Fix The Problem to Make The Sale with Keenan | Free Sales Training Program | Sales School

i'm jordan belfort and this is sales school netsuite is the world's number one cloud business system bottom line it gives you visibility and control over your financials hr inventory e-commerce and more it's everything you need all in one place in fact over 21 000 companies using that suite right now so you'll be in great company right alongside them so let netsuite show you how they'll benefit your business with a free product tour at netsuite.com school hey jordan belfort here welcome to sales school the place where you can hear from me every single day getting an

awesome tip and insight into how you become a top producer how you take your sales skills to the next level and also we are now calling in other top well-respected sales experts from around the world because i want you to hear other people's perspectives as well no one has monopoly on great ideas so our guest today is keenan the author of gap selling someone i have a tremendous amount of respect for um so keenan here's the deal very quickly here i want you to give you like me like five or six minutes to explain it

then we'll discuss it after so you give me like your your strategy and then you and i will debate it and i'll try to dig deeper into it so what is that one special thing i know you teach a lot of stuff it's a great system you have but what's the one thing you think that is the most important aspect of what you teach that could help people sales people need to understand it's really easy dog it's really easy sales people need to understand the problems they solve too many sales people understand all the [

__ ] their product does right my product does this my product does that it does this it does that it can accomplish this and accomplish that it has this benefit and that benefit but when you really ask me you should test you should test people jordan you should like when you get people say okay what problem does your product solve and they all answer it like this our product brings exceptional value blah blah our product does this and our product does that what the minute does comes out of their mouth that tells you what it's

going to be in the future it doesn't actually mention the problem that someone is struggling with now right give me an example give me a good example so of a company that you've worked with in the problem you solved so most companies when i work with them they don't know the problems they solve but like friends i was working with a company just the other day right and they they sell um what do you call that stuff expense management right and and when i asked them you know what do you guys solve and when i

first got them they said oh we we make ex we make expense management easier right and i'm like good for you but that doesn't tell me what problem you solve and after we spent a long time together what we found out was one of the problems they saw is fraud and out of policy expense losses uh explain what that is just real quick so for what is that so if you if when someone does exp like we're in sales right and sales people do their expense their um their expenses they turn them in right hey

i spent you know 150 this month of 500 this month 3000 this month and people use that for fraud right or there's policies that what you're allowed to expense and not expense sure got it so the problem is that their product is solving it's helping them it's eliminating fraud or reducing fraud within this right that's one problem yep yep so now given that so that's one let's say that's the problem how does that then translate into a sales presence so how do you use that in terms of as a salesperson to close the deal because

think about it the people who are going to buy your expansion management system they're not buying it because it's going to make expense management easier what does that mean expense management easier they're buying it because somewhere along the line they wasted depending on the size of the company one hundred thousand five hundred thousand three million dollars in fraudulent charges out of policy expenses they they didn't know about so if you're a salesperson rather than saying hey i'd like five minutes of your time to talk about how great our expense management system is you take get

them to say hey look i'd like to take five minutes of time to talk about if you're struggling with losing hundreds of thousands of millions of dollars to expense fraud and policy that you can't currently track now which one of those do you think someone's going to want to give you time to talk about sure so it's really about identifying what their highest level problem is and then showing how your product solves that problem yes right give me let's use another example of a different industry a car give me a more common industry that people

like the average sales person like what's a good one like um that that you think the average sales person could really understand here like um i mean automobile sales like what's the problem that you know so a customer walks in to buy a car right customer walks into buy a car you're an automobile salesman what's the typical obviously i guess the first thing is you have to ask questions to find out what the problem is right yes yes so depending what car you sell you should know what problems it solves right so i use this

one a lot right i drive a a all-wheel drive larger truck because before i um moved up to vail i used to live in denver and we're a skiing family have a home up here right and so all my three of my kids competitively ski and at the time they were younger like you know five six seven nine or whatever it was and so i needed something the problem i had was one my kids would be pains in the ass in the back seat right two they went uh they i want a place to get

comfortable and fall asleep on the way home because we came home late at night um three if you've ever been to vail it's a pretty steep pitch and so if you got a like a six cylinder engine or a piece of [ __ ] engine it doesn't go very fast and i'm impatient so i just want to get the [ __ ] up the hill you know i'm saying so the pro if i was buying a new car the problem was space speed up the hill comfort comfort for my kids entertainment system the back that

stuff i wanted but the problems i was having was not getting uphills well i also need something that was really good in full wheel because it would snow a lot and if you can't get through that you're hosed so those are some of the problems i was personally having right here's a brilliant example do you remember the the um the um uh what are those things that moms drive uh suvs no minivans a while back they came out with one that had a vacuum in it that vacuumed up all the [ __ ] that remember

that one yeah yeah yeah that's a problem like that's that's a product recognizing a problem so if you came looking for a minivan i might say you have young kids you say yes i say do they spill [ __ ] all over the car and you're constantly having to get it dirty they say yes let me show you this the problem is you have a constant dirty car the kids are making it a mess and watch what i do even further what do you do for work i'm a realtor now you really need this vacuum

because if you're a realtor and you drop your kids off at the daycare and the back of the car is a complete mess you have time to go to a car wash you want to take that sure and that's what i mean you've got to sell to the problem sure so do what do you think the big mistake so that the average sales person that doesn't understand this so so they typically end up focusing more on all the features and benefits of their product and they almost it's like a shotgun approach where hopefully that if

they talk about enough features and benefits one of them will hit that person's problem or pain point right versus what you're saying is is you want to first spend the time to essentially ferret out what that person's problem is right and then once you understand and then vice versa um i guess if you're so there's two slices right so there's the knowing the product you're selling and i guess most products solve more than one problem they might solve for they only solve a few because they were designed to solve a few yeah you're getting it

yeah baby and then and then the idea would be that so if you're the salesperson right then a you need to know what problem or problems that your product or service solves and then when you are introduced to a customer in a sales account then you need to ask them questions to find out what their problems are and then where that match occurs then focus on essentially filling is that what you're saying boom boom you did it it's all you got it there we go that's good right now there you go i've graduated right so

that's the essence of gap selling so when you talk about gap selling you mean finding the gap is in define what the gap is so the gap is the space between the current state where you are today in the future state where you want to go tomorrow and what happens there's bigger the gap the more you'll pay right so the more money you'll pay the more you'll do because the change is so massive because where you are today is so bad like a really cheesy short example is if i'm if i'm driving home from playing

basketball and i'm thirsty right i might take a minute to stop and spend three bucks on a thing of water right that is my current state is i played basketball i'm thirsty i could wait an extra 20 minutes to get home but i'm thirsty enough it's worth it the gap is about this it's worth it to stop now if i'm in the desert and i'm about to die it's the same water dog like this is what people understand it's the same [ __ ] product people do not get this through their head but i'm about

to die and jordan's i'm souping in in a helicopter and he's got a gallon of water i'll give you everything i've got for that because here i am today about to die no water stuck in the desert here i am a gallon of water and a chance to live a little longer maybe get the rest of the way through the desert and live that's a giant gap current state for you to state i will do whatever it takes to make that happen and sales sure is it it's part of how often do you think you

have prospects that are almost in denial of their own gap where because they've been they've had this gap for so long where they've almost minimized it in their own mind so part of the is part of the job of the salesperson to help the person realize the gap might be larger than they think it is or to help them identify gaps dude [ __ ] love guys like you you get it right away it must be our east coast thinking right now where are you from originally where are you from boston from boston got it

got it where's the patriots thing right there you know that's it oh they suck this year it's a different story but dude you absolutely nailed it i would say 99 of the time they haven't really ferreted out and truly understand the size of the gap what they know is something isn't working it doesn't feel good i don't want to do it any long they have a handful of anecdotal stories of why they need to change but when i get with them and i start digging in 99 of the time one or two things happen holy

[ __ ] is way bigger than we thought and the sale grows usually it gets bigger than it started it goes faster or i'm like guys i hear you but you don't need this because i'm asking these you don't need this go do this or don't do anything to make these two little tweaks but you don't need what you think you need and here's why and the best part is every time the buyers agree with me every single time i agree with me i'm never waiting for the buyer to figure out do i need this

i get them there together so even before i start pitching or selling they've already determined if there's a problem and if they need to change or if not then we talk about whether or not they should buy my [ __ ] or whatever else someone is selling all right listen you need to tell me that running a business is hard work but if you're still using quickbooks and spreadsheets chances are that you're making it far more difficult than it needs to be that's why it is time to upgrade now to netsuite by oracle stop paying

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with netsuite in fact there were 21 000 companies using that suite right now so you'll be in great company right alongside them so let netsuite show you how they'll benefit your business with a free product tour at netsuite.com school so so you're looking at your problem as this you look at your product as the solution to the problem so it's really first step one is essentially finding out what their problem actually is ferreting it out making sure they're not in denial of that problem they fully understand the ramifications often expanding it even right making sure

they right and then once you have that that that comp that aspect completed then it's about transitioning into the solution why your product good or service represents the solution the best solution right yep so what what the slight thing in between there and i think you're going to really appreciate it because i think you do it um intuitively is the reason i figured out the problem and make it spell it out is then i say okay then basically i get them to say we need to change right you you can't get anybody to buy anything

until they decide they want to change a matter of fact you really almost can't get anybody to make a decision right until they decide they want to change right whether it's whatever the decision is you've got to want something different that's the whole point of a decision right so when it comes to selling [ __ ] the person has to say you know what you're right i don't want to stay where i am anymore whether it's a pack of gum whether it's going and buying a red bull like it's like i don't have one i

want one why do i want to change what's going on i'm tired i gotta you know i i gotta stay up late and do something i gotta watch the kids i wanted lots of energy while i'm talking to jordan like whatever the issue is right i got to decide where i'm at now isn't okay and so what most sales people try to do is they try to get the decision i need to change and i should buy your product at the same time and that's why a lot of people say yeah you know we decided

to just to stay where we are like you know you lose indecision or you lose to status quo sure yeah and how do you and how do you get someone so what you're saying is you want someone to basically say out loud and in some shape or form like you know what you're right i do have this issue and i really need to resolve it or change it so you're trying to get that as an out loud statement or or is it just sort of could be understood or you want to get them to actually

say it out loud you get them to say it out loud it doesn't always have to be yes it won't change right in some shape or form or some some sort of understanding and and and what's and how do you is there some way that you recommend getting someone if the goal is to get them to you know because again there's a there's power in someone wanting to remain consistent with something they've said out loud right so yeah i mean if you can get them to sort of say you know what you're right i i

really got to do something about this and not saying well i need to make a change that's kind of you know rare they'd say that but they'll say yeah you're right it's really wow you're right this is a big issue and yeah i got to do something about this or something right so is there some methodology or or is there any language pattern that you use that typically is like your go-to thing when you got someone close and you want to just sum it all up so they kind of make that statement there's something that

you do is it just happened naturally in the sale well for me it happens naturally and you just did it naturally and you didn't even know it i had i after no i knew it i did it i did it i did it on purpose so so i'm just saying but like but that's me you know i'm saying i'm talking i think i think what i find is that like obviously for myself or for you you know i'm a natural-born salesperson you are too so the idea is many people aren't and then the things that

you and i take for granted can be very challenging for people right so i so what i try to do always is i try to make it so simple and sort of give them like at least some sort of go-to way like hey okay so if you want to get them to say that out loud you know here's a way you might do that without making it canned or ridiculous is there anything like that that you sort of could recommend as a go like you're it's almost like your summation notice it's almost like you've done

your job you've fared out the problem it's very clear you want to kind of tie it off and then what does that let that transition to when you start talking about the product you you nailed it so let's just use jennifer i guess would be in gender whatever but jennifer tom has the um the the what's the thing called again the minivan right and i've come to the conclusion that i found out that that you know tom or jennifer are um they're just their careers their their real estate careers really starting to move the kids

are three five and seven they're still leaving a mess in the car and about 50 or 60 percent of the time when they're about to go to a showing or they need to put people in their car it's filled with all the crap and they don't have time and it's embarrassing and it's happened x amount of times and they feel like they've lost at least one or two deals they feel like their credibility as a realtor is shot and then i and then they told me and i said what are the deals you think you

lost and said i think i lost at least one high-end deal that would have been worth 15 or 20 grand to me and commission i don't know for sure but i feel that way so they tell me all that then i take it back and i said all right so jennifer look if i've heard you correctly you're concerned that you're maybe losing deals because the car looks like crap you've tried to get to the the car wash blah blah blah and then so it seems to me that this really is something that you need to

make a change to or do something to solve this problem because you can't live with this problem anymore i just i just basically sum it up and then and they're gonna say yeah exactly and that's sort of like right so you sort of so what you're doing is you're essentially what you're doing is so you know tying it off is basically you're saying based on what you said to me you know i see this this and this and it sounds to me like you you know in your position you i think you can it seems

pretty obvious you need to make some sort of change does that sound right like that yeah something like that i've gotten to the end of the rope you can't keep doing one of my favorites you can't keep doing this anymore got it perfect you know all right guys listen jordan oh you know what's cool about this too notice in our whole conversation i was never talking about the car or i was never like talking about that that's the best part keenan how does people get in touch with you and find out more about your your

products and uh your methodology i am probably just as easy as you ought to find you can go you can search keenan on google you can go to a salesguy.com or you can go gap selling if you can't find me by typing in keenan gap selling or sales guy on google find a different profession because you ain't gonna be able to sell all right keaney was great talking to everyone everyone keen in check your stuff out thanks for coming on sale school keem thanks dog i enjoyed it take care bye [Music] you