SALES INTERVIEW QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Tell me about yourself.
“Thank you very much for inviting me to be interviewed for this sales position. I believe I
have the skills and qualities needed to be effective in sales, long term. I have studied
the job description in detail, and I believe I have the experience and the attributes
necessary to come into the organization and make a positive impact straightaway. The
skills and qualities that I have built up is being able to build long term relationships with
customers and clients.
I understand, as a salesperson, the only way that you achieve difficult sales targets is to
build long-term relationships, find out what your customers’ clients need, and then
present them with appropriate products and services. I am also the type of person who
enjoys working under pressure. If you give me difficult sales targets to achieve, I won’t
be phased by them and I will put a plan of action in place to make sure they are
achieved. I’m also the type of person who wants to continually grow, improve and
develop, and I am always looking for different ways to adapt my sales skills to meet the
target audience, because I understand we live in a world where everything is always
changing. You can’t sit still as a salesperson; you have to be prepared to adapt and
change.
I am also good at working with other people as part of a sales team. I’m not just focused
on my own sales targets and objectives. I will help other people as part of the sales
team to achieve theirs as well, because at the end of the day, we work for the same
organization.”
Why do you want to work in sales?
SUGGESTED ANSWER
“I want to work in sales for three reasons. The first reason is, I want to work in a
pressurized environment and sales gives me that. By working in a pressurized
environment, I will come into work each day and I will have difficult challenges and
targets to meet. I prefer to work in the type of environment where I am improving and
developing continually. The second reason why I want to work in sales is because I
have ambitious plans outside of work and I know the only way I will achieve those is if I
perform to a high standard within this sales position. So, for example, my partner and I
are saving up to buy a house and we need to get a deposit together. We are both
committed to our work and we know that if we do well for our employees, then we will
achieve our external goals. The final reason why I want to work in sales is because I will
get to interact with lots of different people on a daily basis and I will get to build long
term relationships with them. I am a people person and I enjoy interacting with others,
finding out what their needs are, listening to them, and then giving them the products
and services that they need. I also like to make sure that I work on ‘customer retention’,
because in sales, it’s important that we build lifelong value for our customers and
encourage them to become advocates of our business. Those are the three reasons
why I want to work in sales.”
Sales Positions Job Description
Sales Job Brief:
To be effective at working in sales you need to have a great set of skills, personality
traits and attributes. To begin with, you need demonstrate effective listening skills when
speaking to, or communicating with, clients and prospects. Your ability to build a rapport
and long-term relationship with customer can increase your conversion rate and long-
term income potential significantly. Furthermore, you will need a thorough
understanding of the entire sales process, an ability to spot and overcome objections,
have the skills to close a sale and also follow up reliably and punctually.
In particular, the following skills and attributes are needed to perform consistently to a
high standard in any sales role, senior or otherwise.
Sales Interview Assessable Key Skills, Qualities & Attributes:
Source a continuous stream of highly-qualified leads and prospects by utilizing
up-to-date and modern platforms and strategies;
Present, promote and sell your organization’s products and services to
prospects and continually look to improve conversion rates;
Explain the benefits of your products or services to prospects based on a cost
versus risk analysis and provide evidence where appropriate and available;
Establish and build long-term relationships with prospects, clients and
customers to ensure a continuous flow of strong revenue for your employer;
An ability to upsell when the opportunity arises based on the fact a current or
existing customer is 10x more likely to spend and invest;
Expedite the resolution of customer complaints and issues, ensuring customer
service is maintained to a high standard so as to not lose recurring income or
repeat revenue;
Overcome objections that are put forward regularly by prospective clients and
customers;
Have the experience and ability to walk away from a sale when the time is
right;
Set and work towards determined sales targets and continually improve your
sale techniques to match or beat them.
7 STAGES OF THE SALES PROCESS
There are seven stages of the sales process that you must be familiar with to be
successful.
STAGE 1 – PROSPECTING
PROSPECTING is the act of sourcing new leads and a great place to start is on
LinkedIn. More often than not, key decision-makers can be found on LinkedIn quickly
and if you have a LinkedIn Premium account you will be able to contact them directly via
InMail.
STAGE 2 – ESTABLISHING CONTACT
The second stage of the sales process is to ESTABLISH CONTACT. Salespeople will
often reach out directly to prospects if they feel they are a good fit for the service or
product they are selling. Alternatively, proactive salespeople will post useful and
informative content online to encourage people to contact them directly. Again, LinkedIn
can be used to great effect with this method.
STAGE 3 – PROSPECT QUALIFYING
The third stage of the sales process is to QUALIFY THE PROSPECT. Effective
salespeople will achieve this by asking relevant questions including assessing the
challenges the prospect is facing in their business, and who makes the buying
decisions.
STAGE 4 – NURTURING THE PROSPECT
During stage 4 for the sales process, you will need to NURTURE THE PROSPECT and
establish a common connection. People often know they are being sold to, which is why
it is so important to build good relationships with sales prospects over time.
STAGE 5 – PRESENTING THE OFFER
At some stage during the sales process, you must present your offer including the price
point. Experienced salespeople know exactly when to present their offer and it will
depend on the hunger of the prospect to buy and their circumstances when this takes
place.
STAGE 6 – OVERCOMING OBJECTIONS
The fastest way to overcome sales objections is to make the value of the product
outweighs the cost. Overcoming objections can be achieved by asking relevant
questions and providing assurances that the product or service will work. If you have
total confidence in your product or service you may decide to offer a money-back
guarantee.
