Rating: 
Summary: More relevant than ever
Review: SPIN Selling was first written in 1988. I first read it this year. It is as relevant today as the day it was written. You would think that by now every salesperson out there would know that SPIN works, but apparently there are a lot of people in sales who aren't interested in improving their skills.
I've practiced the principles, and they work. I, like many sales people, are very used to giving information. A typical sales call often involves giving details about your product or service until your prospect's eyes glaze over (not your intent, of course). What SPIN is really about is creating interest. Its about using questions to softly lead the prospect to a conclusion using their own thought process, rather than just telling them.
What surprises me it that it is so difficult. Don't be one of those salespeople who reads every sales book out there but doesn't practice any of the ideas! I guarantee if you practice these questioning techniques, you will improve your sales.
Rating: 
Summary: Audio CD is worthless. Purchase at your own risk.
Review: This Audio CD was alluring because it claimed experimental research in sales technique. I don't know about the book but DO NOT purchase the CD.
Firstly, the narrator speaks in monotone. It is extremely difficult to be excited about the material when it is conveyed with such boredom.
Secondly, there is a lot of uneccessary redundancy with how the material is presented. The first disc is wasted on exclaiming why this book is so good. This is very annoying. We already purchased the audio CD so get to the point!
Finally, the most vexing issue of all is that the CD is not partitioned into tracks. Basically, disc one encompasses all chapters into one 60-min disc. Same with the others. This is a real pain since you can't merely reverse to the previous track to relisten to subjects. This is an extreme annoyance when you're holding back the seek button, and you have to hold it back for a while since the subjects are long and drawn-out, your finger slips and the track goes back to the beginning. Then you have to hold the seek button forward for a long time to get to where you want to. Imagine this while you're commuting to work! This may sound stupid to some but believe me, it is an absolute nuisance. The publishers took no consideration into its listeners when adapting the book to CD.
Basically, I want to save your time and money on this product. The audio CD needs much improvement to present the material in a clear and straight-forward manner. The publishers carelessly dumped the contents from the book on to however many CDs it took them. Poorly done. I am absolutely dissapointed with what could've been a descent product. Stay away from this Audio CD.
Rating: 
Summary: Absolutely a must read for any sales pro!
Review: Read it. Read it again. Read it a third time. Much of the information (minus the constant put down of other sales training books within the work, reason for the 4 and not a 5) is incredible. Easy to read. Simple to implement. As a long time sales professional I have read many sales oriented books over my career. This is definitely on top of the "technology type" oriented books. I am in automotive sales and sometimes the principles do not transfer very well. This book is okay for my business. Along with this book, I would prefer any car salesperson (pro or green-pea) buy "Cars and People: How to Put The Two Together" before they work on my lot.
Rating:
Summary: Buy this book and take notes
Review: Some sales theory books you can check out at the library to read for inspiration, other sales books are so good you buy them. This is a book to buy and to take notes. I had seen this book recommended several times throughout Amazon. I finally read it after seeing it recommended by Industrial EGO's Shamus Brown http://www.industrialego.com/index.htm . Usually sales books start with an inspiring success story that the author has experienced; I love the fact that Rackham begins his book with a failure (of sorts) when his firm Huthwaite's first big client discounted his sales analysis findings after trailing their sales reps in the field. It does take some careful concentration to read. The exercises are helpful and the author tries to inject some humor to shed light on his theories (see Quincy's Rule). I've just been promoted to strategic sales manager in the technical software field, selling a management platform. Our item is not a high-dollar item compared to our competitor's, but it does qualify as a larger sale and the sales cycle is usually 90+ days. I have been consciously trying to mimic the selling behaviors of our top sales reps. If I'd read this book before I would have been more successful earlier in my sales career. This along with "Selling to VITO" by Anthony Parinello and sales training at Industrial EGO Sales are great sales tools to use.
Rating:
Summary: Great book on sales tactics, but lacks strategic content....
Review: This was one of the better sales books I have read. It brings up a new perspective of questioning the customer. Rackham shows the reader how to take a seemingly small customer problem and develop it into a situation that needs immediate attention by the customer (i.e. he needs to buy your product). It dispels a lot of the common myths about selling - don't use all of those stupid closes that only sometimes work with inexpensive commodity items, etc. He also hammers home how to advance each sale by obtaining commitment of some sort - not necessarily a sale, but some commitment of furthering the sales process. The only possible drawbacks I noticed were that unless phrased carefully, the "rubbing salt into the wound" segment of the problem/implication questions can be taken the wrong way by some customers. Further, a lot of customers (at least in my industry) are probably already acutely aware of the problems they have and their implications. It is still a good read, though. The book is definitely aimed at sellers of high-dollar, high value-add items and not at booksellers or used car salespeople. As the title of this review indicates, the book was great on the questioning tactics of a sales call, but it does not address the strategic aspects of which customers to target, how to get to know the players at each account, etc. For the other half of the sales picture, I would highly recommend "Strategic Selling" and perhaps even "Conceptual Selling" by Miller and Heiman. Those two books were the two best I have read on selling, but Spin Selling is definitely recommended as an addition to the complex product salesperson's library.
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