What is the fear that people have in talking to a stranger

I recently attended a local business seminar aimed at growing your company and the one issue that seemed at the front of everyone’s minds was how you find new customers. It seemed that most people were fairly comfortable  with meeting prospects face to face providing that someone had introduced them first.

In some cases people were going to extraordinary lengths in searching for a magic solution that would deliver them leads without having to contact a prospect “cold”. I spoke to one person who was paying thousands of pounds per month in Google pay per click. He had acquired no new clients in the previous 12 months. I spoke to another, a senior partner in a firm of solicitors, who proudly spoke of his one hour spent every day on tweeting. He had been doing this for over 12 months. When I asked him how many sales he could attribute to that investment of time (and at £280 per hour billing fee that was an investment approaching £50,000) he admitted that he hadn’t had a single new client but he was sure that he would do one day soon.

It made me wonder what is the fear that people have in talking to a stranger ?