Smarticles Sales Tips #1

Read Time: 4 mins

In most of our interactions, we are probably trying to persuade someone of something. Sometimes it’s a friendly tiff with our friends, sometimes it’s trying to pry a refund out of customer support, or potentially it’s trying to persuade a bouncer that your mate’s fine.

Whether we’re hoping to sell a particular idea or just the idea that we’re a cool dude, knowing some sales tips can make a huge difference.

This series is designed to look at some of the key ideas that sales people are taught, along with wisdom from other areas such as hostage negotiation and relationship counselling that might help turn the tables slightly during those moments where a little persuasion can go a long way.

Tip # 1

SPIN Selling

“You’ve got 2 ears and one mouth for a reason”. A famous castigation from parents through the ages and something everyone has been told throughout their lives. It’s great advice without a doubt but there is another layer that is worth considering.

Listening to the another person can sometimes give you essential clues to their hopes, dreams, aversions and desires. But people don’t always want to give these things away so easily. It’s important to listen but also pay attention to what they don’t say. This will likely provide clues about areas they may be avoiding or things they simply don’t know how to articulate.

SPIN was a technique developed by Neil Rackham in 1988 to help uncover these nuggets of info. It suggests some themes for questions that will help you understand a person’s perspective and the things that might nudge them forward or could be holding them back. It focuses on layered questioning, the answers to which can be used to present options that might help whoever you’re talking to.

While they are meant to asked loosely in order, the most proficient questioners zip between each section as new information arises in order to get a complete picutre.

S – Situation

The first element is understanding the territory that you are stepping into (or at least a map of the territory – see https://fs.blog/2015/11/map-and-territory/).

These questions are about the state of play and what’s happening, who’s involved and what’s at stake.

For example:

• What do you want to get out of this?
• Where should we start?
• What do you see happening next?
• Have you done anything like this before? What happened?

Ideally these questions provide context for what’s happened before the conversation and what is likely to happen after. This will help you narrow the conversation down to a more manageable arena and provide the foundation for the rest of the discussion.

P – Problem

This is where things start to get juicy. These questions focus on what needs to be fixed or what could be going better. They are meant to focus on the facts that have been eked out through Situation questions. While the situation questions tend to be more open, problem questions are designed to hone in on specific issues. You may hear more phraseology like:

• So it sounds like this might be a problem?
• This looks good, but this feels like it could be better?
• Would changing this help?

There is a shift in tone as this type of probing can be a little personal. Using phrases like “it feels like” and “it sounds like” are non-committal and non-threatening (something that will be covered in detail later) and also encourages people to correct you if you’ve misunderstood. The idea is to garner a mental list of what is keeping someone up at night so you can align your insight and experience with this in order to help.

I – Impact

Now that you have a rough idea of the territory surrounding the conversation and you’ve uncovered some problems that need solving, the next stage is to prioritise them. This can help you understand what will help them the most and make the biggest difference. Knowing this can be a black swan when it comes to persuading someone. For a friend, their problem may be impacting their quality of life, for a client, the problem might be impacting revenue generation. The point is to try and ask more emotive questions about the problems uncovered.

For example:

• What’s problem X stopping you being able to do?
• If you fixed problem Y, what would happen then?
• How does problem Z make you feel about the future?
• What happens if you ignore problem X?
• What impact is this having for other people in this situation?

From a true sales perspective, being able to prioritise the problem can help you create value and help you understand where the price point should be. For a friend, it will help you understand the help they might value the most.

N – Needs Payoff

Finally, these questions tie the whole thing together. They combine the situation and problems with the impacts and present options for the person that will help them the most in any given situation. It also allows you to put a point of view across while speaking their language (another point we’ll discuss in more detail). When someone feels like they have been listened to and are having a new point of view suggested to them in language they feel comfortable with, they are more likely to be open to it. Needless to say, it’s great here if you can provide some actual help that will lessen the impact and fix some problems.

These are the least general questions out of all of them because by this point, you should know a lot about the person, what’s happening and what it’s doing to them . However, I’ve included some general themes you could consider as a guide:

• If we did this together, would that help you feel less of the impact of your problem?
• Do you feel that doing this would make problem X better?
• It sounds like changing this particular element would save you a lot of money?

Like all techniques, the most important thing when trying to persuade is to remember that both parties are human. This means that people can use different words, phrases, emphasis and litotes – all can lead to confusion and miscommunication. In the end, few things can beat genuine curiosity and connection.