Lenny Distilled

The surprising truth about what closes deals: Insights from 2.5m sales conversations

May 30, 2024

Featuring: Matt Dixon (Author of The Challenger Sale and The JOLT Effect)

3 quotes · 1 insights

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Fear of failure blocks more deals than competition

We're losing most of your sales deals, not to competition, but to indecision. And that indecision stems from their fear of failure. Dialing up the FOMO backfires 87% of the time. They're not afraid of missing out, they're afraid of messing up.
Matt DixonAuthor of The Challenger Sale and The JOLT Effect 00:12
Anywhere between 40 and 60% of the average salesperson's qualified pipelines will be ultimately marked as closed loss, no decision.
Matt DixonAuthor of The Challenger Sale and The JOLT Effect 08:24

Matt Dixon defines FOMU as "fear of messing up" to contrast with the widely known FOMO (fear of missing out).

The FOMU actually matters more than the FOMO. The FOMU is the fear of messing up. If you are trying to scare your customer into action, you're using scare tactics, but you're trying to scare somebody who's already afraid. The problem is they're not afraid of the thing you think they're afraid of.
Matt DixonAuthor of The Challenger Sale and The JOLT Effect 16:44

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