What Really Scares You? -- DeWese

Prospectoraphobia is the fear of all activities associated with developing new business. These salespeople are fine servicing existing accounts. They know the work. They know all the players at their accounts. They know the way back and forth from the plant to their customers' offices.

This phobia is rooted in the fear of the unknown. The prospectoraphobic salesperson doesn't know the accounts listed in his prospect database. This results in a lot of fear-inducing questions like, "What if they don't like me?" Or rationalizations like, "I'll bet they've already got a printer." Or, "This prospect probably doesn't even have any work that fits us."