Key Types of Sales Interview Questions to Ensure you Hire the Best Talent

Here at CloudTask, we pay special attention to every step of the recruitment process so that we can deploy a world-class team of sales pros for our clients..

To hire great talent who will be successful in your company for the long run, it helps to take a step back and think about the key qualities every sales rep should possess. Some traits you could look for among others, are resourcefulness, helpfulness, listening skills, planning skills, resilience, and a willingness to learn on the job.

In this post, I will take you through some key characteristics to consider, and shed some light into what you should look for in a viable sales candidate.

Planning Skills

An ideal candidate will prepare a strategy to handle client rejection, objections or simply any unexpected obstacles. You are looking for someone who plans their sales approach and tactics, rather than someone who ‘wings it’ with little or no strategy. The following questions are designed to give you an idea of how they prepare for calls, adapt to different types of prospects and establish strategies to overcome obstacles.

Example questions:

• How do you typically handle customer objections?
• How do you tailor your approach differently for a short sales cycle compared to a longer one?

Listening and Probing Skills

Gone are the days of hard selling as modern sales is more about asking questions to get to know your clients better and seeing if your service offerings fit  their needs. A good candidate will respond to the following with some concise open-ended questions that allow them to fully understand a prospect’s needs.

Example question:

• What are some essential questions to ensure your leads are qualified and you fully understand their pain points?

Resourcefulness

While their last role may have been in an area vastly different from yours their answers should demonstrate their ability to find the information they need to perform well, use platforms like LinkedIn to research leads, and generally find personal insights to tailor messaging effectively to buyer personas.

Example questions:

• How have you kept up to date with industry trends related to your previous roles?
• How do you research prospects before a call or meeting?

Willingness to Learn

Given the rate at which sales is evolving, the person you hire must be able to keep up with the pace and dedicate time to learn the latest tools and methodologies. In addition, they must be willing to learn from their failures which will improve their odds of closing more deals.

Example questions:

• What follow up questions do you ask prospects when you lose their sales, and what do you aim to learn from their answers?
• How does social selling factor into your sales process?
• What role does content play in your sales approach?

Resilience

A career in sales is bound to have its ups and downs so a positive attitude coupled with a patient, long term approach is critical to success. Ask questions to test if your new hire will have an optimistic outlook in the face of rejection.

Example questions:

• When was your last losing streak and how did you turn things around?
• How do you stay positive when you’ve had a rough day?

Ensuring success

Of course, there is no one-size-fits-all approach for sales interviews so it helps to tailor the specifics to each role you’re hiring for. Before drawing up your list of questions, get to the heart of the characteristics that will drive sales success.

This will go a long way in ensuring that you’ve taken a steady first step towards establishing a first-rate sales team.