Produce a discovery plan that combines a gap map with a sequence of SPIN questions.
Most meeting plans are a list of questions in the order the seller thought of them. That works until the buyer says something you did not expect, at minute six, say. You then either drop the plan or stick to your list and ignore what the buyer just told you, and either way you lose the meeting.
The plan below holds up better because it is built around what you need to find out rather than the order you will ask things in. It combines the two methods from this module: the gap map from Lesson 3.2, "Gap selling: current state, future state and the gap", and the questions from Lesson 3.1, "SPIN selling: situation, problem, implication, need-payoff". Building it takes about thirty minutes, and it fits on one page.
Start with the expected map, which is your version of the gap map before the meeting. Use one page with three boxes: current state on the left, the gap in the middle, future state on the right. Fill the boxes from the research and hypotheses you prepared in Lesson 1.2.
Every item in this first draft is a guess, and the page should show it. Put each item in brackets, write it in a different colour, or add a question mark. Save question marks for the items you are least sure of, so your biggest guesses stand out when you glance down during the meeting.
Go through the map box by box and write questions that will confirm or overturn each item. Two to four questions per item is enough. Each part of the map has a matching SPIN type:
Facts in the current state: situation questions, and only where you cannot find the answer yourself Problems in the current state: problem questions The impact of those problems: implication questions The future state: need-payoff questions
Leave extra space for implication questions. They tell you how large the gap really is, and Lesson 3.3, "SPIN and gap selling compared", explains why.
Then mark the point where you will summarise the gap. The gap summary is where you say the gap back to the buyer so they can confirm or correct it. It usually comes after the implication questions on the main problem and before any talk of a solution. Write the opening words of the summary on the plan, so that when you feel the pull to start recommending, the words on the page stop you skipping it.
The summary tests your map. If the buyers say "yes, that's it", the gap is confirmed. If they correct you, the map was wrong in a useful way, because you now know which part to fix.
Wei Ling is an adviser. She has met Marcus once, alone. Her second meeting is with Marcus and his wife, Jia Hui. Some of her expected map comes from the first meeting and the rest is guesswork, so every item is in brackets.
In the current state box she writes: three bank accounts with no plan for which bills go where; one missed loan payment; no savings since the wedding; hospital cover through work only (?); unsure what happens if either of them stops working (?). In the future state box: a clear plan for bills, saving regularly for a child's future, and feeling covered if something happens. In the gap: a system for money between them, a savings habit, and an understanding of what cover they have and what they lack.
For the cover item she writes one question of each type. Situation: what cover each of them has at the moment, through work or on their own. Problem: when they think about one of them being unable to work for a while, what worries them. Implication: if that happened, what would change for the household month to month. Need-payoff: if they knew exactly what would happen in that case, how would that feel.
At the summary point she writes "So, from what you've both said, right now..." and leaves space to finish the sentence live.
Run the meeting, real or a practice with a partner playing the buyer, with the plan open in front of you. When the buyer goes somewhere you did not expect, go with them, and come back to the plan once they have finished.
Within an hour of finishing, redraw the map on a fresh page. It takes about ten minutes. Use only what you actually heard. On the redrawn map, confirmed items lose their brackets, wrong guesses are crossed out, and new items go in where they belong.
Wei Ling's redrawn map changed in two places. The missed loan payment mattered much less to Jia Hui than it did to Marcus. The biggest item was one she had not guessed: Jia Hui's parents rely on her for part of their monthly expenses. That went straight into the current state box and changed the size of the gap.
Keep the before and after pages together. Comparing them over several meetings is how your hypotheses improve.
Your finished work has two parts. The first is a one-page plan with the expected gap map, every guess marked, two to four SPIN questions per item, and the opening words of the gap summary written in. The second is the redrawn map from after the meeting, showing confirmed items, crossed-out guesses and anything new.
Choose the meeting you will plan for, real or practice, and set aside the thirty minutes before you start the activity below.
Pick a real or practice meeting and write a one-page plan with a gap map and SPIN questions. After the meeting, redraw the map.
Junxiong-WFG Organisation is an authorised representative of AIA Financial Advisers Private Limited (Reg. No. 201715016G).