Whitespace

The products a customer does not buy from you but that customers like them do, listed per customer and valued. Share of wallet's gap, written as a list.

DefinitionThe products a customer does not buy from you but that customers like them do, listed per customer and valued. Share of wallet's gap, written as a list.

How it is computed

For each customer, compare the products they hold with the products customers of the same segment and size hold. The difference is the whitespace. Value each missing product at what the customer spends per product they already hold, or at list price, and say which.

Why a number, not a colour

Most whitespace maps are a spreadsheet with cells coloured by hand. A whitespace list computed from the customer base is reproducible, ranks itself by value, and reconciles: the sum of held plus whitespace is the same "possible" total for every customer in the segment.

Common error

Comparing every customer to the whole catalogue rather than to their segment. A small customer then has whitespace it could never buy, and the ranking is noise.

How it is computed

For each customer, the product lines it does not buy that more than half of similar customers do, each valued at the median spend of those who buy it, scaled to the customer's size.

Example

A builder buys four of the six lines expected of builders. The two missing, aggregates and plasterboard, are valued at $15,100 and $9,800.

Where it goes wrong

Every unbought product counted. The list becomes thousands of rows and no salesperson can use it.

Articles that use this term

Data quality and reconciliation

Baseline and norm: what this account usually does, and what accounts like it do

The difference between a baseline, an account's own typical level from its own history, and a norm, what similar accounts do when the relationship is full, why the two answer different questions, has this account changed and how far is it from where it could be, which measures use which, surge and dormancy against baseline, gap and share against norm, the case where an account is at its baseline and far from the norm, and the rule that both are stated on the line that uses them.

16 Sept 20263 min read Forecast and pipeline · SaaS

Expansion pipeline against whitespace: are the reps working the gaps the data found?

How a SaaS revenue team checks whether its expansion pipeline covers the whitespace the account data shows: expansion opportunities per account against the account's valued whitespace, the accounts with large gaps and no open opportunity, the opportunities on accounts with no gap, the share of whitespace value under active pursuit per rep, and the identity that ties expansion pipeline to the whitespace grid.

16 Sept 20262 min read How-to guides

How to define the norm from your own customer base: the denominator behind every gap

Every penetration, fit, share or whitespace figure needs a denominator: what a customer like this one usually buys. This guide sets out how to build that norm from your own customers by banding them on type and size, the majority rule, the minimum band size, and how to record overrides so the gap list stays credible.

16 Sept 20263 min read Wallet share and penetration

How to present a gap to a customer: the conversation the data supports

A rep has a gap list that says a customer spends a third of what similar customers do on a line. What they say in the room decides whether the number helps or offends. This guide sets out what the gap is evidence of and what it is not, the framing that works, similar customers, their basket, the customer's own trend, the questions the rep asks before proposing anything, the data the rep should never show, and three worked conversations.

16 Sept 20262 min read Wallet share and penetration

How to read a whitespace grid: expected empties, returning lines, and the cells to ignore

A reading guide for an account-by-product whitespace grid: why most empty cells are not whitespace, the norm penetration row that says which columns are expected, the three kinds of empty cell and the shading that marks them, why returning lines come first, the value column that ranks the rows, the cannot-buy cells to ignore, and the cell to act on first: the largest expected empty with a returning-line history.

16 Sept 20263 min read How-to guides

How to value a gap: three methods and when to use each

A gap list is only a plan when each gap has a number beside it. This guide compares the three ways to value a missing product, account or lane, at list price, at the customer's own rate, and against an external wallet, with the cases each fits, the bias each carries, and the rule of stating the basis on every list.

16 Sept 20263 min read