Have you ever wondered why some sales professionals consistently close big deals while others struggle to meet their targets? What is gap selling?
In Gap Selling, Keenan introduces a revolutionary sales methodology that focuses on understanding and leveraging the distance between a customer’s current problems and their desired future state. His approach moves beyond traditional sales techniques by identifying and capitalizing on the critical gap that drives purchasing decisions.
Keep reading for powerful tools to transform your sales approach and achieve remarkable results.
“The Gap” and How It Drives Sales
What is gap selling? Keenan’s selling technique is based on figuring out how you can address a customer’s needs. In this section, we’ll first discuss the factors that motivate a customer’s purchase and how Keenan’s sales techniques respond to them. Finally, we’ll explore Keenan’s method for uncovering what will drive your customers to buy from you.
What Drives a Customer to Buy?
Keenan discusses two main reasons why customers buy: to overcome a problem, and because you offer them a solution.
1) To Overcome a Problem
Keenan emphasizes that all sales originate from a customer’s problem: Without a clear issue to address, there’s no reason for them to look for a solution. That is, if a customer is perfectly content with their situation, they have no need to buy anything, and you’re unlikely to make any headway on a sale. On the other hand, he says, if they have some difficulty, challenge, or problem, you can position your product or service as a solution.
2) Because You Offer Them a Solution
While having a problem kicks off the buying process, it isn’t enough to make a customer buy. According to Keenan, there’s a second part to the equation: Customers will only buy if you offer them a solution. Keenan encourages you to conceptualize the customer’s issue as a gap—the distance between their present condition (that is, their issue) and their ideal future condition. The ideal future condition is one in which their issue is resolved and they’re free to pursue their business goals. Customers will buy if your solution closes their gap by bringing them into their ideal future state.
For example, a small e-commerce startup is losing sales because their website’s load times are so slow that customers are abandoning their carts before completing purchases. Their present condition is one of frustrated customers and lost sales. Their ideal future condition is one of frictionless transactions and increased sales. A product that would bridge the gap is a faster website that effortlessly handles high volumes of customer traffic.
Discovering Your Customer’s Gap
Now that we’ve defined Keenan’s “gap” concept, we’ll discuss his strategies for identifying your customer’s gap. According to Keenan, discovery—the process of asking questions to learn about your prospective customer’s gap—is the most important part of the sales process. He encourages you to think of discovery not as a single stage that you complete once and are done with, but as an ongoing process that can continue throughout the sale, so long as you’re talking to your customer and getting to know more about them.
He provides three goals for understanding your customer’s gap during an effective discovery: become an expert in your customer’s business; reveal your customer’s true goals; and reveal underlying causes of your customer’s issue.
1) Become An Expert In Your Customer’s Business
Keenan argues that an effective salesperson must become an expert in their customer’s business. He advocates continuously asking “why” questions and following up to dig deeper into their business model, practices, and current situation. This will help you learn as much as you can about your customer’s gap.
2) Reveal Your Customer’s True Goals
Keenan emphasizes the importance of understanding a customer’s underlying motivations when making a sale. Your customer may present a clear short-term goal, but that’s only part of the picture. To truly assess the gap and the value your solution can provide, ask questions about the company’s long-term goals as well, such as about why a particular short-term goal is important, and how it fits into the company’s broader strategy.
For example, a manufacturing company expresses interest in buying new inventory management software. On the surface, their goal seems straightforward: to streamline their stock control process. However, by digging deeper and asking strategic questions, you reveal that this goal is part of a larger initiative to reduce operational costs by 20% over the next three years, in preparation for expanding into new markets. A more comprehensive software package would serve their inventory management needs as well as their overall efficiency goal.
3) Reveal the Underlying Causes of Your Customer’s Issue
Keenan suggests that it may not be enough to take your customer’s word at face value when they explain their issue. He encourages you to ask questions that may reveal the underlying causes. By addressing these causes, you can offer a more comprehensive and impactful solution. This not only benefits your customer, but increases the value of your offering and the potential size of the sale.
For example, a manufacturing company approaches a sales representative complaining of frequent production delays and seeking a more advanced scheduling system. By asking detailed questions, the sales representative discovers that the delays are due to a combination of factors: outdated machinery, inconsistent supplier deliveries, and high employee turnover. Instead of simply selling them a new scheduling system, the salesperson can now propose a broader holistic solution with products to address all of these issues.
