The Value Equation

SPIN Selling:
Knowing how to ask questions is key to selling.
1. Situation
2. Problem
3. Implication
4. Need-payoff

Selling skills aren't just for sales people. If you're providing a professional service, whether as a lawyer, doctor, engineer or just about any position which requires giving advice, it helps to be able to reframe advice in a way that makes it palatable to other party. This is one very good write up on how SPIN selling skills apply to a dental practice.

I have been pestered by this dating agency (I don't know who referred me to them and they won't tell me) several times and I have listened to their pitch. I'm not really contending the price of their package. If a couple of thousand dollars can solve my problem of finding "Mr Right" without expending a material amount of time, then it's well worth it. It's just that I don't think that what they have to offer justifies the cost. Instead of seeing how their service can really benefit me, all I'm seeing is that their package is overpriced because they have high overheads in terms of advertising and shop location. In the words of Zig Ziglar, their "little" stack of benefits does not outweigh my "big" stack of money, i.e. I'm not seeing the value there.