Things I have learned from conducting 4,000 sales interviews

It may sound like a lot of interviews, but over 20 years in sales management that averages out to only 200 interviews a year, by phone and/or in person.

If there is one piece of advice I can offer and we have heard this before it is: PREPARE.

Have you ever seen a comedian on a late night talk show? They get 8 minutes in the chair with Jimmy Fallon, Steven Colbert, Jay Leno or whomever. Do you think they are extemporaneously funny? Not a chance. They have honed their material for weeks or even months before they get that time on stage. Do the same for your interviews!

The question is, how do you distil down all the interviewing advice into some practical points?

1. Figure out 3 compelling reasons why you are the person for this job and be able to recite them in your sleep.
2. What are those 3 reasons? Read the job description and map your specific skills to what the company is looking for and then put your unique spin on them.
3. Be prepared in 2 minutes or less to articulate how you demonstrated those skills. In a practical way (not theoretical). The key is 2 minutes. Believe or not, you can say a lot in 2 minutes.
4. The person you work for is as important as the company you are applying with. I check “Who’s viewed my profile” on LinkedIn every single day. If you have not viewed my profile BEFORE you have interviewed with me, I am going to question how much research and due diligence you have done about the position.
5. Know the company whom with you are interviewing! One way to learn, if the company is publicly traded, is to go to the investor relations page and listen to the recorded quarterly earnings calls. Not only will you hear about the financial details of a company’s business, the analysts Q&A’s at the end of the calls provide valuable insight as well.
6. The first 3 minutes of an interview are very important. Building rapport is critical to getting off a good start and first impressions do count. Think of a topical subject to start the discussion, but keep it light. Dropping a name or two can be helpful, but be confident that people you mention will help your cause, not hurt you.
7. Hiring managers will typically read *scan* your resume twice. The first time, to determine if they want to talk to you, the second time right before they meet with you. Do not expect them to put a lot of time into reading your resume, as they will spend the time during your interview reviewing it. Take control of this process by steering them in a direction that highlight your skills.
8. Formulate 5 thoughtful questions. Think about them in advance, write them down. One good question I do not hear enough of: “Why did you take the job at *your company*?” Write down the answer and frame your responses from that point to align with the goals of the interviewer.
9. PUNCH BACK! Interviewing can be like sparring. Literally, you are fighting for a job! I once interviewed for a position where the COO “had me on the ropes”. In other words, during the course of the interview, he had picked me apart. As the interview was winding down, he asked me if I had any questions. I knew that he just been promoted to COO. I asked him, “What makes you think that you would be a good COO?” He responded, “No one has ever asked me that question, why are you asking that?” I replied: “Because being a COO is completely different skill set than being a VP of Sales”. What I did was punch back. I would not recommend this as a strategy to use all the time, but the moral of the story is, have challenging and thought-provoking questions BEFORE you start the interview. You never know when you need to throw that punch.
10. 2-2-2. Sales reps do move from one job to the next. Two years here, two years there. This is more pervasive in Silicon Valley than elsewhere, but it happens more than you would think. I am not as much concerned about your longevity at one company or the next, but more so with what did you accomplish in the short time you were there? 
11. Tell me about your failures. Chances are, if you are in sales like me, you have missed your numbers (quota) on occasion. I would rather have someone tell me what they learned during a tough stretch than try to dance around it.
12. Leverage your recruiter, by asking them questions about the position before the interview. Recruiters are talking to the decision makers or hiring authorities all the time. If you pepper them with a few good questions, they may ask those questions to the decision maker on your behalf before you even talk to them. This does not work all the time, but sometimes, it pays off!
13. Everyone has a “resume face”. That is, most people can talk about what is on their resume. Be prepared to articulate skills and accomplishments relevant to the position that is not on your resume. I have hired veterans from the armed forces based on some of the unique skills they have.
14. Cheat! Not really, but have notes with you. One sales rep I interviewed pulled out a stack of 3x5 cards with questions and points which they wanted to cover. They told me they used the “flashcards” when they were learning vocabulary for learning a new language. 
15. If you work for a company that is not a household name or is a start-up, be prepared to be able to describe what the company does and what market segment they are in 30 seconds or less. A lot of times, I will have to Google companies I have never heard of right during the interview.
16. Anticipate: Tech companies are looking for revenue. Ask the question: “What are my sales people's greatest challenge?” Here is the hint to the answer: A large percentage of companies have a pipeline That is, having enough prospects and qualified deals in their respective pipelines. Having a good solid answer as to HOW you will tackle that challenge will go a long way in your favor.
17. Towards the then end of the interview: Be assertive, but not overly aggressive. I love it when a sales rep says: “Based on what I know about the position and what we have discussed about my background this is why I believe I would be a great candidate: Boom! Succinctly reinforce how you would accomplish that. You may not need to say this, but absolutely have it ready!
18. Ask if there is anything that would preclude you from not being offered this position? This is subtle presumptive close while asking the interviewer what are the perceived gaps.
19. The hiring process always takes longer than you expect. Rule of thumb: take what you think will be the amount of time once the process starts to get hired and then double it.
20. Never judge a book by its cover or in this case, their resume. People can and will surprise you. Find out what they are passionate about as that will be a better indicator of what kind of employee they will be than the bullets points on their resume.
21. Never think: “you have this one in the bag”. Go hard until the candidate starts on their first day. This goes for both candidates and companies alike. I once “hired” someone and they sent me a text on the day they were going to start and told me that they took another offer at the last minute.
22. Keep up with interviewing trends. There is a TON of good advice. 4 or 5 hours of reading Forbes articles or posts here on LinkedIn, go a long way of getting your head in the game and being prepared!