It’s Not That You Can’t Sell—It’s That You Can’t Diagnose

Your product doesn’t drive the sale. The problem does, and if you can’t diagnose the problem, no sales skill or any other sales training is going to help you.

That’s why you get no answer to 99% of your cold emails. They don’t highlight a problem that resonates with the buyer.

You get beat up on price because solving the problem isn’t worth what you’re asking.

Being a great salesperson means being able to diagnose the customer’s problem and understanding the impact the problem is having on their business.

See, at the heart of every sale, there’s a gap. It’s a gap between what buyers have now and what they believe they want in the future, between who they are now and who they want to be tomorrow, or even where they are now and where they want to go. This gap represents the value of the sale to the buyer and the salesperson. Without it, there is no sale.

Every selling challenge we salespeople face can be traced to the gap; every solution stems from identifying it, properly assessing its value, and selling to it (which, as you’ll see, is totally different from selling a product or service).

You’re not losing deals today because you don’t work hard, or don’t care, or you’re dumb. No, you’re losing deals because you don’t know what you don’t know. You don’t understand the rules of the selling game.

You’re sitting at your desk going through your pipeline, rubbing your temple. Damn, your head hurts! Just as you’re thinking about running to the convenience store to buy some ibuprofen, a wildly energetic, friendly guy wearing a red plaid shirt magically shows up at your office door. It’s me, Keenan. Hey, whassup! I hold out a small black box. Lying there on the black felt is a small, FDA-approved white pill guaranteed to make your headache disappear in one dose. How much would you pay for my pill? Fifty cents? $1.50? $5.00? How about a million dollars? Would you pay that? You roll your eyes. A million dollars to make a headache go away? Yeah, whatever. Then I start asking you questions: Does this headache come on frequently? Does it affect your vision? How’s your balance? Do your limbs ever feel weak? Have you felt nauseated recently? Have you ever experienced numbness or spasms in your face? Your answer is yes. To all of it. An immediate visit to your doctor, who orders an MRI scan, confirms the worst: You have a brain tumor. Does a million bucks still sound like too much for my pill? Yeah, I didn’t think so.

No problem, no sale In every sale there’s a gap All sales are about change Customers don’t like change Sales are emotional Customers do like change when they feel it’s worth the cost Asking “Why?” gets customers to “Yes” Sales happen when the future state is a better state No one gives a shit about you

Truth # 1: No Problem, No Sale

This frustration with the problem acts as the catalyst for change.

It’s this lack of connection to the problem that undermines the ability of the salesperson to effectively sell and ultimately close the deal.

Understanding the problem is so critical because with the problem comes the impact of the problem and the impact defines the size and scope of the problem.

Problems get you to the impact and the impact is where urgency, value, and need live and where the sale takes root.

Truth # 2: In Every Sale, There’s a Gap

Every sales transaction is about identifying a gap—the distance between where customers are now (their current state) and where they want to be (their future state).

Frequently, however, the gap only appears small, and a little digging around reveals an impending sinkhole. Sometimes the gap appears bigger than it really is. Sometimes, it doesn’t seem like there’s a gap at all. But you can’t know for sure what’s real unless you look closely.

The worst thing in the world you can do at the beginning of a sale is to take your buyer’s word for granted or sell to a need.

Sure, they think they know what their problem is, but what if they’re wrong?

Never sell to need. If you only solve the problem your buyer thinks they have instead of the one they really have, you haven’t helped them at all. You’re like a doctor treating the symptoms instead of the disease.

You’re like a doctor who has completely missed the fact that there is a disease!

Gap selling is a process of tactfully challenging buyers’ assumptions, exposing (and sometimes confirming) the true size of their problem, then correctly assessing the impact it will have on their lives. The more impact, the larger the gap. And the larger the gap, the more valuable the solution, i.e., your product or service.

Answer this: Why do customers buy?

In other words, they feel a need to change.

Truth #4: Customers Don’t Like Change (Even When They Say They Do)

humans suffer from longevity bias, the phenomenon in which we ascribe more positive feelings toward things that have been around for a while than toward things that are new.

even when people say they want change, deep down they often fear it.

Truth #5: Sales are Emotional

Every sale is about change. Change is emotional. Therefore, every sale is emotional. And emotions are complicated. That, in a nutshell, explains why selling is so hard and why so many people are bad at it.

there are ten threats that cause people to resist change.

1. Loss of control

2. Excess uncertainty

3. Surprises

4. Too much change at once

5. Loss of face

6. Insecurity

7. Extra work

8. The ripple effect

9. Past resentments

10. Real danger

It’s incredibly difficult to get people to change their opinions through sheer reasoning.

Truth #6: Customers Do Like Change When they Feel It’s Worth the Cost

Closing a sale is about helping customers feel safe enough to lay their defenses down and share their problems, then getting them to a point where they feel secure and confident enough to admit they’re ready for change—either to something better, or to get away from something painful.

Truth #7: Asking “Why” Gets Customers to “Yes”

Every time you ask “Why?” you chip away at the surface layers of your customer’s psyche to get to their intrinsic motivations, the whole reason why they ever gave you a chance to talk to them in the first place.

Knowing your customer’s intrinsic motivation allows you to solve for the problems your customers didn’t know they had.

You will have to learn to dig deep and not give up your line of questioning until you thoroughly understand the driving force behind your customer’s motivation to change

The only thing that inches you toward a sale is proving that you understand your customers’ problems and the impact of those problems, that you know why they’re struggling, that you understand why they’re not happy with their current state, that you hold the key to moving them to the future state they desire, and that the change they are facing will be worth the money and effort it takes to get there.

Truth #8: Sales Happen When the Future State is a Better State

You can’t sell a future state (where your customer wants to be) unless you have a firm grasp on your customer’s current state (where your customer is now).

Problem Identification Chart,

First, make a column and call it “Problems.”

Then, you’ll create a column called “Impact.”

Finally, in a third column called “Root Cause,” you’ll list the root causes of the problems you mentioned in the first column.

Truth #9: No One Gives a Shit About You

We’re In the Show-Me Economy

The tell-me economy was pre-internet.

Selling is a giving profession. Every time you engage with a customer, or send an email, or create something, you have to ask yourself, “What am I giving?”

The current state is made up of five critical elements that help construct your understanding of your customers’ world in a way that will help you help them manage the change they are about to experience: the literal and physical facts about your customer their problems the impact of those problems the root causes of the problems what effect those problems are having on your customers’ emotional state

The Facts

Every customer faces unique challenges.

The Problems

People don’t buy products—they buy solutions to their problems.

The Impact

Problems are only problems when the impact is negative and uncomfortable.

You’re never selling a product. You’re selling the impact your product will have on your buyer’s current environment. You’re selling change.

The Root Cause

If your car won’t run (the problem), the root cause could be no gas, dead battery, or a broken starter. One problem, three potential root causes, each requiring a different solution. Once you know which root cause is the culprit, you’ll know the appropriate solution.

You want to be the astute, reassuring expert who knows how to solve the problem because you know why the problem exists.

The Emotional State

CHAPTER FOUR THE FUTURE STATE—

Once your customers believe that the benefits of the future state will outweigh the cost of getting there, the deal is done.

Establishing your customers’ current state (pain) while anchoring them in the future state (pleasure) primes them to be open to, and even enthusiastic about, allowing you to help them plan for the journey that will take them across the chasm.

CHAPTER FIVE RELATIONSHIPS DON’T MATTER (KINDA)

Likeability gets you a handshake, a smile, and maybe a warm and fuzzy feeling. Expertise makes you money. Because you know who people do buy from? Those who provide value. I may not like you personally, but if you’re selling something that provides value, I want it.

With all things being equal, buyers will go with whom they like, but rarely are all things equal.

What creates the types of relationships that generate value and drive you closer to the sale? Credibility. Every step you make in the gap-selling process is about building credibility and establishing yourself as a trustworthy expert.

Early in my career, I had a sales manager who told me there were two types of salespeople: the ones who were great at socializing and building relationships, and the ones who developed credibility. They were both great at their jobs, but the former would always have a smaller piece of the business than the latter.

Your expertise and credibility are worth a lot more to your buyers than your quick wit, warm friendly manner, or tickets to the ballgame.

Challengers are defined as salespeople who are so knowledgeable about their customers’ industry and organization, and as a result are so well respected, they can pretty much speak their minds at any time, and even push their customers to consider ideas that may make them uncomfortable.

Rather than putting their relationship with their customers at risk, Challengers’ frank and assertive style actually seems to strengthen their relationships.

Kurlan claims that there are six core competencies in sales DNA, the

Kurlan claims that there are six core competencies in sales DNA, the first of which (and the only one relevant to our discussion) is: Doesn’t Need Approval. When he dissected the data, salespeople who scored low on the first strength (meaning they do feel a need for approval) consistently fell in the bottom 25% selling percentile. In fact, 82% of the salespeople in the bottom quarter reported a need to be liked.ix

CHAPTER SIX THE GAP DEFINED

The thing is, the gap is rarely clear to buyers initially. The win then becomes your ability to expose and shape the gap.

Salespeople can manipulate the size of the gap by helping the buyer see things they didn’t see before.

HOW TO PLAY You gotta know how to play the game to win.

CHAPTER SEVEN GET THEM TO LET YOU HELP

Your number one job when selling is to get the customer, buyer, or prospect to let you help them.

What about RFPs? Nope. Bidding on an RFP is not selling, it’s participating in a beauty contest.

Consequently, as it relates to RFPs, gap selling can’t help you. Traditional RFPs that don’t allow for a solid discovery or engagement don’t fall into the gap-selling methodology.

CHAPTER EIGHT DISCOVERY: KNOW YOUR CLIENTS

Stop qualifying opportunities using B.A.N.T. Like everything else about gap selling, the gap-selling discovery takes a completely different tack from a traditional discovery.

People find the budget for big gaps.

Gap sellers don’t sell to need, they sell to problems. Just because customers don’t think they need anything doesn’t mean they actually don’t.

The Close Happens at the Beginning

“early in the sales cycle there is a linear relationship between the number of questions you ask and the likelihood of closing a deal.”

Know the Problem First, Call Second

Writing this information down before you need it will keep you from asking vague questions and will make sure you steer your customers toward problems you can actually help them solve as you work to understand their current state.

Now you’re ready to start your discovery. Throughout it, you’re going to be asking several types of questions: Probing: These are open-ended questions that press for

1. Discover the Facts You’ll start by asking as many probing questions as possible,

you’re going to use what sales influencer and author Deborah Calvert calls “command statement starter words”: “Tell me a little bit about the events you put on.” “Help me understand . . . ” “Could you please describe . . . ?” “Could you walk me through . . . ?

Deb Calvert’s book Discover Questions Get You Connected is a great resource.

2. Discover the Problems

Banish Open-Ended Answers

You have to get people to be specific, because open-ended answers don’t tell you enough about the problem to help you devise a solution.

Don’t Just Find Problems—Hunt Them Down

Patience is key. Don’t rush to the sell. There will be plenty of time to sell. Go deeper.

3. Discover the Impact

Some provoking questions you could try: What happens when you…? Has there ever been a time when…? If you did X, what do you think would happen?

In this way, you’re provoking buyers into thinking through a situation that may not be an issue yet, but could become part of their future state.

Guiding your customers to take note of the impact that various problems are having on their business isn’t just another fact-finding expedition—it’s going to force them to recognize the level of urgency with which they need to treat these problems.

That is, you have to reveal the damage the problems are causing them today, and the grave consequences that will follow if they aren’t excised soon.

Again, you’re going to use command statement starter words: “Tell me how this issue is affecting you.” “Can you describe the impact it’s having on your department?” “What are the consequences every time this problem occurs?”

The thing is, most salespeople focus on solving the technical problems when it’s the business problems that create a customer’s unique buying motivations and lead to the biggest gaps.

The business problem is what is going to drive the sale, so you need to understand it and how it uniquely presents itself within your buyer’s company.

4. Discover the root cause Your customers’ problems didn’t just materialize out of nothing.

“Why do you think this problem is happening?” “How do you think your current processes are affecting this?” “How has the implementation of this product affected your business?” You always want to provoke your customers to think hard and differently about what’s gone wrong.

If you can confidently identify a problem, show a buyer that you understand the impact it’s having on the business, intelligently articulate the root cause of the problem in industry terms, and offer yourself as someone who can create a perfectly tailored solution to that problem, you’re golden.

While you’re going through this discovery process, don’t forget to pepper your conversation with plenty of validating questions. Validation is a common communication strategy promoted by psychologists to strengthen personal relationships. You could say you’re using these validation questions to help strengthen your relationship with your customer by ensuring that they agree with the way you are interpreting their responses.

Always use validating questions throughout every sales call to confirm you’re on the same page and before shifting to a new topic.

Hitting the right tone in the right circumstance is an art.

Improve your empathy, and you’ll find it easier to hit the right notes that your customer needs to hear.

To sell better, you have to plot out your questions.

The Opportunity: Qualified or Not?

You’ll know it’s qualified because if you’ve done the discovery correctly, you’ll easily be able to answer “yes” to these four simple questions: Does the prospect have a problem you can fix? Does the prospect agree they have a problem? Does the prospect want to fix the problem? Will the prospect go on a journey with you to

Future State: Where Does Your Buyer Want to Go?

“How would you like this system to work?” “How much time do you wish it would take?” “How many more tickets would you like to sell?” “How many more leads would you like to generate?” “How much less time would you like your employees to spend on this

You should never be satisfied with the first answer you get.

But once you know the future state, you’re no longer selling a mere product or service; you’re selling a desired outcome.

For the purpose of this book, I’ve had to outline the steps of discovery in a linear fashion, yet in the real world it is anything but a linear process. You sure as hell don’t want to sound like you’re going through a checklist as you speak to your customer.

This is a conversation. Let me say that again: you’re having a conversation, not an interrogation, and like all conversations, it’s going to move forward and back and around, and many times your questions and answers will overlap.

The key is to ask, then listen, then ask, listen, ask, listen.

The beauty of this is that there is never any reason for you to pressure a customer to buy anything, because by the time you’re done with discovery, they’ll be so aware of their problems, they’ll be begging for your help.

CHAPTER NINE IS THE GAP WORTH IT?

The customer wants 20% growth. She’s at 10% growth.

Would you pay $100K for an extra $1M? (The gap: $900K) That’s not so clear-cut.

that’s a sign you need to get out and tell the customer you don’t think you’re the right person to solve their problems. Often customers will figure it out on their own, but ideally, you will recognize the incompatibility before they will.

Don’t try to push through the sale when you know it’s not the right solution for your customer. Don’t waste time on a deal that probably won’t close when you could be focusing your attention and efforts on deals that will.

If your clients would consider hiring you as a consultant for their business because you know so much about what they do, how they do it, and what impacts their outcomes, you’ll know you’ve perfected your technique.

CHAPTER TEN KNOW YOUR CUSTOMERS’ WHY

“Tell me a bit about what is driving this change.”

You know your customers’ current state, future state, and intrinsic motivation. Now you have permission to start talking about your product or service! That’s right, you finally get to pitch. You can start sharing information about what your product does. You can explain why your service is better than that of any other competitor on the market. In other words, you can start selling! Crazy, isn’t it, how much later in the process you start to actually sell when you’re selling to the gap?

You’re launching the sale without a map.

If you’ve ever struggled to close deals, or had a customer go dark, or thought you had the deal closed and all of sudden lost it to someone else, it’s almost guaranteed that it’s because you started a third of the way into the sales process instead of at the beginning. You tried to take off from the middle of the runway, which didn’t leave you enough room to gather the speed you needed to fly. Don’t take shortcuts; they only lead to nosedives.

CHAPTER ELEVEN HOW TO DO A KICKASS DEMO

1. No discovery, no demo

1. Does the prospect have a problem you can fix?

2. Does the prospect agree they have a problem? 3. Does the prospect want to fix the problem? 4. Will the prospect go on a journey with you to fix the problem?

Instead, if a customer refuses a discovery, inform them that the demo is actually a two-step process, and that without a discovery, it’s impossible to conduct a proper, customized demo.

2. No ifs

There is no “if” during a demo because you’re supposed to already know!

But what if you know the potential of your product, and you’ve seen what it can do for a business, and you want your customer to be aware that it can help them in a multitude of ways? Then is it OK to say “if?” No! You’re not focusing on what the customer really cares about if you are presenting for every contingency their business could face. You’ll come off as unfocused, and your customer will feel overwhelmed. Probably bored, too. Maybe even irritated.

3. Stick to Six Features

The point of your demo is not to reveal all of your product’s features and functions. It’s to reveal how well your product provides the solution to your buyer’s specific problems.

If you’re trying to cram more than six features into your demo, there’s no way you can spend the appropriate amount of time showcasing each.

It is always better to spend a lot of time highlighting one feature’s business value than it is to spend a little time introducing a whole bunch of features that may or may not be relevant to solving your buyer’s problems. Think quality, not quantity.

4. Anchor Your Customer

Throughout your presentation, after every feature demo ask your prospect affirming questions, like this: “Can you see how this feature will improve your churn rate?” “Do you see how this will shorten data input?” “Can you see how this will increase your conversions?” For once, yes or no answers will be acceptable! Getting your customer to affirm the value of every feature you present anchors your prospects in your solution and its effect on shaping their future state. As you paint a powerful vision of the future, make sure your customers see the same one you do.

Start With Your Demo Map

Remember the PIC (Problem Identification Chart)? Take a look at it again. Check the list of problems you’ve identified as ones that your solution can resolve, and organize them in order of the impact they are having on your customers organization from greatest to least. Big problems create big motivations to change. Little problems don’t. Don’t waste your time on little problems.

Like a mirror in a dressing room, your demo should show customers exactly how your product is going to look on them.

CHAPTER TWELVE MOVE YOUR DEALS THROUGH

1. Nail Down their Decision Criteria

“How are you going to decide what’s the best solution for you? What will be the most important factors in helping you make your decision?”

Keep this in mind: The point of this exercise isn’t to confirm that your product or service can do the things your customer most wants it to do. Rather, it’s to confirm that the criteria they value the most and are using to make their decision will actually get them the desired outcome they say they want.

My Four Favorite Words There’s a reason I suggested you challenge your buyer starting with the words, “I’m confused. You said . . .” Those four words, in that order, are four of my favorites. They are powerful.

It’s not always easy. Challenging your customers without tact, diplomacy, or grace can make them feel incompetent, inattentive, or insecure, which is not conducive to the collaborative, enthusiastic mindset you want your customer to have when you’re gap selling. No one likes to be called out for their mistakes, but sometimes you have to do it.

“I’m confused” (or “I was under the impression,” or “I thought . . .”) allows for the possibility that the mistake is yours.

a sale is made up of hundreds of little sales conducted throughout the selling cycle.

You literally can’t do your job properly if you agree to let them determine your value to them based on nothing more than prices.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN TROUBLESHOOTING

When a Prospect Goes Dark

You start with those four little words, “I’m confused. You said…” which highlights the gap between your prospects’ words and actions.

“I’m confused. You said you were tired of getting beat out for bigger, more complex projects, and you agreed that my product would improve your value proposition tenfold and get you to your financial goals. So I’m surprised I haven’t heard from you. Has something changed? Were you able to solve your problem? Have you decided not to pursue bigger projects?”

Never defend your product or service. Use gap selling and what you learn in the process to make the buyer defend their objection.

PART III GAP PROSPECTING

Too many of us are using old school me, me, me interruptive, valueless approaches to build our pipeline, and we’re failing because of it.

Take a look at Jeb Blount’s Fanatical Prospecting and Mark Hunter’s High-Profit Prospecting, great books that offer excellent practical ways to prospect.

Prospects will be more willing to meet with you because they will see it’s in their best interest to do so.

1. Build a “Healthy” Pipeline

2. You Have to Know Who You’re Calling

Ask yourself what types of companies would most likely struggle with each set of problems. List their industry, size, the departments that would be affected, and the responsibilities of that department. Then think about who within these departments would suffer the greatest impact from those problems. That’s your ideal customer. Now rank your customers in order from those likely experiencing the highest number of problems causing the greatest amount of pain to those struggling with the lowest number of problems and suffering the least amount of pain. Separate that list into A, B, C, and D.

Don’t say or send anything that wouldn’t compel you to pay attention if the roles were reversed.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN HOW TO CAPTURE ATTENTION

Because the majority of cold outreach lacks the fundamental element of getting attention: intrigue. If you can’t generate intrigue, no one will pay attention to you.

Intrigue The human brain can’t possibly pay attention to every piece of information that crosses its path.

The only way to break through the blockade is to trip your buyers’ brains with a new pattern.

Prove that you know something the buyer doesn’t about their industry, their business, their competitor, or the products they use.

Ask questions you know the buyer can’t answer.

They have to scratch that intrigue itch. Intrigue disrupts the pattern, and the mind then desperately wants to catalog

Because asking for more than is appropriate at the wrong time and in the wrong place scares people off.

A quarterly commit is about providing accurate insight into what the salesperson can do that quarter with a small (+/- 15%) variance. I know this is hard for many sales managers. What if someone with a $10K a month quota only commits $20K for the quarter? Your instinct might be not to accept it and tell them to go find more “stuff” and come back with a better number. But a low commit to quota isn’t necessarily a bad thing. In fact, finding out ahead of time that your salesperson will miss quota is a gift. Seriously!