Gap Selling: Book Review

Gap Selling: Book Review

Reading books about selling is not my favorite pastime. This was recommended to me, so I poured my favorite beverage and dug in. It opens with a lot of ‘preaching’ but then he gets down to brass tacks, as they say.

The overall premise is to revisit some sales myths and take a look at things from the perspective of the buyer. Mr. Kennan starts with looking at understanding where the customer is right now, the ‘future state’ they’d like to be in, and whether your solution is the right fit to fill ‘the gap.’ He spends quite a bit of time talking about the discovery process and has some very practical examples to work on gathering the necessary information. It’s interesting how many times this type of conversation unearths the root issue that helps us get to the real solution.

The next section talks about knowing when the customer is ready to make a change (change can be painful, even good change), and ultimately managing the sales team (or estimators). Our author is definitely passionate about his topic and he has a lot of common-sense info. I found myself coming up with lots of ideas!  – CMW