You have nothing to fear

Try this one: Have you ever had a client who took days to reply to your email? How about a client who didn’t reply to a text message — ever? Didn’t your mind automatically conjure up the worst possible explanation?

How you respond to events like these can be very different based on what you believe. If you believe the worse, you may overreact. I’ve had salespeople leave me the worst messages when I’ve struggled to find time to return their calls. The worst response was “You haven’t returned my calls or emails, so I am going to assume you aren’t interested. I won’t try to contact you again.” In this salesperson’s mind, my inability to return his calls and emails meant I was avoiding him, that I wasn’t interested, etc. The reality was entirely different.

Believing your dream client is thinking about you at all has the ring of arrogance to it. Most of the time, you don’t even cross her mind. Instead of assuming the worst, step back, relax, assume your dream client’s plans were derailed and act accordingly.

Sign up for The Lead and get a new tip in your inbox every day! More tips:

• Get prospects to return your calls
• Have a tough-to-reach prospect?
• What are your prospects really saying?

S. Anthony Iannarino is the managing director of B2B Sales Coach & Consultancy, a boutique sales coaching and consulting company, and an adjunct faculty member at Capital University’s School of Management and Leadership. For more information, go http://thesalesblog.com/s-anthony-iannarino/