FOMU is Killing Deals For Sellers Everywhere. Here's How to Overcome It.

What really drives buyer behavior – Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) or Fear of Messing Up (FOMU)?

What longtime sales researcher and co-author of The Challenger Sale Matt Dixon found is — both. But, the problem is sales pros have primarily been focusing on the former. 

Yet the latter is equally important, especially in times of uneconomic uncertainty. And especially in the later stages of the sales cycle. 

“More no-decision losses are because we didn’t dial down the FOMU, not because we didn’t dial up the FOMO,” Dixon said in a recent interview with LinkedIn Sales VP Alyssa Merwin Henderson. “In sales, we are pretty good at driving up the FOMO.”

The result – an ever-growing number of sales efforts resulting in no decision. According to Dixon’s research in his new book The Jolt Effect, the percentage of sales efforts that result in no decision today may be as high as 60%. 

Why does this happen? Simple, says Dixon – you failed to beat their status quo. It’s always safer to do what you’re already doing, versus doing something new (even if doing something new might have a payoff). 

So, how do you heed Dixon’s advice and ease down the FOMU in your buyer? In his interview, he suggested these three tactics:

1. Driving faux urgency isn’t the answer – instead, fully understand the consequences of messing up.

Messing up can have serious consequences. That is especially true when the “mess up” involves convincing a buyer’s boss to take a risk on something new, expensive, and disruptive.

To overcome this, salespeople will often turn to tactics to drive urgency, like offering a 10% limited-time discount, Dixon said. But to the buyer, that discount is hardly worth it, compared to the potential risk of the solution they just bought not working out – and them taking the blame.

“When you weigh two different things, am I going to miss out on a 10% discount on the one hand, or lose my job, it turns out losing your job is a lot more important to your customer,” Dixon said.

Dixon’s research confirms what top-performing salespeople already know: for most buyers, risk almost always outweighs the reward. That’s why de-risking your solution is especially important, especially in an uncertain economy.

Uncertainty creates urgency – but not urgency to buy. Uncertainty creates an urgency to eliminate risk, batten down the hatches, and wait out the storm before making any big decisions. 

Particularly decisions that involve taking chances on something you aren’t currently using with money that’s still in the bank.

Failing to recognize, respect, and integrate the potentially serious consequences for buyers into your communication increases the chances that your prospect ultimately makes no decision. So, tackle it head-on.

2. Provide real insights that lead to your solution.

The trends driving the increasing number of no-decisions and growing buyer uncertainty aren’t likely to go away anytime soon. Even after this economic downturn ends, the economy is still adjusting to rapid societal changes, including increased virtual selling and an ever-growing number of solutions.

The result? Even more FOMU.

Dixon’s research shows that one of the most important tools salespeople can use to overcome this FOMU are insights that lead directly to the salesperson’s solution. Sellers need to make their case with research that shows how essential their solution is.

Make sure your champions have the data they need to convince buying committees that are progressively becoming larger and larger. In a tough economy, data-driven insights that make an objective case for your solution are even more important than usual. 

For example, if you’re selling a manufacturing analytics platform, you need to show how your solution has reduced machine downtime on other shop floors. If you can’t do that, all the follow-up emails and phone calls in the world won’t help. 

3. Know your buyer. Deeply. 

The reasons not to take chances in a challenging economy are endless. That’s why deep selling is so important in overcoming FOMU. 

“Customers fear the white paper they didn’t read,” Dixon said. “They fear the person in their LinkedIn network they didn’t ask for some advice – and that person would have revealed all the problems and pitfalls that they needed to know to be a smart consumer.”

That’s the FOMU talking. And when FOMU takes over, relationships created by deep selling give you the chance to tell your buyer what they really need to hear: there is no reason to be afraid. 

They’ve already found the solution they need. 

And remember Matt Dixon’s advice:

• Understand and respect the real risk your customers face if your solution doesn’t deliver.
• Be prepared to show insights and data that lead to your solution.
• Create a relationship with your customer that will help you guide them from FOMU to FOMO.