Interviewing for a sales position is one of the most challenging interview processes as there are a lot of expectations from a salesperson. In this blog, we’ll talk about the top sales interview questions that will help you prepare for your upcoming interviews. Your goal is to sell yourself to the recruiting managers by showcasing your sales skills.
During the sales interview, you should be able to demonstrate that you’re a good fit for the job. Talk about your previous sales experience and give examples of sales strategies as well. To enhance your skills and prepare yourself for the interview, you can take up a Sales and BD Interview course and learn more about the concept before your upcoming interview.
The following sales interview questions will help you gain a better understanding of the process and the kind of questions you can expect. Also, you can look for the Sales Manager Salary to understand if the job role is for you.
Let’s get started!
Also Read: Top 10 Sales Skills Every Salesperson Must Master
Top Sales Interview Questions
1. What makes you a good sales representative?
Your answer will give the recruiter a sense of attributes you think are most important in a salesperson. Your response will reflect what the employer is looking for in a candidate.
Successful salespeople have a certain set of personality traits that enable them to succeed due to the nature of their work. Here are a few qualities of salespeople that you can talk about by giving examples from your own experience:
- Salespeople are competitive. They live and breathe selling.
- They are active listeners. They listen to the problems of the customers and provide them with solutions.
- The best salespeople are resilient and can accept rejection without dispairing.
- They are confident and make prospects feel comfortable.
- Salespeople are empathetic and get inside the prospect’s skin to understand their needs.
2. Why did you apply for this position?
Through this question, employers want to determine if you are truly passionate about sales or just looking for a handsome salary package. They want to make sure that your understanding of the sales function corresponds to the position you are applying for. Explain why you want to work in sales and what it means to you. Also, make it clear why you are specifically interested in working with their company. Consider when your interest in sales first sparked. Then, using that information, provide the recruiter with useful anecdotes. To demonstrate your enthusiasm for sales, use real-life examples. You could be tempted to spend the interview focused on how this employment will help you achieve your objectives. Instead, focus on how you will be able to contribute to the company’s goals.
3. What do you not like about sales?
Be honest in your response and use this opportunity to talk about something that you don’t like about sales. Each job has positives and negatives, but you want to make sure that the positives demonstrate why you apply for this position to the hiring manager. Your interviewer is interested in learning more about you, but they aren’t interested in hearing a laundry list of things you dislike about your job. So, be honest but choose your words wisely. In the end, go into detail about what you enjoy about sales and what motivates you. After all, you have to justify to the interviewer how the positives outweigh the negatives.
Also Read: Sales vs Marketing: Key Differences and Comparison
4. How do you close your biggest sale?
When it comes to closing your biggest sale, the recruiter wants to know if you have a strategy in place. Keep in mind that your response should highlight your finest qualities as a salesperson. While you want to utilize this response to demonstrate that you’re a good sales candidate, don’t boast, as that can make you look irrelevant. Rather, you can talk about the importance of building relationships with the customers and how crucial that is in order to close the deal. You can also use the STAR approach to answer this question.
Situation: Describe the situation.
Task: Explain the task and the objective.
Action: Details about the action you took.
Result: Details about the result of your action.
5. Sell me this pen.
This is a classic sales interview question asked by interviewers to assess your ability to sell under pressure. Through this question, interviewers want to see how well you demonstrate your sales skills and tactics. Although knowing technical information like the ink type and colour is beneficial to a salesperson selling a pen, it is only a minor part of the selling process. You should concentrate more on how the pen may assist someone and their individual requirements.
Here are a few tips for answering this question:
- Start by asking a question about their experience with pens.
- Try to understand the expectations of the prospect from the pen.
- Don’t just focus on the features of the pen.
- Close by asking the prospect to buy the pen.
6. Please describe your expectations of working in this position.
This question is frequently asked by interviewers to determine what the interviewee thinks about the firm and whether their expectations are in line with the company. The interviewer is interested in learning about your expectations for the organization and the job role because candidates may have a different image of the organization in their minds than what the company actually is. If you have any prior experience with a similar job role, incorporate that by giving real-life examples. You can also establish how your existing skills will help you in this job. Be clear and precise with your expectations, but never talk about unrealistic expectations that the company cannot meet.
7. At what point do you stop working with a potential client?
A hiring manager will want to know how committed you are to the sales process, as well as how well you know when enough is enough. The interviewer wants to make sure you understand the difference between being persistent and being pushy when it comes to sales. A persistent salesperson can occasionally assist a reluctant buyer close a deal, while an aggressive one can drive one away.
Here are a few signs that it’s time for you to stop chasing prospects:
- If the lead does not need your product or service, or your product does not solve their problems.
- If the lead is unwilling to answer your questions openly.
- If the prospect is not interested in continuing the conversation even after you have established that you have the solution to their problems.
- If the lead does not have the financial means to buy your products/services.
8. How do you stay abreast of your target audience?
You should talk about the books, newsletters, courses, blogs, and other resources that you frequently consume to understand your target audience and to stay on top of the industry. Continue by discussing how much time you devote to learning each week or month.
9. How can you establish a long-lasting relationship with a prospect?
Closing deals isn’t about forcing or pressuring a potential client into signing a contract; in fact, it’s the complete opposite of that. You’ll need emotional intelligence to establish a level of trust with the prospect so that at the end of the phone call or demonstration, they’ll feel comfortable asking you questions and going on to the next stage.
You can start answering this question by highlighting the importance of a long-lasting relationship with the prospect. Then, you can share the approaches you use to develop trust between you and the prospect. Talk about how you stay in touch with the customers even after the transaction is over and respond to their concerns.
10. What are your favourite questions to ask prospects?
Good salespeople believe in asking the right questions more than pitching about the features of the product or service. Open-ended questions help sales representatives comprehend the needs of the prospects.
Here are some questions to ask the prospects:
- What criteria are you using to make your purchasing decision?
- Do you have a budget in mind?
- Is there anyone else involved in the buying process?
- What are the problems you’re having? What solutions have you implemented to tackle these problems?
- What pain points do you still experience despite the solutions you have?
11. What is your definition of an ideal workplace environment?
Your response to this question can help you uncover the expectations you have about the workload, the team, the office atmosphere, and even the way tasks are planned and delegated. While there’s no one-size-fits-all answer to this question, you can talk about the importance of upskilling in sales and team building rather than focusing just on individual goals.
12. How important is learning for sales professionals?
In today’s highly competitive business world, having any advantage over the competition is useful. A good sales team is one of the most critical tools a company can have to ensure that it stays one step ahead of the competition. It is critical that the organization invests appropriately in upskilling and training. A well-trained sales team can open up new doors for a firm, resulting in significant profits. Simply put, in a sales team, learning is critical. It allows you to develop your skill sets and learn new methods and technologies, which you can then be passed on to your customers. It has the potential to transform your team into trusted security advisors for your clients, resulting in the best possible customer experiences.
13. What role can social media play in the selling process?
In today’s world, social media plays a crucial role in the sales process. Customers currently rely on consumer feedback and the availability of product information on the internet. It also aids in segmenting customers and reaching out to potential customers regardless of where they are located. It opens up a larger market and helps to increase sales. Salespeople can utilize social media to add value to prospects by answering open-ended inquiries, replying to comments, and sharing content at all stages of the buying process, from awareness to consideration to purchase. Even after the sale, social media networks are a terrific method to keep in touch with your customer.
14. Pitch our company to me.
Through this question, the recruiter wants to know whether you did your homework on their company, and they want to assess your communication skills when it comes to selling something. It is your chance to showcase that you can talk about the business in a way that makes sense by highlighting the value and avoiding buzzwords. Make sure you talk about the problem of the target customers of the company and how the company solves it. Keep the pitch clear and concise.
15. Describe a situation where you received criticism from your manager? How did you respond to it?
This question allows you to showcase your willingness to consider others’ opinions, learn from their feedback, and humbly improve your work as needed. You can answer this question by explaining a situation when you improved your performance as a result of constructive criticism. Talk about how you listened and made changes when your manager criticized your work. It can also be relevant to talk about a period when your work was unfairly criticized and how you handled the situation without making anyone appear terrible. Simply put, you should emphasize your ability to deal with criticism in a calm, cool, and collected manner.
While answering this question, do not say that you have never been criticized at work because you may come across as arrogant, and this may sound as if you’re bragging.
16. Provide an example of a team disagreement you had with your team. How do you deal with conflict?
Having conflicts is not a bad thing; not being able to resolve those conflicts is. To properly respond to this question, assure the interviewer that you are a good listener who can accept conflicting viewpoints without being offended. You could also stress the importance of resolving conflicts in a private setting.
17. In what ways do you build rapport with customers?
This question is asked by the interviewer to see if you already have a reliable sales strategy for establishing rapport with the prospects. Explain how you develop relationships with potential customers by engaging in personalized, distinctive, and relevant dialogue. You want the interviewer to know that you understand the importance of providing good customer experiences and that you can do so in a professional and respectful manner. Also, you can talk about the fact that every customer is different. Building relationships with a varied range of customers is all about how actively you listen to their problems and requirements.
18. Do you consider yourself a team player?
Team players can achieve their own objectives while also encouraging and supporting others around them. Recruiters want to hire people who will improve the team’s morale rather than damage it. This question is intended to determine how well you’ll collaborate with and around others in the workplace. Assure the interviewer that you can operate well both in a group and alone. You want them to know that you’re willing to operate as part of a team but not unduly reliant on their assistance. You can also bring up favourable former team project experiences to support your response to this question.
19. What do you do when sales are down?
Not every month will be lucrative when it comes to sales. Through this question, the recruiter wants to know how you identify and approach this problem when it arises. You have to show the recruiter how you can come up with better strategies when the sales go down, rather than getting worked up. When sales drop, you can take a step back and make a strategic plan with a different approach to reach more customers. You have to showcase to the interviewer that you will not dwell on the setback if the sales are down; rather, you’ll re-evaluate your plan to reach the benchmark in a more efficient way.
20. Are you comfortable making cold calls?
Cold calls are an important part of sales. The recruiter asks you this question to get a clearer picture of your personality- Are you outgoing? Are you able to strike up a conversation? While cold calling can be difficult, a competent salesperson will know how to transform these difficult calls into sales opportunities. While responding to this question, you can talk about how cold calls have resulted in some of your most satisfying and engaging talks.
21. How do you generate, develop, and close sales opportunities?
If you’re interviewing for a sales position, you’ll need to show that you have legitimate sales acumen. Interviewers want to know if you have the necessary skills to carry out your tasks. Discuss how you go about closing a sale from beginning to end through proper planning, preparation, targeting, engaging, discovering needs, providing solutions, resolving objections, and gaining agreement. Layout how you’ll approach each of these responsibilities one by one with examples.
22. Tell me about a time that you failed to achieve the goals you set. What went wrong and how could the outcome have been different?
Salespeople that succeed learn from their failures. They are able to deal with failure by critically assessing their flaws, accepting them, and not repeating the same mistakes. It’s just as vital to know how to deal with failure as it is to know how to succeed. Although hitches and hiccups are unavoidable in sales, interviewers want to know that you’ll be able to handle them without becoming overwhelmed, disheartened, or confused. While answering this question, be open and honest about one of your shortcomings. Begin by describing the goal you were chasing, then go into detail about why it was important to you, how you attempted to attain it, why you failed, who was involved, what you learned, and what you would do better.
23. How do you keep up with the latest industry trends in sales?
This question is meant to assist the interviewer in getting a sense of how enthusiastic you are about sales in general – an opportunity to show that you’re in it for the right reasons, not merely to make money. Keeping up with industry trends displays the commitment to growth and professional development, as well as drive and genuine curiosity. You can discuss any recent industry books you’ve read, sales podcasts you’ve been listening to, or your favourite blogs. Always include a few examples of how you’re learning and improving your craft.
24. What are a sales funnel? How is it different from the marketing funnel?
A sales funnel illustrates the path that a potential customer takes when purchasing goods or services. It helps in the identification of potential gaps in the process where prospects are losing interest. However, the marketing funnel focuses on generating leads by advertising a product or service. The sales funnel starts with these potential leads and tries to move them down the funnel to convert them. Simply put, the marketing funnel is responsible for creating the consumers’ interest. However, the sales funnel is responsible for maintaining the consumers’ interest.
25. What are your short-term and mid-term career goals?
This question allows the interviewer to examine your ability to differentiate between the two and to evaluate your career goals. Your short-term and long-term goals should, ideally, be related to one another. This demonstrates that you have a strategy in place and are determined to stick to it. If your short-term goal is to master new skills, your long-term goal can be to advance to a managerial role where you can lead a team. Concentrate on steering yourself toward the future you desire. Keep your replies truthful, but follow the company’s lead.
Also Read: Guide to Career in Sales
26. How do you think our company can improve sales?
Research the company to identify what aspects of its operations could be expanded. Some businesses may be easier to fix than others, so choose your words carefully and make sure your criticism is constructive. Rather than criticizing the company’s efforts, strive to provide more information in the form of facts and data. If you have a strategy in mind that you believe would benefit the firm, make sure you have a plan in place to put it into action.
27. Who are you most comfortable selling to?
Through this question, the interviewer wants to understand if you are comfortable selling to their ideal buyers. There’s no point in your sales skills if you cannot sell to the ideal customers of the company. Make sure you do your research on the ideal customers of the company and layout strategies on how you can sell to those customers.
28. What is your philosophy regarding customer complaints?
The customers are the soul of any business. No business will ever grow without the approval of the customers, which is why customer service is so critical. People are becoming more vocal about their experiences with businesses, whether positive or negative, due to the internet and social media. No matter how effectively a company manages its customers, they are going to have a complaint about your company at some point. The interviewer wants to know how you feel about these complaints. You can begin by expressing how no one enjoys dealing with client complaints, yet these sometimes painful incidents can be an opportunity for you and your company to shine.
Here are a few tips on how to deal with customer complaints:
- Avoid challenging their complaints.
- Put your emotions aside.
- Recognize what they’ve said and provide assistance or an apology.
Conclusion
Before attending your sales interview, make sure that you research the company. Learn more about their sales strategies and what is expected from you in this particular job role. Ensure that you are able to showcase your sales skills in an effective manner. We hope that this list of sales interview questions will help you gain confidence in yourself and brush up on your knowledge. Practising your sales interviewing skills or upskilling with the help of the Advanced Certificate Program in Sales will help you succeed. Power ahead today.
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