Sales Management

If you are a sales executive, sales manager then you must check out these interview questions on sales management to prepare for your next job interview in sales.

Key characteristics for a successful  salesperson

  • Ambitious
  • Integrity
  • Adaptable 
  • Customer-centeric 
  • Proactive


Q.1 Where do you see yourself within our organization in five years?

In five years, I would like to be considered a mentor – not just on the sales team, but throughout the organization as a whole. I’d love to be the type of employee you benchmark future hires against.

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Q.2 Tell me about a time when the policy, price structure, or product changed at the last minute and you already had a deal in the field. How did you handle the situation?

I called my contact as soon as possible to inform them of the changes, but not before I took the time to thoroughly understand the implication for their business. During the conversation, I tried to anticipate their potential concerns and presented a few different options for addressing them, because I wanted to focus on the solution rather than the problem. By flagging the change early and working with the customer to find a resolution together, I was able to maintain the trust in the relationship and secure the deal.

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Q.3 You’ve got a new product to sell. Walk me through your sales process.
I always begin by doing my homework. I want to know the ins and outs of how the product works. This means curating product datasheets, case studies, and various resources to make sure that I’m armed with the right information to share with prospective customers. I make sure to let the customer do a lot of the talking from the start so I can get a clear picture of what they need and where they can benefit from the product before I tailor the conversation around their particular challenges.
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Q.4 Describe a time when you received criticism or feedback from your sales manager or client. How did you react?
When I first got started in sales, I had the sales aspect of the role down, but I struggled to manage my time against the high volume of leads that were in pipeline. After a review with my manager that indicated she was aware of these issues, I was determined to figure out a systematic approach to staying on top of prospecting and nurturing my book of leads. First I defined the cadence of communications and used calendar tools to make sure I had reminders in place. That allowed me to follow through on daily tasks and ensure that I had time to complete all the necessary activities to be effective in this role.
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Q.5 What does candor as a characteristic of trust-building in salespeople by Stephen X. Doyle and George Thomas Roth refers to?
The honesty of the spoken word.
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Q.6 What is the most important aspect of a salesperson's job?
Building long-term relationships with customers
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Q.7 What necessitates the application of commission form of sales compensation?
The salesperson will be highly motivated.
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Q.8 Why sales performance evaluation is crucial?
To provide feedback to salespeople.
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Q.9 What refers to advantage of using SFA?
Salespeople can more effectively and efficiently schedule sales calls and make presentations.
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Q.10 What does prospect qualifying refers to?
Determining if a prospect is interested in a product
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Q.11 What does candor as a characteristic of trust-building in salespeople by Stephen X. Doyle and George Thomas Roth refers to?
The honesty of the spoken word.
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Q.12 What is the most important aspect of a salesperson's job?
Building long-term relationships with customers
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Q.13 What necessitates the application of commission form of sales compensation?
The salesperson will be highly motivated.
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Q.14 Why sales performance evaluation is crucial?
To provide feedback to salespeople.
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Q.15 What refers to advantage of using SFA?
Salespeople can more effectively and efficiently schedule sales calls and make presentations.
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Q.16 What does prospect qualifying refers to?
Determining if a prospect is interested in a product
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Q.17 What motivates you to work in sales?
Any candidate replying with, "I really enjoy doing sales" or "I simply like it", would not tell the interviewer anything about the candidate's actual interest in sales. The interviewer wants to know what is it about sales that motivates or excites you. The interviewer is looking for candidates who provide an example or real-life story about where their interest in sales began. You should tell how you developed interest and start at a first-time and create a long track record of success. Describe a pivotal moment in your life when they discovered their passion for sales. You must answer to questions like these by providing the interviewer with more detail about the your passion to the sales industry.
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Q.18 What are the skills required and qualifications to be a successful sales professional in an organization?
As a major part of the sales manager's job is to keep the team staffed and motivated with high performers. This question is asked by the interviewer to look ate the candidate's potential to keep the team together and charged. The interviewer seeks for the skills and qualifications that are deemed to be important for the positions. In which case the interviewer tries to match the attributes they value with company's standards. This helps to make better decisions.
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Q.19 Let us suppose I'm a sales rep who has missed sales targets three months in a row and you are sitting in a one-on-to-one meeting. What should you say during the meeting?
Indeed as a sales managers you are bound to have uncomfortable conversations with the sales rep. It is suggested to understand his concerns and issues being faced for such low conversions. It becomes all the more worse, if the sales rep is on the team that they might be promoted to lead. As a sales manager you must ensure to handle tough situations and deliver bad news in a positive manner. In this case, suggest for an innate coaching sensibility and a motivational flair.
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Q.20 What do you think motivates sales manager the most to perform better?
Now this is clearly a bit of a tricky question, but considered as one of the most important. Every sales manager's motivation to perform better is somewhat personal. There are cases while money might drive one rep to go the extra mile, another might be inspired by a development opportunity or creative contest. As a potential candidate you must navigate the trick and get to the correct answer -- in this case, it purely depends on personal motivation. You must possesses the motivational ability to lead a sales team to success.
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Q.21 Do you know how to perform data analysis?
Indeed sales manager only care about their earning or quota. Therefore it is important to keep on top of pipeline and win rate is also important , as these metrics pertain to their quota. Now when a sales rep is promoted to management, they are required to produce forecasts and reports that analyse a variety of metrics across the entire team. Of course a sales manager do no require to be a data analysis pro, yet they do need to have some familiarity with and crunching numbers and spotting trends. Beware of candidates that express active revulsion for data analysis.
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