Interview questions for sales

Interview questions for sales position

1. Sales career interview questions

• Why did you go into the sales profession?
• Why do you enjoy selling?
• What attracts you to the industry you are in?
• What are your long-term professional goals?
• What do you do personally for your professional development?
• What are your favorite selling books?
• What is it you like about sales?
• Where do you want sales to lead you in your career?
• As a sales professional, what do you see as your primary and secondary roles within a company?
• Describe a time where a creative approach to meeting an objective didn’t work and what you did next?

2. Last job interview questions

• Tell me about the product you sold in your last job.
• What is your biggest difficulty in selling?
• Give me an example of a recent difficult sale and how you closed the deal.
• Tell me about a recent sale that you failed to get.

3. Sales Skills interview questions

• What things do you do to close a sale?
• Describe a situation with a client or prospect where you could have taken a different approach. What would you have done differently?
• Describe a couple of instances, big or small, where you took a different approach in achieving an objective outside the company direction?
• What do you think are the most important skills in succeeding in sales?
• What are your top three open-ended questions for initial sales calls?
• What are the top two or three most important sales skills one should possess? Why?
• Tell me about your two most satisfying sales deals and why they were your best.
• Tell me about two deals you’ve lost. Why did you lose them? Who was the competitor you lost them to? What did you learn from losing them?
• How do you deal with rejection?
• What areas would your two most recent Managers say you should improve upon to become stronger?
• How do you prepare for a presentation?
• How do you handle negotiations?
• Tell me about a time you made a mistake with a client and describe how you handled the error?
• In your current sales environment, describe the process you go through to qualify your prospects?
• What is your biggest difficulty in selling?
• Tell me about a recent sale that you lost to a competitor.
• Give me an example of a recent difficult sale and how you closed the deal.
• Describe a time you led a group of people, the primary challenges you faced and how you handled them?
• 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?

4. Sales Cycle interview questions

• What do you like and dislike about the sales process and why?
• What type of sales cycle is most rewarding to you? A long cycle for a big-ticket item or a series of smaller, more frequent sales.
• What’s the average length of a sales cycle?
• Describe your typical sales cycle.
• What do you feel are the two most important things you need from a company to get off on the right track?

Typical Week interview questions

• How would your present prospects and customers describe you as their sales representative?
• Does your company support the sales force?
• Describe a time your company did not deliver on its product or service and how you responded?
• Describe how you present a solution to your prospective client?
• At what stage in the sales process do you present the ROI to the prospect?
• Describe one or two of the most difficult challenges and/ or rejections you’ve faced in the past and how you responded?
• How many first appointments do you have each week?
• How many rejections do you take in a typical week?
• In your current position, how much time would you say you spend directly with prospects and customers throughout the sales day?
• What do you see as the key issues in negotiating?

5. Sales targets interview questions

• How do you ensure that your sales targets are exceeded each month?
• What is the largest account that you have ever won and talk me through the stages from start to close?
• What is the largest account that you have lost and talk me through the stages?
• Over the past three years, what percentage of your quota did you achieve?
• Have you ever worked in a commission only job?
• How were you rated in your last three performance reviews?

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This entry was posted on Monday, April 13th, 2009 at 7:27 pm and is filed under Sales interview questions. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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