Why did you choose a career in sales (or why are you interested in a sales position?)

Prepare for this question by asking yourself what it is about sales that you truly enjoy (besides just the money). Other reasons for choosing a career in sales could be the opportunity to meet new and different people, the challenges of solving problems for potential clients, the thrill of the hunt, travel, building personal relationships with clients…the list is endless.

Tell me about yourself.

This job interview question demonstrates your ability to communicate and balance appropriate personal and professional information. Start with an interesting personal tidbit and then talk about why you are pursuing a sales career in general and at this particular company.

Why are you interested in working for our company?

It’s also perfectly acceptable to talk about other aspects of the company that don’t involve sales that you’re interested in, including the company culture, their philanthropic activities, or anything else about them that genuinely sparks an interest in you. An employer is going to be much more willing to hire someone who is genuinely excited about the company. Just remember to make sure you include past experiences that you’ve had that are relevant to the question and the position.

Give me an overview of your career to date

A career retrospective highlights your ability to communicate in addition to bearing testament to the logic and rationale of your career choices. Start with your first professional job (note: not your very first job ever) and talk briefly about what you learned from each successive role.

How do you keep yourself motivated?

The perfect candidate for a sales position is one who is always motivated to close the deal and who has genuine enthusiasm for the job. An effective way to convey this is to discuss your personal style and highlight the parts of the job that really inspire you.

What are your short- to mid-term career goals?

A career retrospective highlights your ability to communicate in addition to bearing testament to the logic and rationale of your career choices. Start with your first professional job (note: not your very first job ever) and talk briefly about what you learned from each successive role.

What are your short- to mid-term career goals?

Job candidates who set goals are perceived to be clear thinkers and motivated workers. Before your interview, talk to a few people who are where you would like to be and ask if your stated goals strike a healthy balance between realistic and achievable.

Then, when you talk to the hiring manager, briefly describe your goals and hone in on why you want to achieve them -- your driving motivations and where you think achieving these goals could take you in the next few years.

At what point do you stop working with a potential client?

A hiring manager is going to want to know how dedicated to the sales process you are, but also how well you can recognize when enough is enough. Sales is all about walking the fine line between being persistent and being pushy and a hiring manager wants to make sure you recognize that difference. A persistent sales person can sometimes help close a reluctant deal but a pushy one can drive one away.

How do you generate, develop, and close sales opportunities?

Core sales skills remain the same regardless of industry or company. This job interview question seeks to uncover the maturity and suitability of your sales process. With this in mind, talk very specifically about how you execute your sales role from start to finish.

Address planning, preparation, targeting, engaging, discovering needs, providing solutions, resolving objections, and gaining agreement. Lay out how you tackle each of these tasks step by step.

How comfortable are you with making cold calls?

Depending on the position and the company you’re interviewing with, a part of your job may very well rely on your ability to make cold calls. While cold calls can be tough as you’re reaching out to a complete stranger in the hopes of selling something, a good sales person will have what it takes to turn these tough calls into sales opportunities.

What do you consider your most significant sales achievement to date?

People remember richly detailed stories of success. When fleshing out your crowning achievement, talk about the time, the specific situation or problem, the people involved, the steps you took to achieve the end result, and what happened afterwards. Everyone loves a good sales story, so the more you can amp up the drama, the better.

How do you view collaboration within a sales team?

Being a part of a sales team means being a part of…well…a team, and a hiring manager is going to want to know how you’re going to fit in and if you work well with others. While it might feel like you’re on your own most days when working sales, you’ll still be expected to collaborate on some level with other members of the sales team as well as your sales manager and the marketing team.

An employee who is uncooperative can not only slow down the sales process but can also contribute to hostile work environments and may ultimately cost potential clients.

Tell me about a mistake you’ve made in sales and what you’ve learned from that mistake.

Hiring managers ask this question because they want to know how introspective you are and if you can truly learn from your mistakes. Sales is a position that involves constant growth and an employee who is unwilling to make changes is going to eventually stagnate in their role.

What do you like the least about sales?

This question helps a hiring manager learn more about what makes you you, and if you’ll ultimately be the right fit for the company. Answer this question honestly, but make sure you don’t just turn it into an opportunity to air all your grievances about the job. At the same time, don’t answer this question by saying “Nothing! I love sales.” You’ll just come off as disingenuous and false, and nobody wants to hire someone like that.

Why are you interested in this company? Why are you interested in this role?

Do you believe in the work the company does? Explain why. Are you interested in expanding your skillset to include the enterprise-level business they conduct? Tell them that. Does the role play to your strengths? Explain which strengths and how.

Even if your interviewer doesn't ask you this question, it's a strong way to begin or end your meeting.

What do you think is more important: new clients or long-term clients?

The answer to this question is completely dependent upon the company you’re interviewing for and what you’ll be selling, which means you’ve got to do your research beforehand. Is the company in the market for disposable products or are their products something a customer expects to last a long time? Is the company focused in high quantity sales or do they expect the customers to look at their products as an investment? How you answer this question will depend entirely upon how well you understand the company you’re interviewing for and the products they sell.

The fact of the matter is, both types of clients are key to a successful business, but depending on the life-cycle of your products, your clients and other important factors, you may need to allocate slightly more resources to one or the other.

Because this is such a subjective question and one that requires considerable research and targeting, we’re not going to give you an example answer for this one. We’re just going to remind you that the Perfect Candidate (aka you!) always does research prior to an interview and part of that research for a sales position is determining what sort of product the company is selling and what their long-term goals for their customers are.

How do you keep up with the latest industry trends in sales?

If you're not reading the latest industry books, listening to sales podcasts, or following the hottest blogs, how are you keeping your skills sharp? Always come armed with a few ways you're learning about and bettering your craft.