Logic versus emotion in business

It seems to me that there is a kind of "fight" between logic and emotion in business.

On the one hand, people often buy on emotion. So, your sales pitch has to push some emotional buttons.

On the other hand, the other aspects of business seem to run better on logic.... Things like what opportunities you choose to pursue, figuring out your profits (or losses), how you're going to expand your business - these seem to be logical decisions....

I wonder if this affects HOW you sell?

There's a book I've been looking at recently, called "SPIN Selling" by Neil Rackham. This has nothing to do with the political style of "spin", but instead it's an acronym - for

Situation questions
Problem questions
Implication questions
Need-payoff questions

It seems to me like a "Socratic method" of selling.... The "Socratic Method" of teaching is to teach through asking questions.... By asking certain questions, the students are led down a particular train of thought until they figure out the answer for themselves.

SPIN Selling seems a bit like that, but through the questions, the prospect is led to identify problems they have, the serious consequences of those problems, and how the product being sold solves those problems.

One interesting thing about SPIN Selling is that Neil Rackham completely denigrates "closing". Anyone who knows standard sales literature knows that "closing" is considered to be a key part of the sale!

However, to qualify this, Rackham says "SPIN Selling" is most useful for highly expensive items. These are not usually spur-of-the-moment buying decisions - people might take days, weeks, or even months to decide - so it requires a different approach from the standard "instant decision" sales approach.

Perhaps it's more of a "logical" appeal - what do you think?

- Dien Rice