This is a one-page discovery template for teams that run Gap Selling, the problem-centric method written at A Sales Growth Company. Each row has the question to ask, and the evidence that counts as done: something the buyer said, in their words.
- 01Current stateEnvironment, problem, impact, root cause, emotion
- 02Future stateOutcome and value
- 03The gapSize, urgency and owner, confirmed by the buyer
Copy it into your call notes before discovery. The method is set out on our Gap Selling page, and our sales methodology guide places it beside MEDDPICC, the ValueSelling Framework® and the rest.
The template
| Section | Field | Question to ask | Done when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Current state | Environment | "Walk me through how [process] works today, from the moment it starts." | The buyer described the process, the team and the tools in their words |
| Current state | Problem | "What goes wrong in that process, and how often?" | The buyer named a specific problem and a frequency |
| Current state | Impact | "What does that cost you, in time, money or risk?" | The buyer gave a number, or agreed to find one |
| Current state | Root cause | "Why does that happen? What sits underneath it?" | The buyer named a cause that is not a symptom of something else |
| Current state | Emotion | "How is this landing with you and your team?" | The buyer said how the problem affects them personally |
| Future state | Outcome | "If this were fixed a year from now, what would be different?" | The buyer described the future in their own measures |
| Future state | Value | "What would that be worth to the business?" | The buyer put a number or a priority on the future state |
| The gap | Size | Rep's summary: "So today it is [X], you want [Y], and the difference is worth about [Z]. Is that right?" | The buyer confirmed the summary, or corrected it |
| The gap | Urgency | "What happens if nothing changes this year?" | The buyer named a consequence with a date |
| The gap | Owner | "Who else feels this, and who would decide to fix it?" | The buyer named the people and the decider |
Copyable version for call notes:
CURRENT STATE
Environment: (buyer's words)
Problem: (what, how often)
Impact: (number, or "buyer will find it by ___")
Root cause: (the cause under the symptom)
Emotion: (how it affects them)
FUTURE STATE
Outcome: (in their measures)
Value: (number or priority)
THE GAP
Size: (today X / want Y / worth Z, confirmed by buyer: yes/no)
Urgency: (consequence + date)
Owner: (who feels it / who decides)
EMPTY ROWS AFTER THIS CALL:
NEXT CONVERSATION (who, opening line, what I need to leave with):
The five current-state fields follow Gap Selling's elements: environment, problem, impact, root cause and emotion.
How to use it
Fill in your guesses before the call, replace them with the buyer's words during it, then read the gap back and plan the next conversation.
- Before the call, fill in what you think you know. Write your guesses in a different color or in brackets. Gap Selling calls this pre-call work a Problem Identification Chart: the problems you solve, with their impact and root cause. Your guesses are there to be tested on the call.
- Ask process questions first. "Walk me through" questions fill Environment and Problem without steering the buyer. Gap Selling sorts questions into probing, process, provoking and validating types; process and probing questions do most of the work in the current state.
- Do not leave Impact on a feeling. "It's painful" is an emotion. Ask what it costs. If the buyer does not know, ask whether they could find out by the next call, and write that down as the evidence.
- Push one level below the problem. A slow quote process is a problem. Three approvers who each wait for the other is a root cause. If the root cause sounds like another problem, ask why again.
- Read the gap back. Summarize in one sentence and ask the buyer to confirm it. This is the validating question, and it is the row most reps skip.
- List the empty rows. At the end of the call, write down which rows are still empty. Those are the agenda for the next conversation.
- Plan the next conversation. Name who you will talk to, the first sentence you will say and what you need to leave with.
Gap Selling discovery questions by type
Gap Selling sorts discovery questions into four types, and a good discovery call uses each one at a different point. The template rows tell you what to find out. These lines show how each type sounds in sales discovery.
Process questions open the current state. "Walk me through what happens when an order changes after it ships." "Who touches it, and in what order?"
Probing questions go under the first answer. "You said it takes too long. How long, and who is waiting?" "What did you try last time, and why did it stop working?"
Provoking questions put a cost in front of the buyer that they have not counted. "If thirty loads a month go out twice, what does that do to your planners' overtime?" Use them sparingly, and only after the buyer has described the problem.
Validating questions close the loop. "So the cost today is about this, and you want it halved by March. Have I got that right?"
Most discovery calls run heavy on process questions and never reach validating ones. If your notes have no confirmed gap at the end, the call stopped one question early.
Rolling the template out to a sales team
A template only changes discovery calls when the whole team fills it in the same way and managers read it in the same way. Two habits make that happen.
First, agree the evidence standard before anyone uses the template. Managers should decide together what counts as done in the Impact and Owner rows, because those are the rows reps will round up.
Second, review real templates in team meetings. Pick one filled template a week, read the buyer's words aloud and ask the team which row is weakest. Ten minutes of that teaches the standard faster than a training deck. When the manager's first question in a 1:1 is "which rows are still empty?", reps start the template before the call because they know it will be read.
A filled-in example
This example is illustrative. Arrowmere is a fictional 600-person logistics company; the rep sells dispatch software.
| Field | What the buyer said |
|---|---|
| Environment | Dana, VP of Operations: "Four planners, one shared spreadsheet, and drivers phone in changes." |
| Problem | "Loads get re-dispatched after they leave. Thirty a month, maybe more." |
| Impact | "Each one is about $1,800 in rework and overtime." (Rep: about $54,000 a month; Dana agreed with the arithmetic.) |
| Root cause | "Nobody sees a driver's status until they call. The spreadsheet is always an hour behind." |
| Emotion | "My planners are exhausted, and I am the one explaining the overtime to finance." |
| Outcome | "Planners see changes as they happen, and re-dispatches halve." |
| Value | Empty. Dana did not put a number on the future state. |
| Size | Rep: "Today it's thirty re-dispatches at about $1,800 each; you want that halved; that's roughly $27,000 a month." Dana: "Yes, if we can halve it." |
| Urgency | "Peak season starts in March. If this isn't fixed by then, I'm hiring two more planners." |
| Owner | Empty. Dana said finance "will have a view" and did not name the decider. |
Empty rows after this call: Value and Owner. The next conversation is with Dana, and its job is to find out who in finance signs off and what they will need to see. The rep's opening line: "Dana, you said you'd be explaining the overtime to finance. Who is that conversation with, and could we build the case for it together before March?"
When the answer is vague
Most rows stall on a vague answer. The fix is a follow-up question that asks for something specific.
| Field | Vague answer | Follow-up |
|---|---|---|
| Problem | "Things just take too long." | "Take me to the last time it took too long. What happened?" |
| Impact | "It's a real headache." | "When it happens, who spends time on it, and roughly how long?" |
| Impact | "I couldn't put a number on it." | "Who could? Would it help if we worked it out together before the next call?" |
| Root cause | "It's the system." | "What about the system? If it were fixed tomorrow, would the problem go away?" |
| Outcome | "Just better, really." | "What would you measure to know it was better?" |
| Urgency | "We'd like to sort it this year." | "What happens on the day it is still not sorted?" |
| Owner | "Finance will have a view." | "Who in finance? What would they need to see to say yes?" |
Write the follow-up answer in the row, even if it is "buyer will find out by Tuesday". A dated promise is evidence. A blank is not.
Discovery with more than one buyer
On a call with several people, keep one template per person for the current-state rows, or add their initials beside each answer. The finance lead and the operations lead will describe different problems and different costs, and the gap gets stronger when more than one person confirms it. A gap that only one person describes is a risk to the deal, because the others can still decide it does not matter.
Read the gap back to the whole room at the end and ask each person whether it matches what they see. Disagreement on that call is useful. Disagreement after the proposal is expensive. Our guide to discovery with a buying committee covers the call in detail.
The template on the second call
The second discovery call starts from the empty rows. Open with what you heard, in the buyer's words, and ask whether it still holds. Then go straight to the first empty row that matters, usually Impact, Value or Owner. Update the template in a different color so the deal review can see what changed between calls. If a row that was filled now reads differently, keep both versions: a buyer whose problem changed between calls has told you something about the deal.
Three ways teams misuse it
Filling it in after the call. A template completed from memory records what the rep believes, and it becomes a form the rep completes for the manager. Fill it in during the call, in the buyer's words.
Treating every row as equal. Impact and Owner carry the most weight. A template with a rich Environment row and an empty Impact row describes the buyer's world and gives them no reason to change it. If time is short, get Impact and Owner first.
Writing the rep's words in the buyer's rows. "Inefficient process" is the rep's summary. "The spreadsheet is always an hour behind" is the buyer's. The gap only persuades the buyer when it is built from what they said, so a manager reviewing the template should be able to hear the buyer in every row.
Taking it into the deal review
The filled template is what the rep brings to the deal review. The manager's job is short: check each row against the evidence standard, find the first empty row that matters and plan the conversation that fills it. Our guide to how to run a deal review has the full agenda.
On Replicate Labs the rep brings the deal to Keenan, the Gap Selling expert we built with A Sales Growth Company, on a call. Keenan checks the current state, the quantified gap and the buyer evidence behind each row, then helps the rep plan the conversation that fills the empty ones. A rep who cannot talk can type the deal in. To check a single call against the method, score a discovery call.
FAQ
What is a Gap Selling template?
A Gap Selling template is a discovery worksheet with rows for the buyer's current state (environment, problem, impact, root cause, emotion), their future state and the gap between them. A rep fills it in during discovery, in the buyer's words, and uses the empty rows to plan the next conversation.
What are the three parts of Gap Selling?
Gap Selling has three parts: the current state, the future state and the gap. The current state is where the buyer is today and what it costs them. The future state is where they want to be. The gap is the distance between the two, and its size, in the buyer's terms, justifies the purchase.
What questions do you ask in Gap Selling discovery?
Start with process questions such as "walk me through how this works today", then probing questions about impact and root cause. Add provoking questions to show a cost the buyer has not counted, and finish with validating questions that read the gap back for the buyer to confirm.
How do you quantify the gap in Gap Selling?
Ask the buyer what the problem costs in time, money or risk, and what the future state would be worth. Multiply what they give you, read the result back and ask them to confirm it. If they do not know a number, ask them to find it before the next call.