Have you ever called someone to schedule an appointment and their immediate response was "I'm not interested"? It's often a knee-jerk reaction that people have to salespeople, particularly telemarketers. You may have used it yourself when you got that pesky call that interrupted your dinner. But why are people using it with you when you call to schedule an appointment? And what can you do about it?

First and foremost, you have to understand that their reaction to you is nothing personal. The fact is that lots of salespeople have come before you and have done a poor job of selling. Maybe they used manipulative or high-pressure tactics. So now your prospect is more than a little suspect.

To get a different result from your call, you shouldn't act like a typical salesperson. Your goal should be to engage the individual and get to the truth. You start the process by looking at what you say when the prospect answers the phone. Do you ask for help or do you just bulldoze your way through? Do you use a positioning statement that is clear, articulate and focused on what is important to the prospect? Are you putting pressure on the prospect or are you open to have a real dialogue.

If you have done everything right, you still may get an "I'm not interested" response, but your chances are much greater that you won't. But if you do, your objective should still be to get to the truth. The only way to get to the truth is to ask the simple question, "Do you mind telling me why?"

If you ask in a nonconfrontational manner, you will often find that the "I'm not interested" is disguising another objection like, "I'm too busy", "Money's tight", or "I figured you were just another pushy salesperson". By engaging the prospect in an honest and open dialogue, you will discover the truth and increase your odds of moving forward and building a relationship.

Will Turner

Will Turner is the Founder and President of Dancing Elephants Achievement Group. Will has trained thousands of salespeople and business owners and authored over 100 articles on sales-related topics. He is also the creator of dozens of sale seminar programs, as well as the Sales Magnetism program which helps salespeople move beyond consultative selling to the next level of client relationships.

He is the co-author of Six Secrets of Sales Magnets. This book dispels some of the myths and common bad sales practices which keep salespeople stuck in Vendorville. It also highlights what is necessary to be in the top 5% of all salespeople. He shares how you can ATTRACT the right business and not act like a typical salesperson.

Will has over 20 years experience in sales and marketing. He has been in the trenches as a salesperson, as well as managed a national sales team and been responsible for developing and executing marketing and sales strategies.

The focus of his company, Dancing Elephants, is to get salespeople results. To that measure, his methods and approach have met with great success. In fact, his clients increase sales 56% on average in the first year or working with him.