Inhibited Social Contact Initiation Syndrome (ISCIS) is an aggregation of emotion-based escape and avoidance behaviors particularly associated with the act of initiating first social contact. It was originally postulated by Dudley and Goodson in the 1970's and is distinguishable from broader concepts such as social anxiety by the type, degree, onset and limited specific nature of the symptoms. ISCIS symptoms are provoked only by behaviors associated with meeting new people and subside or cease altogether once first contact has been successfully established. It can be observed across contact-dependent life and work settings such as business, government, academics, fundraising, dating and other settings where an individual's likelihood of moving closer to self-selected goals is directly linked to the frequency, quantity and quality of new social contacts.

When ISCIS limits the contact initiation behaviors of direct salespeople, called "sales prospecting," it is termed "sales call reluctance®." Although sales environments can and usually do differ radically from setting to setting, success in sales invariably requires the generation of new business, ultimately measured by increased revenue. Thus, contact initiation with prospective buyers is a core competency for salespeople, and failure to "prospect" consistently for new business is the most frequently cited reason for poor sales performance. Neural network studies, using only call reluctance measures and unambiguous (objective) outcome measures such as dollars of commissions actually earned, have shown that contact initiation with prospective buyers, or the lack thereof, can predict high and low sales producers with up to 73% accuracy. So far, 12 distinct forms of sales call reluctance® have been identified.

Contact initiation with prospective buyers is necessary but not sufficient for success in sales. Other factors become equally if not more important once first contact has been made. However, contact initiation comes first. Initiating contact with prospective buyers on a consistent basis must occur before sales can be made, regardless of product sold, sales training provided, production incentives, sales supports or market conditions.