The Day a CEO Gave Me a Hint I Didn’t Want to Hear

One of the first serious sales books I ever read was SPIN Selling by Neil Rackham.

Not because I loved questioning frameworks.
Not because I was a discovery expert.
But because a CEO gave me a hint.

In my early years, I did what many sales reps do: I presented. I showed slides. I explained features. I believed I was persuasive.

Then, in a second meeting with the CEO of a 3,000+ employee manufacturing company, he casually mentioned that they had just rolled out SPIN internally—and that it had significantly improved their results.

He didn’t criticize me.

But he didn’t have to.

In that conversation, I hadn’t asked a single structured SPIN question. No real exploration of his situation. No deep dive into problems. No implications. No attempt to understand what truly mattered.

I was pitching.

That moment stayed with me. And it forced me to rethink what selling actually means.

Sales Methodology vs. Qualification Methodology

Before diving into SPIN itself, there’s a distinction that most sales teams blur:

Sales methodology vs. qualification methodology.

SPIN is a sales methodology.
Frameworks like MEDDIC are qualification methodologies.

A qualification methodology de-risks complex deals:

• Who is the economic buyer?

• Is there a champion?

• What are the decision criteria?

• What is the competitive landscape?

In larger B2B deals—50k, 100k, or more—these structural factors often decide whether a deal closes or collapses.

SPIN, on the other hand, focuses on:

• Situation

• Problem

• Implication

• Need-Payoff

It is about understanding pain and impact. It does not cover political complexity, decision processes, or competitive dynamics.

That means something important:

SPIN alone is not enough for complex enterprise deals.
But it is still incredibly powerful—if used correctly.

The Biggest Problem with SPIN: The Order

The core issue I have with SPIN is not the concept.

It’s the order.

S–P–I–N:

• Situation

• Problem

• Implication

• Need-Payoff

New sales reps often interpret this literally. They start with Situation questions:

• “How does your process work?”

• “How many reps do you have?”

• “How do you handle this today?”

That’s where things go wrong—especially in outbound conversations.

Because many of these are egocentric questions.

Egocentric vs. Customer-Centric Questions

This distinction matters more than most people realize.

Egocentric Questions

Egocentric questions primarily help the seller.

Examples:

• “How many reps do you have?”

• “What does your current setup look like?”

• “How long does this process take?”

They generate data. They help position your sales software or AI sales tool.

But they don’t create insight for the buyer.

If you ask too many of these early on, trust slowly erodes. The buyer eventually says:

“Just show me the product.”

That sentence is diagnostic. It means trust has been overdrawn.

Customer-Centric Questions

Customer-centric questions make the buyer think.

Instead of:

“How does your coaching process work?”

Ask:

“How do you feel about your coaching process today?”

That single shift changes the conversation.

If they respond:

• “It’s fine. Not a big issue.” → Move on.

• “It’s extremely time-consuming and inconsistent.” → Now you have something real.

Customer-centric questions surface emotion, priority, and relevance quickly. They protect trust. And in modern B2B sales—especially when positioning AI sales software or an AI sales agent—trust is everything.

Open vs. Closed Questions (And Why Context Matters)

Another nuance: open vs. closed questions.

In outbound calls, starting with:

“Tell me about your challenges.”

is often misplaced.

There’s no shared context. The buyer doesn’t yet know what space you operate in. This creates cognitive pressure.

A better approach:

1. Briefly outline 2–3 typical challenges you solve (e.g., inconsistent coaching, manual CRM work, lack of skill visibility).

2. Then ask:

   “Which of these feels most relevant for you?”

That is a closed question—but contextualized and customer-centric.

Inbound is different. If someone already knows your brand or is exploring AI for sales, you can start more openly:

“What problem are you trying to solve right now?”

Trust was pre-built by marketing.

Context changes everything.

Rethinking the “I” — Implication in Modern Sales

SPIN encourages exploring implications. That’s correct. Impact drives change.

But many reps make this mistake:

They ask 10 situational questions to build a business case instead of asking one strategic question first.

Instead of:

• “How many reps?”

• “How many hours per week?”

• “What’s the cost per hour?”

Start with:

“Have you ever calculated what this costs you?”

If they say no:

“Would it make sense to calculate it together?”

Now you have permission.

With permission, detailed questions become collaborative.
Without permission, they feel interrogative.

In longer B2B cycles, you don’t need to quantify everything in meeting one. Modern sales—especially when selling an AI sales coach or AI sales system—often stretches across multiple conversations.

SPIN was built for compressing insight into one meeting. Today’s enterprise sales cycles don’t always work that way.

Rethinking the “N” — Need-Payoff in Complex Deals

Need-Payoff is often interpreted as:

“If I solve this, would you buy?”

That can work in small deals.

But in most B2B environments above 5k, decision processes are layered. Budget owners, stakeholders, procurement—complexity increases.

I prefer reframing Need-Payoff into two dimensions:

1. Priority

2. Willingness to invest

For example:

“On a scale from 0–10, how important is solving this right now?”

After the demo:

“On a scale from 0–10, how well does this solve your problem?”

If they say 8:

“What’s missing to make it a 10?”

Then:

“Even at an 8, would this justify the investment we discussed?”

Clear. Direct. Honest.

Especially when positioning AI sales software, clarity beats theatrics.

Where AI Sales Tools Fit into This

Modern selling is no longer just about asking better questions.

It’s about reinforcing skill consistently.

This is where an AI sales tool, an AI sales coach, or even an AI sales agent becomes relevant—not to replace SPIN, but to strengthen it.

An effective AI sales software can:

• Analyze discovery conversations

• Identify egocentric vs. customer-centric questioning patterns

• Highlight missing implication steps

• Reinforce structured conversation frameworks

• Track skill development over time

In other words: it operationalizes methodology.

But here’s the hard truth:

No AI sales system fixes a broken mindset.

If a rep fundamentally believes selling equals presenting, no AI for sales will magically create curiosity.

Technology amplifies behavior. It doesn’t replace it.

Is SPIN Still Relevant?

Yes.

SPIN is still a powerful mental model—especially compared to feature-dumping slides.

But it must be adapted.

Used correctly, SPIN means:

• Lead with relevant problems.

• Use situational questions only after buyer context.

• Quantify impact collaboratively.

• Clarify priority before pushing commitment.

• Combine it with proper deal qualification in complex B2B.

Used incorrectly, it becomes a checklist interrogation.

And when the buyer says:

“Just show me the product.”

It’s rarely because SPIN is outdated.

It’s because trust was mishandled.

That CEO who casually mentioned SPIN probably forgot the moment.

I didn’t.

Because that was the day I understood that curiosity—not presentation—is the foundation of real sales.

And in a world of AI sales agents, AI sales tools, and increasingly automated sales software, that foundation still matters more than ever.