We come now to one of the most critical steps in this series of posts on SPIN Selling. Today, we’re going to take a look at implications in sales development SPIN selling techniques. This step is all about helping the customer understand the urgency of the problems they have. As with every other step of SPIN Selling, the key is to ask introspective questions that help the customer see things for themselves. This step is tricky because it requires a bit more creativity, and more caution in the way you ask the questions. You have to frame them in such a way that the customer is able to work out the implications for themselves. You definitely don’t want to be condescending while you do that.
Tread With Caution
The idea behind this step is to help the prospect see that the problems that they have now will grow if they’re not addressed. It’s not to suggest that the problems they have now are currently bigger then they seem. They could become that way, though.
It’s important to make this distinction. It’s dishonest and counterproductive to the sales effort to exaggerate current problems. Honesty is one of the keys to effective sales. There’s nothing that prospects and customers like less than lies from a salesperson.
With that in mind, there’s an art to this step. Part of that art is that you have to prepare for the customer to answer the question in ways that you might not expect. You might attempt to make an implication, but the customer won’t always see it the same way you do.
Two Powerful Strategies
Our original post from a while back provided an overview of SPIN Selling. In it, we provided examples of making a connection between a current problem and a much bigger one down the road. You do this by asking questions like, “If you didn’t have to spend that much money on monthly subscriptions, how could that help you grow in other areas?” and “How is that lag time impacting agent productivity and career satisfaction?”
Take a close look at those examples. There are two different types of questions there. The first is very open-ended. The prospect could answer in any number of ways about how their company could grow. This is useful even though your product offers a very specific solution. Whatever that solution is, it implies greater freedom for your prospect’s company after solving the problem.
The other example is much more specific. It accentuates the negative aspects of the problem. This invites the prospect to narrow their focus on why the problem is such a problem.
Both types of questions can be useful as a part of your implications in sales development spin selling techniques. Knowing which type of question to use depends on how well you’ve done in the previous steps. You must understand your prospect’s situation and specific problems. To do all that, you have to listen carefully. Sometimes, it would be more useful to allow the prospect to widen their vision. That’s when they already understand that the problem needs to be solved immediately. All they need after that is to know how. That leads us to the next step: examining needs and the specific payoffs of satisfying them.
At other times, the implications aren’t as clear to the prospect. It becomes valuable to help them focus on the next steps that will occur if they don’t address them. When they realize that the problem is severe, then they will start wondering what to do about it. That, again, is where you get into needs and payoffs. We’ll take a closer look at that step next week.
Who Can Use Implications in Sales Development SPIN Selling?
Drawing out implications in SPIN Selling sales development techniques can be one of the most difficult parts of the method. It’s helpful to have experienced sales professionals bring this technique into play. Boom Demand sales development representatives are those experts! It’s good for your in-house sales staff to be familiar with these and other sales techniques, too. The benefit of using Boom Demand SDRs is that we can speed up your whole sales process. Contact us today for your in-house sales team to focus more on relationship building than on prospecting!