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  2. Laurence H. Seton, P.Eng., PMP

    Great article, John. This helped me understand how it fits into the selling model. I’ve also picked up the SPIN Selling Workbook which I hear is a good compliment to the title book. Cheers, Laurence

    February 21, 2010 at 5:22 am
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  3. Laura Watson

    Thanks for writing about this. You first introduced me to SPIN and since then, I use the approach myself and I also highly recommend it to my clients. Thanks for reminding us of this valuable approach!

    February 23, 2010 at 12:22 am
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  4. John Golden

    Thanks John – good article and a very succinct explanation of why SPIN is more relevant than ever.

    Your comments about needing additional components to address other aspects of the sales process are completely correct and Huthwaite now has a SPIN Solution suite of offerings that do so – not sure if you have visited our site lately http://www.huthwaite.com but you will see them highlighted there.

    Regards

    John Golden
    CEO Huthwaite

    March 31, 2010 at 9:47 pm
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  5. John Watson

    Thanks for your comments John.

    I took your advice and went to your website for an update. I did see that you now offer a more end-to-end solution set. What I could not find was how to access that information. How is this more complete sales program delivered and what does it cover? I would be happy to post more information on my blog once I know more about it.

    Cheers
    John Watson

    April 1, 2010 at 7:12 am
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  7. Achim Klor

    John, your insights are dead on.

    We see this time and time again, especially in the B2B space. Typically B2B C-Level teams rarely have a marketing lead, hence why marketing becomes an afterthought. This almost always leads to a tactical spin cycle when it is time to tell the world how great the product or service is. That’s why we hear cries for help, rather than requests for advice.

    Our agency has learned the valuable skill of asking “why” as well, because too often, as marketers, we want to appease our new accounts and do what they want, rather than taking the time to find solutions that actually grow their business. “Why” is the most powerful, yet least used question in marketing.

    Great post.

    December 10, 2012 at 11:20 pm
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  12. John Cameron

    “As entrepreneurs, executives and business owners, our choices affect far more than ourselves.” This is so true and John is right in times like this is can difficult to choose the narrative that is best for us and the people we love. Good article John

    May 12, 2020 at 12:17 am
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  30. Rick McQ

    This was very helpful, thanks! I just jumped on to a couple of networking groups on MeetUp and it turns out they were BNI groups, which were a complete mystery to me. You’ve provided some great specific ‘screening’ criteria here. I especially liked your’ honest assessment and conclusion that your business was ‘difficult’ to refer. My IT consulting business may be too niche in the same way, and you’ve helped me to focus so that I can make a quick decision on whether to continue on this path. Well done, sir!

    March 26, 2023 at 9:41 am
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  34. René Guido Steg

    Great article. I am just in the process of joining, and actually already submitted the registration form, Just received the contract which then made me a bit hmmmm. That started with the fact that a network contract contains 17 pages. And is titled “service contract”. Well…. I wanna do networking and join the weekly meetings yes, but I really don’t see why I am entering a service contract with BNI. I have been invited to a session where I found exactly what the article described. Entrepeneurs who are dedicated to BNI and their business. Main focus: who is the best this week, who gets the oscar for something etc. So really a contest in scoring, mentioned by John. What I missed in the article was the real monetary benefit for your business John you got out fo BNI. Personal development ok, but was that worth it? That is my key question I am currently asking myself…. My company is in Cyber Security, my customers are CISO and CEOs from medium and large business so I am in the large B2B market…. I got the feeling that BNI is more for small enterprises as myself which look for other business in the same size. As mentioned actually, niche is difficult …

    December 4, 2023 at 7:03 pm
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    • John Watson

      Hi Rene, BNI is not ideal for connecting with medium-sized and large businesses, unless the members of your chapter have those types of connections. Most of the BNI chapters are organized predominantly around consumer focused businesses and to a lesser extent on small business owners. Re your question about was it worth it. It was very effective economically for me, but only because I busted my butt and networked like crazy. It’s not BNI that gets results for you, it’s about you learning to leverage BNI in a way that makes sense for you. The most useful thing I learned from BNI was that I did not need BNI. What I needed was to be more consistent and purposeful with my own networking efforts. It was the structure of BNI that lead me into better behaviours. Once you systematized the behaviours, you just need to keep at it on your own.

      December 4, 2023 at 7:33 pm
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  38. virtualnetia

    Hello, this is a very comprehensive list of marketing tools
    for retailers! I appreciate that you’ve considered affordability and relevance
    to small businesses. It’s interesting to see the variety of
    tools available, from domain registrars and hosting services to eCommerce platforms
    and catalog standards. The inclusion of email marketing, social media platforms, and online advertising options is also very helpful.

    I particularly like that you’ve included tools for copy editing and low-cost design, as these are
    often areas where small businesses struggle. Having resources like Hemingway
    Editor and Canva at our disposal can make a significant difference in the
    quality of our marketing materials.

    I’m curious, have you had any experience or feedback from retailers
    using these tools? Particularly, I’m interested in the effectiveness of the CRMs for online retailers and reputation management tools.

    Thank you for compiling this list and for providing such a useful resource for small and local retail businesses.

    March 27, 2025 at 2:36 am
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    • John Watson

      I am pleased you found the resource list helpful. Thanks for taking the time to comment. The problem with most ecommerce applications for small business is they lack customer analysis and CRM capabilities for managing customer relationships.
      There are also very few small business CRMs that focused on retail. The bigger dilemma for small retailers is they often lack the time and the expertise to know what they want to do with a CRM or how to leverage its capabilities. It is a huge opportunity, but they need to realize the software is a means to implement their plan. The software is just an enabler, not the solution itself. It also has to fit into your business model and your stage of development. So I don’t give software much of the credit for the success. It comes down to the leadership behind the initiative and the quality of the execution that creates results.

      As for reputation management, that is a whole other conversation. It is an important part of how you utilize the CRM, but it requires other tools to build into your reputation and customer development system.
      I’m happy to discuss this if you like. Cheers.

      March 27, 2025 at 6:12 am
      Reply