Control your B to B sales process with SPANCO

What is the SPANCO Sales Method?

SPANCO Methodology Origin and Example

SPANCO is a sales method reportedly invented by Xerox Corporation.

It's a very easy technique to follow for managing your sales process before the ultimate goal: conversion. It serves as a roadmap for the entire sales team to avoid skipping steps and better guide prospects through the sale.

At each stage of the SPANCO method, you must assess your prospect's situation, have a clear vision, and act accordingly. This also enables setting up performance indicators at each stage to identify weaknesses in your sales process.

Indeed, while initially you'll need to research extensively about your potential client to answer all their questions... By the end, you should act more like a true advisor to build trust and guide them in their decision-making.

SPANCO Definition

As you've understood, SPANCO is an acronym for Suspect, Prospect, Analysis, Negotiation, Closing, and Order Ongoing.

In English, we could translate it as:

• Suspect: Define the ideal target and build a qualified database

• Prospect: The lead is identified and must be contacted using appropriate prospecting methods to secure a meeting

• Analysis (Approach): Discovery and in-depth analysis of your prospect's needs. This phase is crucial and prepares your future sales pitch

• Negotiation: The negotiation phase is when you present your commercial offer; your pitch must demonstrate that your solution is the best to meet the prospect's needs

• Conclusion: Now you must close the sale by explaining the final important terms (deadlines, sales conditions)

• Order Ongoing (Order Management): The contract is signed! But it's just the beginning—you must follow through until delivery (purchase orders, etc.) and ensure your client is satisfied

The Different Phases of the SPANCO Method

Suspect: Identify and Qualify Prospects

This is the first step in your sales approach. Before becoming a prospect, each person is potentially "suspected" of being interested in your product or service.

For example, at this stage, you might have:

• An email list obtained through newsletter subscriptions on your website

• A directory of all companies in your sector

• Your personal contacts

You'll agree that you have a long list of suspects, certainly, but not necessarily a qualified list.

Your first job will be to investigate and qualify this database.

You must know your target inside and out: who will genuinely be interested in your product? What are their needs and concerns?

You can draw a parallel with qualifying your ideal client through buyer personas. These fictional people you'll imagine will help you recognize your true targets and therefore prospects.

👉 To learn more and create your buyer personas.

Prospect: Use the Right Contact Methods

The sales team has determined a contact list. The objective now is to secure a meeting with your prospect.

You must implement an effective prospecting strategy, provide value from the first contact, and use different methods:

• Phone calls

• Prospecting email campaigns

• Introductions/referrals

• Social selling

To choose the most suitable method for your target and determine the best timing, we recommend reading our dedicated article on B2B sales prospecting.

Analysis/Approach: Know How to Listen to Prospects

Here, the Sales team begins their exchange with the prospect. This is the first meeting.

During this meeting, the sales approach should be as neutral as possible and especially done through active listening. The prospect has the freedom to express their needs and challenges in real-time, which will help you better respond to their needs in upcoming phases.

To complement the dialogue, the Sales team asks questions that will help them better analyze and qualify client needs. See on this subject: SPIN Selling, which is a very effective sales technique for good client discovery.

During the exchange, an action plan can be suggested by your sales team to address their challenges: this is the moment to present your company, product, or service. Be careful to adapt your approach based on responses previously given by the prospect.

After the interview, you can send content capable of addressing doubts the prospect might have expressed. This could take the form of client testimonials or product demonstration videos.

Negotiation: Propose a "Tailored" Offer for the Prospect

In the previous phase, you were able to address your prospect's doubts. They should now be reassured, and you know their needs and purchase barriers.

Remember that at this stage, your solution must become obvious to the prospect.

How?

Through your precise, custom sales pitch.

This must make the difference and show your strength compared to another product.

Ask yourself: how does your product meet your prospect's needs? List all your product's benefits. And for this, learn to build your sales pitch using the CAB method.

Finally, if you sense that price is your pitch's weak point, why not propose a launch offer to let your prospect test you for a short period? Be creative and know how to adapt!

Conclusion: Be Transparent About Sales Conditions

It's now up to you to close the sale, which will manifest through signing a quote or simply making a sale.

Even if your prospect is convinced, there remain some details (and significant ones) you must agree on that will be included in your commercial contract:

• Terms and conditions

• Price

• Offer

• Timeline

You can encourage the client to proceed (and sign) by precisely describing the next steps in the purchase process.

If you need to modify terms or if disagreement points remain with your client, you'll need to negotiate. My advice? Use the BATNA negotiation technique to find the best possible agreement. Remember that negotiating doesn't necessarily mean lowering your price (quite the opposite!).

Order Ongoing: Manage Your Client Relationship

The order is placed! Congratulations, but it's not over...

Your role is to ensure order management meets client expectations. You're their only contact, so it's up to you to keep your sales promise.

You must follow up on the sale and don't hesitate to measure client satisfaction at the end.

This is where the sales process ends but where the trust relationship with your client begins.

Do the different SPANCO stages seem clearer? Did you successfully draw parallels with your own sales? Let's now see why you should seriously consider it.

Why Use SPANCO?

To Structure Your Sales Approach

SPANCO covers all stages from prospect qualification to sale. It's a true roadmap.

Through this approach, you can precisely identify what work your Sales team should undertake. For example:

• At this stage, we need to prospect while keeping our target in mind

• At this stage, we'll need to use this specific argument. It's a real tool for conducting your sales meetings or designing your website's sales funnel. This gives you true vision:

You can visualize your sales progress status.

SPANCO is particularly useful and can be applied to any type of sale.

However, if you're dealing with long sales that involve heavy transformation for your client (changing a payment solution, for example), you should also consider the MEDDIC method, which we particularly appreciate at Sales Odyssey.

To Improve Your Sales Cycles

SPANCO lets you quickly measure your actions' performance.

If 100 people were engaged in the sales process at the prospect stage, why do you only close 10 sales?

Which stages need reworking?

While on paper each stage corresponds to a state, sometimes there isn't necessarily a sales meeting for each stage. Some stages happen implicitly or through your website... But you need to ensure you're not skipping any steps! Are things as clear for the client? Could your client have been lost at some point?

Keep in mind not to move too fast.

SPANCO shows us obvious things, yet these obvious things are sometimes neglected! Here's a summary of what you should do at each stage:

So, have you identified the different phases of selling your product? Have you prepared the right arguments for each phase?

Now you can no longer say you don't understand why you're not converting... 😉