A short YouTube talk by Jason M. Lemkin about handling FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) in competitive sales situations. Lemkin frames the problem—competitors spreading half-truths or outdated claims that scare prospects—and signals forthcoming advice on how sales leaders (VPs of Sales) and teams (sales engineers, support) should respond to reclaim deals.
It's a related point, but it's how do you deal with FUD in the market? What is fud? Fear, uncertainty and doubt. When your competitors say things that are lies, that are half true, that used to be true but are no longer true because you've closed that feature gap, you've fixed that security hole, you don't go down any longer, how do you deal with that? Because FUD is so stressful and annoying. When you think you're going to close this big prospect and the competition says something about you that's not true and the prospect believes it. Boy, it's frustrating because you've done all the other things right to win the deal. You've been ethical, you've told the truth, and they're saying some half truth that scares the prospect. There's no perfect answers to this, but I love to hear how a VP of sales that wants to win deals with fud. And you'll learn how she thinks in her head and you'll learn if she can compete again, if she can compete or win. Next one is how do you work with sales engineers and support.
