interview questions and answers for sales positions

Sales job interviews can be notoriously challenging and the interview questions asked can be very difficult to answer for the uninitiated candidate. Sales professionals have a unique ability to pick up on minute changes in behavior and exploit them. The best applicants for a sales job are those that can adapt their answers and behaviors to what they know the interviewer is looking to hear,

Below you will find several common interview questions and tips for how to answer them effectively.

Dress appropriately. Plan your outfit at least the night before and make sure it is clean/pressed.

Turn OFF your cell phone (a lot of people forget this one).

Bring copies of your resume and references for the interviewer as well as a pad of paper and a pen. Be polite and friendly to EVERYONE that you meet because the hiring manager may ask for their opinion.

Look the interviewer in the eyes. Speak clearly. Smile. Try to use "confident" body language.

Stay calm and try to remember that an interview is a 2 way discussion. You're trying to find out of an employer is going to be good for you, just like they are trying to find out if you will be good for them.

Prepare some answers for the typical questions like "tell me about yourself" "what are your greatest strengths/weaknesses" "where do you see yourself in x years" (you can search for interview questions and answers and see what more of the typical questions are as well as the best ways to answer them)

Try to include specific examples of your relevant skills, experience, and abilities in your answers. Remember you're selling yourself so you want to point out things that are relevant to the company.

Stay positive. Try to frame everything in a positive way, even if it is/was horrible. Never speak badly of other people or past positions/companies. There is always something polite to say.

If you find yourself flustered, its ok to ask for a moment to think about the question... it is, afterall, a discussion and discussions have pauses and silence in them.

DO YOUR RESEARCH! Look into the company, their vision, the duties of the job, and the typical pay for a similar position in your area.

Ask questions at the end. You should prepare 5-10 questions (I prepare 8 in case some get answered) based on the research you have done.

Tell me about yourself. 

Most people have a hard time with this one. Start with some broad descriptions of yourself but it's safe to ask the sales recruiter if they would like to hear about you personally or professionally . If they want to know about your personally, you can speak of your proudest moment personally. You do not need to get into your family life. As sales recruiters, we're not allowed to ask you those kinds of questions.

What are your strengths? 

Be prepared to back up these strengths with evidence that shows these traits. Please take the time to consider your answer. Don't just throw out the standard answers. Be different and offer up examples from situations and perhaps other people's comments on your strengths. How do they relate to being a good sales person or sales manager.

What are your points that need improvement? 

I suggest that you focus this answer on sales. If patience is an issue, I hope that you have been working on it and can elaborate your efforts. I met a candidate who told me that English was her weakness and in the past and she attended university in English to conquer that weakness. Today she is perfectly bilingual. This was a big risk to take so bravo to her.

Tell me about an accomplishment that you are most proud of. 

Here is an opportunity to tell a brief story with an introduction, body and a conclusion. Talk about the challenge, how you worked around or solved the challenge and what you learned from it. Keep it brief and try not to use industry specific terms that your sales recruiter or customer might not know. You might lose your sales recruiter. This is your opportunity to show your sales skills.

What qualities are needed for a top producing sales rep or sales manager? 

Keep in mind that you may have answered the question about your strengths. Do your strengths match the answer you are about to give? Take time to reflect on the answer before answering. Are the qualities different from one industry to another? Of course they are. If you know the industry for which you are interviewing, it's a good idea to do some research and answer according to the industry and position.

Why do you want to leave your present sales position? 

Be honest. There is no wrong answer. Do not put your employer down, do not name names and do not be negative. There is always a way to put a positive spin on the search for a new sales position.

There are many other questions but I wanted to highlight a few today.

Another word of caution, do not bring up salary,vacation and benefits during your first interview with the employer. It is however customary to ask the sales recruiter.

Be positive, be enthusiastic, smile, look the interviewer in the eye and close for something. You are in sales after all. Ask about the next step and the timing.

The interview with the sales recruiter is no less important than that of the customer. Dress for success and do not be overly familiar immediately.

Source article: Siriuspersonnel.blogspot.com

List 150 of sales interview questions

• Tell me about yourself?
• How did you handle challenges?
• Customer asks for guidance. You give it. Customer makes decision. You suggest add-ons or improvements. Ring up the sale.
• Ability to handle rejection.
• What were your starting and final levels of compensation?
• Have you ever had difficulty working with a manager?
• How would you tackle the first 90 days?
• How would your past experience translate into success in this job?
• Tell me about a time when you helped resolve a dispute between others.
• What position do you prefer on a team working on a project?
• What has been your biggest professional disappointment?
• What are the most difficult decisions to make?
• Do you prefer to work independently or on a team?
• Do you have any questions?
• How would you break in a new territory for an employer?
• How many accounts do you like to handle at one time?
• When do you find silence to be useful in selling?
• What are the skills needed to be successful on the telephone?
• How detailed are the sales reports you prepare?
• Try to name three characteristics of a great salesman from your point of view.
• What features and benefits of your product will you present to your customer and why?
• If your task is to locate hundred potential customers on a new market and sell at least five products there, how will you proceed?
• What is your technique to close the deal?
• Do you know what is a cold call? If yes, what is from your point of view the primary intention of a cold call?
• Would you prefer to be paid purely on commission bases, or to receive some fix every month?
• Your worst performing sales executive has a personal crisis and needs significant time off – how would you support them?
• What are some specific examples of previous sales experiences? What would you do the same? What would you do differently?
• What is your understanding of this company’s sales cycle and how does it compare to what you’ve done in the past?
• What’s your process for making a sale in your current or most recent sales position, from getting the lead all the way through to closing the deal?
• How do you acquire new sales leads?
• Who are your major competitors and why?
• What business trends do you see developing in the market?
• What makes a successful sales person?
• How do you define a new customer’s needs and expectations?
• What kind of problems do you have to solve as a salesperson?
• How do you get a reading of people upon first meeting them?
• How do you approach understanding your customer’s needs?
• How do you establish rapport with a stranger on the telephone?
• Explain your role as a team member of a sales force.
• How do you deal with disagreements with others?
• How do you organize yourself for daily activities?
• What are your sales goals and how do your actual results compare to those goals?
• What new markets could we address and how would you suggest we develop these markets?
• How do you feel your experience would fit this sales job’s needs?
• Describe how you have leveraged your creativity to be successful in winning new customers.
• Describe a tough customer that you won over? How did you do it?
• How have you kept your spirits up in the face of rejection?
• If I worked with you would I consider you competitive? Why?
• How would you last boss describe you? Can I ask him or her?
• What kinds of sacrifices have you made to be successful? Explain.
• How many cold calls do you make in a typical day?
• What is your ratio of calls to closes?
• How do you close tough customers? Walk me through some examples.
• How do you develop relationships with tough customers?
• Are you given leads or do you develop your own leads?
• Describe some of your biggest prospecting successes?
• Tell me about a time when your persistence paid on in a sales setting.
• Do you follow a sales system? Please describe.
• Describe your past 3 managers. What did you like or dislike about them?
• How do you recover from making mistakes in front of customers? Provide examples?
• What is your sales target and how is it established?
• Describe a time your company did not deliver on its product or service and how you responded?
• Describe one or two of the most difficult challenges and/ or rejections you’ve faced in the past and how you responded?
• How many rejections do you take in a typical week?
• How do you move forward from a string of rejections?
• What would you say your one or two biggest failures or mistakes were? What did you learn from them?
• What are some of the challenges you see that are facing this industry?
• How would those with whom you work now, across all areas of the company, describe you and the work you do?
• Describe a time you led a group of people, the primary challenges you faced and how you handled them?
• What is the worst objection that you’ve ever had to handle? Talk us through how you tried to handle this objection?
• Where would you like to be in 3 years? 5 years?
• What made you choose to apply to Sales?
• What are key tasks for Sales?
• How to do each Sales position task/function?
• How to control each task/function of Sales? Etc
• What are top 3 skills for Sales?
• How to measure job performance of your position: Sales?
• What do you know about the position of your Sales position?
• Describe two or three major sales trends in this industry?
• What tertiary qualifications have you attained that related to Sales?
• What is the most recent skill you have learned that related to Sales?
• How will your greatest strength help you perform?
• What are you looking for in your next job?
• What can you do for this company?
• Are you overqualified for this job?
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• Who is the best Manager that you have ever worked for? What qualities did they possess that you have modelled to improve your ability to lead sales teams.
• How important is it that sales professionals are effectively managed?
• How do you manage egos within your sales team?
• What is the best example that you can give me that describes your management style?
• How much time do you spend developing new business?
• How do you target new accounts for prospecting?
• What kind of people do you like to sell to?
• What do you consider the most tough sale you have successfully land in your entire career, an why it was
• How many first appointments do you have each week?
• What do you like and dislike about your sales process and why?
• What do you like and dislike about the products or services you’re selling now and why?
• What attracts you to the industry?
• What are your favorite selling books?
• What type of sales cycle is most rewarding to you?
• As a sales professional, what do you see as your primary and secondary roles within a company?
• In your current position, how much time would you say you spend directly with prospects and customers throughout the sales day and what specifically do you do with them?
• Describe a situation with a client or prospect where you made a mistake. How did you handle the error?
• Describe a couple of instances, big or small, where you took a different tack in achieving an objective than was the company standard?
• How do you turn a buyer into a regular customer?
• Why do people buy a product or service from you?
• Describe the best and worst manager you’ve ever had.
• How do you deal with angry and upset customers?
• How much time do you spend on the different parts of your job?
• What have you learned from the different sales jobs you’ve had?
• Can you tell me how your ability to sell helped you in your personal life.
• How do you ensure that you will meet your sales targets every month?
• Do you have any idol in life, when we speak about selling?
• What do you consider as your biggest difficulty in selling?
• What have you learned from your past jobs that related to Sales?
• What will you do if you don’t get this position?
• What is your preferred technique to handle objections?
• How do you ensure that your sales targets are exceeded each month?
• What is your favourite closing technique?
• How do you pick yourself up after losing a potentially large order?
• How do you create a sense of urgency to speed up the sales process?
• What is the largest account that you have lost and talk me through the stages?
• What is the most difficult piece of business that you have ever won?
• Have you ever walked away from a sale and why?
• What do you consider to be the single most important sales skill?
• What does effective Sales Management mean to you?
• What personal qualities should a Sales Manager possess?
• What are the personal qualities that you possess to make you a successful Sales Manager?
• What is more important ‘managing’ or ‘leading’?
• Talk me through the most difficult employee that you have ever had to ‘lead’?
• What is the biggest learning curve that you have worked through in your path to becoming a successful Sales Manager?
• What was the biggest accomplishment in this position?
• What did you like or dislike about your previous job?
• What have you learned from your mistakes?
• Why did you leave your last job?
• What are your career goals for Sales?
• What is your greatest weakness?
• What kind of salary are you looking for Sales?
• Why do you think you would do well Sales?
• Describe a time where a creative approach to meeting an objective didn’t work and what you did next?
• What sales skills do you think are most important to having success in sales?
• What are your top three open-ended questions for initial sales calls?
• In your current sales environment, describe the process you go through to qualify your prospects?
• What is the largest group you’ve presented to (externally/ internally)?
• What do you like and dislike about presentations and why?
• What do you see as the key issues in negotiating?
• What do you see as the key skills in closing?
• How would your present prospects and customers describe you as their sales representative?
• What motivates you to do your best on the Sales?
• How would you know you were successful on this Sales?
• Do you think you are overqualified for Sales?
• What do you think are the most important skills in succeeding in sales?
• Sell me this pen?

So how did you get on? How confident would you feel answering? For a whole range of sales interview questions each with winning answers for you.