Due to a misguided attempt at self-improvement, I'm currently training for a 10K. When I first started, I couldn't run a mile without dramatically collapsing on a park bench. My end goal was to run the six miles, but to make it to the finish line without becoming a tragic headline, I needed a plan. I had to know my current abilities and understand what it would take to get to 10K—beyond investing in some decent running shoes.
A gap analysis kind of works the same. Except instead of sweat and shin splints, businesses use it to figure out why they're stuck and what it's going to take to get unstuck. No guesswork, just a clear game plan so you can bridge the gap—and not end up passing out from dehydration a quarter of the way through your strategic plan.
Here's what a gap analysis is and how to use the right tools and techniques to conduct one.
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What is a gap analysis?
A gap analysis is a strategic tool that helps you identify where your business is right now, where you want it to go, and what's missing in between. Think of it as your business's vision board, pinpointing what's missing between your current situation and your ideal goals so you can take action and grow.
For example, let's say a sales team wants to boost their conversion rates. Right now, they're tracking leads manually (horrifying), which means inconsistent follow-ups and missed opportunities. Their goal? Automate 50% of their lead nurturing process. After running a gap analysis, they realize they need a CRM with automated email sequences, lead scoring, and task reminders.
By making that investment, they bridge the gap between their current manual process and a streamlined, automated sales pipeline.
How to conduct a gap analysis
Before we dive into tips, tools, and techniques, let's start with a high-level overview of the basics—kind of like stretching before a run.
1. Identify your current state
This is the foundation of your gap analysis. Before you bridge any gaps, you need to know exactly where you stand. So, start by facing the music. What are you doing now? Is it working? (Is anything?)
Look at performance metrics that align with your goals. Depending on your department, that could be anything from sales cycle times to conversation rates to customer retention rates. Beyond those numbers, dig into qualitative insights, too, like customer feedback and internal processes.
Your CRM, customer reviews, internal SOPs, and team feedback are all telling a story. Usually one that ends with "...and then we realized we'd been doing it wrong for years."
What it looks like in practice: A sales team might pull monthly revenue reports, check customer retention rates, and review individual sales performance metrics.
2. Define your desired future state
Once you know where you are, it's time to get clear on where you want to be. This doesn't mean setting vague aspirations but defining a specific, measurable future state.
Ask yourself questions like:
What's not working right now that needs to change? Is customer service response time too slow? Are marketing campaigns generating enough leads? Is your product development cycle taking too long?
What does success look like? Maybe faster customer response times, higher lead conversion rates, or a streamlined product development process.
How far into the future do I want to look? Depending on your business, this could mean setting goals for the next quarter, next year, or beyond.
Use goal-setting frameworks like OKRs or KPIs to make your vision concrete. Getting input from stakeholders can also ensure your vision is realistic and aligned with broader business goals.
What it looks like in practice: The sales team sets a goal to increase quarterly revenue by 15% or improve customer retention by 25%.
3. Find the gaps
Now, compare your current state to your desired state. What's missing? What's in the way?
Look for:
Skills and knowledge gaps: Does your team need better training or are they missing skills?
Process gaps: Are bottlenecks, outdated processes, or missing steps slowing things down?
Tech and tools gaps: Does your team have the right software to do their job? Are there any automation tools you can implement to streamline processes?
Resource gaps: Do you have enough people or budget to execute effectively?
You also want to determine the impact of the gap. What's the real cost of this problem? Maybe your marketing team is struggling to generate qualified leads, resulting in wasted sales effort. Or perhaps your customer support team is overwhelmed, leading to slow response times and unhappy customers. Understanding the consequences of the gap will help you prioritize which fire to put out first.
What it looks like in practice: The sales team might discover they lack strong selling techniques or that their customer follow-up process is inconsistent due to gaps in their customer relationship management process.
4. Develop a plan to close the gaps
With your gaps identified, it's time to fix this mess:
Set clear objectives with measurable outcomes. If slow follow-ups are killing your business, your goal might be to improve response time from 48 hours to 24 hours within 90 days. That's a measurable target, unlike "be better at emails," which is what my mother often tells me.
Prioritize your gaps based on impact and effort. Which ones, if closed, would create the biggest improvement for your business? Which can be tackled quickly to build momentum? Sometimes the most important gaps aren't necessarily the biggest ones—they might be the bottlenecks that, once removed, can unleash progress across the board.
Break down your plan into actionable steps with milestones and timelines. Instead of a vague goal like "improve customer retention," create specific action items like "implement automated follow-up emails within 30 days" or "develop a customer onboarding checklist by next Friday." Assign each task to someone specific and set realistic timeframes.
Establish how you'll measure progress. What metrics will you track? How often will you check in? Having regular checkpoints helps you stay on course and make adjustments if things aren't progressing as planned.
What it looks like in practice: The sales team implements targeted training programs, invests in a new CRM system, and refines their sales approach.
Gap analysis template
Use this gap analysis template to get your ideas flowing on where you are, where you want to go, and how to bridge the gap. Here's how to make the most of each section:
Category: Pick an area that needs some TLC, like a skill your team is missing or a performance metric that's so sad even your competitors feel bad for you.
Future state: Define what success looks like. Happier customers? A sales process that doesn't make you want to pull your hair out? Write down the dream, no matter how delusional.
Current state: What's actually happening right now? Drop in some real data, observations, or performance metrics to see how far off you are from your desired future state.
Identified gaps: What's missing? What's broken? Call out the problem areas so you know exactly what needs fixing.
Action plan: What needs to happen to close the gap? Be clear about the steps, who's responsible for what, and how you'll track your process.
Gap analysis examples
Gap analyses can take different forms, each targeting a specific area of performance. Let's dive into the real-world applications that can help transform your business from "meh" to "wow."
Performance gap analysis
This one's all about spotting the difference between what you think your team is doing versus the sad reality of what's actually happening.
Example: A tech company realizes its sales team keeps missing quarterly targets. A closer look shows that reps are about as skilled at qualifying leads as I am at qualifying for the Boston Marathon. The fix? A revamped training program and a new sales incentive structure to get things back on track.
Product gap analysis
A product gap analysis helps you figure out where your product lineup might be falling short—whether it's missing key features, lagging behind your competitors, or failing to meet evolving customer needs. It's a great way to uncover opportunities for innovation so you can stay ahead of the game.
This process typically involves evaluating products against current marketing demands, analyzing competitor offerings, and identifying gaps that can give you a competitive edge.
Example: A CRM software company keeps hearing the same complaint disguised as "feedback": customers want better automation features, like AI-driven lead scoring and predictive analysis. After a gap analysis, they find that their software just isn't keeping up with what modern sales teams need. To fix this, they double down on adding AI-powered insights and workflow automation in their next update, closing the gap, ensuring they're staying competitive and meeting customer needs.
Skills gap analysis
A skills gap analysis helps you figure out if your team actually has the right skills to keep up with future goals or if they've just been very good at faking it. This process looks at what your employees are doing now, what skills they need to succeed in the future, and how to bridge the gap with training or new hires.
Example: A logistics company rolls out fancy new supply chain management software, assuming everyone will just... figure it out? Predictably, delivery delays and inventory mix-ups skyrocket. It turns out that clicking random buttons while panicking isn't an effective learning strategy. The solution: actually training people before expecting them to use complex systems.
Market gap analysis
A market gap analysis helps businesses spot unmet customer needs, overlooked audiences, gaps in their offerings, and other opportunities everyone else has missed.
Example: A project management software company realizes that while most of its competitors focus on enterprise-level businesses, small teams and freelancers struggle to find an affordable, simplified solution. A market gap analysis helps uncover the demand for a stripped-down version that normal humans can afford. This leads them to develop a plan that includes essential features that cater to solo entrepreneurs and small teams.
Process gap analysis
A process gap analysis helps you figure out why simple tasks in your company somehow require seventeen approvals, three different software systems, and a blood sacrifice under the full moon.
Example: A SaaS company offering an email marketing tool realizes that their free trial users aren't converting to paid plans as they expected. A process gap analysis reveals the shocking revelation that sending one generic email after signup might not be enough nurturing. To close the gap, the company implements an automated email sequence with personalized tips, case studies, and feature highlights based on user behavior to lead to an increase in paid plan conversions.
Gap analysis tools and techniques
Different disasters require different diagnostic tools. Here's a breakdown of some of the most common ways to approach gap analyses and when to use them.
SWOT analysis
A SWOT analysis gives you the big picture view of your business: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. It's like looking at yourself in one of those horrifying magnifying mirrors—you see everything, including the things you've been trying to ignore.
Use if: You need to face reality about where your organization stands. Or if you enjoy organized self-criticism.
Process mapping
Process mapping is exactly what it sounds like—laying out your workflows visually to see where things get stuck. By mapping out each step, you can identify inefficiencies, redundancies, or breakdowns in your processes.
This is your go-to for a process gap analysis when handoffs seem to be where things fall apart or when you're trying to standardize operations across departments.
Use if: You suspect inefficiencies in your workflows
Cause-and-effect diagram
A root cause analysis is where you can kind of play detective, and this cause-and-effect diagram should help you crack the case. Instead of fixing surface-level problems, it helps you dig deeper to find out what's actually causing them. It's the difference between constantly mopping a leak and finally fixing the broken pipe. Use it when running a performance or process gap analysis when you need to address underlying issues.
Use if: You're tired of solving the same problems over and over, like the most boring remake of Groundhog Day
Benchmarking
Benchmarking is just a fancy way of saying "spying on your competitors." You check what they're doing, realize they're doing it better, then pretend you came up with the improvements yourself.
Use if: You need external context for your performance or want to "borrow" ideas from industry leaders
PEST analysis
A PEST analysis looks at the big picture external forces that might be impacting your business—political, economic, social, and technological factors. All the things you can't control but need to prepare for anyway.
This is useful when running a market gap analysis or skills gap analysis during times of significant change to anticipate future needs.
Use if: You're planning long-term strategies and need to understand external factors that might affect your business
Fishbone diagramming
A fishbone diagram is a visual tool that looks like a fish skeleton, which is fitting because it often reveals that your processes are dead in the water. It breaks down all the potential reasons for a problem into categories like people, process, equipment, and materials to understand the underlying reasons for gaps.
Use if: You're dealing with complex problems with many potential causes
McKinsey 7S framework
This model helps you check if all parts of your company are actually working together or secretly sabotaging each other. It considers strategy, structure, systems, shared values, skills, style, and staff to identify internal misalignments that might be slowing you down.
This framework comes in handy for skills gap and performance gap analysis when you need to make sure everything in your organization is working together to support your goals.
Use if: You're managing organizational change or want to understand how different parts of your organization affect each other. Or if you want to sound clever in meetings by mentioning frameworks no one else understands.
Nadler-Tushman model
The Nadler-Tushman model looks at how tasks, people, formal structures, and informal culture interact. If these elements don't align, gaps form, and performance takes a hit.
Use it for skills and process gap analysis when you need to see how formal structures and internal networks work together. It also helps determine if your team's skills match what the organization actually needs.
Use if: You're implementing major organizational changes or experiencing cultural clashes
Close gaps faster with Zapier
Just like my 10K training, closing the gap isn't just about identifying what's missing. It's about finding tools that help you reach your destination faster and more efficiently. Once you know where the gaps are, automation can help you get to where you want to be faster (no special running shoes necessary).
With Zapier, you can automate tasks across your tools to ensure smooth, efficient operations, no coding skills required. For example, if you've identified gaps in your lead nurturing process, Zapier can automatically move customer data between your CRM and email marketing platform, trigger personalized follow-ups based on customer actions, and alert your team when high-value prospects engage with your content.
And with Zapier Canvas, you can even map out complex end-to-end workflows so you can focus on reaching your goals without getting stuck.
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