Gap selling: What it is and how to use it

The gap selling methodology involves discovering the gap between a customer's current situation and their desired future state. The main goal of a salesperson is to close this gap by positioning their product or service as the solution to their challenges.

This framework was first defined by Keenan, the CEO of A Sales Growth Company. The gap selling strategy has three main components that a salesperson must thoroughly understand:

1. The customer's current state
2. Their ideal future state
3. The gap between those two situations
   

While identifying needs has always been a time-tested sales approach, gap selling goes beyond getting a simple background understanding of a customer. As Keenan lays out in his 2018 book, Gap Selling: Getting the Customer to Yes, understanding the present and the future helps the buyer comprehend just how large their problem really is.

How does gap selling work?

Let's dig deeper into each of the three parts of gap selling:

1. Understanding the current state

The current state refers to how the company is performing literally in this moment. These are the honest facts, mostly reliant on what the data tells you. There is an emotional component, but that's based on how the company feels about those unbiased facts rather than feelings about where the company is going (e.g., "I think our lead quality is improving" isn't terribly useful if there isn't data to back it up).

A salesperson should help the company avoid presenting its numbers in a positive light. This isn't the time for spin; this is the time for cold, hard reality, which will make the salesperson's job easier.

For example, don't put much weight behind comments from your prospect such as, "We're about to turn a corner," or "We plan to spend more so that could change things." Let those comments roll past because they're not your prospect's current reality.

Keenan's book specifies five areas of focus for understanding the current state of your prospective buyer's organization:

• Environment: What do they sell, and what does the sales process look like? Who are they selling to? Who are the big players in the market, and what do they do well?
• Problem: What issues are they having? Typically, these will be centered around what you can offer. If you offer data security, they might come to you because they've been hacked a few times.
• Impact: How big of a deal are these issues? What happens because of these issues? Examples may include loss of revenue, unhappy customers, or employee attrition.
• Root cause: Most companies will have an idea of why a problem exists, which is probably why they came to you in the first place. In some cases, they'll know they have a problem but can't quite pinpoint it (e.g. an underperforming sales team or customers leaving the company).
• Emotion: What impact do these challenges have on individual employees and the company? Some salespeople overlook this part, but emotion is often the best trigger for buying a new product. It's easier to be empathetic to their challenges if they outright tell you how they feel.

2. Picturing the future state

Next, you'll want to uncover the prospect's ideal future. Focus on the same areas as their current state, as this will make it easier to compare and then bridge the gap between the two.

• Environment: They'll obviously still be selling the same thing, but would the sales process be different? Would fulfillment change? Will they have more products?
• Impact: What positive impact will not dealing with XYZ issue have on your buyer's company? The focus here might be on more sales and revenue, or it could be on something less tangible, like smoother processes and happier customers.
• Emotion: How will they feel once the issues are gone?

3. Bridging the gap

Next, the salesperson identifies the gap between the current and future states. This is where sales happen as the prospect begins to realize that the gap is bigger than they thought and that you have the product or service to fill it.

This step can be easy or difficult, depending on how the first two go. By asking effective questions, a salesperson can create a thorough picture of the present and future states. However, a salesperson who speeds through the first two steps will not truly understand the gap.

Generally, the larger the gap, the more likely you are to make the sale. A great salesperson can help the gap feel wider than it might be in reality — not by bending the truth, but by getting the right data and emotions to paint a vivid picture.

Gap selling vs. SPIN selling

SPIN selling refers to the framework of situation, problem, implication, and need payoff. In other words, you learn what a customer needs by researching and asking questions, then offer a solution.

This sounds similar to gap selling in that both require a flexible approach based on the prospect's specific needs.

However, SPIN selling is essentially a simpler version of gap selling. Using the gap selling process, you'll ask them plenty of questions to understand their background and current issues, just like SPIN selling. However, gap selling also has the sales team asking about their future state. This is a key difference between the two methodologies.

Gap selling allows the salesperson to get a fuller picture than they would with SPIN selling alone. Rather than guessing what the future state looks like, using a gap sales framework allows for sellers to connect the dots more efficiently.

5 steps to use the gap selling methodology

Let's discuss the most common ways that you and your sales team can implement the gap selling method.

1. Create a problem identification chart

First, your sales training should help your sales team better identify the common challenges faced by the prospects they're most likely to talk to. Keenan advises creating a chart and splitting it into three columns:

1. Problem
2. Impact
3. Root cause
   

This helps salespeople identify the challenges their customers face rather than starting with what their customers do or even the end result that customers might achieve.

A problem identification chart can help a sales team ask good discovery questions. They'll know the types of answers they're looking for, which helps them know when to dig deeper.

2. Determine the current state

Now that you have a chart of common problems and the resulting challenges, it's time to discover your prospect's specific roadblocks.

This process can be partially done on autopilot before the call. Don't be afraid to get some answers before a live meeting, which can happen through:

• Asking more questions on the website form
• Sending a quick survey or questionnaire before the call
• Having a specific discovery call before the primary sales call
  

Then, during the sales call, the salesperson should ask a series of discovery questions to get the complete picture of the company's current situation. A good salesperson will know when to dig deeper, where to push harder, and when they have enough information to move on.

3. Identify the future state

Similar to the previous step, you're going to be asking some questions and then listening intently for their answers. You'll want to ask very similar questions about what things should look like (in their minds) rather than what they look like now.

For example, if you talked about revenue growth during the current state step, be sure to ask what they hope their revenue growth will look like in their future state. This will demonstrate a clear and obvious gap.

4. Position your company as the solution to the gap

Here's where the selling happens. You're going to use their own words against them — just not maliciously.

They've told you where they are right now and where they want to be. They don't know how to get there, but you do. Your company provides the exact solution they're looking for. You can use phrases like, "You've told me..." or "I know you want to be...." Then, it's a matter of showing them that you're confident you have the solution.

This is where you'll be presenting features and benefits, not before.

5. Close

Now, it's time to seal the deal. There are plenty of closing strategies, such as presenting a limited-time offer, offering a free trial, or asking what form of payment they'd like to use.

Whatever strategy you employ, ensure there's a clear next step. They're either moving forward, definitely not moving forward, or there's a scheduled follow-up call while they resolve some things.

How to ask good questions for gap selling

Asking good questions during the gap selling journey involves both quality and quantity: A good salesperson knows when they need to ask more questions and when they've asked just enough.

But when it comes to asking the right questions, Keenan presents three types of questions in his book:

Probing questions

These questions can get your prospect thinking about something they hadn't considered or help you uncover deeper issues. They can be relatively simple, but they force your prospect to elaborate and provide more information.

‍Example: "Tell me more about why you think your customer support response time is the main culprit here."

Process questions

These straightforward questions help you understand exactly what's going on at the company. They're great for uncovering the root of major issues.

Companies often have many processes in place, and if you don't understand step-by-step, you likely won't be able to uncover the real reason behind their challenges.

Example: "So after your sales rep asks a few questions at the beginning of the call, what happens next?"

Validating questions

These are the questions that show that you're understanding what they're going through. In general, you're trying to get a yes or a no. If you get a no, you'll need to backtrack until you understand.

Asking many validating questions lets your prospect see that you know and care about their pain. Once you can describe their problem as well as they can (if not better), they'll believe you can solve it, too.

Example: "Am I understanding correctly that you want to lose some extra weight without losing any of the muscle you've gained?"

Why tracking relationship details is important for gap selling

Gap selling is all about relationships. Each sale requires that you know a lot about the person you're talking to and the organization as a whole. In fact, many of your prospects will come to see you as a friend because they'll have told you so much (and you've validated them).

In addition, gap selling is often most effective during a long sales cycle. This process likely involves multiple phone calls, emails, in-person meetings, and text messages.

That's why it's paramount that you have a way to keep all communications organized for easy recall. When a prospect calls, you'll want to quickly pull up everything that's been said previously so they know you've been listening, and the conversation can pick up where you last left off.

Many sales teams use a solution like Streak, which converts your Gmail inbox into a customer relationship management (CRM) tool. Streak creates a page for each contact that displays every digital conversation and interaction you and your team have ever had with them. A tool like this makes gap selling infinitely more effective than using spreadsheets or notes on your phone. If you're curious about Streak, consider testing it out with our 14-day free trial to see if it helps you keep your contacts more organized. (It's already helping 750k+ people around the globe.)

Final thoughts on the gap selling sales methodology

Gap selling is a modern, personal approach to sales. As nuanced solutions continue to pop up to solve complex problems, especially in the B2B space, polished sales teams have never been more necessary.

With gap selling, sales teams can build real rapport with their prospective clients. By uncovering past needs and future desires, they build a relationship where they become the expert and position themselves as the solution their prospects are looking for.

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