Name: SPIN selling
ISBN: 9780070511132

SPIN selling

that revolutionized high-end selling! Written by Neil Rackham, former president and founder of Huthwaite corporation, SPIN Selling is essential reading for anyone involved in selling or managing a sales force. Unquestionably the best-documented account of sales success ever collected and the result of the Huthwaite corporation's massive 12-year, $1-million dollar research into effective sales performance, this groundbreaking resource details the revolutionary SPIN (Situation, Problem, Implication, Need-payoff) strategy. In SPIN Selling, Rackham, who has advised leading companies such as IBM and Honeywell delivers the first book to specifically examine selling high-value product and services. By following the simple, practical, and easy-to-apply techniques of SPIN, readers will be able to dramatically increase their sales volume from major accounts. Rackham answers key questions such as “What makes success in major sales” and “Why do techniques like closing work in small sales but fail in larger ones?” You will learn why traditional sales methods which were developed for small consumer sales, just won't work for large sales and why conventional selling methods are doomed to fail in major sales. Packed with real-world examples, illuminating graphics, and informative case studies - and backed by hard research data - SPIN Selling is the million-dollar key to understanding and producing record-breaking high-end sales performance.

What Hacker News says

jppopeDec 2025

I spent the first chunk of my career doing sales (2nd half spent in software engineering). Theres a lot of good books out there but you're going to find a lot of the direct advice to be non-applicable (as I'm sure you can pick up from the comments). Most of the Literature out there is directed at professional sales people, who for the most part are non-technical, have the backing of a marketing org, and are also different than a founder. Anyway, heres a reading list. Most of the trainings I've been a part of were custom built to the org or market, and frankly I learned more from Rules of the Game by Neil Strauss. I did enjoy "the Wedge" training by Randy Schwantz... that one you should do the video not the book. It also sounds like you could use some marketing stuff so I'll throw some of that in there too.

In no particular order, and please keep in mind this is off the top of my head:

* Influence (the classic)

* YC videos (e.g. https://youtu.be/0fKYVl12VTA?si=I9uylXSRyOf1nXRv, https://youtu.be/DH7REvnQ1y4?si=Ke858PmaaBr5ar-e, https://youtu.be/hyYCn_kAngI?si=sO_co6kbDaNn3cql, etc)

* Thinking Fast and Slow

* Purple Cow

* Clayton Christensen stuff

* Spin Selling

* Challenger Sale

* Guerrilla marketing (for the mental muscle)

* Jeffrey Gitomer (basic but useful)

* Lean Startup (for positioning)

* Charisma Myth

* Minimalist Entrepreneur (bits and pieces)

* The presentation secrets of steve jobs (just a good book on presentations, framed around Steve Jobs to sell more)

For what its worth this question comes up fairly often. It seems like technical people would like a "technical people" guide on how to do Sales and marketing. Does that sound useful to anyone?

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jll29Sep 2024

The best book on selling complex items like software that I have ever known, I got from the best salesperson I ever met: the book is

  Neil Rackham: Spin Selling

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unotiSep 2024

Second vote for Spin Selling from me. Spin Selling is a must read for anyone doing long-term sales-- in particular, selling software that has a long sales cycle like a year from the time you get a prospect until you close the sale. But it has other key concepts for smaller software packages too that you'll find useful if you're doing something smaller.

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LeftiumFeb 2024

SPIN Selling by Neil Rackham[1]

This site give a good preview/summary of the book/method: https://blog.hubspot.com/sales/spin-selling-the-ultimate-gui...

[1]: https://www.amazon.com/SPIN-Selling-Neil-Rackham/dp/00705111...

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shw1nJul 2023

Sales

I learned trial-by-fire after starting our first business, and taking a course helped a lot

Books that helped a lot: - The Charisma Myth - SPIN Selling

Ultimately, learning it not only improved our business but my personal life as well

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iamsanteriMar 2023

I absolutely recommend you read Neal Rackham’s SPIN selling, and Major Account Sales Strategy. Additionally, read the Mom Test by Fitzgerald if I remember correctly. These books literally walk you step by step of how to uncover problems and discuss them with your prospects, customers and people in general.

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