What is PeopleAnalyst?

PeopleAnalyst is the front door for people-analytics research: 205+ works indexed and profiled, 40+ citation-grade findings extracted, and peer-reviewed behavioral science translated from academic to actionable — the missing manual for the people analytics you always meant to do.

What is people analytics?

People analytics is not a dashboard. It is behavioral science and statistical inference applied to workforce decisions — a discipline with its own methodology, spanning measurement, organizational design, talent, leadership, and analytics craft.

Why does AI in HR need measurement science?

AI is being deployed in high-stakes people decisions — hiring, performance, attrition — without the measurement science to evaluate whether it works or whom it harms. Construct validity, effect sizes, and criterion validity are the vocabulary for asking an AI vendor the right questions.

How is the research made accessible?

The evidence is indexed and searchable: 205+ works, 40+ citation-grade insight cards, and 8 research arcs, so the right finding reaches the right decision at the right time.

What separates good people measurement from assertion?

Good measurement has a method: construct validity, reliability, and effect-size interpretation are not optional — they are what separates evidence from assertion.

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Gap Selling Getting the Customer to

In a sentence

Selling isn't about pitching products or building relationships—it's about diagnosing the gap between a customer's current state and desired future state, and then facilitating the change that closes it.

Gap Selling argues that most salespeople lose deals not because they can't sell, but because they can't diagnose their customers' problems. Keenan reframes selling as change facilitation: every sale exists because of a gap between where a buyer is now (current state) and where they want to be (future state), and the size and impact of that gap determine the value of the solution. Through a blunt, story-driven approach, the book teaches a rigorous discovery process that uncovers problems, their business impact, and their root causes; explains why relationships and closing techniques are overrated while credibility and problem-solving are decisive; and shows how to prospect, run demos, move deals through the pipeline, and lead a gap-selling team. If you want a full, predictable pipeline and to stop losing deals to price, no-decisions, and ghosting, this book gives you the mental framework and executable skills to become an indispensable problem-solver rather than a forgettable product pitcher.

The four lenses

Science
Statistics
Systems
Strategy

The model

A causal model in which seller design levers (discovery quality, problem diagnosis, intrinsic-motivation understanding, credibility building) shape psychological and behavioral states (perceived gap, buyer trust, urgency, willingness to be helped) that drive sales outcomes (deal win, sales-cycle length, price defense, pipeline predictability).

Discovery Qualitydesign lever

The thoroughness, depth, and accuracy of the seller's questioning process to uncover the customer's facts, problems, impact, root causes, and emotional state before any pitch or demo occurs.

Problem and Impact Diagnosisbehavioral pattern

The seller's ability to correctly identify the customer's real business problems, quantify the impact those problems have on the organization, and articulate their root causes rather than accepting surface-level or need-based answers.

Intrinsic Motivation Understandingbehavioral pattern

The degree to which the seller uncovers the deeper, subjective 'why' behind the customer's desired future state and decision criteria, going beyond stated goals to the personal or strategic driver of change.

Seller Credibility and Expertisepsychological state

The buyer's perception that the seller possesses deep knowledge of the customer's industry, business, and problems, positioning the seller as a trustworthy expert and consultant rather than a product pitcher.

Perceived Gappsychological state

The customer's recognized distance between their current state and desired future state, including the magnitude of problem impact, which determines the perceived value and urgency of changing.

Buyer Willingness to Be Helpedbehavioral pattern

The customer's readiness to lower defenses, share information, be vulnerable, and actively partner with the seller on the change journey, expressed through a series of affirmative 'yeses.'

Perceived Urgency and Worth of Changepsychological state

The customer's belief that the benefits of moving to the future state outweigh the cost, effort, and risk of change, generating motivation to act now rather than maintain the status quo.

Change Resistance and Emotional Threatpsychological state

The customer's fear, uncertainty, and defensiveness toward change, including longevity bias and the ten threats (loss of control, uncertainty, extra work, etc.) that can stall or kill a sale.

Deal Win / Closeoutcome metric

The successful conversion of an opportunity into a purchase in which the customer commits to the seller's solution as the vehicle for reaching their desired outcome.

Pipeline Predictabilityoutcome metric

The accuracy and reliability of forecasted deal outcomes and close dates across a seller's or team's pipeline, enabling confident commits and reduced end-of-quarter surprises.

How they connect

discovery quality → predicts problem impact diagnosis
discovery quality → predicts intrinsic motivation understanding
problem impact diagnosis → predicts perceived gap
intrinsic motivation understanding → influences perceived gap
seller credibility → predicts buyer willingness to be helped
discovery quality → influences seller credibility
perceived gap → predicts change urgency
change resistance − moderates change urgency
change urgency → predicts deal win
buyer willingness to be helped → predicts deal win
problem impact diagnosis → influences pipeline predictability
deal win → correlates pipeline predictability

The story

The reader A B2B salesperson or sales leader who wants to win more deals, shorten sales cycles, stop losing on price, and build a predictable pipeline.

External problem

Losing deals to price, competition, no-decisions, and prospects going dark, with an unpredictable pipeline and missed quota.

Internal problem

Feeling frustrated, anxious, and self-doubting—suspecting they're the reason deals fail but not knowing what they're doing wrong.

Philosophical problem

Selling shouldn't be a fraught grind of rejection and lost deals; it's supposed to be about helping people solve real problems and improve their lives.

The plan

Adopt the gap-selling mindset: the problem drives the sale, and you're selling change.
Build a Problem Identification Chart of problems, impacts, and root causes before you prospect.
Run a rigorous discovery to uncover the current state, problems, impact, root cause, and emotional state.
Establish the desired future state and intrinsic motivation, then calculate and assess the gap.
Demo only to diagnosed problems, move deals via the 'next yes,' and challenge objections with 'I'm confused, you said...'
For leaders: manage the pipeline, build a commit culture, and hire for the nine gap-seller traits.

Success

A full, healthy, predictable pipeline and consistent quota attainment.
Shorter sales cycles, higher close rates, and fewer deals lost on price or to no-decision.
Being seen as a trusted consultant and problem-solver rather than a forgettable product pitcher.
Confidence and control over every sale instead of being at the mercy of buyers.

At stake

Continuing to lose winnable deals to price, competition, and no-decisions.
Prospects going dark, ignoring calls and emails, and holding you hostage over price.
An unpredictable pipeline, missed quota, and end-of-quarter scrambling.
Being treated as a commodity salesperson—'the customer's b*tch'—instead of a valued asset.

Questions this book answers

Why do salespeople really lose deals they should win?
What actually drives a sale—the product or the problem?
How do you diagnose a customer's current state, problems, impact, and root causes?
What is the 'gap' and how do you assess whether it is worth changing for?
How do you prospect, demo, and move deals through the pipeline using gap-selling principles?

Glossary

Discovery Quality: The depth and rigor with which a seller investigates a customer's current state before pitching, uncovering facts, problems, impacts, root causes, and emotional state.
Problem and Impact Diagnosis: The seller's accurate identification and quantification of the customer's real business problems, their organizational impact, and their root causes.
Intrinsic Motivation Understanding: The seller's grasp of the deeper subjective or strategic reason driving the customer's desire to change and reach a specific future state.
Seller Credibility and Expertise: The buyer's perception of the seller as a knowledgeable, trustworthy expert capable of solving their problems, distinct from personal likability.
Perceived Gap: The customer's recognized difference between current state and desired future state, scaled by problem impact, that defines the value of changing.
Buyer Willingness to Be Helped: The customer's readiness to be vulnerable, share information, and partner with the seller through the change journey, expressed as recurring affirmative commitments.
Perceived Urgency and Worth of Change: The customer's belief that the benefits of reaching the future state outweigh the cost, effort, and risk of changing, motivating action now.
Change Resistance and Emotional Threat: The customer's fear, uncertainty, and defensiveness toward change, including longevity bias and Kanter's ten threats, that can stall or block a sale.