"What, me worry?" Alfred E. Neuman

Every day I work with people developing new business opportunities. From new ideas fighting for an investor's attention to a product being placed with a new customer, it's about communication, persuasion, decision-making, and risk assessments. It's sales.
And in every case, the sale takes too long.
The waiting is bad, but the worst part is when the prospect isn't responding. I think it's because our minds sprint ahead to the worst case scenario. Like when my lovely bride is running late and there hasn't been any communication. As the hours tick by, the brain comes up with some fantastic scenarios, and they are always bad. (I've never thought, "She probably won the lottery and is conferring with our accountant before surprising me with the news.) It's not productive and a terrible outcome is rare. I'm guessing some scientist has figured out it's leftover from the primitive part of our brains to
I don't have any clever techniques or tactics to work around this tendency. It's part of being human from what I can tell. What I do know is if we've done a good job describing an outcome the other party wants, they will follow up with you. Eventually.
Don't let your brain get you down. Talk to more people while you wait for the first ones to get back to you.
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