Sales Interview Questions & Answers

My phone interview consisted mainly of the caller describing the different groups within the company and their respective areas. I was asked why I thought I would be good for the job, whether I liked targets, and why sales. She then invited me to the assessment day and emailed over the details.

Why Sales?

Listen to other people and take on board all of the teaching they provide.
Be good at public speaking.

On the Assessment day we were split into two groups and had to complete an assortment of activities. A lesson about the use of open questions. A dragons den style interview in which we worked in pairs to pitch a product, they gave us a small metal object and we had 20 minutes to work out what it was and how we were going to sell it. We had to role-play a board meeting in which each of us were given a character and their goals, in the end we were questioned on the other peoples goals and personalities. We also had to do a one-on-one role-play in which we had to incorporate all that we had learned into a sales call to the interviewer. There were also question and answer sessions with the interviewers as a group.

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.

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.

My initial phone interview was with the manager of the summits division (the division in which i would be working)which lasted around 15 minutes. We ran through my CV and I was asked generic questions like what I knew about the company, why I want to pursue a career in sales, why I would be successful in such a role etc. I was successful at this stage and was invited back for a one to one interview at their head office in London with the same person. Again the interview took the same format asking similar questions, however at one stage we did a bit of role play where i was asked to sell him a holiday package. A few days later i recieved a phone call inviting me back for a second interview which was to be held with the CEO of the company. I was told to prepare a sales pitch and sent some information over to help with this. This was the final stage of the process and was simply doing a pitch with the CEO with a few simple questions similar to that asked in the first interview.

When asked on the spot to do role play of how i would go about selling him a holiday package

Be well prepared and you should be fine. Make sure you know the company, what they do, their competitors and why it is you want to have a career in sales. Also make sure you have a clear understanding of what motivates you and what you career aspirations are.

Prepare a sales pitch as if i was selling the product to one of their clients

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

I went to a 3-hour Assessment day whereby the group of around 15-20 were split into 4 groups. Prior to the assessment day we were given the task of producing, individually, a 3 minute presentation (no powerpoint, just speaking) about why we would like a career in business to business sales and why we would be suitable for the role. This was presented to 2 members of the metamorphose team, after this they asked a few questions about my degree and work experience, what my key strengths and weaknesses were, what's my biggest success and what my greatest challenge has been so far.
After this, each group was given an object which they had to present in front of all the other groups and the metamorphose team in a QVC style. Following this, each group was given a list of 10 characteristics of which we had to pick our top five and rank the five in order of how important it was for a sales person to possess these characteristics. We then had to debate our choices with the other teams. Finally, we had to come up with an idea and pitch it to our target market, which was one of the interviewers in front of the other interviewers and teams. At the end of the 3 hours we were told if we had passed the assessment day.

What has been your biggest success and/or challenge to date?

Be assertive and ensure you make yourself known in the group tasks, but don't be over-dominating - make sure you're still polite and don't interrupt when other people are talking. Otherwise, be outgoing, confident and friendly.

Sell a product in a QVC style presentation, develop an idea and pitch/ sell it to our target market, debate the ideal characteristics for a sales person to have.

I received a call and was interviewed on the spot according to role requirements and I was subsequently invited to an assessment day after being sent an e-mail with how the day will go. At the assessment day, there were 20 people waiting outside. The company specialise in placing graduates interested in working in sales in companies recruiting graduate level sales people and offer a bit of training as well, even though I was looking for a specific role. After passing the tests, I requested more information about the role I applied for but my personal recruiter (who was really nice) told me that i couldnt go for any of these positions.
After being sent to a 13k job, I decided not to take the position, considering I had full-time experience and being a graduate. Although the training I was offered on the day was really helpful, I decided not to take it any further and will look further, even though I appreciate the advice given by the team.

I can't say there was a specific difficult question, just the regular interview questions and the group discussion was really constructive.

If you are looking for good training and a company that will put you in a sales role, then this company is right for you. But if you are looking to interview for a specific job and get it, then you should look somewhere else. It is very possible you will end up in an underpaid sales role.

We were split into three groups of five and given 15 minutes to prepare a presentation on the subject selling holiday packages.

20 minute initial phone interview through the recruitment agency which entailed how motivated, creative, and how much of a leader I was; next on that interview was what my 3 strengths were. After this I was invited to an assessment day in London. On the assessment day we were told about what the day would entail, and then given information about Amari by a regional head. Next were 3 teamwork exercises. Then we had to do a 3 min. presentation about why we should be sales-people; also an informal 1 on 1.

What internationally famous person has had the biggest influence on your life?
What is your greatest non-academic achievement?
What is it that you, specifically, could offer Amari that no one else could?

Focus less on trying to find out information on Amari--they divulged that they intentionally keep that close to the chest--instead focus on your own strengths, weaknesses, and what you can offer as a member of a sales-team.

Three team exercises: (1) You're on a life raft and you have to sell yourself as one of the people who won't be thrown off into shark-infested waters. This must be decided in twenty minutes (2) Your plane has crash landed in a desert 85 miles southwest of a town. You have 15 items and you must rank them in order of most to least importance in ten minutes amongst your group. (3) You and your group members interview one another, determining your strongest assets/skills. You then take these assets/skills and compile them all into a list and determine what ordering make the best sales-person. Whichever person in the group is closest to this ideal sales-person then presents your group's findings to the other groups and fields questions.

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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