Gap Selling

No one gives a shit about you, your company, or your product. Shift your mindset. Traditional selling focuses on pushing products and features. Gap selling flips this approach on its head, centering entirely on the customer's problems and desired outcomes. By understanding the gap between where a customer is now (current state) and where they want to be (future state), salespeople can position their solution as the bridge to close that gap. Create value through change. Gap selling recognizes that all sales are fundamentally about change. Customers only buy when they're compelled to move from t

Lesson 1: Gap Selling: Focus on the Customer's Problem, Not Your Product

This principle from Gap Selling is backed by Keenan's extensive research and real-world examples. Understanding it deeply can shift how you approach decisions, relationships, and long-term planning in meaningful ways.

Lesson 2: Understand the Current State: Dive Deep into Customer Challenges

This principle from Gap Selling is backed by Keenan's extensive research and real-world examples. Understanding it deeply can shift how you approach decisions, relationships, and long-term planning in meaningful ways.

Lesson 3: Envision the Future State: Paint a Compelling Picture of Success

This principle from Gap Selling is backed by Keenan's extensive research and real-world examples. Understanding it deeply can shift how you approach decisions, relationships, and long-term planning in meaningful ways.

How to Apply Gap Selling's Lessons

The real value of Gap Selling lies in its applicability. After reading, the most important step is identifying which of Keenan's principles speak most directly to your current situation.

Consider keeping a journal while reading — noting where the ideas challenge your current approach and where they confirm what you already suspected. The friction of your own resistance often points to the most important insights.

Key Quote

"Gap Selling: Focus on the Customer's Problem, Not Your Product" — Keenan, Gap Selling

About the Author

Keenan is the author of Gap Selling. The book reflects years of research, observation, and synthesis of evidence from multiple disciplines.