Making sure you pick the right sales rep could really make a difference in your company’s sales growth. Wondering how to make the right choice? The secret lies in building a good interview. Think of it this way: you get the chance to check out their skills and see if they fit in with your business culture during an interview.
An awesome interview goes past asking a few questions. Where it really makes a difference is when you ask the things that show how they sell, how well they tell stories, and how they handle tough situations. It’s through these questions you really get a feel for important things like creativity and stick-to-itiveness. Do you think your interview questions get to the heart of the matter?
And while you might think a good interview just means you’ll hire a skilled salesperson, it can do so much more than that – it can also help you find a rep who really fits with what your company is. So, how can you get the most out of this opportunity?
Using clever tricks can really boost the effectiveness of the interview. This might mean things like behavioral interviewing, which predicts what they’ll do in the future based on what they’ve done before, or stress interviewing, which puts them in tough spots to see how they react.
The interview gives you the info you need to find the best sales rep for your company. When they mix the right skills with personal qualities that will help them shine in your business environment, you know you’re onto a winner. By focusing on the right interview questions and smart interviewing tricks, you can have meaningful conversations that increase your chances of finding your next big star.
Let’s get started!
5 Example Interview Questions
Let’s start off with this interview question: “Could you dive a little deeper into your sales methods?” This just means asking them to show off some different sales techniques they’re good at, how they can roll with the punches, and mostly, why they do what they do the way they do it.
After that, think about asking them something like, “Ever had a big sale that didn’t work out, and how did you bounce back?” This one really hones in on how tough they are. Good salespeople always know that failure is a part of the game; they learn and move on faster than you can blink. The best answers here are going to show that they stick with it, learn from their mistakes, and fine-tune their strategy.
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Then you should ask, “Ever had a difficult client that you ended up just jiving with?” This gives them a chance to show off their people skills – they’ll have to show they can handle tough customers with patience and understanding and find a way to solve their problems.
Next up, think about this one: “How do you stay all revved up even when sales are slow?” It seems like a simple question, but it gets right to their mental toughness. Great answers will let you know how they keep focused and use the slow patches to better themselves or build better relationships with clients to keep the ball rolling.
It’ll be a good idea to wrap things up with “How do you tackle customer objections?”. They all face this issue in sales at some point or another. You can easily figure out their communication skills, quick-thinking abilities, and willingness to persuade the customer based on how they negotiate their common obstacle.
Sales is an art and a science! These questions can really help you know if they have the personality traits that make up the best salespeople: tough, adaptable, calm, always ready to go, and a solid communicator.
Sales Skills and Experience
It’s not always easy to find people with the right skill set and background. It is important to snag someone who really gets the sales cycle, isn’t it? To secure future customers, you need to know their needs, propose the perfect solution, and nail the deal – it’s quite the process!
People who’ve handled these stages before typically stand out on the job scene. They’re just the people we need, particularly when they have a skill for identifying possible sales, predicting sales trends, and holding on to customer satisfaction.
Guess what else makes for a solid sales rep? Accurate client reading. With this ability, they can adjust their pitch to deliver exactly what the client hopes for. Isn’t that a smooth way to close a deal?
Face it – sales has its hurdles. Dealing with hesitant or resistant clients is to be expected. Your rep should be smart enough to handle such issues without appearing defensive.
Here’s the important point! You have to interact, and I’m not talking about polished chit-chat. It’s about being an active listener, about getting the product details out there perfectly accurate. It’s about convincing the customer that the product is the perfect fit!
Past experiences also count. If someone’s been in a related sales part or industry before, they’ll quickly grasp the expectations and audience. A track record of meeting or surpassing sales targets showcases their determination.
Formulate Your Interview Questions
There’s a strong connection between a sales candidate’s capability and experience evaluation and the interview questions you ask. I believe that framed questions can give you super important insights about a candidate’s selling skills and how well they can put them to use.
One thing to keep in mind: make sure your questions are really clear and straight to the point. Don’t just ask, “Have sales experience?” Push for more detail with questions like, “Remember when you locked down a big contract in your last job? Can you tell me about it?” Getting really thorough responses can help you see how well they know the principles of sales and whether they can put that understanding to work.
It’s really useful to focus some questions on prospective clients and how the candidate might change up their technique to respond to those client’s specific needs. Try asking something like, “Do changes come up when you’re focusing on new potential clients?” You might learn a lot from their answer about how well they know customers, can make plans to technique them strategically and know when to let go of a deal that’s just not panning out.
You’ll make your questions better by borrowing some tricks from the Behavioral Event Interview method. With this technique, you’re looking at a person’s past wins to predict how well they’ll do in the future. Isn’t that clever? So maybe ask, “Ever turn a client’s “no” into a “yes”? How’d you do it?” Then you get a good read on how persistent, creative, and tough they are – and whether they can negotiate well.
Another smart move is to suss out if a candidate can think on their feet and analyze situations, like how they respond to market changes. You might ask them to talk about a time when they needed to change their strategy due to shifts in the market. Their answer can show you how flexible they are, the kind of problem-solvers they are, how they know the market, and whether they have a future-focused mindset.
Remember, a proper sales rep should put customers first, be flexible, and be creative – all this while understanding how sales really work.
How Do You Assess the Candidate’s Fit and Potential?
Looking into a recruit’s potential is super really important when you’re hiring. You have to look at their skills, what jobs they’ve had before, their personal traits, what they want in the future, as well as their qualities and areas where they need to get better. All these things help you make the best decision on who to hire.
You’ll crack the code of doing a great analysis if you use clever interview questions. You ask questions that get the candidate to show their goals and what really motivates them. They’ll also tell you about their understanding of the job field. For example, ask them, “What makes you excited about sales?” You might discover how dedicated they are, how excited they get, and just how much they really know about selling things.
Think about how well the potential employee fits with your company’s message. You could ask them something like, “What work atmospheres do you like the most?” Their answer might help you figure out their ideal work things and whether they’d fit well into your company’s culture.
Do you know what else is most important? Figuring out if they’re flexible and if they can grow. You could ask them something like, “Remember a time when everything changed at your job? How’d you deal with that and what happened?” The answer will show you if they can bounce back and adapt. Also, you might get an idea of how they solve problems.
By asking, “Where do you think you’ll be in five years?” you’ll find out about their long-term plans. Maybe they’re planning on sticking around with your company for a long time. Their answer might give you a hint.
It’s also important to figure out where they think they should get better. Try asking, “What things do you think you could improve, and what are you doing about those?” You’ll see if they’re self-aware and if they’re working on making themselves better.
Master the Role-Playing and Scenario-Based Questions
Let’s see how you can streamline the process when you need to assess sales representative candidates deeply. Use role-play and scenario-based questions to see how they would actually apply sales techniques in real situations. You want to see how good they are at solving problems – a must for any successful sales rep.
Ever had a client who just won’t agree with the product’s price? It’s a big test for your sales rep, right? This is not about asking them, “How would you convince a customer who thinks our product is priced too high?” Instead, it’s whether they hold up under stress and stay committed to the customer.
Here’s another thing: don’t look too deep into the benefits of role-play questions. Pretend you’re the customer and you’re unhappy with the product or service. The big question isn’t “What can you do to keep the deal from falling through?” Rather, you’re checking how fast they think on their feet, how good they are at handling pushbacks, and if they can actually close the deal.
But let’s be real for a minute. A person’s past achievements or unique strategies aren’t the be-all and end-all of their potential; these things could paint a skewed picture of what a candidate can very offer. Just because a rep has been successful in the past doesn’t guarantee they’ll knock it out of the park in the future. That’s why asking questions related to specific situations – role-play questions – sharpens the focus on a candidate’s ability to tackle real-life problems. This might even give you a heads-up on how they’ll perform in the real world. Use this method, and you might find little things you weren’t aware of. Cut down the unknowns, and who knows – it might even make your sales team work even better!
Grow Your Sales Team
Organization and preparedness during interviews are important. But don’t shy away from a bit of casual chat – it’s a cool way to see if candidates can communicate well. And they ought to be good talkers if they want to survive in sales!
It’s a bad idea to judge a candidate just based on first impressions. Some people might impress you with their personality but fail when it comes to sales. So, here’s my advice: run a thorough sales-based interview plan with skill assessments and even role-plays. It’s a great way to check out their abilities.
Use new-fangled tech to up your recruiting game – it’s a big help. Modern tools can measure a candidate’s potential, predict their performance, and see if they’ll fit with your team. Invite different opinions to join your selection panel. This will keep biases at a distance and will make your decisions even better!
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Claudine is the Chief Relationship Officer at Level 6. She holds a master’s degree in industrial/organizational psychology. Her experience includes working as a certified conflict mediator for the United States Postal Service, a human performance analyst for Accenture, an Academic Dean, and a College Director. She is currently an adjunct Professor of Psychology at Southern New Hampshire University. With over 20 years of experience, she joined Level 6 to guide clients seeking effective ways to change behavior and, ultimately, their bottom line.
