Ever since you received the call for a sales interview, you know you are in deep waters if you haven’t had a look at some of the most asked interview questions. You can be prepared from head to toe about the company from where you got the call, but you are never fully prepared until you have a look at some of the tricky interview questions interviewers tend to ask from their interviewees. Having a look at some of the interview questions prepares you beforehand and gives you an idea of what the correct answer might be. This way you can strut into your interview exuding confidence and hoping that you are going to completely smash it. In the real world, all sales job descriptions are different by companies but the following sales interview question is frequently asked.
Frequently asked interview questions
Many questions share a common ground among many interviewers interviewing potential candidates for a place in their company. The reason why sales interview questions are fired at the interviewee is that these questions are meant to judge the thinking skills of a person as well as their take on a possible situation. They are also meant to analyze the persuasive skill of the person being interviewed. Therefore, to ace the interview, it is recommended that candidates review the commonly asked interview questions and learn the dos and don’ts of answering.
1. Question regarding your motivation and driving force.
This is one of the most common questions to come up in a sales interview. Interviewers wish to know what the driving force is that makes you want to work hard at your job. Other than this, they also wish to seek how dedicated you seem to be to the company you have applied to. Is it just the bonus that keeps you going from day to day making sales or is there something much deeper than that. A good answer to such a question is to let them know that you try to be better than your previous record. So, the only person with whom you compete is yourself. This answer will satisfy them and prove that you are not the one to indulge in office politics and rivalry.
Read This: Sell Vs Sale
2. A question asking you about yourself.
This question might look simple but there are heaps of meaning hidden behind it. This question is the reason why sales interview questions need to be looked up before the interview so that you can walk in knowing what to answer and when to close your mouth. In this question, the interviewer is seeking to know more about you as a person. You should not start by dictating your resume word to word, starting from education history to past jobs. Instead, you should focus more on letting the interviewer know more about your skills that may prove beneficial to the company as well as little bits of interesting information that might frame the future questions and get the conversation going.
3. Questions related to your previous job.
It is a known fact that your previous job would come up in the interview while you are sitting in the hot seat. This may include the reason for your leave from your past job as well. The key here is to remain confident and not to stammer while answering this question. This question will make you think twice why sales interview questions search wasn’t your priority before your interview if you hadn’t done that already. As tricky as this question might seem, it can gain you some brownie points in front of the interviewer if you answer it right. The interviewer is probing into your personality through this question and the only way to answer it right is to shed a positive light on your last job. Start by stating something positive about your past job. And then state what you are looking for in this job that your previous job had lacked. This might be more responsibility or a different culture or even new challenges. Avoid bringing the work environment or management issues that you had faced in your previous company as the reason for your leaving. This will harm your interview, thereby reducing your chances of getting hired.
4. Questions regarding why you wish to work in sales and the sales that you have lost.
Why you wish to work in sales is another tricky question that you can be interrogated with while you are seated in front of the interviewer. The only way to go about this question is, to be honest, but not too honest that you mention good pay as the main reason. In this question, the interviewer wants to know if sales are your passion so you have to think back to the time when you first had your sales experience and how much you enjoyed it. Convey that to the interviewer in a persuasive manner to attain his approval. Other than this, another question that is most commonly asked is the one about your past sales. Or more appropriately, the sales that you have lost. Losing sales should not be considered a sign of weakness. Instead, focus on the learning experience. Interviewers want to know what you gained from that experience and how you implement it in your future sales.
In conclusion, people working in sales have to be convincing, smooth-talking and a great conversation starter. This is why sales interview questions are not for the light-hearted. They require quick thinking, and the ability to adapt to the interviewer’s thinking state to get their approval.
Waqar Hussain is the founder of The Business Goals. He writes about entrepreneurial strategies and is an SEO consultant by profession. He is a B.Com, GDM, and an MBA from the Australian Institute of Business.
