Grehalva's framework for diagnosis centres on the concept of the gap: the distance between the customer's current situation and their desired situation. All buying is an attempt to close a gap. The salesperson who understands the gap precisely has the information needed to present a solution that is genuinely relevant. The current situation: where is the customer now? What is the specific problem, frustration, or limitation they are experiencing? What has caused it? How long have they been experiencing it? What has it cost them, in money, time, relationships, or missed opportunities? What have they already tried? The desired situation: where do they want to be? What does success look like to them specifically? What would be different? What would change in their business, their life, or their work if the gap were closed? The emotional cost: Grehalva argues that the most important part of understanding the gap is the emotional dimension. People do not primarily make buying decisions based on logic. They make them based on how the current situation feels and how the desired situation would feel. The salesperson who understands the emotional cost of the gap has a much more powerful understanding of the customer's motivation than one who only understands the functional problem. Grehalva's diagnostic questions are designed to surface all three dimensions: the functional current state, the functional desired state, and the emotional experience of both. A proposal built on this level of understanding feels different to the customer from one built on surface information. It sounds like the salesperson truly understands their situation, because they do.