Sales Interview Questions That You Should Know

Interview for a sales job can be challenging as you are not required to share your skills and qualification, you need to sell yourself. Sales interviews will require you to clearly display your sales skills and abilities through scenarios and anecdotes from your past working experience. Most importantly, be prepared for behavioral and situational interview questions as well.

 

1. What do you think is the most important, long-term clients or new clients?

Your response is entirely dependent upon the company you want to work for and what product or service you are selling. You will need to do some research beforehand, whether is selling disposable products or are the products are capable of lasting for a long time. Other considerations include whether the business is focused on high-quality sales or do they want customers to look at their products or services as an investment. How you formulate your response will depend entirely upon how well you understand the company you are interviewing for and the product they sell. 

 

2. What do you dislike about doing sales?

A tricky question that interviewers would likely ask to learn more about why are you in the sales field and whether you are still the right fit for the company. Respond to the question with honesty while making sure you don’t just turn it into your chance to address all the setbacks about the job. 

 

3. Describe a mistake that you have made in sales and what you have learned from it.

Interviewers ask you these questions because they would like to know how introspective you are and if you can learn from your past mistakes. A sales job is a position that involves constant growth, and if you are unwilling to make changes, this is not going to lead any developments in your role.

 

4. What are your opinions on collaboration with a sales team?

Hiring managers are looking to find out whether you can fit in and work well with others. While at work, you are mostly handling things on your own, you will still be expected to work together with your team members as well as your sales manager and the marketing team. 

 

5. How comfortable are you in managing cold calls?

Depending on the position and the company you might be working with, a part of your scope may focus more on your ability to conduct cold calls. While cold calls can be difficult as you are required to reach to new prospects in the hopes of selling your product or service, a competent salesperson is capable of turning cold calls into sales opportunities.

 

6. At what extent do you stop communicating with a potential prospect?

The interviewer is going to ask about how dedicated you are to the sales process and how you can gauge the limit. Sales are all into taking the borderline between being persistent and being desperate so that they know you recognise the differences. A persistent salesperson can potentially close a reluctant deal, whereas a desperate one can drive one away.

 

7. How do you manage rejections?

Sometimes it can be demotivating, but it’s a fact that is part of the sales job in dealing with rejection, and an employer wants to know how you manage those setbacks at work. Will you stay unmotivated or are you able to look at the situation as a motivational tool to push you to get it right for the next one? The hiring manager would certainly prefer to hire a salesperson who is always steadfast in moving forward and take those rejections as a lesson to learn from.

 

8. How do you keep yourself motivated at work?

The ideal candidate for a sales position is one who is constantly motivated to close deals and who has exceptional enthusiasm for the role. The best way to convey this is to talk about your work style and highlight the parts of the job that really inspire you to keep pushing to achieve success.

 

9. Why did you choose this company to work with?

The interviewer wants to know specifically what it is about their company that got your interest. Share your thoughts about how much you like what they make and display your enthusiasm for their products or services. You can expand your talks by touching on other aspects of the company that does not involve sales that you are interested in, which includes the company culture, activities or anything else that grasp interest in you. Try to include your past experiences that are relevant to the question and the position.

 

10. Why did you choose your career path to be in sales

While money is the first place you are interested in the role, being motivated by the money, and the compensation are your motivators to make you work extra hard to close those deals. Practice this question by asking yourself what is it about sales that you truly enjoy besides the money. Other reasons you can talk about include the career opportunities to meet new people, interesting challenges of solving problems for clients, travel, building relationships with clients and more.

 

What is your experience in a sales interview? Leave us your thoughts on the comment sections below. Head over to Jobstore.com and unveil your next job opportunity.

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