Part 3: Fear in sales: removing the final barrier

Why fear in sales is the final deal breaker

In Part 1 and Part 2 in this article series, we explored how Gap Selling and Challenger Sales can be used to overcome two of the three biggest reasons why deals stall: lack of motivation to change and not being perceived as the right fit.

In this article about fear in B2B sales, we turn our eyes to the last frontier: the fear of messing up. Even with strong motivation and clear fit, sales deals can stall and this part is rarely logical. It is emotional.

Prospects will stall a deal based on the fear of making the wrong decision and the fear of personal consequences that might outweigh the potential upside.

So how do the top B2B sales reps overcome fear in the sales process?

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Understanding loss aversion

In Thinking, Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman introduces “Loss Aversion” - a term in behavioural economics that explains why losses are felt more strongly than gains. 

The brain attributes double the emotional impact of perceived loss versus perceived gain, even when the business case is very compelling.

This means that the sales representative must build a very positive narrative and minimise the perceived risk as much as possible to ultimately win over the status quo. 

We prefer the devil we know and desperately want to protect our reputation and not be blamed for bad decisions. 

This is why rational arguments alone are insufficient at late stages.

Omission bias and the status quo

Buyers tend to favour inaction over action. Doing nothing feels safer than making a visible decision that could go wrong. 

This explains why the status quo continues to win a 58% share of deals. This is because fear is rarely about the business alone - It is about personal exposure:

• What happens if this fails?
• Who is accountable?
• How will this reflect internally?

The perceived risk to the prospect’s identity often drives hesitation more than financial risk.

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Why pushing creates resistance

When sales reps sense hesitation, their instinct is often to reinforce urgency by highlighting the risks of not acting. 

However, this often has the opposite effect as fear paralyses and loading negativity into the conversation activates a “freeze or flight” reaction for the prospect.

Instead, top sales reps want to engage the “fight” response - and that response is driven from positivity. But in order to ensure calmness and positivity, you must first allow the prospect to voice their fears. 

The Jolt Effect is that your probability of winning increases 2.3x if you let the prospect voice their fears. In Never Split The Difference by Chris Voss, he stages that labeling fears neutralises them. So the difference between average and top reps is that top reps put fears on the table with the Triple E Framework.

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The Triple E framework

The Triple E framework is an approach to expose, explore and ease fears in your sales conversations so you can ensure that your conversion rates increase.

Expose

Bring concerns into the open by shining a light on them and normalising them. One way of doing this could be to ask:

 “What concerns do you have about this change? The reason I ask is that others are concerned about…”

Explore

Understand the underlying fear by labelling and reflecting about the fears. This will make it easier for the prospect to share their fears and feel understood. As they feel understood, they trust you more and feel as if you are playing on the same team. As you explore the fears and label them, you engage the rational part of the brain.

“To me, it sounds like you’re got a lot going on and might be worried you’re stretched a bit too thin?”

Ease

Reduce uncertainty by bringing back a positive solution that provides clarity and control.

“Would it help to walk through a typical implementation plan to see if it works to your end?”

The Triple E Framework is a sequence that transforms fear from an invisible barrier into a manageable conversation. In summary, the top sales reps are able to imagine the concerns then expose, explore and ease them.

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How do you revive a prospect that ghosted you?

Every sales rep knows what it means to be ghosted by a prospect. A great way of reviving a stalled deal is to rely more on emotional tools of influence rather than logical ones. Below are a few examples of how this can be done:

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1. “Have I lost you on [topic] / have you given up?” 

This speaks to their guilt of leaving you hanging.

2. “You mentioned last time that it was interesting to …”

This speaks to the consistency bias.

3. “I assume this isn’t relevant anymore…”

This speaks to loss aversio

4. “No worries if this isn’t the right fit”

It can work great to not be pushy and needy, but rather pull back. When you give people free will, they comply more. When you step back, they step forward.

Try implementing these principles your own way and see if you can’t revive a ghost!

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Summary of the 3 big deal killers

In Part 1, Part 2 and this article, we have explored how to overcome the 3 big deal killers: motivation, fit and fear.

When you do outbound sales and try to improve your company’s b2b sales approach, making the prospect feel confident is key. This is done by contrasting their current state with their desired state, challenging their root causes and voicing fears.