SPIN SELLING -
Sample Questions
Sample Situation Questions
How long have you worked here?
Who do you report to?
How do you do X?
How do you develop new ideas?
Who manages the budget?
Sample Problem Questions
Are you satisfied with your
current process for X? The
results?
How long does it take to do X?
How expensive is X?
How many people are required
to achieve the necessary results?
Sample Implication Questions
What effect does that have on...?
What does that mean for your
team?
How does [issue] impact your
team members?
What does it result in when.....?
Does that ever lead to......?
What does that mean for you?
Questions that aim to gather data, background facts
Who’s responsible for X?
How much budget do you have?
Do you have a strategy for X
What’s your process for X?
Why do you do X this way?
Questions that aim to uncover problems
Do you have any problems with X?
Do you have quality problems?
Does this process ever fail?
Where, when, how often does this
happen?
Questions that aim to help realise the consequences of the problem
What is the knock on cost of that?
What’s the productivity cost of
doing X that way?
What does that do for your
reputation?
What happens if you’re not
successful with X?
What could you accomplish with an
extra [amount of time] each [week,
month, year]?
Would your customers be [more
satisfied, engaged, loyal] if you
didn’t experience [problem related
to X]?
How long have you done X this
way?
How important is X to your
business?
What competitors are there?
Which tools do you currently
use?
Have you worked with a
university?
How many people does it affect?
How long does it take to
respond?
Is it easy to know what went
wrong?
Who usually deals with the
problem?
If you didn’t experience [issue],
would it be easier to achieve
[primary objective]?
Does [issue] ever prevent you
from hitting your goals in
[business area]?
Would you say [issue] is a blocker
in terms of your personal career
growth?
Would saving [amount of time]
make a significant difference to
your [team, budget, company]?
How would you use an extra
[amount of money] each [week,
month, year]?
Has a problem with X ever
negatively impacted your KPIs?
 Sample Need/ Pay off questions
If ….
Would it help if … ?
How much time could you save if
If you could reduce waste?
If you could decrease X how
many additional sales do you
think you could make in a year?
© Sean Fielding 2018 : Spin Selling Neil Rackman- Gower Publishing
Questions that aim to focus on what you can do for them.
Need Pay-Off questions should be developed from Implication Questions
eg
IQ: “Has a problem with X ever prevented you from meeting a deadline?”
N-PQ: “If you could do X in less time, would it be easier to meet your
deadlines?”
If you could gain positive Why is it important to solve this
recognition from your problem?
management?
Why would this help? Would it be useful to have ….?
Is it important for your team to see Is there any other way this could
X benefit so they can take Y action? help you?
Do you think solving [problem] Besides saving costs, would the
would impact you in Y way? service also enhance your image?
Would X make it simpler to achieve What other benefits would you
[positive event]? see coming from a solution?