Sales Interview Questions & Answers

I applied to Pareto through their website-I did apply for a specific role but I cannot remember what this was now. Within a day or so, I was left a voicemail from a very pleasant female recruiter. I called her and we had a brief chat about what I wanted , what sectors I was interested in. She then invited me to proceed with a telephone interview with her, which took around ten minutes. The questions were what you might expect-
- Why Sales
- What do you know about Pareto
- Tell me about a time you worked on a problem and solved it
- Tell me about a time you had a goal or target and what you did to hit or exceed it.
These were the sort of questions-mainly competency based. So my advice hear is as with any application, do the research and know what sort of qualities they are looking for and link these back to your experiences.
I passed this stage, and was actually offered there and then a chance to go to a tailored assessment day for a role with Virgin Media. I could not attend this, so we rescheduled and I went to a general day about a week later. The recruiter sent me a detailed email itinerary so I knew how the day would go and what to prepare for.
On the day, I arrived at the Wilmslow office and was registered, name badge etc. I then proceeded into a reception room with about 40/50 other grads (this was the case on both days I have been on). Yes it was a bit hot, but I don???t think this is a big deal. My advice here is to introduce yourself professionally to the others in your area, just be brave and shake hands and be friendly. This is a skill important in nearly every career so it is useful practice whatever happens. As a group we were taken into a large room with chairs (air-conditioned for those concerned) and given a short talk about the day. The staff I found were very professional, relaxed and interesting and not robots or somehow terrible in any way. I say things like this because I have read other reviews that criticise everything from the appearance of the staff to the temperature in the room, so I am trying to address these points as an aside. Try to be as un self-conscious as possible, it is only for one day after all! Try to think of something original for this section, something perhaps business focused, related to the role etc. Many people have travelled around South-East Asia on their own???I once went to Turkey all by myself, even took a public bus while I was there! We were asked to state our name, a celebrity we admire (dead or alive) and our greatest non-academic achievement.
You will then do two group tasks in the group you are assigned-make sure you listen out for your group as the self-introductions are run through. These range from a reasonably complex points and colours based exercise to ranking essential items for a survival situation. I found, contrary to other reviews, that the ones that shouted the loudest did NOT get through. They assess your skills of communication, persuasion, logic and teamwork. I actually noticed I struggled to get a word in edgeways on both occasions-but I made contributions that were impactful, and I made sure to say ???you said this, but what about if we thought about it this way???? or ???Shall we review what the actual objective is so we do not come off track????. Take the lead if you feel the opportunity arises- read the group.
Eat something at the break to keep your energy up-biscuits are always good for the sugar. The 3-minuite presentations come in the afternoon. It is essential to practice beforehand and focus on what they want you to do the presentation about. I broke mine down into three distinct points for each section. Weave in your experience to interact with what they look for in a candidate. This is the time to show the assessor that you are professional, confident etc. It will only be you and them in the room. [Personal presentation is important at this point, so make sure your suit fits you well and does not drown you. Same with the shirt (pale blue or white are safe bets) and a SILK tie properly done up to the neck, not skinny. Shape the knot with your fingers. Polish your shoes well. I promise this will help with confidence and making you look the part]
Later you will be told if you are successful. I followed the above formula an I have landed a fantastic job through Pareto. Just try your very best, because they do work hard for you-I have been offered countless interviews and gone through to four different ones. The opportunity I have is astonishingly good-so the Pareto process does work for those willing to work hard.

(For the specific assessment) Tell me what you know about X company and this role.

1) Look the part-Present yourself well. A suit that fits, a proper shirt and shoes and a silk tie properly shaped and done up. Buy a GQ for inspiration if needs be.
2) Do your research and think about how you can present yourself as a person that fits their competency needs
3) Be confident, talk to others and be conversational.
4) Show yourself as the professional you are-no inappropriate remarks at any time.

1) A self introduction
2) A 3-min presentation

On the initial phone interview. I was asked a serious of ten questions with a minute to answer each given question. The first few questions were basic and ones that you would expect to be asked in such an interview, questions like why did i apply for the role, what can i tell them about the company, why do i want to pursue a career in sales etc. After this the questions were ones i did not expect and did not plan for however did answer them comfortably. Questions were things like outside your academic achievements what is your greatest achievement? When have you had an idea and followed through with it?

What are your weaknesses? I always find this a difficult question, however recently i have decided this can be easily answered and even turned into a positive. Being a graduated my obvious weakness is my lack of experience in the sales sector, however you can then state how you feel the skills in which you have acquired through both university and any previous work experience can be fully utilized within your chosen sector.

I think preparation is essential when it comes to interviews, three things you need to know inside out. Why it is you want to pursue a career in your chosen industry, why it is you are suitable for that role and you need to have a clear and good understanding of the company you are applying for. I also recommend to be relaxed and just be yourself, at the end of the day if your not the right person for the organization, then they weren't right for you.

There were 12 of us altogether, we were split into two groups. The first group went of to do a team exercise whilst we were taken to a separate room to do a numerical test. The test was split into two sections, the first section being basic maths and the second being more scenario based. We were given around 30 minutes to complete it. Once this was done we went into another room to carry out the group exercise, we basically were given 10 options as to what we felt were important characteristics of a great sales person. We then as a group had to discuss and rank these qualities. 1 being the most important and 10 being the least. It was basically an exercise to see how well we communicated and put our point across. I personally felt it was a well constructed task and related well to the job in which we were applying for. Surprisingly after that we were sent home and there were no further interviews, i was quite surprised we were not interviewed individually given the size of the company.

The interview consisted of someone going through your CV with you in detail asking you about your experience in sales and also why you think you are suited to this role. If successful in this stage a lady will send you an email confirming the second part of the interview, It will state a date and time and attached to the email will be a brief of a role play and questions you will need to prepare for.

When i was called back on a separate day for the second part of the interview, a lady went on to asked me some competency based questions. Such as describe a decision which you regret and what did you to avoid a repeat.

After this you had to perform the role play. You had to clearly explain the concept of Amazon merchant services, the key benefits of selling on amazon and the costs involved. You needed to act as the caller and the interviewer would act as a prospective business manager. The role play is roughly 15 minutes long and the purpose is to close a sale with the interviewer. They will not make it easy for you so be prepared to handle rejections and come up with solutions to their questions.

Describe an occasion where you had to structure a long term solution.

Make sure you have answers already prepared for the competency based questions as they will 100% ask you this. Also make sure you have practiced the role play previously with a family member or friend as you need to sound confident and sure of yourself. Also be prepared for extra questions to be added into the role play by the interviewer, try to improvise as best as possible and use your common sense to come up with an answer.

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Before attaining the interview I had to pass three tests, these were numerical, verbal reasoning and abstract.

Once passed there was a phone interview which lasted around 45mins this was conducted by a member of the recruitment team who laid out how the interview would work, the questions asked were expected, however it is important you have done your research to give the best possible answers also why you applied to them specifically so remember to be positive.

After the interview I was told my answered will be put against a set of criteria and if I matched it then I would progress to the next stage, once explained I proceeded to ask questions myself.

Describe a time where you were told to change in order to improve performance.

Interview tips:
Research, Research, Research! It is important you know about the company itself and specifically for the marketing job it is important to research marketing campaigns they have recently done and give your opinion on how you would change it or what was good about it, showing initiative.
Have questions prepared aswel to ask at the end to show your interest

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The initial telephone interview lasted around 40 minutes with a member of the graduate recruitment team. It consisted of three parts: motivational questions, competency questions and what Nestle refer to as "strength based" questions. The motivational questions were pretty self explanatory, asking why I am interested in the role, what skills do I have to be successful in such a role, what do I understand about Nestlé's values etc. these took around 10 minutes. The competency questions were the usual teamwork, initiative, creativity etc which took probably the longest. The final part, the strengths based were more general questions (but personally I found more difficult to do well in) such as how important is teamwork, and some personality questions like reacting to management styles. Some of these were often followed up by asking for an example, similar to competency questions.
At the assessment centre interview with two senior sales managers began with general questions like what do you do in your spare time. The rest was very similar but with more challenging questions. For myself as I study law but applied for a sales position, was asked about why I'm not pursuing law and my interest in sales. My five years 6 years in sales heavy retail experience helped the difference between the two fields. The competency questions were more detailed than in the phone interview, such as describe a time when you acted to benefit both a client and the organisation you represented. The biggest difference was perhaps the heavier weighting of the strenghs based questions which took up the bulk of the interview with questions such as how important is networking and why, do you look to transfer your skills, why is it important to be able to work with people from different backgrounds etc again followed up by examples. The whole interview lasted for around one hour.

How would you deal with a team member who is not pulling their weight?

Ensure that you research the company thoroughly, in particularly their values. Also do not disregard the strength based questions and prepare as much as possible for them as Nestlé really like to distinguish themselves on those questions and place a lot of weighting on them. Ensure you have a genuine passion for the area you apply for as it will come up in the motivational questions. Think of plenty of examples and all should be well!

Apart from the introductory presentation and a networking lunch, the assessment centre was split into four tasks, a written exercise, a group exercise, presentation and interview. Each was given between 40-60 minutes. The individual written exercise was analysing reports and market research to respond to questions set by a fictitious supervisor. We were split into four groups of four for the group task which was a task about balancing and prioritising clients and their orders and then presenting to the assessors our decisions. The individual presentation required pitching a new product to potential clients. There were three products to choose from. The assessors were again two senior sales managers. They asked questions after the pitch, which then became a negotiation exercise with me and the "client" as to how many boxes to buy at what price etc. Though my assessors were reasonably cooperative, fellow candidates stated some of them had harsher questions and gave awkward responses to test their reactions. The panel interview is described above. The overall experience from the company was very friendly, the senior staff were more than happy to answer questions and interact with us which made the day less daunting.

My telephone interview lasted around 30 minutes and was with the HR Business Partner for the North. She was very pleasant which made the experience a lot less stressful. As I was being interviewed for the role of an Account Manager there were a lot of questions regarding my experience working in retail. After I was successful I was asked to the Head Office in Manchester for a face to face interview with the same lady and the Regional Sales Manager. They were very friendly and again focused on my experiences working in retail. There was a lot of questions regarding progression and development and why I wanted to leave my current part time job.

What do you think are the three main issues for an Accounts Manager?

Make sure you link your answers to the company values: Integrity, Courage, Teamwork and Commitment. They offer a lot of training so its obvious they are interested in people who want to develop themselves, work their way up and progress. Saying you are mobile seemed to be a huge bonus as well.

I had a field day instead of attending an assessment centre. This was a chance for me to shadow somebody for the day to see if the role was something I would enjoy. I was picked up at half 8 by an Account Manager and spent the day asking her questions and seeing what the role involved. It was very enjoyable and extremely helpful as I have never known a company to do this.

The first interview was held with the head of UK and Ireland sales. Like most interviews he had a list of questions in which we were going to run through which are apparently asked to all candidates to make the process fair. The very first questions were regarding the company asking me what I knew about the company, the role and the product in which I would be selling. The questions then became more challenging asking me what my greatest non-academic achievements were. To name a time I have had to explain a difficult concept to someone, when I have worked well under pressure etc. There were many questions regarding why I thought relationships were important in sales and how I would go about building those relationships with clients. This stage of the interview lasted around 45 minutes. I was successful at this stage and invited back for a second interview with the UK sales director, this time however I had to prepare a presentation for the product I would be selling, the EZ-GO golf buggies. The presentation lasted 15 minutes with questions being asked after regarding the presentation. This is pretty much all the second part of the interview consisted off.

Explain to me the steps you would take to build a strong relationship with a client?

I would say just make sure you know the company, its a big organization so make sure you know exactly what you would be doing and selling as well as knowing exactly what they do, research their competitors and why it is you want to have a career in sales and with their company. Make sure you have a clear understanding of how relationships sell products and why it is so important to establish strong relationships with clients and how you would go about doing this. As there seemed to be many questions surrounding it in the first interview.

There was no assessment centre however there was a presentation. They send you an email in advance about what the presentation will be about.

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.

After completing the initial online application, I was invited to take part in a video interview. Comparing it to phone interviews, it was much scarier. I am not someone who struggles to communicate but I found myself struggling to get my words out, panicking and getting my words mixed up. Luckily, there was a practice sitting which you could complete as many times as you wanted. Once you clicked go, however, you had one minute to read your question, 30 seconds to prepare and one minute to record an answer. After that the programme automatically moved you on, whether you were ready or not. Luckily it was very short, only 5 questions, I also liked the fact that there was not an interviewer there, as it is only the first round of interviews, this made it less pressurising. At the assessment centre, the day was split into 4 sections: role play, case study, role play and the interview. The first consisted of attempting to sell a pair of glasses with a certain criteria, as laid out in the information pack provided. The second involved being the manager of a shop, who had to choose which stocking fillers to sell in the shop approaching christmas. You then had to place them within the shop and give a presentation explaining your choices, the finance and the shop layout. Questions were asked at the end by the assessors in which you had to justify your choices.
After the first two, some candidates were unsuccessful and were sent home. There were only 5 of us left in the afternoon compared to 14 earlier on. The third section involved you being a manager and the assessor being a lazy, unhelpful and unhappy sales advisor. After a number of customer complaints, as the manger you had to sit down and have a disciplinary with him. Next was the interview. This was the part of the day I was most nervous for as I had never had an interview before. The questions were about myself rather than the knowledge I had of the company or industry. Questions such as "what do you see yourself doing in 5 years time" and "why did you apply for this role" were put to me. Some questions that I didn't expect such as "how would you feel if you were 27 and earning 'x amount'". The interview went better than I expected, all I had to do was answer the questions as honestly as possible and to the best of my ability. It felt much more informal than I thought it was going to be, I was imagining something out of the apprentice! But it did feel much more like a chat about myself and where I see myself in life and in the future.

"How would you feel if you were 27 and earning 'x amount'?"
"So you've said where you see yourself in 5 years time, but what about after that? Where do you see yourself in 7 or 8 years time?"

Although I can understand the nerves, and often nerves are a good thing, I would say just relax. The thing with applying for sales (particularly cars) is that the ability to sell is based on your personality. Good interpersonal skills, good rapport and a likeable nature are all necessities in sales. One could be the cleverest person around but if they can't connect with their customer, they won't sell. This is portrayed in the interview, Pendragon are not looking for the cleverest or smartest, they're looking for those with a personality.

At the assessment centre, the day was split into 4 sections: role play, case study, role play and the interview. The first consisted of attempting to sell a pair of glasses with a certain criteria, as laid out in the information pack provided. The second involved being the manager of a shop, who had to choose which stocking fillers to sell in the shop approaching christmas. You then had to place them within the shop and give a presentation explaining your choices, the finance and the shop layout. Questions were asked at the end by the assessors in which you had to justify your choices.
After the first two, some candidates were unsuccessful and were sent home. There were only 5 of us left in the afternoon compared to 14 earlier on. The third section involved you being a manager and the assessor being a lazy, unhelpful and unhappy sales advisor. After a number of customer complaints, as the manger you had to sit down and have a disciplinary with him. Next was the interview. This was the part of the day I was most nervous for as I had never had an interview before. The questions were about myself rather than the knowledge I had of the company or industry.

The first stage of my interview was a phone interview. This was very informal and friendly, and mainly focused on my career to date, and why I wanted to work for a company like Hilti. I was also asked what my greatest achievement to date was.

My second interview was infront of a panel of people including a regional sales manager. This was a formal interview which was again conducted in a friendly manner, but there was a lot more competency based questions, and quesitons about my CV and career in general.

The third interview was a day out on the road with a current Account Manager. This was great as it gave me an insight into the job, and also enabled me to learn more about the company before my final interview.

My final interview was with the sales director, and my regional manager. This was similiar to the second interview, but involved more indepth conversations about the specific job role.

What is your biggest weakness?

Make sure you learn about the values of Hilti as this is of upmost importance not just for the interview, but for the entireity of your career with Hilti, more so that any other company I have seen before.

Make sure you can explain how your work experience to date has given you cross transferable skills to the role at Hilti.

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