Build Value Sell More

Build value, sell more, struggle less - ask the right questions like an 8-year-old

Engaging Tweets

When you ask the right questions, you secure future growth for your business…

How to get an edge over the competition by delivering value to your customers?

How do you use questions to help the customer persuade themselves that you are the only choice?

Build value for your customers and you build a future for your business…

What happens when you ask the right questions during a meeting with a potential customer?

How do you ask the right questions and secure business wins?

Build value for your customer by asking the right questions…

Ask the right questions at the right time and sell more…

Ask happy and sad questions when meeting your customers – both are needed…

Grow your business-like Xerox did by asking the right questions…

Ask both happy and sad questions for business wins

Shoot up the success charts like Xerox did with the right framework of questions in sales meetings…

Ask 4 types of questions to build value for your customer and grow your sales…

How to make the questions you ask matter for the future of your business

Why risk lost sales by not preparing well for a sales meeting?

Stop asking the wrong question in sales meeting and start building value for your customers…

Sales meetings are not about you, they’re about your customer…

How to take sales meetings seriously and build value for your customer?

Prepare the right questions for your sales meetings and secure the wins your business needs…

When you take the time to prepare the right questions for your customer meetings your business wins

Take the needs of your customer seriously by asking the right questions

Give your team the confidence to ask the right questions by using the SPIN framework…

Tip the balance in your favour by using the SPIN framework of questions…

What happens to your sales conversion when you ask the right questions in the right order?

Inspire your team to sales success using the SPIN framework…

Learn from the success of IBM and Honeywell and use the SPIN framework in your business…

If you want your business to grow, then use the SPIN framework in your customer sales meetings

What happens when you take the time to really listen to the existing problems of your customer?

Why risk your future sales by not listening to your customers

Make sales conversations with your customers worthwhile by preparing in advance…

Finding out your customers current situation is the key to sales success…

Asking sad and happy questions in the right order will have big payoffs for your business.

You risk the future of your business if you don’t ask the right questions in the right way.

Ask the right questions like an 8-year-old and you grow your business.

Build a relationship with your customers by asking Implication questions.

When you discover what your customer really needs then you build value for your product

Stop asking the wrong (easy) questions – learn from the SPIN framework that difficult questions payoff!

Time to ask both happy and sad questions and improve your business results…

Help your business survive and thrive by asking happy and sad questions – both are needed…

4 helping hands to ensure you ask the right questions in all your future sales meetings…

How to help your business grow by asking the right questions?

4 helping hands to ensure you use the SPIN framework of questions in all your sales meetings…

How can the right questions build value for your customer and help you sell more?

Success comes when you ask the right questions and build value for your customer…

Don’t be afraid to ask the sad questions in a sales call with your customer…

Growing your business is not all about happy conversations with your customers…

How to ask both happy and sad questions and win sales in your business…

When you ask the right number of sad questions in a sales conversation you increase the chances of a positive outcome.

LinkedIn Updates

1. Your business is successful because you have sales, you have won business, convinced customers to buy from you and some have bought again and again. The current success of your business is down to your hard work done to win and keep these customers, but the future of your business also depends on new business and growing your sales. Click here to learn how asking the right questions can secure the future of your business.

2. When it comes to a sales meeting or conversation with your customer or a prospect, how do you prepare your conversation? Because you know the ins and outs of your products and services it’s tempting to ‘cut to the chase’ – to want to dive right in and explain to your customer how your product is going to help them, however it’s worth remembering that every customer is different and has different issues to deal with. Click here to learn how the right questions at the right time can make all your customer conversations valuable.

3. When it comes to securing existing or future business with your customers then the questions you ask is fundamental to your success. When you ask your customers both ‘happy’ and ‘sad’ questions you build value. Both kinds of questions are needed, and you can learn how to ask both. Click here to learn how…

4. If it’s easy for an 8-year-old to see there are two types are questions – ‘sad’ and ‘happy’ questions, then so can you, and you can learn to use both, build value and sell more. Many companies around the world ask both sad and happy questions when talking to customers and have increased their sales as a result. Click here to learn how asking

5. We all know that asking the right questions is key to success, asking the wrong questions can have the opposite effect and that this applies not just in business but in life in general. You’ll know this is true if you have teenagers in your household. Treading carefully is an artform when it comes to getting any response from a teenager. Ask well-timed, caring questions and you’re more likely to get a positive response - but jump straight in with the wrong questions and you are most likely to get an eye-rolling, arms-flailing dismissal! Click here to learn how this is the same when it comes to business - the businesses that perform the best ask the right questions in a prepared and systematic way.

6. You don’t build value by telling your customer how great your product is, you build value by asking them what their challenges, difficulties and stresses are with their current product and then having a conversation about how your product can take care of all of that. Click here to learn that when you use the SPIN framework to ask the right questions you will help your customer genuinely feel the need for your product, you will not need to persuade them as they will have already persuaded themselves.

7. In the 1970s Neil Rackman and his training company Huthwaite developed the SPIN questioning framework, enabling us all to ask the right questions during our meetings with prospective buyers. Click here to learn that, when used well the SPIN framework takes away the uncertainty about which questions to ask and helps develop a real understanding of your customers’ needs.

8. Global printing company Xerox trained their team with the help of Neil and Huthwaite to use the SPIN framework of ‘happy’ and ‘sad’ questions. The results they achieved with this new way of asking questions was so profound that it meant many other large businesses followed suit. Click here to discover what SPIN selling is and how will it help your business build value and sell more?

9. All businesses rely on repeat and future sales for growth and survival. During difficult and nervous trading times even our most experienced team members may lose confidence when it comes to their sales conversations with prospective customers. Click here to learn how using a proven framework of questions like the SPIN questioning framework can bypass this uncertainty and give confidence to you and your team.

10. Using the SPIN framework of 4 types of question will help you prepare for sales meetings and give you the confidence to ask the right questions. Click here to learn the importance of asking these questions in the right order and how you must start with Situation and Problem questions.

11. Ask the right questions in the right way and your customers will tell you how valuable your product or service is, you will not have to persuade them, and you won’t feel like you are doing a hard sell either – a welcome relief! Click here to learn how using the SPIN framework questions will mean you ask the right questions to stimulate valuable conversations with your customers.

12. When your customer realises the value of what you are selling, they’ll convince themselves to buy, you won’t need to persuade them. You will then turn more prospects into customers and your existing customers will come back again. This requires skills at asking the right questions, so how do you do this? Click here to learn more.

13. There is nothing revolutionary about the SPIN questions – they’re just the questions that successful salespeople ask on a good day, when it’s all going very well. All 4 types of questions are needed and all can be learned. So why not give the SPIN framework a try with your customers? Click here for 4 helping hands to get you started.

14. In his book ‘SPIN Selling’ Neil used a great quote from a business leader he interviewed:

‘If I fell into a ditch, 50 salespeople can sell me a ladder to get out, but only 1 can sell me something that stops me falling in, in the first place’.

Click here to learn what SPIN Selling in and how to give your customer what they ACTUALLY want, or even better, something that they don’t know they want but once discovered cannot do without.

15. Success comes when your customers buy your product or service, but they will only be motivated to buy from you when they recognise the need and the value of what you are selling. Sometimes your customer or prospect will not even realise they need what you are offering or that problems exist within their business that you can solve. Click here to learn why the questions you ask are the key.

Facebook Posts

14. In his book ‘SPIN Selling’ Neil used a great quote from a business leader he interviewed:

‘If I fell into a ditch, 50 salespeople can sell me a ladder to get out, but only 1 can sell me something that stops me falling in, in the first place’.

Click here to learn what SPIN Selling in and how to give your customer what they ACTUALLY want, or even better, something that they don’t know they want but once discovered cannot do without.

Blog Posts

Blog 1 –
Ask the right questions in your business and build value for your customers…

Your business is successful because you have sales, you have won business, convinced customers to buy from you and some have bought again and again.

The current success of your business is down to your hard work done to win and keep these customers, but the future of your business also depends on new business and growing your sales.

So, when it comes to a sales meeting or conversation with your customer or a prospect, how do you prepare your conversation?

Because you know the ins and outs of your products and services it’s tempting to ‘cut to the chase’ – to want to dive right in and explain to your customer how your product is going to help them, however it’s worth remembering that every customer is different and has different issues to deal with.

Obtaining a comprehensive view of your customer’s situation by asking carefully prepared questions and then really listening to what they have to say will get to the heart of their specific issues.

By truly understanding the problems your customer is experiencing and the implications of these problems, you can more easily demonstrate the value of your products and services and they will not need to be persuaded to buy from you.

Click here to discover how to ask the right questions, build value for your customers and grow your business.

Blog 2 – Learn how Xerox beat the rest by asking the right questions in the right way…

When it comes to securing existing or future business with your customers then the questions you ask is fundamental to your success.

When you ask your customers both ‘happy’ and ‘sad’ questions you build value.

Both kinds of questions are needed, and you can learn how to ask both.

If it’s easy for an 8-year-old to see there are two types are questions – ‘sad’ and ‘happy’ questions, then so can you, and you can learn to use both, build value and sell more. Many companies around the world ask both sad and happy questions when talking to customers and have increased their sales as a result, and so can you.

Xerox proved that asking the right questions works in Newcastle, Tyne & Wear. This Xerox sales office of 35 people was ranked 16^th out of 17 Xerox offices across the UK.

When they introduced this new way of asking questions, they jumped to 5^th best.

Only 6 months later they were ranked 1^st in the UK and had doubled their sales conversion rate.

They only lost the top spot when all the other teams were also trained to ask happy and sad questions in the right way too.

Asking the right questions in the right way clearly works.

These questions form part of a well proven framework that has also delivered results for the likes of IBM and Honeywell. Worth trying don’t you think?

Click here to learn more about this framework and the difference that asking ‘sad’ and ‘happy’ questions at the right time can make to your future sales.

Blog 3 – Asking the wrong questions could send your customers to your competition…

We all know that asking the right questions is key to success, asking the wrong questions can have the opposite effect and that this applies not just in business but in life in general.

You’ll know this is true if you have teenagers in your household. Treading carefully is an artform when it comes to getting any response from a teenager. Ask well-timed, caring questions and you’re more likely to get a positive response - but jump straight in with the wrong questions and you are most likely to get an eye-rolling, arms-flailing dismissal!

This is the same when it comes to business - the businesses that perform the best ask the right questions in a prepared and systematic way.

We have all turned away from someone trying to sell us a car, house, washing machine or even shoes when they ask the first clumsy question.

For example, if we had only just met and I started telling you how wonderful our latest washing machine was and all the things it could do for you, you’d likely be put off by the hard sell and by my assumption that you are ready to make the buying decision.

You don’t build value by telling your customer how great your product is, you build value by asking them what their challenges, difficulties and stresses are with their current product and then having a conversation about how your product can take care of all of that.

When you use the SPIN framework to ask the right questions you will help your customer genuinely feel the need for your product, you will not need to persuade them as they will have already persuaded themselves.

Click here to discover the SPIN framework in more detail and how to ask the right questions to ensure a positive outcome for both you and your customer.

Blog 4 – Time to give your team the confidence to win sales using the SPIN framework…

In the 1970s Neil Rackman and his training company Huthwaite developed the SPIN questioning framework, enabling us all to ask the right questions during our meetings with prospective buyers.

When used well the SPIN framework takes away the uncertainty about which questions to ask and helps develop a real understanding of your customers’ needs.

Global printing company Xerox trained their team with the help of Neil and Huthwaite to use the SPIN framework of ‘happy’ and ‘sad’ questions. The results they achieved with this new way of asking questions was so profound that it meant many other large businesses followed suit.

The Huthwaite team went on to investigate more than 35,000 sales visits and calls in 50 industries and across 23 countries.

The results of these investigations or research can be found in Neil’s book ‘SPIN selling’.

So, what is SPIN selling and how will it help your business build value and sell more?

The SPIN framework is built around 4 types of questions to build value:

Situation Questions
Problem Questions
Implication Questions
Needs/Payoff Questions

The SPIN framework allows your team to build rapport with your customer, increase the credibility of your business and give them confidence in sales meetings.

Click here to learn more about each type of question in the SPIN framework and how it can help your business win more sales.

Blog 5 – Understanding your customers current issues is the key to business wins…

All businesses rely on repeat and future sales for growth and survival. During difficult and nervous trading times even our most experienced team members may lose confidence when it comes to their sales conversations with prospective customers.

Using a proven framework of questions like the SPIN questioning framework can bypass this uncertainty and give confidence to you and your team.

Using this framework of 4 types of question will help you prepare for sales meetings and give you the confidence to ask the right questions.

The SPIN framework questions are as follows:

Situation questions
Problem questions
Implication questions
Needs/Payoff questions

These questions need to be asked in sequence to really ensure you understand your customers issues.

The first and perhaps easiest questions to ask are the Situation Questions. These are information gathering questions.

Situation Questions uncover the facts and insights into your customers current situation, good examples are:

‘Which tools do you currently use?’ and ‘How often are you training your team?’

NB. Beware of asking too many situational questions, your customer may have expected you to have done some research in advance and asking too many of them may lead to impatience.

Once you have established your customer’s current situation you can begin to ask Problem Questions to uncover your customer’s current problems, issues, difficulties and dissatisfactions.

Good examples are:

‘Does this process ever fail?’ and ‘When and where do bottlenecks happen?’

These questions aim to identify the pain the customer is currently experiencing (sad questions). Sometimes these questions can be awkward to ask as customers are often reluctant to admit they are struggling – however they are directly linked to sales success.

Situation and Problem questions build a foundation for you to move on to the next questions in the SPIN framework, so it is vital you get them right.

Click here for more information on the SPIN framework and importance of Situation and Problem questions to your sales success.

Blog 6 – Create a lasting solution for your customer using the SPIN framework of questions…

Ask the right questions in the right way and your customers will tell you how valuable your product or service is, you will not have to persuade them, and you won’t feel like you are doing a hard sell either – a welcome relief!

When your customer realises the value of what you are selling, they’ll convince themselves to buy, you won’t need to persuade them. You will then turn more prospects into customers and your existing customers will come back again.

This requires skills at asking the right questions, so how do you do this?

Using the SPIN framework questions will mean you ask the right questions to stimulate valuable conversations with your customers.

The SPIN questioning framework - asking Situation and Problem questions first, to investigate and uncover your customer’s current situation and the problems they have.

When you have this information and understanding, you can then move on to asking Implication questions and Needs/Payoff questions.

These are the trickiest questions to ask, so you’ll need to prepare in advance – preparation shows you’re serious about helping your customer (not just getting the sale).

Implication and Needs/Pay off questions can be seen as a double act.

Implication questions build discomfort by showing your customer the possible causes and effects of their most pressing pain points.

Needs/Payoff questions focus your customer on the solution and why it will work for them, they persuade themselves of the merit and value of what you are offering.

Good examples of Implication questions are:

‘If this continues what will be the impact on customer loyalty and team morale?’ and ‘What's the long-term productivity cost if this problem continues?’

Good examples of Needs/Payoff questions are:

‘Wouldn’t it be simpler if…?’ and ‘How quickly would you see a boost in morale if customer complaints reduced?’

When you prepare your questions right using the SPIN framework then you will build value by having a natural and understanding discussion with your customer.

Click here to learn the importance of asking SPIN questions in the right order in your customer meetings to ensure profitable conversations.

Blog 7 – Put the SPIN framework of questions to work in your business…

Neil Rackman and his training company Huthwaite put together the SPIN framework of questions to help businesses navigate the tricky road to successfully winning business and having the edge over the competition.

In his book ‘SPIN Selling’ Neil used a great quote from a business leader he interviewed:

‘If I fell into a ditch, 50 salespeople can sell me a ladder to get out, but only 1 can sell me something that stops me falling in, in the first place’.

This is the key to the SPIN framework. Don’t give the customer what you think they want – give them what they ACTUALLY want, or even better, something that they don’t know they want but once discovered cannot do without.

There is nothing revolutionary about the SPIN questions – they’re just the questions that successful salespeople ask on a good day, when it’s all going very well. All 4 types of questions are needed and all can be learned.

So why not give the SPIN framework a try with your customers?

Here are 4 helping hands to get you started:

Situation questions – help you understand your customers current situation and gather background information.

Problem questions – help search out problems, difficulties and issues that your product solves (sad questions).

Implication questions – hone in on the problems you’ve discovered and get clarity on the seriousness off the issues (sad questions).

Needs/Payoff questions – these questions lead your customer to the conclusion that your product or service is the solution to the problems they are facing and that those problems would go away as a result of them buying from you (happy questions).

Click here to learn more detail about each of the 4 types of question above and how the SPIN framework helps you build value in your customers minds

Blog 8 - Success comes when you ask the right questions and build value for your customer…

Success comes when your customers buy your product or service, but they will only be motivated to buy from you when they recognise the need and the value of what you are selling.

Sometimes your customer or prospect will not even realise they need what you are offering or that problems exist within their business that you can solve.

The questions you ask are the key.

Sales are lost every day, every week because of the failure of most businesses to fully understand their customers’ needs.

In most sales conversations the focus is on the ‘features and benefits’ of the product or service that is being sold, rather than focusing on understanding the customer and looking at the issues from the customer’s perspective.

When you ask the right questions in the right way, you build value for your product in your customer. They will tell you how valuable your product or service is, you won’t need to persuade them to buy from you, they will persuade themselves.

Using a proven framework of ‘happy’ and ‘sad’ questions will result in you really understanding your customer and what their needs are for their business.

Click here to learn how to ask these ‘happy’ and ‘sad’ questions and have valuable conversations with your customers that give you the competitive edge.

Engaging E-mails

Business Breakthrough Subscriber Resources