Gap Selling – is another approach to closing a sale. How to make customers agree and overcome with the principle of Problem-Centric Selling.
The goal of a salesperson is to get the prospect they are looking at to buy. But what do you do when your goal is full of question marks? We have a goal we want to reach, but we don’t know where to go or how to get there. When we don’t know what the problem is, finding a solution is difficult. Being a successful salesperson requires in-depth knowledge of how to sell, and most of them don’t have this knowledge, so it’s hard to be successful.
This book is written by Jim Keenan , the founder and CEO of A Sales Guy Inc., a world-class businessman, speaker, and coach with over 20 years of experience. His book is widely recognized as a proven sales strategy.
“You can’t win a game if you don’t know the rules.”
Innovations are invented to solve problems for humans on Earth. The key to creating something is to meet someone’s need. Inventors and developers start by surveying people in society, finding out their problems, and creating solutions. Every salesperson must understand the complexities of their customers’ businesses. When you know how to solve problems for your buyers, you can easily become a better salesperson.
“The best players in the game are not the ones who practice all the time, but the ones who understand the rules and use them to enhance their creativity.”
You may feel frustrated, angry, bored or discouraged by losing potential customers who end up being customers of your competitors, and those competitors may not even work as hard as you do. In today’s competitive business world, we don’t ask how hard you work. What we ask is how good you work. You need a blueprint that acts as a guide. Find ways to delight your customers and make sales profitable for you.
“Knowledge and ignorance are the two main factors that determine the success of every sale.”
Many business owners lose their business not because they have nothing to sell, but because they don’t understand how the market works. Of course, no one wants to sell at a loss unless they are absolutely helpless and helpless. But selling without knowing anything will cause you to lose money without realizing it. It is no different. You don’t really understand how to analyze and diagnose your customers’ problems and how they drive sales. In fact, your product doesn’t need to drive sales. What drives sales is the problem. And if you can’t deal with that problem, no sales skill can help you.
“Problems become business opportunities when you find solutions for your customers.”
A good salesperson understands how much a problem impacts their customer’s business. Every problem needs a solution, so great businesses are built on problems. You will become a salesperson who spends all of your time trying to convince customers to buy your product only when your target customers don’t have any problems that you can solve. At this point, you may be wasting your energy.
“Expertise is the foundation for building credible sales and creating successful brands.”
The gap in business deals is the gap between your current state and your future state. The smaller the gap between where you are and where you can go, the smaller the gap. A smaller gap equals less value, and when your value isn’t high enough, buyers aren’t going to buy what you’re selling. Consumers need to see why your product is the best. You need to convince them that your product has the power to solve their problems and deliver the best results.
“Similarities make you friends, and expertise makes you stand out.”
Expertise will make you money because most customers buy because they see value in the product you are selling. In the sales process, your most important job is to find potential customers, buyers or consumers to help you. Expertise and credibility are what you need. That is what will encourage people to believe that you can help them. Every time you contact a prospect, ask yourself whether you are selling to them or if they have given you permission to help them.
“The first conversation should focus on the customer, not on you or your product.
A common mistake in a first meeting is that many salespeople end up talking about themselves and their capabilities without giving much thought to finding the problem. Your personal history and personal accomplishments don’t matter. Everything you do or say in the initial stages should be entirely focused on your customer and understanding their concerns. The sale is won or lost during the discovery phase, which occurs in the initial stages.
“Successful salespeople always have more than one solution to a problem.”
Problems evolve and the market becomes more competitive every day. A good solution today may be obsolete in 5 years or 2 days. You need to have detailed decision criteria. Decision criteria are the information and details that your customers will use to decide which solution to choose from you. Understanding your buyers’ decision criteria up front is essential to staying ahead of your competition and guaranteeing your customers that they will get the outcome they want no matter what.
Conclusion
The game of selling is relatively easy for those who know the rules. For those who don’t, it becomes more difficult and challenging. Knowing the rules is as important as selling. Without rules, your efforts will be a waste of time.
Selling isn’t just about selling a product, it’s also about facilitating conversions and giving buyers a reason why you’re the best solution to their problems.
Selling is also about having the right tools and mindset to deeply understand your customer’s problems. Understanding your customer is selling that bridges the gap between you and your customer by using your expertise to overcome their pain points and fears. So if you know the sales game well, you’ll know how to play when you have to, and how to back down when necessary.
“People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it, and what you do is just proof of what you believe.”
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