If you’ve ever tried to level up your sales techniques, there’s a good chance you’ve read a shelf-full of sales books, each promising unique insights. But after tearing through dozens—maybe even a hundred—you realize a similar thread runs through most of them. This article distills the fundamental lessons from the sales classic “Gap Selling” by Keenan, sharing actionable insights proven to drive results. Discover how a shift in perspective can add serious revenue to your bottom line, whether you’re managing a sales team, building your own pipeline, or simply wanting to close more deals the right way.
Based on the original video:
Why Focusing on Problems Over Solutions Drives Sales Growth
The core principle of “Gap Selling”—the primary topic keyword guiding this strategy—flips conventional sales wisdom on its head. Most sellers concentrate on benefits: how their product makes things better, shines up a brand, or provides fresh features. But meaningful sales don’t happen just because of these positive outcomes. Instead, buyers are truly motivated by their need to solve or prevent existing problems.
Understanding this core motivation instantly improves how you approach selling. In sales workshops, it’s easy to fall into the trap of listing product features or advantages. Yet these don’t spark action as powerfully as identifying and addressing a buyer’s pain points. People are seldom moved to purchase for incremental gains—they purchase to close a gap and resolve challenges.
Illustrating the Shift: Sell the Absence, Not the Addition
Consider this real-world sales scenario: A team requests discovery call training to “get better.” A superficial pitch focuses on the upside—improving skills. But skill upgrades alone rarely justify significant investments. Instead, dig deeper. Ask: What prompted your need for discovery training? By probing further, it turns out that deals often stall after discovery calls, with no next steps booked. Now, the sales problem is clear and compelling. The loss in deal flow becomes a quantifiable pain—something truly worth fixing.
- Key takeaway: Frame every sales conversation around what goes wrong without your offering, not just what gets better with it.
Finding the Root Cause: Diagnosing to Connect Solutions
Once you’ve highlighted a buyer’s problem, it’s vital to investigate what actually causes it. Solutions only resonate when they address the true source of the pain, not just the symptom. For example, someone walks into a store because their house smells of cat pee and seeks an air freshener. Is that the true solution? Not always. Maybe the cat is ill and needs a vet. Perhaps an automatic litter box would solve the issue, or they’re simply using the wrong litter type for a multi-cat household.
This kind of diagnosis applies to all sales contexts. Ask tailored, root-seeking questions to reveal the core issue:
- What’s causing website visitors to bounce? Is it bad design, poor product fit, high prices, or lack of traffic?
- Are customers abandoning checkout, or are they not finding what they need?
Understanding the root problem enables you to customize your pitch and directly connect your solution to the buyer’s true challenge.
Probing Questions that Reveal the True Cause
Ask purposeful questions like:
- What’s causing this to happen?
- Where’s the biggest drop-off in your sales process?
- At what stage do prospects disengage?
- What data do you have on customer behaviors?
These questions unlock valuable insights, allowing you to zero in on specific pain points you can solve. The more specific your understanding, the more persuasive and tailored your pitch becomes.
The Third Pillar: Quantifying Impact to Motivate Action
Pinpointing problems and their root causes isn’t enough. What truly compels buyers is the impact these problems have on their business, budget, or well-being. Understanding the severity and ripple effects of an unresolved issue helps you gauge urgency and willingness to invest.
Small annoyances are easy to ignore. But if a team can tie a sales process flaw to hundreds of thousands of lost dollars—or if a personal habit strains a relationship—addressing the issue becomes a top priority. Quantifying loss and risk triggers real action, creating the need for speed in solving the problem.
Impact in Action: From Discovery Calls to Bottom-Line Revenue
Imagine a scenario where discovery calls aren’t converting. Start by asking:
- What’s the percentage of calls failing to progress?
- How many sales reps handle how many calls weekly?
- What’s the average deal size?
Suppose 10 reps handle five calls each per week, with average deals of $10,000—and half fail to move forward. That quickly adds up to potentially $1 million in lost revenue every month. Suddenly, the business case for investing in training changes dramatically.
This measurable impact transforms the decision from “nice to have” to “must solve now,” making deals easier to close and negotiations more meaningful. Buyers are motivated by the risk of continued losses, not abstract improvements.
Putting Gap Selling into Practice: Three-Step Framework
Let’s summarize the actionable approach using this framework:
- Sell to problems, not positivity: Always lead by uncovering current problems or risks, not benefits or future gains. Buyers care more about fixing pain than adding features.
- Diagnose the root cause: Dig deeper with thoughtful questions to understand why the problem exists. This ensures your solution matches the real issue.
- Quantify impact: Calculate what’s at stake for the buyer—lost revenue, missed growth, urgent risks—to make the case compelling and drive urgency.
Here are the main takeaways to implement gap selling in your own strategy:
- Start every sales call by asking about current pain points instead of immediately pitching features.
- Use diagnostic questions to map out the buyer’s challenges and root issues.
- Measure the cost of inaction so buyers see the real financial, strategic, or emotional impact.
- Personalize your approach to the buyer’s unique situation, proving your solution is the exact fit.
Examples That Bring Gap Selling to Life
Sales Team Training Example
A company seeks discovery call training for its team. The surface-level desire is phrased as wanting “better discovery skills.” But after a few probing questions, you uncover that deals are stalling at the earliest sales stage. Statistical exploration reveals this stalls half of all pipeline deals, amounting to seven figures of lost revenue each month. By quantifying the magnitude, you create urgency and justify investment in your training program.
Retail Analogy: Pet Product Problem Solving
If a pet owner wants air freshener due to bad smells, diagnose whether the real solution is a trip to the vet, a new litter box, or better litter. Each root cause points to a different product, illustrating why diagnosis matters even in seemingly simple sales environments. This same practice, scaled to enterprise sales, delivers transformative results.
Website Performance Case
A client complains about poor website conversions. You avoid selling a redesign immediately. Instead, you ask: Are users dropping off at landing pages, or are carts being abandoned at checkout? Is the issue UX, pricing, or a lack of traffic? Only when you pinpoint the bottleneck does your solution become completely relevant and credible.
Adapting the Gap Selling Approach for Prospecting
This methodology isn’t limited to those closing deals and running full discovery. For sales professionals focused on prospecting—booking the first meeting or cold outreach—the approach needs a slight shift. The fundamental principle still applies: even your first outreach should be informed by the gaps you observe in your target’s business, not just a generic value proposition.
A new resource mentioned in the original discussion—an upcoming book focused on prospecting—is designed to address this exact challenge. Learning to spot opportunities by identifying gaps early on makes prospecting messages more relevant, increasing the chances your pitch gets noticed.
Tactical Prospecting Tips to Find the Gap
- Research your prospects to identify observable challenges or pain points.
- Use your initial approach to reference specific industry gaps, trends, or missing outcomes.
- Open conversations by asking about current problems impacting your prospect’s success.
For a deeper dive into structuring your pricing based on value delivery (especially for agencies or consultancies), this guide on proven strategies to raise your service prices can help align your offers to the true business impact you drive, mirroring the Gap Selling philosophy.
Gap Selling: A Paradigm Shift in B2B Sales Strategy
While countless sales books recycle the same advice, “Gap Selling” stands out by putting genuine customer challenges at the center. The method is simple, but its discipline is transformative. If you want to shorten sales cycles, increase deal size, and become indispensable to your clients, lead every conversation with:
- Thoughtful diagnosis
- Sharp quantification of business impact
- Relentless focus on buyer pain—not product features
When you become obsessed with why your customers need you (not just how you’ll improve their life), you’ll close more deals, faster, and at higher value. This approach is just as relevant if you’re a seasoned sales manager, a founder, or a freelancer honing your client acquisition process.
FAQ
What is Gap Selling?
Gap Selling is a B2B sales methodology developed by Keenan, centered on uncovering buyers’ true business problems, diagnosing the root cause, and quantifying the business impact. It shifts the sales focus from product benefits to solving meaningful, urgent challenges for the customer.
Why should I focus on problems instead of features in my sales approach?
Focusing on problems addresses the buyer’s actual pains and unmet needs. Features and benefits might sound appealing, but only solving a recognized problem creates urgency, aligns your pitch with buyer motivation, and leads to easier, faster closes.
How do I diagnose the root cause of a prospect’s problem?
Ask pointed, open-ended questions designed to reveal what’s driving the challenge. Look for data or behaviors that shed light on where breakdowns happen, and never assume the first stated problem is the only or true cause. Deeper diagnosis uncovers the specific way your solution actually fits.
What’s the best way to quantify the impact of business problems?
Calculate the cost of inaction: how much revenue is lost, what opportunities are missed, or what operational risk exists if the problem continues. The larger and more immediate the impact, the more likely the buyer is to move quickly and invest at a higher level.
Can Gap Selling work for prospecting as well as deal closing?
Yes. While detailed diagnosis happens in closing, initial outreach and prospecting are more effective when you signal awareness of industry-wide problems or potential gaps. The methodology helps make your pitch relevant from the very first touchpoint.
