Possible Sales Interview Questions

Employers/Interviewers:  These questions can help you prepare to interview a potential Sales Animal for your company.  We have accumulated some great sales questions to help gauge your interviewers sales skills.

Jobseekers/Interviewees:  These questions can help you get prepared for your sales interview, think about your sales skills, and how you may answer potential interview questions.

If you have good questions that we can add to our list, please email them to us at info@salesanimals.com.  Thanks for contributing!!!
 

General Sales Questions

Why did you go into the sales profession?

Why do you enjoy selling?

What is it you like about sales? 

Where do you want sales to lead you in your career? 

Tell me about the accomplishments you are most proud of. 

Describe to me the details of your last three days at work.

What do you like and dislike about the products or services you’re selling now and why?

What attracts you to the industry you are in?

What are your long-term professional goals?

What do you do personally for your professional development?

What are your favorite selling books?

As a sales professional, what do you see as your primary and secondary roles within a company?

Describe a time where a creative approach to meeting an objective didn’t work and what you did next?

What is the largest group you’ve presented to (externally/ internally)?

What do you like and dislike about presentations and why?

Describe a time you led a group of people, the primary challenges you faced and how you handled them?

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?

Are you an individual contributor or do you sell as part of a sales team? 

Tell me about the product you sold in your last job.

What kinds of rewards do you find most satisfying?

How do you keep yourself going when everyone around you is complaining about having a bad day?

Do you meet report deadlines?

What lead sources have you found most productive?

Does your company provide you with leads?

Sales Skills

Why do you think people buy from you? 

What are the top two or three most important sales skills one should possess?  Why? 

Tell me about your two most satisfying sales deals and why they were your best. 

Tell me about two deals you’ve lost.  Why did you lose them?  Who was the competitor you lost them to? What did you learn from losing them? 

How do you deal with rejection?

What areas would your two most recent Managers say you should improve upon to become stronger? 

Describe a situation with a client or prospect where you could have taken a different approach.  What would you have done differently?

Describe a couple of instances, big or small, where you took a different approach in achieving an objective outside the company direction?

How do you organize a presentation?

What do you think are the most important skills in succeeding 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 your biggest difficulty in selling?

Tell me about a recent sale that you lost to a competitor.

Give me an example of a recent difficult sale and how you closed the deal.
 

Sales Cycle/Process

What’s the average length of a sales cycle? 

Describe your typical sales cycle. 

What do you feel are the two most important things you need from a company to get off on the right track?

What do you like and dislike about the sales process and why?

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.
 

Typical Week

How many first appointments do you have each week?

How many rejections do you take in a typical week?

In your current position, how much time would you say you spend directly with prospects and customers throughout the sales day?

What do you see as the key issues in negotiating?

How would your present prospects and customers describe you as their sales representative?

Does your company support the sales force?

Describe a time your company did not deliver on its product or service and how you responded?

How strong is your pipeline?

Describe how you present a solution to your prospective client?

At what stage in the sales process do you present the ROI to the prospect?

Describe one or two of the most difficult challenges and/ or rejections you’ve faced in the past and how you responded?

Quota

Over the past three years, what percentage of your quota did you achieve?

Have you ever worked in a commission only job?

How were you rated in your last three performance reviews?
 

Closing Questions

Tell me about a time when you were in a “closing situation” and for whatever reason, the “decision-maker” couldn’t make a decision.  What did you do?  Did you get the deal?

What do you see as the key skills in closing?

Questions an Interviewee should ask 

What are the three key factors that will assure my success in this position?

What qualifications does your company seek in a sales rep?

What is the manager looking for in a rep?

What products will I be selling?