FOMO is the Enemy of Sales

What’s the real cost of business FOMO? It’s more than just a fear of missing out; it’s a destructive habit that wastes time, damages your brand, and burns out your team by trying to be everything to everyone.

In this episode, Benjamin shares a candid story about a former workplace where a "say yes to everything" culture led to manic unsustainability. From there, we unpack why being selective isn't just good for well-being - it's the secret to a 92% proposal win rate.

Too often, we chase every opportunity, responding to every RFP in the belief that more activity equals more success. The truth is, this scatters your energy, dilutes your brand, and leads to countless wasted hours on work you were never going to win, damaging your reputation in the process.

At Showing Up, we believe that saying "no" is a superpower. We are meticulous about only taking on work where we know we can be the best partner for a client. That clarity and focus make all the difference.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• The hidden costs of business FOMO and a "say yes" culture.
• How to use the discovery phase to know when to walk away.
• Why being selective leads to a higher win rate and better client relationships.
• The crucial link between a clear brand and team well-being.
  
  

Exercise

Look back at the last ten proposals you submitted. How many was your company truly the best fit for? Now, calculate the hours spent on the proposals you were never going to win. What could you have done with that time instead?

Links & Resources

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What is Showing Up: Very Good Sales?

A weekly micro-lesson for B2B sales teams. In each 5–10 minute episode, we share one practical idea, model or strategy for how you become brilliant at growing sales with integrity. All focused on building trust and delivering real value to your clients. Find more learning at https://www.showinguplearning.com/

Benjamin: 00:11

Welcome everybody. It's really great to have you with us. I'm your host, Benjamin Weston. And you'll listen to Very Good Sales, the podcast brought to you by Showing Up. We design sales training that enables people to see that their potential reaches far beyond what they might imagine, building the traits, the behaviors, and the skills that customers trust and value most, so you can grow sales with great integrity.

Benjamin: 00:32

Head over to showinguplearning.com to learn more, and there you'll also be able to access some free training. And now, let's get into this week's micro lesson. I can never quite remember when I first heard the term FOMO or was it FOMO? Never quite sure, the fear of missing out. But I found it hilarious when I did.

Benjamin: 00:48

And it's something we see a lot in sales. For example, I once worked for a end development business to add a serious case of FOMO. And it cost them an everywhere manageable brand reputation, ability to win work and status of all team well-being. Their website tried to be everything to everyone. Their proposals, they responded to all of them.

Benjamin: 01:05

At one point a colleague joked we were going be offering roofing services soon. And that's exactly how it felt. I was in sales at the time and it was manic and unsustainable. But for the proposals that came in, they would win about 30% of them. Now some people think that's not bad, the market average depends on which data point you look at, it's about 38%.

Benjamin: 01:23

But we will dinosaurs that you could be winning so much more than that. In fact we consistently support our clients to win 80 even over 90% of proposals. And here's one example. There was a loan development business that runs programs into ours around leadership And their win rate was around 40%. And over the next two years after work with them they got it to 92%.

Benjamin: 01:46

But the proposal they went for they won 92%. And we don't say that vitriolically, and not because they are perfect or we are perfect, no company is. If listen you back to episode two you will hear me talk about that. The reason is much simpler. We know how much work it takes to write a proposal.

Benjamin: 02:01

And of course that company cared about the work that they do. They want to work with clients where they really think they can do the best job. And lots of companies want a different type of trend to what they do and that's totally fine. Every company has their philosophy and methodology. So what we work with them on, what we work with our customers on, is to run a meticulous discovery phase.

Benjamin: 02:18

Where you ask yourself, are you the right fit for them? Are they the right fit for you as a company? And that's how great collaborations work. So by time you've had one or two really great discovery meetings, you will only move forward with proposals where you really believe that you're going to be a great fit and where you can win the work. That will save you so much pain and so much wasted time.

Benjamin: 02:38

Time that can instead be spent doing wonderful things in your life. And it not only makes life more productive, but far more joyful. Back at that learning business though, I did some analysis. Of the last 12 proposals the leadership team asked us to write, I felt we should have better gone for six. And of those six, I think there was four that I really thought that they could definitely win.

Benjamin: 03:00

And we did win those four. And we wanted the one of the other twos I was on the fence about, but the others were a complete waste of time. And here's the bigger problem, not only was there the lost time and the wasted energy, the company had reached a point where deals less than £20,000 weren't really worth their effort because it took almost as much time to deliver that than far bigger deals. So they started over pricing. A client of theirs, a loyal customer, expected proposal, they were saying probably about $10.

Benjamin: 03:25

But at least she insisted it was a £24,000 quote. And there I was, trying to set up integrity when I didn't want to because I knew that we'd be ripping off which we would have been. And so what we should have done is thanked for the opportunity, explained honestly why we weren't the right fit and walked away with the reputation intact. Instead what happened is they got really offended and really annoyed and it really harmed the reputation. And I have to say that I had to do that business for due to personal reasons but I wouldn't have lasted much longer unless that changed.

Benjamin: 03:51

And that's what Fomo does. Trying to be everything to everybody doesn't just waste your energy, it can damage your brand. So here's the exercise today. Look back at the last 10 pieces of work or whatever is a good number for you that you went for. Write down which of those you honestly believe that your company was the very best fit for.

Benjamin: 04:10

Including was it in the budget? Was it in your real skills and expertise? Then write down the amount of hours you spent on that work that you didn't win. That when you look back you are probably never going to win. Ask yourself what could we have done instead with that time?

Benjamin: 04:26

And finally take a hard look at your brand. Is it clear? Does it show exactly why someone should buy from you and why they shouldn't? Or does it look like a FOMO brand Trying to be everything to everyone. Remember FOMO not only creates an unclear brand, it creates a lot of wasted effort, probably a lot of stress and a lot of brand risk.

Benjamin: 04:55

And that's it for today. Thank you so much for listening to Very Good Sales brought to you by Showing Up. And I hope today's micro lesson gave you something of great value. If you'd like to go deeper, head over to showinguplearning.com. That's showinguplearning.com.

Benjamin: 05:08

You can get free access to experience our video learning platform built for anybody that wants to be brilliant at selling. Whether you're learning solo as a team, every module is practical, scenario based, and designed to help you build trust, bring value, and grow sales of integrity. And what's cool is, for every person that becomes a member of our video platform, we fund a free scholarship to a young person facing social barriers to enter the workplace. By So investing in yourself, you're also giving someone else the first step into the workplace. Visit showinguplearning.com to get started.

Benjamin: 05:38

Thanks again for listening. Good luck out there. Take care and see you next time.