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    Sales Interview Questions

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    Akhilesh Singh
    This document provides sample sales interview questions to evaluate candidates' skills and suitability for different sales roles. It categorizes questions by position seniority level, including entry-level, account management, and senior sales roles. Examples of behavioral and technical questions are given to identify candidates with customer focus, communication skills, drive to meet goals, and ability to collaborate in a team environment. The document recommends tailoring questions to the specific job and testing both industry and soft skills.

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    Sales Interview Questions

    Uploaded by

    Akhilesh Singh
    147 views3 pages
    This document provides sample sales interview questions to evaluate candidates' skills and suitability for different sales roles. It categorizes questions by position seniority level, including entry-level, account management, and senior sales roles. Examples of behavioral and technical questions are given to identify candidates with customer focus, communication skills, drive to meet goals, and ability to collaborate in a team environment. The document recommends tailoring questions to the specific job and testing both industry and soft skills.

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    This document provides sample sales interview questions to evaluate candidates' skills and suitability for different sales roles. It categorizes questions by position seniority level, including entry-level, account management, and senior sales roles. Examples of behavioral and technical questions are given to identify candidates with customer focus, communication skills, drive to meet goals, and ability to collaborate in a team environment. The document recommends tailoring questions to the specific job and testing both industry and soft skills.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    147 views3 pages

    Sales Interview Questions

    Uploaded by

    Akhilesh Singh
    This document provides sample sales interview questions to evaluate candidates' skills and suitability for different sales roles. It categorizes questions by position seniority level, including entry-level, account management, and senior sales roles. Examples of behavioral and technical questions are given to identify candidates with customer focus, communication skills, drive to meet goals, and ability to collaborate in a team environment. The document recommends tailoring questions to the specific job and testing both industry and soft skills.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
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    The key takeaways are that sales interview questions help identify candidates' soft skills, knowledge, and how they would handle realistic sales scenarios. Questions should be tailored based on the role and test candidates' understanding of the industry, customer focus, communication skills, and drive to meet goals.

    Common sales interview questions include questions about CRM software, the sales process, collaboration, quotas vs. customer satisfaction, and handling difficult customers. Questions differ based on the role, from entry-level retail positions to call center agents to account managers and senior sales roles.

    Managers should look for candidates' soft skills like negotiation and communication abilities. They should evaluate professional interests, strengths, and reactions in simulated sales situations to discover true potential beyond resumes. Core qualities include a customer focus, communication skills, teamwork, and drive to meet goals.

    Sales interview questions and answers

    This sample of Sales interview questions will help you evaluate candidates’ skills and hire the
    best salespeople for your company. We gathered the most common sales interview questions and
    categorized them by seniority level and position, including account managers and in-store
    representatives, to help you pick the most suitable ones for your open role.

    What to look for in sales candidates


    Unlike other professions, salespeople may come from various academic and professional
    backgrounds. It’s also important that they have certain soft skills that are often intangible, such as
    negotiation and communication abilities. Therefore it’s challenging to evaluate salespeople based
    solely on their resume and typical qualifications. You need to meet with candidates, learn about
    their professional interests and strengths and see how they’d react in realistic sales scenarios.
    That’s why sales interview questions can help you discover candidates’ true potential.

    Which are the best interview questions for salespeople?


    Sales teams are pillars for companies that want to grow their profitability. From sales consultants,
    regional sales managers and sales executives to field sales representatives, call center
    agents and account managers, sales goals are common: promote the company’s products and
    services, meet sales quotas and identify new market opportunities. So, when you’re thinking about
    what sales interview questions to ask candidates, make sure you test how well they understand
    your industry and whether they have a go-getter mentality.

    Regardless of the role’s seniority level, typical sales interview questions should help you identify
    candidates with a customer-oriented attitude, excellent communication skills and a drive to meet
    goals. You should also keep an eye out for candidates who are able to perform well in a team
    environment and collaborate with different people.

    When you have a shortlist of candidates with these core qualities, tailor your questions to identify
    who would make a good fit for your specific job. For example:

    Entry-level sales interview questions should be around your company vision and the
    products or services you sell. This way, you can select candidates who show the most
    interest in selling your products.
    For account management positions, you should ask questions that allow candidates to
    showcase their negotiation and relationship-building skills.
    Senior sales interview questions should test candidates’ leadership and decision-making
    abilities.

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    For inside sales roles, interview questions should focus on technical know-how and
    communication skills.

    In any case, make sure that you ask a mix of industry-specific and behavioral sales interview
    questions, so that you identify and hire salespeople who have adequate knowledge to tackle their
    tasks, but are also interested in a career in sales.

    Top sales interview questions to ask


    1. For every sales role

    Have you worked with Salesforce.com? What other CRM software do you know?
    Are you familiar with market analysis? What is it?
    Walk me through a successful sales process. What is your role?
    What information do you need before communicating with a client?
    Describe a situation where you failed to reach a sales goal. What happened and what did
    you learn from that experience?
    Describe a time when you collaborated with your team to close a deal. What was your role
    in the process?
    What is more important: achieving quotas or keeping clients satisfied?
    When do you stop pursuing a customer, and why?
    What are some common hurdles you face in this position? How do you handle them?
    What do you find most rewarding about working in sales?

    2. For entry-level sales positions


    In-store

    Describe your experience in retail.


    How do you ensure all customers leave satisfied?
    Are you familiar with our products? Which one would you most enjoy selling and why?
    How would you handle a customer who complained that they couldn’t find a product in your
    store?

    For more examples, check our Inside Sales Representative interview questions, Sales Assistant
    interview questions and Sales Associate interview questions. If you’re hiring outside sales reps,
    have a look at our Field Sales interview questions.

    Call center

    What’s your flexibility in working different shifts?


    Describe a time when you managed to calm down an angry client.

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    What do you do if you didn’t know the answer to a customer’s question?
    This job can be repetitive. How do you stay motivated? What do you hope to get out of this
    role?

    For more examples, check our Call Center Representative interview questions and Telesales
    Agent interview questions.

    3. For account management positions

    If a client told you that they liked our product but it’s too expensive, how would you turn
    them around?
    What’s a deal you closed that you’re mostly proud of, and why?
    What’s your track record in delivering on revenue targets and customer satisfaction rates?
    How would you find new clients?

    If you’re looking for more examples, check our Account Manager interview questions and Account
    Executive interview questions.

    4. For senior level sales positions, including inside sales

    How do you handle conflicts on your team?


    How do you approach a sales representative who is underperforming?
    What’s your experience in forecasting sales? Name any tools and software that you use.
    Describe a time when your team didn’t manage to achieve sales quotas. What was your
    role in that experience? What did you learn, and what did you do differently for the next
    round of sales quotas?

    Find more examples in our Sales Manager interview questions, National Account Manager
    interview questions and Regional Sales Manager interview questions.

    You can also take a look at our entire library of questions to find sales-related interview questions
    for every position and seniority level.

    Try Workable for free, for 15 days: www.workable.com, no downloads or credit card required
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