Sales interview questions have always been a mystery. If you read 10 different articles, you get 10 different opinions on what you should and should not ask in your interviews.
The sample sales interview questions I share with you in this article are those that have been proven over the past 30 years to work. These are the same type of questions that many of the top sales organizations in the world have used successfully. To learn to create question see the creating questions article.
Don’t view this list as complete. These are just samples of the types of sales interview questions that get the best information.
SAMPLE SALES INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
Computer Skills
What software package did you use on your last project?
What other packages have you used?
What have you done in the last 3 months to keep your computer skills current?
What was the last problem you had to troubleshoot on your computer?
How did you learn your last new piece of software?
Organizational Skills
How did you plan your day yesterday?
What filing system do you use?
Describe the last time you varied from your normal routine.
What have you done to make your job easier?
How have you kept track of your appointments?
Attention to Detail
How did you proof you last big project?
What was the last error you caught?
What is the most tedious task you perform?
Who approves your work?
How have you judged the quality of your work?
People Skills
How many people work in your office?
How often do you work with the public in your current job?
Who was the last angry person you dealt with?
Describe the last team you worked on.
How did you establish rapport with the last new person on your team?
Reliability
Describe the last time you went beyond the call of duty.
What deadlines do you face daily?
How did you make sure all your work was completed yesterday?
What goals have you set for yourself?
How do you keep your manager informed of your progress?
Written Communication Skills
What documents have you prepared?
How often do you prepare documents?
What is the most difficult document you have prepared?
How did you proof the document?How did you document your work at ABC?
Customer Service Skills
How often do you deal with customers in person?
By phone?What customer situations do you handle?
What was the last customer problem you solved?
What was the last compliment you got from a customer?
Describe the last time you brought someone in to help with a customer.
Ability to Learn
How have you kept your skills current?
What was the last new skill you learned?
What did you have to learn to be proficient in your current job?
Describe the last time you sought help from your manager with a problem.
How many different pieces of equipment do you work with?
Initiative
How do you get your assignments at ABC?
How much daily direction do you get from your manager?
What was the last time you did an outstanding job on a project?
When was the last time you sought help from a co-worker?
Describe the last time you helped one of your co-workers?
Problem-Solving
What was the last problem that came up with a guest?
When was the last time you sought help to solve a problem?
Describe the last time you helped another person solve a problem.
What is the most creative solution you came up with for a diner?
What did you do the last time you had conflicting priorities?
General Sales Skills
Describe your sales cycle.
How did you prepare for your last sales call?
What percentage of your business last year was new business?
What was the toughest sale you made last year?
What caused you to lose the last deal you lost?
Goal Oriented
How is your quota determined?
How did you monitor your progress toward your goals?
What do you want to achieve for yourself outside of work?
How have your goals for this year changed from last year?
What is the toughest goal you are currently working on?
Work Ethic
How many hours did you work last week?
What circumstances caused you to exceed that number?
What have you done to improve your performance in the past year?
Describe the last time you went above and beyond to complete a project?
Describe the last time you were not satisfied with your work.
Integrity
What company rule or practice, do you not agree with?
Describe the last time you had to oversell to close a deal.
How far have you gone to close a deal?
How did you earn the trust of your customer during the ABC deal?
Listening Skills
How much of your job involves listening?
How did you determine your customer’s needs on the ABC deal?
Describe the last time you misunderstood a client request.
What did you listen forward during the first sales call at ABC?
Describe the last time you had a miscommunication with a prospect.
Writing Skills
Who types your correspondence?
What is the hardest document you wrote last month?
When was the last time you wrote instead of communicating face-to-face?
How much of your correspondence is boilerplate?
How did you best get your point across in writing?
Flexibility
How many sales situations do you currently have going?
What system do you use to keep your deals on track?
How do you anticipate change with the ABC?
How much freedom, do you have in making a deal?
How many different ways have you dealt with objections?
Prospecting
How have you generated your leads?
What system do you use to track your leads?
Where did your last three prospects come from?
What percentage of the last week, have you spent working on new business?
How many different prospecting techniques do you use?
Qualifying
How do you qualify your last prospect?
What were you looking for in the prospect?
What information do you try to get quickly from a prospect?
What questions have you asked every prospect?
What system do you use to categorize prospects?
Negotiating
How did you prepare for your last negotiation?
What strategy did you use during the negotiations?
How did you come overcome your last price objection?
How have you changed your negotiating style based upon the size of the deal?
What negotiation skills training, have you taken?
Closing
When do you start closing?
How do you know which closing tactic to use?
How did you close the biggest deal you close to the last six months?
On the ABC deal, how did you know when to close?
How did you get the prospect to say yes during the ABC deal?
Knowledge of Industry/Product
How long have you worked in our industry?
How did you learn the products in this industry?
What do you do to stay current on new products?
When was the last time you asked for help on a product issue?
What is the biggest challenge facing the industry you sell in?
Business Acumen
How did you research the ABC account before you called on them?
How did you learn what their business initiatives work?
How did you translate your product into business value for ABC?
How did you set expectations for your customer?
How did you adjust your selling style as you moved up the ranks at ABC?
Competitive Awareness
How did you assess your last opportunity?
What was the last piece of business you walk away from?
What was your position versus your competition in the ABC sales campaign?
Describe the last time you were able to anticipate your competition’s move.
What is your biggest competitor’s main strength?
Customer Focus
How did you make certain you are solving the key problem at ABC?
What homework did you do before your last sales call?
How did you establish credibility with the executive at ABC?
Step me through the last time you went beyond the call of duty with the customer.
Describe the last time you lost a customer.
Executive Credibility
Who was the highest executive you reached at ABC?
How did you gain access to that person?
How did you establish credibility with them?
What was the nature of your call on that person?
How did you establish an ongoing relationship with that person?
Strategic Thinking
What’s sales process do you use?
How did you assess the competition in the ABC sales cycle?
What strategy did you use to close the ABC deal?
How did your strategy for that deal change over time?
Describe the last time you rescued a lost deal.
Leadership
How many people worked on the ABC deal?
How did you organize the team?
How did you keep your sales team informed?
What system do you use to delegate tasks to team members?
Who is the last person you men toward? How?
Independence
Describe the last time you convince to someone of your point of view.
Describe the last time you refuse to change her mind.
What was the biggest euro you had to overcome during your last sale?
When are you dependent on other people for your results?
When don’t you involve your manager in a sales campaign?
Cooperative
Describe the last time you help someone else.
Who else do you work with on your team?
When has competition on the job not been productive?
How do you avoid competing?
When do you prefer to work alone?
Competitive
Where do you rank on your sales force?
How have you used other people to help you reach your goals?
How have you stayed ahead of the competition?
How have you celebrated your wins?
Who is your toughest competitor?
Assertive
Describe the last time you push the prospect into making a decision.
How often did you change tactics on the ABC sale?
How did you deal with the last conflict, you had with a team member?
Who was the last person on your sales team that annoyed you?
How did you determine when to ask for the business at ABC?
Innovative
What have you done to make your sales easier?
What changes have you made to your routine this year?
What different approach, have you tried to selling this year?
What was the last new idea you generated?
What is the most unique technique, you have used to close a sale?
Reactive
What planning system do you use?
How did you manage your day yesterday?
How did you determine which activities had the highest priority?
What have you done to make certain details don’t slip between the cracks?
What was the last unexpected roadblock, you had to overcome?
Self-Sufficient
When was the last time you called other people in to help you?
How do you plan for your longest project?
How did you last use your manager when selling?
Describe the last time you didn’t have everything you needed to close a sale.
When he has a nether person slowed you down in a deal?
Operational Skills
What schedules have you created?
How many people have you hired?
What profit and loss responsibility have you had?
How many employees have you trained this year?
How did you earn your people’s loyalty when you took this job?
Marketing Skills
What marketing programs did you create an ABC?
What did you do to increase sales at ABC?
What customer loyalty programs have you initiated?
How did you track your sales?
What metrics do you use as indicators of sales success?
Technical Skills
What education have you completed?
What on-the-job training have you had?
How have you kept your skills current?
What is the next procedure you are going to learn?
