🤩 Today’s SPIN® Behaviour Challenge

Neil Rackham built his career on the big sale vs. small sale distinction. Then he admitted it was the wrong frame all along.

That kind of intellectual honesty is rare. And what he replaced it with matters more than ever in 2026.

The Frame That Actually Holds

The real divide was never deal size.

It was always transactional vs. consultative.

Transactional selling — where the customer knows what they want and just needs to buy it — has largely moved online. Automated. Commoditised. Gone.

What remains in the hands of skilled salespeople is the consultative sale. Complex problems. Unclear solutions. Clients who need someone to think with them, not pitch at them.

If you’re still organising your sales force around account size, you’re solving the wrong problem.

The dangerous assumption: big accounts need consultative selling. Small accounts get transactional treatment.

Reality: the nature of the conversation determines the approach. Not the invoice.

THE CHALLENGE

Before your next client meeting, ask one question:

“Does this client already know what they need — or do they need help figuring that out?”

If they know: get out of the way and make it easy to buy.

If they don’t: slow down. Ask Situation and Problem questions. Resist the urge to present.

SPIN® was never designed for transactional selling. It was built for the moments where thinking beats pitching.

The best sales organisations in 2026 aren’t organised by account size. They’re organised by the nature of the conversation.

Drop “CONSULTATIVE” in the comments if you know which game you’re playing 👇​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Need inspiration — text “30 min” on my mobile +4526700356

All the best.

Anders 🤩

#Huthwaite #SPINselling #BuyingCycle #SalesLeadership