase back to them. 

Read more: Marketing vs. Sales: What's the Difference?

Getting started with Coursera

Sales is a dynamic career with the potential for high salaries and progression as you build your sales skills and techniques, such as spin selling. If you’re ready to start a career in sales, take the next step and earn your Salesforce Sales Development Representative Professional Certificate on Coursera. You can learn sales development, interviewing, sales, time management, cold calling, and more. Earn your certificate in as little as three months.