Huthwaite International

04/09/2026

Atracsys build some of the most precise medical technology on the market. Their engineers could explain every spec in the room. What they couldn't always do was turn that expertise into a conversation the customer wanted to have.

Using SPIN Selling, Atracsys' technical teams learned to lead with the customer's problem, not their own product knowledge, building a more consistent, confident commercial culture as a result.

“With long sales cycles, limited opportunities and highly price-sensitive customers, we have to qualify carefully and make the most of every conversation.” — Luis Salcedo-Kosma, Atracsys

Read the full case study in the comments 👇

02/09/2026

When an opportunity stalls, it's tempting to blame the obvious things, like competition or budget.

But the real cause usually sits much earlier, at Recognition of Needs, where the customer is only asking one question: "Should we change, and is it worth changing?"

World-class sellers stay here. They uncover the need, build value for their differentiators, and shape the criteria the customer will decide by – before a proposal even exists.

Typical sellers rush past it. They respond to the need exactly as presented, then wonder why a promising deal "stalls for no apparent reason" – a classic sign of an underdeveloped opportunity or an unresolved concern.

For sales leaders, that's not a coaching note for one seller. It's a question of whether your process is built to develop opportunities, or just process them.

Our whitepaper, Developing Sales Opportunities, maps world-class vs typical behaviour across every phase of the Buying Cycle, and shows exactly where the commercial gap opens up.

Download the whitepaper in the comments 👇

19/08/2026

Often, "salespeople" don't have sales in their job title.

At Zühlke, a global technology consultancy, it was engineers and technical consultants – not traditional sales reps – who needed a framework for turning customer conversations into business value.

Myles Davidson, Partner & Head of Sales, EMEA, FSI & Health at Zühlke, explains why SPIN Selling worked so well for a technical audience:

💬 "We realised we needed to train a much broader group – our engineers and consultants who work directly with customers. SPIN works exceptionally well for technical professionals, because they're naturally curious and ask the right questions. It gave our team a clear framework for those magic co-creation moments when we're solving business problems together with customers."

Technical experts are already asking questions all day. SPIN just gives that natural curiosity a commercial edge.

Read the full Zühlke case study (link in the comments) 👇

06/08/2026

AI can prep you for a negotiation, but it can't sit in the room for you.

It does in minutes what used to take days. It can help with market research, pricing benchmarks and scenario modelling – all genuinely useful.

But the negotiation itself is still determined by 6 very human things:

→ Uncovering interests AI can't ask about
→ Building trust through behaviour, not data
→ Creating value through judgement, not just options
→ Handling difficult conversations in real time
→ Influencing stakeholders with competing agendas
→ Knowing which information to use, when, and how

As access to information gets easier for everyone, the behaviours that turn information into agreement become the real differentiator.

Our latest blog breaks down where AI helps and where it simply can't.

Link in the comments🔗

Discover how AI enhances negotiation preparation while emphasising the vital human elements that lead to successful outcomes.

05/08/2026

Many sales training initiatives focus on individual capability, but the organisations seeing the greatest long-term impact are focusing on something bigger: creating a shared language.

When customer-facing teams approach conversations differently, consistency suffers, with customers receiving mixed experiences. It also means coaching becomes harder, and best practice is difficult to scale.

At Nihon Kohden, SPIN is becoming a shared language across commercial teams, helping create greater alignment and consistency in customer conversations.

That's often the difference between training being a singular event and becoming part of how an organisation approaches their commercial conversations.

What's been most effective in helping your organisation embed lasting changes in the way teams engage customers?

31/07/2026

Most organisations believe they're listening to customers, but the chances are they aren't really hearing them.

In this episode of Mastering Sales & Negotiations, Martin Couzins, Founder & CEO of Insights Media, explores why listening can be a commercial advantage. From uncovering hidden risks and opportunities to challenging confirmation bias, the conversation reveals how better questions lead to better decisions.

🎧 Listen now and read the blog: https://hubs.ly/Q04rsx480

29/07/2026

Many organisations invest heavily in developing people, improving skills and strengthening performance management.

Yet despite good intentions, the results often fall short of expectations. Why?

What if one of the the biggest barriers to performance are the conditions people are expected to perform within?

Drawing on recent research from organisational psychology, performance science and workplace studies, this article explores questions that deserve more attention:

Do better results come from fixing people alone? Are organisations doing enough to fix the conditions around them too?

It's not an argument against learning and development. Far from it. It's a reminder that sustainable performance comes from the interaction between skills, environment, leadership, processes and team dynamics.

An evidence-based perspective on why performance can be far more complex than it first appears.

Read the full blog 👇
https://hubs.ly/Q04r6f1P0

10/07/2026

AI has changed how quickly salespeople can access information, but it hasn't changed what customers value.

Every seller can now generate an account summary, research an industry/company, or draft an email in seconds with the help of AI. When the tools are the same, the information advantage disappears, and differentiation gets harder to find.

The sellers who still stand out are the ones who:

+ Understand the customer's world, not just their industry
+ Surface issues the customer hasn't fully recognised yet
+ Explore the business impact behind those issues
+ Build genuine commercial conversations instead of relying on scripted, generated ones

This is where SPIN Selling remains as relevant as ever.

Technology can help a seller prepare. It can't ask the right question at the right moment, understand the other sides’ emotions, or earn the trust that turns information into a decision.

As AI is becoming a common tool in sales, customer understanding is becoming rarer.

Human skill is the differentiator.

Download The Science Behind SPIN to discover the skills that make sellers successful in an AI-driven market 👇

https://hubs.ly/Q04p7fPJ0

24/06/2026

Technical expertise is often what earns a seat at the table in industries like healthcare, manufacturing and high-tech. But on its own, it rarely wins the sale.

In one of our most popular episodes of Mastering Sales & Negotiations, Jane Banks, Founder and MD of Pure Valegro, explores why clinicians, engineers and subject matter experts can struggle to translate knowledge into commercial impact – and what organisations can do to close the gap.

From “parking expertise” to navigating complex stakeholder groups, the conversation is a practical look at what really drives sales effectiveness in technical environments.

🎧 Watch the full episode and read the insights 👇
https://hubs.ly/Q04mqWzV0

11/06/2026

When every opportunity counts, consistency matters.

Atracsys operates in a highly specialised MedTech market – long sales cycles, limited opportunities, and technical buyers who expect depth.

But without a shared sales approach, qualification and progression varied widely. So, they made a shift.

By adopting SPIN Selling, Atracsys aligned commercial and technical teams around a research-based framework, bringing structure, consistency, and a shared language to every customer conversation.

This resulted in stronger discovery, clearer qualification and better use of every opportunity.

👉 Read the full case study: https://hubs.ly/Q04kMY3R0