Gap Selling is a problem-centric sales methodology in which the rep diagnoses the gap between the buyer's current state and desired future state, in the buyer's own numbers. It was written by Jim Keenan, founder of A Sales Growth Company (ASG). Its rule of thumb says that until a problem is named and its impact quantified, there is no deal.
Current state, future state, and the gap between
Most of the work happens in discovery. The rep establishes the buyer's current state (what is happening, what it causes, what it costs), the future state the buyer wants, and the size of the gap between them. The bigger and more urgent the gap, the stronger the deal. Teams build a Problem Identification Chart once per product, listing the common buyer problems, their impacts and root causes, and diagnose each deal against it.
- 01Current stateWhat is happening, what it causes, what it costs
- 02The gapIts size and urgency, in the buyer's numbers
- 03Future stateWhat the buyer wants
Buyer Input Data is the evidence that the deal is real: problems, impacts and success measures stated by the buyer. Cost of Inaction is what keeps compounding if the buyer does nothing. In a 1:1 the manager's question is "Which of those numbers did the buyer say?" If the answer is none of them, the gap is the rep's estimate. Gap Selling carries its own qualification in Buyer Input Data, and A Sales Growth Company argues against seller-focused checklists such as BANT and MEDDIC; the sales methodology guide covers how teams already on MEDDPICC fit the two together.
From "cut admin time" to a gap in numbers
This example is illustrative. A rep selling scheduling software reports that the buyer "wants to cut admin time." That is a future state with no current state. On the next call the rep asks how many hours a week the coordinators spend rescheduling, and what happens to patient visits when they fall behind. The buyer answers: about 40 hours a week across the team, and roughly 30 missed appointments a month. Now there is a gap in the buyer's numbers, and the business case can be built from their answers.
On a live deal, the rep can talk it through on a call with Keenan, our AI sales expert built with ASG for Gap Selling. In the case above, he would go looking for the buyer's sentence on cost: "You have 30 missed appointments a month. What did the buyer say each one costs them?"
Related terms
- Gap Selling on the live deal, with Keenan
- Gap Selling vs MEDDPICC
- Gap Selling discovery template
- What is MEDDPICC?
FAQ
Who created Gap Selling?
Gap Selling was written by Jim Keenan, the founder of A Sales Growth Company. The company also publishes Gap Prospecting, the outbound discipline built on the same problem-centric idea, and trains teams in both.
What is the gap in Gap Selling?
The gap is the distance between the buyer's current state and the future state they want, measured in their own numbers. A rep who can state it, with its cost and its urgency, has a deal; a rep who cannot is guessing.
Is Gap Selling a qualification framework?
Gap Selling is a selling methodology with qualification built into its discovery, through Buyer Input Data. A Sales Growth Company calls for customer-centric qualification and argues against seller-focused checklists such as BANT and MEDDIC. Teams already forecasting on MEDDPICC can fill Metrics and the pain from the gap work.