What are you afraid of? The fear of losing a sale that has yet to be completed has prevented many salespeople from asking the questions that needed to be asked and doing what needed to be done to actually close the sale or discover that the opportunity didn't really measure up and then close the file.

When the selling process starts to drag on -- a prospect doesn't follow through with a commitment or otherwise stalls the process -- salespeople need to be assertive and address the issue with the prospect. Often, however, the fear of alienating the prospect and destroying any opportunity to close the sale prevents them from taking the requisite action.

You can't lose a sale you haven't completed. The only thing you risk by addressing the prospect's delaying tactics is uncovering the truth. And, if the truth is that you're not going to close the sale, isn't it better to know sooner rather than later?

What drives the fear of losing a sale you don't yet own? Psychologists say that one cause of such thinking is having a "scarcity" mentality. People with a scarcity mentality believe that there is not enough to go around; real opportunities are lacking; and you must seize every opportunity lest someone else will seize it. Can you see how such thinking would cause you to hang on to dubious opportunities longer than appropriate and avoid behavior that might reveal the true value of the opportunity?

Where does such thinking come from? Typically, from early childhood programming -- the messages you received from your parents and other authority figures from the time you began to walk until mom and dad sent you off to school. You may have been told to count your blessings. Not bad advice, unless it was followed by the admonition to do so, because they are few and far between. Were you told, a penny saved was a penny earned and money doesn't grow on trees? What was the real message behind those teachings? The word "hoarding" comes to mind. Isn't that what you are doing when you won't let go of a prospect who doesn't measure up?

Were you told that life is a contest or a struggle? The implication behind that message is that you are either a winner or a loser. If your actions are guided by that type of thinking, letting go of an opportunity, even a poor quality opportunity, means that you lose and someone else, perhaps your competitor, will win.

Another element that drives salespeople's fears and causes them to hang on to poor quality opportunities longer than they should is the realization that they will have to replace the prospect. Some salespeople will go to almost any length to avoid prospecting. For many, the perceived pain of prospecting is greater than the pain of hanging on to an opportunity that has stalled.

Pay me now or pay me later. Do you remember the old Fram Oil Filter commercial? The mechanic, dressed in grease stained overalls is standing in a junk yard next to a car with a burned out motor. He is holding a Fram oil filter and says, "You can pay me now, or you can pay me later." The message of the commercial was: you could pay the small price now -- getting your car's motor oil changed at the recommended intervals (and, of course, using a Fram oil filter) -- or you could pay the bigger price later -- having your car motor rebuilt due to the excessive wear caused by the lack of regular oil changes.

If you've been in the stalled sale situation, then you know that eventually the balance tips in the other direction and the real pain of prospecting is far less than the pain of continuing to pursue an opportunity that is going nowhere. So, you can pay the small price now -- prospecting -- to replace the poor quality prospect. Or, you can pay the big price later -- wasted time and energy, frustration, disappointment and, of course, no sale -- and still be left with the need to prospect.

Whether it's out of fear that there are no other good opportunities available (which, intellectually, you know isn't true), or the fear of prospecting to find one (which you'll have to eventually do anyway), can you think of any good reason to continue to pursue an opportunity that isn't moving forward? The next time you are in that situation, picture the mechanic holding the oil filter and remember his words, "You can pay me now, or you can pay me later."

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