Sales Interview Questions & Answers

The application process began with an array of competency questions which judged what I would do in given situations. The next step was an online testing platform which included numerical, pyschometric and verbal reasoning tests. The following stage was a telephone interview, this involved the interviewer getting an idea of my motivations as well as an understanding of what knowledge i had gained on the company. Other factors were tested including competency questions including what best motivates myself and give a situation where leadership and other qualities were expressed.
The next and final stage was a two day assessment centre. The first day was an opportunity to meet the other candidates and was not assessed. We were greeted by our recruitment manager who took us through a presentation on the company successes and what would be featured in the roles that we had applied for.

The most difficult element of the interview process had to be the numerical reasoning test. Mathematical problems is an area where I lack confidence and technical ability as I possess interests and more inherited capabilities in other areas such as leadership and drive.

Get to know the organisation, how they operate, where and how. Search the internet for environmental influences and threats in their market as this was one area that i was recommended to look up after my telephone interview.

Be positive, confident and address each person you are presenting to and keep your presentation to the point and factual.

Try to contain your nerves, it helped to be relaxed in almost all of the exercises and I found taking an mp3 player while preparing for each exercise to be useful which was advised prior to the assessment day by the organisation.

The assessment centre was an extremely pressurised experience. It involved 4 exercises including a face to face interview, a presentation which i had 45 minutes to absorb a large amount of information and then present for 20 minutes relating to it, I had a role play where I was required to adopt the role of a member of staff at the organisation convincing another colleague who was difficult to influence to adopt new practices and then a group exercise at the end of the day.

It was an intense experience where i had to draw on many capabilities that i have gained and put into practise while at university and I was particularly tested on my communication ability.

I received the opportunity to attend this interview through an agency. After registering with the agency and having a mock interview with them, they put my forward for this position.

The day of the interview, I was asked to attend the agency beforehand to practise. I then headed to the interview, which as a group assessment day.

Having to stand up and pitch about something that I knew absolutely nothing about was a really difficult thing to do.

Make sure that you are prepared for all possibilities, they could ask you anything.

At my assesment day, there were six other candidates and eight interviewers. We were first asked to get to know our partner and then stand up and introduce them to the room. The questions we had to ask them were things like; "what are your ambitions?" and "who's your greatest influence???? After this, we were each asked to stand up and present a product that we were required to bring to the interview and explain how it represented us now and in the future. I chose batteries (lots of energy, useful, rechargeable etc.), but other candidates chose all sorts of strange items.

The next part of the group interview was a task, which included the candidates acting as if they were on a hot air balloon that was going down, and it could only stay afloat if all but one of the people jumped to their death. Each candidate was given a piece of paper with a celebrity's name on it. I was Jennifer Anniston. I thought this was great as I knew a little bit about her, but then I realised that other candidates were celebrities such as Obama, David Cameron, Usain Bolt and Beyonce. We each had to stand up and pitch why we should be allowed to live, and then the whole group had to debate and come to a joint decision. After a vote, the Obama candidate won. At this stage, myself and another candidate were taken into another room where we were told that our applications had been unsuccessful.

Initial interview was with a external agency that lasted around 1 hour.We had an initial chat about my CV then moved on the Competencies question. Finally I was asked to present a presentation on a product the company sells and manufactures.

Please describe your favorite brand and lay out the reasons for this

Research the companies culture!!

We performed 2 1 hour group task based on negotiations. One that had a marketing context and with a sales context. Then we performed an individual presentation based on a case study on a RB product.Finally we had an interview with employees of RB, that was similar to the first one with the agency.

The first interview was very much a getting to know you process and going over my CV and expanding on all my previous roles. There were no competency questions just - What are your best skills? Why do you want to get into sales? Why Medicina? Location? Why did you leave your last job? What attracts you to the medical sales market?

At this stage they said they were impressed with my enthusiasm and phone presence, both must have for a role in sales.

After passing this stage I was invited to a final interview - a face to face interview with teh sales director, this interview was going into more CV in more detail and the usual competency questions such as 'Name a time you've failed and what you learnt from this' 'tell me a time you've given good customer service' 'Tell me a time you've dealt with rejection' 'tell me a time you met a specific goal' 'explain to me a time when you were part of a team and showed leadership' 'explain to me what you can bring to the role' 'what do you know about our products' 'What do you know about our competitors, how would you sell against them'

It's key to use the STAR method - situation, time, action, result.

The most difficult question I faced and I didn't mention this in the description was 'what is your biggest weakness'. I always pray they never ask this question as I find myself either giving a very cheesy answer like - working too hard or drop the ball and say something silly like time management. This time I said that I can sometimes talk too much and I could be more succinct but that will come with experience.

Know your CV and know the experiences that you've had that will show off the skills you need in the role.

Research the company, the products, the competitors, read the news articles on the industry and the company - they will be impressed if you can say what industry leaders have said about the future, or what might change

Be confident, make yourself known, it just takes 1 day of being uncomfortable and embarrassed to get a good job, so don't leave thinking you could have done more.

Be presentable, get a haircut, dress as sharp as possible.

Enthusiastic and self motivating. Always mention you are good with managing your time. Don't be afraid of talking about your actual hobbies, because people will want to hire people they can be friends with.

Don't put anyone down in the group exercise, and always listen and tell people if you like their idea, put never put people down. Try to take a role like time keeper and or writing the notes.

In sales especially, do not be afraid to say you're motivated by money. That is the reason everyone gets into sales.

If you don't get the job it probably wasn't the right job for you. And who wants to be with a company that don't see your potential. On to the next one.

15 people 5 different tasks.

Role play - Individual - Given a product to sell, I was given a pen. I had to sell the pen to the director in front of me. I started by asking what pen he used now, what he liked about the pen, what he didn't, then started showing him the pen I had. I managed to close and up-sell.

Business Test - Much like a psychometric test, but with business case studies. Tell me which product sold the most in jan 2006. If revenue was not an issue which plant would you move to? The usual.

Face to face: As mentioned before.

Presentation: Each given a business proposal and we had 20 minute to plan and 5 minutes to present. The proposals all were very boring so no one could really show anything other than natural public speaking skills.

Group Exercise: As a team, come up with a new event to launch a new product. Our product was randomly an energy drink. I quickly took charge of the drawing board to note down the plans and manage the group.

The process had 3 steps.

Firstly, a telephone interview with a recruitment company lasting 30 minutes (presumably Thomson-Reuters outsource recruitment to this company for that initial stage). This was competency based as expected, with the interviewer asking a variety of questions based around my experiences and specifically asking for examples where I could explain instances of fulfilling the competencies required by the role. In addition, the interviewer asked some motivational based questions around why I had applied to TR, and why I had applied to sales specifically. The interview was fast paced but simple enough. It ended with logistical questions based on the role.

Having successfully passed this stage I was invited to a face-to-face interview at the canary wharf office in London. This interview was undertaken by a HR manager and a Sales representative from TR, who took turns to ask motivational and competency based questions. There were also a number of situational type questions around what I would do personally in a difficult sales type scenario etc. I was then asked to perform a 5 minute, on the cuff sales pitch for any item or service I wished (I was given 10 minutes to prepare in private). That was a difficult task, and felt pressured. The face to face interview took around an hour in total, was good natured and other than the sales pitch exercise, not particularly pressured or difficult.

The final stage was a full day assessment centre, detailed in the question below...

I was

The most difficult questions were undoubtedly the situational job-related questions which I was essentially unable to prepare for, because they were presumably designed to test my decision making abilities on the cuff. These included questions like...

"A senior manager (in a different service line) has asked you to prepare a report immediately but you have a particularly full workload, how do you react?" (or along those lines).

Remain calm. Preparation is absolutely essential, including researching the company, role, industry, competition, and latest news relating to the industry - and will give you the confidence to answer in the correct manner. Attempt to establish an early rapport with the interviewer by answering confidently with eye contact and clear, calm speech.

Remain professional throughout and try your very best to show some passion about the job role/industry (In my feedback this was apparently lacking).

The assessment centre was the most difficult of 3 that I have now experienced. A high level of industry and company knowledge was expected and tested at various points. There were 3 tasks.

1. Another face to face interview. This time based around my CV application to TR and why I believed I was suited to the specific sales role I had applied for. This was more formal than previous interviews, and particularly testing. It was fantastic experience. Not quite Apprentice-esque it was nevertheless difficult.

2. A group exercise in which 5 candidates had to together solve a complex logistical question in half an hour and present our solution back to 4 ever-present assessors. The problem was inherently unsolvable (at least I believe it was!) and clearly the aim of the exercise was to test team working skills as well as leadership and presumably some element of problem solving individually.

3. A presentation exercise (on my own) in which I was given a pack of materials and half an hour to prepare a presentation (given to two assessors), without the use of notes. The presentation was on a made up business solution TR had implemented at a made up client.

Online application followed by video interview. This part was the same as all others with a little touch of BT. The invited to assessment centre.

4 exercises: group exercise, one-to-one presentation, differential and a one-to-one interview.

Group exercise consisted of working as a team to create a presentation, and then present that to the assessors in a timed scenario.

Presentation was something pre-prepared by yourself, which had to be on the BT values.

Differential was a role play exercised aimed at suitability for the role.

Interview... well that was an interview.

Most difficult task is the group exercise. Working with people that you met 10 minutes ago logically and as a team.

No difficult questions. There are no correct answers, assessors at BT genuinely want to know about you, not what google said was the best answer.

Be yourself, work as a team and don't try to fight to stand out. Prepare on aspects of the role that you could be questioned on. Look at and learn the BT values and make sure the company is the right fit for you.

Relaxed atmosphere, buddies are provided (current BT grads) and they help you throughout the day!

After applying you will have a spontaneous phone interview, this is followed by a face to face interview, then an interview and a couple of hours in a branch and then finally an assessment day. You will be asked about previous sales experience, meeting targets and general questions about the company.

Discussing previous sales experience and working to meet targets as well as your own personal achievements.

Make sure you are prepared for your face to face interview with knowledge of the company, the values and background of the owner for example. Act confident but also listen to others at the assessment day. Don't be afraid to be yourself!

Assessment takes place with other candidates, there are unlimited spaces so you're not fighting against each other for a place. You are shown an introductory presentation by managers from various branches, you then do a group discussion with metaphorical money about which charities you should invest in in front of management staff - this is to showcase your communication skills. You then perform role plays 1:1 with a manager to show how you would act in front of customers. You perform a small half an hour test in which you are allowed a calculator, you work out some percentages (easy ones) and then have to put a potential rota together given the information. Everyone has lunch together, which is provided. You then have a 1:1 interview with a member of staff which looks into more depth regarding sales experience, customer service experience and start dates and locations.

The interview is beneficial to competitive and confident individuals but for many the atmosphere was stressful and at times, aggressive. It does not allow for people to shine but wants to bring their competitive nature out. It begins with group assessment where you describe your greatest non-academic achievement followed by the Nasa walking across the moon test ending with a timed 30 second pitch as to why Turnstone should hire your partner. The one on one interview is short, 3 minute presentation (not always required) and interrogative questions as to why you want to be in sales / start a career in sales.

You have 10 minutes to create a pitch as to why we should hire your partner

Make sure you are confident. It is what Turnstone are looking for and their interview is set out in such a way that they can see who is resilient, outspoken and their future employee. It is tough but the process clearly shows who suits a career in sales and centres on whether you actually want a career in sales.

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The telephone interview was pretty straight forward a few of the usual competency based questions. They're also determining your telephone manner as a large proportion of the job is over the phone. In person interview and panel interviews are basically a review of your cv and then a role play assignment is carried out.

"tell me about a time you showed initiative?" "Tell me what happened and how you dealt with it"

Prepare yourself well and ensure that your personality is suited to a sales job. If not, the job will not be easy. Be very money driven and goal orientated. During the role play be calm and let the other person speak. Agree with their objections and then show why they aren't relevant to your product.

Role play on the telephone selling a subscription to the online procurement platform

My initial interview was conducted over Skype, I was given a lot of information about the company during the interview, so I could decide whether the job was definitely for me or not.
The interview process was thorough with many stages, however they were conducted in a relaxed, but professional manner.

"What are your weaknesses?"
Quite difficult in an interview situation to spot and admit to your own weaknesses, so definitely see how they could convert into a positive.

Research the company before your interview. Be prepared to learn more about tailoring, and the technical aspects of this, but also to have a customer facing background would be advisory, as great customer service is something that the company holds high.

The assessment day consisted of different role play activities, a presentation, a trial run and an interview, with lunch provided.
The day ran smoothly, constantly giving insight into the day to day life that would be expected working for the company. After every task there was an opportunity to ask any questions and to gain feedback on your performance.
Prior to the assessment centre, we received each an information pack, with details of a presentation to prepare, on image, information about the company values, and what would be expected of you within the role advertised.