MightyRecruiterSome people think that if you can sell one product well, you can sell anything well. While this might be true to a certain extent, it doesn’t apply in all cases, especially since you have to know your stuff to sell to others. This is why it’s so important to ask sales candidates what they have sold in the past and what strategies they used to sell. For example, when a person who’s worked in technology sales comes to your software company looking for a job, they’d probably be a better fit for your operations than someone who has sold cars for 20 years.
2. What Kind of Sacrifices Have You Made to be Successful?
When it comes to the best sales interview questions, you have to find out whether or not your new salespeople are going to put their nose to the grind and make sales for your company. When you ask what kind of sacrifices candidates have made to be successful, pay attention to the small things and remember that not everyone has to experience a major life upheaval to be successful. In fact, meaningful sacrifices can be as simple as spending more mornings making calls for a person who works best at night or giving up time devoted to certain tasks to generate leads.
3. What is the Toughest Goal You Have Ever Set for Yourself?
In sales, setting goals, working towards them, and achieving them are all extremely important things to do. Due to this, you need to know not only that potential sales candidates set goals, but what types of goals they set for themselves. When you ask this question, make sure that the answers your candidates give you demonstrate that they wanted to do something better and knew that stretching themselves was the only way to go. As a follow-up to this question, make sure that you ask whether or not the goal was reached. Remember, even if your candidates say they weren’t successful, it’s still better than not trying at all. However, it’s also important to note successes where goals were reached.
4. What Do You Do to Recover When You Lose a Deal?
This is one of the best sales interview questions to ask because it will give you insight into the demeanor of your candidates. Everyone knows that the sales industry isn’t for the faint of heart, and you have to know how to pick up and get moving again even if you want to quit. While most candidates will say that they try to be positive, great answers are ones that involve setting new goals, trying new methods to accomplish different objectives, and going right back at it after a deal is lost. When you ask this question, it’s also a good time to let candidates know how you address lost deals. This can give them confidence knowing that you recognize that failure is just a part of the sales game sometimes, and that it doesn’t define your sales organization as a whole.
5. How Do You Generate Leads?
The best sales interview questions are the ones that really get down to how candidates conduct themselves when they’re out trying to sell a product or service. For this reason, don’t forget to ask your candidates how they not only generate leads in general, but how they plan to generate leads for your organization. While doing things like going off of customer referrals and cold calling are both strategies that work, look for answers that are more creative in nature. Often, you’ll find that the sales people who are most successful are the ones who come up with new ways to get leads, even if they aren’t that conventional.
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When all is said and done, the best sales interview questions will help you find candidates that add to your organization, rather than take away from it. As you look for ways to better your business by hiring new sales staff, make sure you check out the many resources that Mighty Recruiter has to offer.