Today I am mainly going to be speaking to those of you who are looking to land a job in the sales industry. However, if you are not a salesperson, I still recommend taking in this information, as there is a lot to be learned from how sales interviews are conducted, and the kind of questions that salespeople get asked. If you are in sales, the interview is the perfect place for you to show what you can do. An interview is not dissimilar from a sales pitch, and you are the product that you are selling. The products assets are its communication skills, its knowledge, and its experience. These are the things you need to sell to your hiring manager, and we are going to look at the best ways to do that. We are going to look at some things you should be able to do, whether or not they come up directly in the interview.
Know their product. Today you are selling yourself, tomorrow (hopefully) you will be selling their product. Because of this it is crucial that you know what you will be selling. In fact, you will probably be asked to talk a little bit about what they are selling, so not only is this useful information- it is vital to your interview. Know the different products and services they offer and how to sell each one.
Know their demographic. Not only should you know what they sell, you need to know who the buyer is, and how you would sell to that specific demographic. Be able to explain their own methods to them in your own words, and then take it one step further. If you can explain how they can get into an untapped demographic than you look even better.
Explain how you generate leads. This ties into knowing their demographic, ideally you not only know how to sell to the people they sell to, but you also know how to create a larger client base. Explain where you would seek out new clients, especially ones that they have not created on their own.
Explain how you sell value- not price. This is especially necessary if you are asking for more money than they offered. Explain how you can outsell competition even if they are offering a better price. How do you explain the value of the product/service, instead of fixating on the price?
Describe how you close a deal. Describe how you read body language cues, regular language cues, and tell how a buyer is ready to close a deal. Describe (and even perform) what you do when you see that a buyer is ready to close. Managers want to know that you don’t try to close before the buyer is ready, can be silent while the buyer responds, and know not to keep selling once the deal is done. Don’t be afraid to use these same techniques as the interview is coming to a close.
Remember that this interview is basically just another sales pitch, something that you have done time and time again. Don’t be afraid of it, just do what you do best, and close that deal!