How we know what we know.

Almost 30 years ago, Huthwaite was approached by several major multinationals. They asked us to investigate the process of creating major sales, with a view to defining the skills used by the most effective sales professionals.

They chose us not because we were experts in sales training, but because we had a unique and proven behaviour analysis research method.

Very early in the research project, it became apparent that there was a big difference between what top sales performers said they did, and what we actually observed them doing in front of customers. When asked what they thought it was that made them a good sales person, they’d inevitably talk in terms of top tips they’d invented themselves or learned from a mentor. From our observations, we noticed it wasn’t these tricks of the trade that made them good sales people; it was the things they did naturally.

Having identified this discrepancy between perception and reality, we conducted live behaviour analysis of sales transactions. So controversial were our initial findings in their contradiction of conventional sales theory that the scope of the study was expanded several times until the research results were statistically incontrovertible.

This research led to the development of SPIN^® Selling Skills, our world-renowned and most widely used selling skills course.

Thirty years later, the process is ongoing. Our research never stops and we continually filter our most up-to-date findings into our models. This invaluable research, the largest-ever investigation into sales behaviour, is not just the basis of SPIN^®, but a whole range of sales-related models. We’ve extended our research into all areas of B2B commercial activity, from account strategies to presentation skills and proposal writing, and even selling in a social context. Most recently, we’ve begun more detailed research into the value chain, focussing on strategic and global account management and transactional, low-value and retail sales and customer service.

We deliver our programmes through both in-company projects and public programmes for individual delegates so, whatever your company size, from major multinational to sole-trader, you can access our expertise. In addition, through our network of international offices we can deliver our solutions in more than 30 languages, bringing consistency on a truly global scale.