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 is the Founder and President of Dancing Elephants Achievement Group, a sales training and consulting company. Will has over 20 years of sales and sales management experience and is the author of over 150 sales-related articles and programs as well as the co-author of the book, Six Secrets of Sales Magnets. Will can be reached at Will@dancingelephants.net.