Website design By BotEap.comThere will come a time when you will start looking for sales jobs. Everyone wants to have the answers ready when the questions start flying. You’ll always want to practice your sales interview questions and answers ahead of time until you’re comfortable with the answers.

Website design By BotEap.comJust for clarification, inside sales is a position where 99% of your job is sitting in an office making outbound calls and outbound emails to potential customers. You are trying to win customers and close deals without leaving your business premises. Outside sales is a position where you dress professionally and go out to meet current and potential customers. You’ll use your bright smile, excellent tone of voice, and firm handshake along with your persuasive wit to win dollars.

Website design By BotEap.comIn a sales interview, one or more people will sit with you in a room with closed doors and ask you questions and record your answers. Some people will record the interview via an electronic device and transcribe it later. Each person can take turns asking questions, or one person can be the main interviewer while the others take notes.

Website design By BotEap.comMost of the questions will be open ended questions where you will be expected to provide details and examples of your previous work in sales. Very few questions will be simple yes and no, but if they are, many will follow with a closely related open question. The following is a group of direct sales questions that are commonly asked in interviews along with an example of a really good answer.

Website design By BotEap.comAsk: Describe how this particular position appeals to you.

Website design By BotEap.comAnswer: Tell them how you enjoy meeting new people and how you’ve always been comfortable working on the phone and like to think you have a probing, persuasive sales technique that attracts customers.

Website design By BotEap.comAsk:Give three examples of how your previous work experience has prepared you for this sales position.

Website design By BotEap.comAnswer: Explain that in a previous role you helped the lead salesperson keep track of his 12,000 customers with a customer relationship management software system. Now explain in another position how you conducted phone sales and in person sales presentations using MS PowerPoint and brochures. Now explain that in his most recent position he contacted subscribers who had canceled their subscriptions and tried to renew them.

Website design By BotEap.comAsk: Office hours are 5 am to 7 pm, seven days a week. You will work at least one weekend day and depending on business needs, both Saturday and Sunday. Can you work those hours and including holidays and weekends?

Website design By BotEap.comAnswer:Tell them you don’t have a vacation planned for the next 6 months. Let them know that you will need to reschedule a doctor’s appointment. But there is nothing else that prevents you from working those days and hours.

Website design By BotEap.comask: Do you understand that this is a temporary position and you can end at any time?

Website design By BotEap.comAnswer: Say yes, yes, understand. Say you like a variety of different assignments, so this is great.

Website design By BotEap.comAsk: Why are you looking for a new job right now?

Website design By BotEap.comAnswer: Explain that you were laid off a few months ago and have been looking for the right job. Or explain that his company is starting downsizing and he wants to find another job before the last day arrives. You could also explain that there is no future for you in your current job and that you have decided to look for a position where you can better utilize your talents and abilities.

Website design By BotEap.comAsk: Why did you leave your last employer?

Website design By BotEap.comAnswer: Explain that after she finished school and the internship she was in was not a regular full-time job, so she left to find a permanent job. Explain that her family has moved to this city/town and she is now looking for a new job. Explain that he was honorably discharged three months ago from (military branch) and is now a civilian looking to use his military training in a new job. Never speak ill of your previous employer

Website design By BotEap.comask: How long have you been looking for a new job?

Website design By BotEap.comAnswer: Since X weeks or X months now. Explain that you are not willing to take the first job that comes along. Tell him then that you know your limitations and you can’t do X and X so you look for something that better suits your talent and abilities.

Website design By BotEap.comAsk: Give an example of a successful business-to-consumer sales experience.

Website design By BotEap.comAnswer: Explain that in a previous position it was his job to find hobbyists who wanted to get a hobby website up and running. You found a man who had a collection of seashells from around the world and wanted to display them with pictures and descriptions. Tell him how you helped him register his domain name, find the right hosting package, and showed you how to scan into his shells and build his website. I was very happy and that you did a good order.

Website design By BotEap.comAsk: Give an example of a business-to-business sales experience.

Website design By BotEap.comAnswer: Explain that in a previous position you sold smaller capacity photocopiers to small retail businesses. Tell them how you found a man with three rug stores who wasn’t happy with his long-term copier contract. Explain how he showed you how to get out of the contract that was costing you an extra $5,000 each year and how to have your own photocopiers within 6 months. He was very happy and how you made a nice commission.

Website design By BotEap.comAsk: What has been the biggest sales challenge you have overcome?

Website design By BotEap.comAnswer: The top three objections to selling you’ve encountered are 1) there’s no time for the pitch. 2) The customer doesn’t need it and 3) There is no money for something new. Explain that you always try to position yourself around the best time for the customer, present the benefits of the product and service, and try to help them see how theirs will cost them less than what they are paying now.

Website design By BotEap.comAsk:What skill have you used the most while doing sales work?

Website design By BotEap.comAnswer: Listening from afar. Explain that it is not just audible comprehension, but hearing what the person is saying. Second, tell them that time management is the skill you will always keep sharp.

Website design By BotEap.comAsk: What do you consider to be a difficult sales goal?

Website design By BotEap.comAnswer: Explain that you’re a little nervous about the annual sales goal simply because it always seems like a gigantic number. Tell them that once you narrow it down to months, weeks, and days, you can see what you have to do in the way of calls and presentations to reach that yearly number.

Website design By BotEap.comAsk:How do you prepare each day for your sales job?

Website design By BotEap.comAnswer: Explain that you actually start the night before. I do some research on the web at night, drink water and go to bed early. Tell them that the next day you feel like he has a jump in workload, so you put him in a good mood and start going through calls and notes.

Website design By BotEap.comAsk: Indicate how you achieved your last sales goal.

Website design By BotEap.comAnswer: Explain that in a previous position, you nearly fell short of $10,000 on your sales quota. A suggested that I do more friends meetups to network, so he started going out 2 nights a week with groups that might be new clients. That worked. Tell them you also found an X listing on the web and decided to start a newsletter campaign and that turned into a couple of new customers. Explain how you ended up $2,000 above your forecast sales goal for the year.

Website design By BotEap.comAsk: Give an example of your worst customer.

Website design By BotEap.comAnswer: Explain that once you did door-to-door sales for an import-export company and after hitting the homeowner he responded with a shotgun. After a few seconds he noticed that the security was on, so he relaxed a bit and told the owner that he was in luck because he was there to help him install a new alarm system.

Website design By BotEap.comAsk: Describe three persuasive techniques that you use.

Website design By BotEap.comAnswer: Explain that a long time ago you had a registered nurse who taught younger nurses as a client a contact management software that you sold. She complained that too many nurses were leaving his program. Tell them how she showed you how keeping her ezine breath in front of these nurses would help her retain and graduate new students.

Website design By BotEap.comExplain that a caterer had come to the car park where you worked looking for a large van for his catering job. Tell them how he showed you the model and pictures of a smaller truck that he had sold a few months earlier to another dealer and liked the lower price and customization better.

Website design By BotEap.comExplain how you primarily try to appeal to the customer’s reason, values, beliefs, and emotions during the sale. Tell them how you like to show them how reasonable an action is, show them the value of something, make them believe that the right outcome is just a few steps away, and affirm their emotions by making the right decisions.

Website design By BotEap.comAsk: Give an example of how you look for a sale.

Website design By BotEap.comAnswer: Tell them something about how you haven’t known them for a long time, but you feel that they are people who like to keep things in order, to keep things together. Now ask them if you are right. Are you getting the right level of service from your tools? Are you satisfied with your current provider?

Website design By BotEap.comAsk: Are there any obstacles to committing to a 2 week training program (no time off for 2 weeks)?

Website design By BotEap.comAnswer: Tell them you are free and available for 2 weeks, yes. The only plans you have for free time are for a day away around Christmas for family obligations, but you’re all hers until then.

Website design By BotEap.comThere are thousands of other questions that could come up during the interview process. Keep in mind that it is your behavior, reactions and responses that potential managers and supervisors are looking at. The mindset is that if you reacted/responded a certain way in the past, that is how you will react/respond in the future. The employer has in mind a list of attributes that will lead to success in the position and wants to hear your responses to determine if you match that list.

Website design By BotEap.comLastly, there are no right and wrong answers in an interview. Practice your responses and responses until they feel natural to you. Speak clearly and with details that will lead to a deeper interview and get ready to shine!