“You will become less concerned with what other people think of you when you realize how seldom they do.” David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest

Last night I finished reading Mindwise by Nicholas Epley which features this quote from Infinite Jest as a chapter heading (I read Wallace’s book last year and must have missed that one – it’s over 1,000 pages long so be warned).

When we work with both professional services people and full-time sales people, we observe an “internal” explanation for prospects ignoring voice-mails and emails. The belief that the prospect has no regard for the sales person can damage confidence with the result that we often see of reduced prospecting activity and displacement activity.

For sure, there are occasions when the prospect would rather you went away and can’t bring themselves to say so. The more likely explanation is that they are so remorselessly busy that they either forgot or failed to even notice your contact. Persist – there is a chance they will even thank you for it.