Interviewing your next superstar? Looking for your next sales position?
Here’s a list of 31 interview questions in no particular order.
If you’re interviewing candidates, use what you like and improve what you don’t.
If you’re in the hunt for a new sales position, use them as a prep tool and work your way through. When you come out the other side, you’ll be completely tuned and ready for action.
(please comment below if you have one to add)
____________________
The questions
- Tell me about your last three days at work – beginning to end.
- How many first appointments do you have each week?
- What do you like and dislike about your sales process and why?
- What do you like and dislike about the products or services you’re selling now and why?
- What attracts you to the industry?
- What are your long-term professional goals?
- What do you do personally for your professional development?
- What are your favorite selling books?
- 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.
- As a sales professional, what do you see as your primary and secondary roles within a company?
- In your current position, how much time would you say you spend directly with prospects and customers throughout the sales day and what specifically do you do with them?
- Describe a situation with a client or prospect where you made a mistake. How did you handle the error?
- Describe a couple of instances, big or small, where you took a different tack in achieving an objective than was the company standard?
- Describe a time where a creative approach to meeting an objective didn’t work and what you did next?
- What sales skills do you think are most important to having success in sales?
- What are your top three open-ended questions for initial sales calls?
- In your current sales environment, describe the process you go through to qualify your prospects?
- What is the largest group you’ve presented to (externally/ internally)?
- How do you organize a presentation?
- What do you like and dislike about presentations and why?
- What do you see as the key issues in negotiating?
- What do you see as the key skills in closing?
- How would your present prospects and customers describe you as their sales representative?
- Describe a time your company did not deliver on its product or service and how you responded?
- Describe one or two of the most difficult challenges and/ or rejections you’ve faced in the past and how you responded?
- How many rejections do you take in a typical week?
- How do you move forward from a string of rejections?
- 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?
- How would those with whom you work now, across all areas of the company, describe you and the work you do?
- Describe a time you led a group of people, the primary challenges you faced and how you handled them?
Now go sell something.~>
RAMESH KUMAR VISHWAKARMA (GARHAKOTA)M.P. says:
nothing is imposible everything posible when you will think like that then you will fell very good
25 August 2010
Bill says:
What good are the questions if you don;t know what the expected answers should be?
20 August 2010
miiraal says:
that is good all sugestion for asking question and i wuold like to submit
26 July 2010
Carol says:
oops… i forgot probably the most telling question of all……….
What do you feel is a “GREAT” income? Best thing since sliced bread income….. what would you LOVE to make in a year? Ask it just like that. You can tel if they are listening, trying to be diplomatic, etc. You will hear responses like……. “I need”……. (didn’t listen), I couldn’t take a position for less than….(again didn’t listen). If the candidate comes in low…….. 40 -50, 60, 70K etc., are they driven? directed, and a big thinker? I love it when an applicant says, “love to make???? —- heck 200k, a million! The obviously listened, and are big thinkers………
Have fun with this one; just make sure you ask it before going over any kind of pay!!
20 July 2010
Carol says:
I would have liked to have the purpose of the question listed. There are tons of great questions, but if I don’t know “what I’m looking for, what a candidates answer will reveal about them, the question is useless to me. Many of the questions above are “skill oriented”, whereas I am more interested in driven, motivated, coachable people. If you have the personality traits needed to be successful, I can teach the person how to sell, I can teach process, I can teach positive expectations. One of my all time favorites: Have you ever played any “team sports” in high school,; what were they and why did you choose the particular sport? Reason for the question; sports teach competition, team, will to win,…. etc. try asking the most constructive criticism the candidate has received from mentors and you’ll learn their biggest weakness!! I want persuaders, so explaination oriented questions allow me to assess communication abilities….. Ask them what they would bring to your company, why should they be the candidate chosen? Why do they believe they are good in sales……their answer will give insight into their view of our profession……. just listen to the adjectives they use! i love the open ended questions.
20 July 2010
Rabih says:
Please could you find the questions from the interviewer during the interview as a sales position.
24 May 2010
Salesman101 says:
The most common questions I got are behavioural questions around some sale situations such as how do you prepare for a sales, call to a new client, etc.
Here are couple sample answers:
http://commoninterview.com/story.php?title=describe-how-you-prepare-for-a-sales-call-for-a-new-client-
and
http://commoninterview.com/story.php?title=tell-us-about-your-most-difficult-sales-experience-
16 April 2010
Brad says:
To the guy looking for PHD ( Poor Hungry and Desperate), there is a good chance there are that way for a reason…. they are crappy sales people, not closers.
12 April 2010
MIchael C Finegold says:
I have been a sales recruiter, sales trainer, and sales manager for 30 years. These are all good questions but there are tons more one could use.
For example:
1. How would you describe yourself?
2. What specific goals, including those related to your career, have you established for your life?
3. How has your previous experience prepared you for a career with us?
4. Describe the ideal job for you.
5. What influenced you to choose sales as a career?
6. At what point did you choose this career?
7. What specific goals have you established for your career?
8. What will it take to attain your goals, and what steps have you taken toward attaining them?
9. What do you think it takes to be successful in this career?
10. How would you describe yourself in terms of your ability to work as a member of a team?
11. What motivates you to put forth you greatest effort?
12. Why did you decide to seek a position in this company?
19 February 2010
imran khan says:
very nice but answer r also must
17 February 2010
Kevin says:
These are great questions. For those people responding by asking for the answers to these questions, do you self a favor and get out of sales. The sale starts with great questions. The real work begins in finding out the answers through your own hard work.
9 January 2010
Sam Parker says:
Answers will be different for everyone.
These are to help you prepare (if you’re getting ready for an interview) or to give interviewers ideas for helpful questions to ask.
Truth is next.
9 January 2010
tariq javed says:
These are good question bt answer should be given
8 January 2010
mpumi says:
i am going 2 an interview. I tried 2 answer those questions i’m no longer nervous abt it. But where are the answers?
3 January 2010
Turok says:
If you want answers, here is quite interesting article “Negotiation Genius – influence strategies for answering interview questions” which discuss possible approach to answering those questions based on “Negotiation Genius” book by Max Bazerman and Deepak Malhotra: http://interviewpattern.com/post/Negotiation-Genius-interview-strategies.aspx
12 December 2009
Zarif says:
Excellent questions for selecting the right product.
9 December 2009
Mr. Green says:
Excellent set of questions. Alot of them were new to me.
Nice work !
18 November 2009
Geloencoume says:
I found this site using google.com And i want to thank you for your work. You have done really very good site. Great work, great site! Thank you!
Sorry for offtopic
14 November 2009
Lawrence Rosenberg says:
Next question…
Are you a PHD? And I don’t mean do you have an advanced academic degree.
What I want to know is if my candidate is poor, hungry and determined!
A very powerful question, and one to consider when contemplating who you are going to choose to add to your sales team. I’m not interested in hiring trust fund surfers, guys that can weather the storm or those that have a safety net. I want hunters that have nothing to fall back on and need to make things happen now, not later. Give me a PHD and I’ll show you a closer.
24 October 2009
Acing The Job Interview! | My Selection Criteria says:
[...] fluent with your responses! I have included a link to some standard questions you should know. http://justsell.com/sales-interview-questions/ I’ll get into more detail on some specific questions where you need to really be on your game [...]
22 September 2009
Joshua Mohamed Mewah says:
This must be a site to finally develop my sales career.Thanks!
4 September 2009
oliver winston says:
I’ve been following JustSell articles & columnsfor a long time, and they are always great: I wish to note that before anyone gets offended by the next few statements.
Myself, I’ve become a pure cynic. Here’s my philosophy:There are only liars and buyers. Suspects & prospects. Lucrative opportunity vs. Lookie loos. Distinguishing between the two is easy once you understand the risk of separating the sugar from the sh_t. (You will lose some valid or legit opportunities, but you will save yourself a whole lot of grief in the long run. There are only three (maybe four) distinct prospect qualifying questions; if they can’t answer successfully, then they’re usually blowing smoke, stalling for time, leading you down that path, setting up the wild-goose chase, pulling your leg, exercising their power over your greed for amusement purposes, etc, etc.
1. What do you need?
2. When do you need it?
3. How much are you willing to spend?
4. If I have it, or get it, when will you pay for it?
The rest is BS.
Period.
Think that’s harsh?
Just remember this?
If they didn’t call, text, mail, message, twitter or email you, why are you even talking to them?
Do they need what you have?
Did they ask you for it?
Are they shopping, comparing bids, considering a later purchase, setting up future vendor projects, blah, blah, blah?
If you’re in front of a real buyer, you’ll instinctively know it if you’ve been in sales for any time at all. They ask real buying questions like:
1. How soon can you get this?
2. What payment options do you offer?
3. Is there a discount if I order right now?
..and so on.
Finally, quit confusing selling with marketing, advertising, networking, relationship building, CRM, and all the rest. It’s all hucksters trying to waste your time, deliver their spiels, get you to buy something. You can waste an inordinate amount of time with all all of these pretenses (I mean pastimes), instead of doing your real work: Being in front of buyers or customers. Believe me, I’ve learned the hard way the last 15 years or so, trying to be Mr. Salesmen, Mr. Customer Service, Mr Everything To Everybody, and I have nothing to show for it. Net Worth is your only real measuring stick…what’s your Gross Revenues Total for the last fiscal quarter? That’s how you know if you’re really in sales or just bull-shitting. Sorry to be the one to tell you that, but 90% of the Internet is just information, and useless garbage that’s meant to distract, mislead, and steal your time and your money.
About Me:
I sell Internet Leads to buyers only.
My customers are established Marketers, not Home-based Hopefuls.
Don’t even think of contacting me call unless you’re a buyer!
gc at getleads@officeliveusers.com
21 August 2009
Keith Halvorson says:
These questions make me look at how to improve my current position – and helps me be a more accountable leader, coach & salesman!
6 August 2009
Amena says:
Great questions very useful!
6 August 2009
RileySue says:
Thanks for this post! I picked up several questions I hadn’t thought to ask that will help me make better hiring decisions. And I’m a recruiter, so you’d think I’d be sending this out to folks, not taking good ideas from it! Just goes to show you, never think you have all the answers!
5 August 2009
kgosi says:
where are the answers???gud questions
23 July 2009
Tom says:
When I interviewed sales folks, I tried to use questions that showed the process people took to hurdles, objections, changes in conditions.
Which one, I wish I knew which was best as I have picked wrong and right. But I list 5 before the interview and hope to pick the one that evokes a response.
Questions like these are fun to respond too as well.
But if someone asks me what kind of tree I would be again, I will might respond with a money tree or, a wood one, or say Oak and then ask if they walk or carry their lunch to work!
19 July 2009
anna fredericks says:
Terrific list of questions especially for sales managers or business owners who don’t interview candidates too often.
14 July 2009
Sam Parker says:
Raku… The answers will be different for everyone. These are to help you prepare (if you’re getting ready for an interview) or to give interviewers ideas for helpful questions to ask.
9 July 2009
raku says:
wher are the answers??
9 July 2009
Anand says:
Excellent and very useful information.
Thanks!
8 July 2009
Sam Parker says:
Thanks, Diane.
3 July 2009
DC says:
These are all excellent questions. I find that the more examples the candidate is able to provide the better insight I gain of this persons skills. I quickly becomes evident if they have real skill or not. I also like to give a sales scenario to see how sales ready they really are.
1 July 2009