In the early 90’s Microsoft was facing fierce competition in the operating system (OS) market. Included among the gathering storm of competition was a company called Digital Research, which released a product called DR-DOS 6.0 into the operating system space. This system came with some fantastic built in features and allowed users to do interesting things which were considered ahead of the curve at that time.
Microsoft sensed a threat. Customers now had other viable options in the OS space.
As Microsoft weighed all of their options, one thing they acted on quickly was an organized effort to make the public nervous about using competitor products. Management employed tactics based on a well-worn sales style called F.U.D. – an approach centered around stoking a sales prospects’ Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt.
They implemented F.U.D. by coding their operating software to show a “non-fatal error” message to anyone who used DR-DOS on Windows 3.0. The idea was that users would think that something was wrong with their system and that doubt would give the Microsoft sales team an edge they could exploit.
Their fear-mongering worked and, based on court documents, we can see that it came from the very top of the organization. In an internal memo Bill Gates wrote “You never sent me a response on the question of what things an app would do that would make it run with MSDOS and not run with DR-DOS. Is there a feature they have that might get in our way?” SVP Brad Silverberg replied, “What the [user] is supposed to do is feel uncomfortable, and when he has bugs, suspect that the problem is DR-DOS and then go out to buy MS-DOS.”
Ultimately, Microsoft’s less-than-honest approach was exposed and they had to pay just under $300 million in settlement fees to Digital Research.
More modern examples of F.U.D. normally go like this: “Buy our software so you don’t end up like Target and have 70 million of your users’ data hacked.” Or, “You can go with them because their price is lower, but their customers have experienced significant data loss.” It may be effective in the cyber world, but outside of the computer and data security industries, examples of F.U.D. are often plagued with horror stories like the one above from Microsoft.
This has given F.U.D. an unnecessarily soiled name. The sales principles espoused within F.U.D. have merit, and they don’t have to be associated with underhanded selling or dishonest claims.
All that is really needed is a renewed approach to F.U.D. in a way that aligns with the unique sales challenges of 2019 and dispenses with things that erode prospect trust.
Fear is Inherent (You Don’t Have to Create It)
When sales pros think of using fear to their advantage in their outreach efforts, one of the first thoughts to pop up is something akin to smear campaigns in politics. This is misguided. You don’t have to create fear in a prospects’ minds by bashing a competitor, making a fake error message, or using a slippery slope argument. Fear is already present in every single prospect.
Commonly, fear shows up in more traditional ways, such as concerns over losing market share or being last to adopt a new technology. If you’re sales prospects work for cloud-based storage firms, for example, referencing ways in which you can help them compete against Amazon Web Services (AWS) — probably one of their top priorities — is going to resonate.
As an example, one email in your sales outreach cadence might read something like this:
“Hi (Prospect), I noticed you’re fighting off a near monopoly in your space from AWS, and LinkedIn shows that your finance team has grown over 12% so far his year alone. I’d love to introduce you to how we are helping finance departments like yours automate and consolidate the approvals process. The time saved could be used to fight back against the evil empire.” (pop culture reference not needed).
The prospects’ fear of competing with the market leader are not played on here, they are simply acknowledged. Crafting messages in this way avoids the unethical and nefarious parts of F.U.D., while offering an approach made for prospects in 2019.
Another point worth emphasizing right here – you’re going to have to work to personalize prospect pain. The cloud-storage company in the example above could be going after different verticals than AWS and their real top competitor is HP’s Nimble or PureStorage.
A recent study that analyzed data from over 100,000 sales prospecting cold calls showed that referencing companies who you work with that are not similar in size to the prospects’ company leads to a 22% lower close rate. Referencing Microsoft as a customer may make startups feel like you target a different type of company. Imagine what referencing the wrong pain points or misguided (assumed) concerns to a sales prospect will do to your close rates.
Uncertainty and Doubt Should be Resolved vs Manufactured
Sales is essentially the transference of certainty. In sales development efforts, it’s wise to assume that every prospect you speak with on the phone is uncertain of whether they want to meet with you. In fact, they’re often uncertain as to whether they want to even give you 30 seconds to speak before… CLICK.
Your opening on a cold sales call is crucial.
Within the first 10-20 seconds, sales development pros must establish rapport and quickly move to show value. One effective way to do this is by first asking if a prospect has a moment to talk. By asking this in a certain way, using a consultative tone, you’re showing you respect their time and acknowledge that you’re calling them out of the blue. When they give you the “OK”, you’re now clear to initiate a discussion with them without getting immediately shut down.
At this stage, your best move is to establish credibility. This can also be seen as the dissolution of doubt. Your prospect may not have heard of your company and they’re uncertain as to whether or not you can help them in the least. Mentioning some well-known names you’re working with right away, before going into a discussion of your products and services, can go a long way towards building credibility.
Remember, you just called this person out of the blue, so chances are they aren’t investing 100% of their attention in you initially. You need to catch them with key words and give some sort of assurance that this discussion is worth a little time.
Get Really Personal
Finally, instead of giving a generic elevator pitch for every sales prospect, tailor your messaging. This article from Salesfolk details just how much of a disaster sloppy copy or poorly targeted email messaging can be to your sales outreach efforts.
As a sales professional, you must engage prospects by detailing what problem of theirs your product or service explicitly solves. If you can’t do that, you don’t know enough about your target prospects and the things that keep them up at night. Use small research tricks such as scanning their LinkedIn profiles to gather keywords which align with your solution and use them in your conversation. You’ll be capturing their attention and making them more certain that you are worth their time (remember: remove uncertainty and doubt, don’t manufacture it).
If they believe that you respect their time, that you’re working with some well-known businesses, and they can tell you’ve done your research, your chances of sales success go way up.
Lead with Integrity
When you’re thinking about sales development strategies, consider this renewed approach to implementing F.U.D. principles. Sales can, and should, be about helping prospects get what they want and need, not tricking them into a sale by creating false pretenses. Nobody wins when that’s the approach – and success will be extremely fleeting.
Choose a higher path as a competent, confident sales professional. You’ll experience longer-lasting success and your company will be better off for it in the long run.
