How to Put Consultative Selling into a SPIN

By Paul Smith

When I ask PR people if they are good at selling, most of them say no. But that simply isn’t true.

Most PR people are brilliantly equipped for consultative selling because they are great at asking questions and enjoy talking to people – they just need to apply the SPIN technique.

Spin stands for Situation, Problem, Implication and Need.

First, ask your client lots of Situational questions such as, “how’s business?” or “what are the biggest problems your business faces right now?”

Then home in on a potential Problem. It could be they are having trouble breaking into a new market or converting leads into sales. 

Next, and this is important, get the client to quantify the Implication of not solving this problem. For example, will failing to break into a new market cause them a £1m, £10m or £100m problem?

Then you can focus in on their Need and start to discuss the solutions you can offer to help them solve their challenge.

By already quantifying the implication of missing their targets, it makes the prospect of spending £200k with you to solve a £2m problem much more attractive. 

Before you know it, you’re bringing in lots more sales opportunities for your agency.

Who said PR people were no good at selling?