Interviews are an important opportunity to assess a candidate’s fit for the position and company. You need to ask them questions that test their knowledge, skills, personality, and motivation. You need to put them in real-world scenarios, via roleplay, case studies, or simulations, to see how they deal with these challenges. You also need to check their references and background to ensure there are no surprises.
Move beyond the superficial getting to know you by using open-ended questions that encourage the candidate to reveal deeper thoughts and attitudes.
Below are examples of behavioral and situational questions as well as simulations that you can use:
- Why do you want to work as a sales rep for our company?
- What are the most important skills and qualities of a successful sales rep?
- How do you prospect for new leads and customers?
- How do you qualify a prospect and determine their needs and wants?
- How would you present our product or service and demonstrate its value and benefits?
- How do you handle objections and overcome resistance?
- How do you close a sale and ask for the order?
- How do you follow up with customers and ensure their satisfaction and loyalty?
- How do you deal with rejection and failure?
- How do you measure your performance and track your results?
- How do you manage your time and prioritize your tasks?
- How do you learn new skills and improve your sales abilities?
- Tell me about a time when you exceeded your sales target. How did you achieve this?
- Tell me about a time when you faced a difficult sales situation. What was the situation, what did you do, and what was the outcome?
- Tell me about a time when you received negative feedback or criticism. How did you handle it and what did you learn from it?
- Imagine that you are calling a prospective client who has expressed interest in our product or service. Role-play the conversation with me.
- Imagine that you are meeting with a customer who has bought our product or service but is unhappy with it. Role-play the conversation with me.
- Imagine that you are presented with a sales opportunity that involves a large account with multiple decision-makers. How would you approach it and what steps would you take to close the deal?
- Here is a case study of a sales problem that we faced recently. Read it and tell me how you would solve it.
- Here is a simulation of a sales scenario that we encounter frequently. Complete it and show me how you would handle it.
Alan Fendrich
In 2001, Alan Fendrich leveraged his extensive sales expertise, predictive modeling, and Maslow's hierarchy to develop the Advanced Applicant Profiler Sequence (AAPS). This innovative hiring process combines qualitative and analytic tools and has helped over 2,000 companies hire over 6,000 sales superstars. In addition to 20 years of sales hiring and recruiting expertise, Alan is also an accomplished entrepreneur, lecturer, and author.
