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Portfolio > Alternative Investments > Real Estate

3 ways to use gap analysis to convert prospects into clients

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As a salesperson, you are in the business of gap analysis. You are also a “problem detective.”

Your job – which is somewhat similar to a police inspector searching for suspects – is to find problems for which your product or service is the ideal solution. In a way, your product or service is a key. 

You make calls looking for locks that your key will open. In the prospecting phase, you insert the key and find that it fits. In the presenting phase, you twist the key and open the lock. In the closing phase, you turn the handle and push the door open.

1. Clarify the need or the gap

Before you begin a sales presentation, it must be clear to the prospect that there is a distance between where he is and where he could be. The prospect must recognize that he has a need that is unsatisfied or a problem that is unsolved. The prospect must also feel that the gap between the “real situation” and the “ideal situation” is large enough to warrant taking action.

2. Build buying desire

Buying desire is in direct proportion to the intensity of the buyer’s need on the one hand, and to the clarity of the solution represented by your product or service on the other. This process of taking the prospect from “cold” to “lukewarm” to “hot” is accomplished by the skillful use of questions that uncover the gap and then expand it to the point where the prospect is ready to take buying action.

3. Putting these ideas into action

First, ask good questions aimed at uncovering the real need or problem the prospect has. Listen attentively to the answers. Never assume that you know the answers already.

Second, the larger the gap the prospect sees between where he is today and where he could be by using your product or service, the greater his desire to buy is going to be. You should continually show the prospect the size of this gap.

For more information on how to convert prospects into buyers, check out the original post and video here.

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