This article is a compilation of the most important interview questions for beginner and experienced sales professionals, the meaning behind each question, what your interviewer is searching for, and how you should answer. To further help you, we’ve sprinkled some advanced tips into some of our example answers below that can be applied to any questions (such as check-ins, which is explained in Question 5 below). A thorough review of the questions and answers below should prepare you for almost anything an interviewer might throw your way and move you one step closer to landing your dream sales position.
1. Tell me about yourself.
When hiring managers say, “tell me about yourself,” they don’t actually mean, “tell me about yourself.”
They mean, “Tell me about your professional self as it relates to this position you’re interviewing for.”
Interviewer Perspective
Your ability to answer this question confidently will speak to your ability to engage a listener and build customer relationships by selling yourself. It is also the interviewer’s first impression of you. Do you come across as focused and confident? Or do you ramble and give a long-winded answer that leaves the interviewee less than impressed?
Candidate Perspective
Can you briefly articulate why you are qualified for this role and set the stage for why you’re the best candidate for the job? Take the time to practice this question, as almost every interview you go on will start with it. Given that this question forms the interviewer’s first impression of you, we’ll spend more time explaining how to handle it. A great answer starts with your 3-Point Story, which you can cover in 60-90 seconds.
First, start with your current professional experience by briefly summarizing your current work. Short and sweet.
Second, summarize why you’re qualified for this specific role. What are your selling points? How have you been successful in your role? Highlight a few of your skill sets relevant to the position you’re interviewing for, and give succinct examples of your accomplishments. Be yourself, but be your BEST professional self.
Don’t give generic examples. Use specific examples of your successes; ideally, they should be measurable–exceeded goals, grew revenue, or ranked compared to peers.
Third, share why you’re interviewing for the role. This is simple. Do your homework and have 2-3 authentic reasons why you’re interested in the company. Share your enthusiasm and how your background and strengths apply to this role.
Example Answer
Let’s look at an example that includes all three points.
“I’ve been an account executive in software sales for the last five years. I focus on winning new accounts and then managing and growing those relationships.
My strength is my ability to get in the door with new prospects and quickly earn their trust. That’s one of the reasons I’ve been so successful in my role. Last year I was #2 on my team of 20 reps, and this year I’m on track to be #1.
My manager has told me I’m great at asking the right questions and listening to understand my clients’ needs. My clients trust me because I’m genuinely interested in solving their problems. That’s what enabled me to bring on two of our largest customers last year, and winning those higher revenue deals is where my true passion lies–I like working on larger, more complex accounts.
This brings me to why I am very excited to be interviewing for this position! From my research, I was impressed with the new products you’ve recently launched. I can see that you work with some pretty big-name clients, and this role entails hunting for larger accounts. That’s why I jumped at this opportunity.”
2. Why are you interested in a sales position, or why did you get into sales?
This question is most applicable for entry level sales roles up to about 2 years of sales experience. Given the level of rejection faced in sales, it’s important that your reasons for interest in sales align with the realities of the job. To that end, this question allows interviewers to gauge what motivates you and learn whether sales in general and the position you’re interviewing for fits based on those motivations.
Interviewer Perspective
Your answer will help them to understand your personality, level of commitment to (and fit with) a career in sales, and whether your motivations align with their company values.
Advanced tip: Think about the sales position you’re interviewing for. If this is an aggressive, cold-calling position, don’t say you’re interested in sales because you like building long-term relationships. Of course, you shouldn’t be interviewing for an aggressive transactional position if relationship-building is your true motivator.
Candidate Perspective
This is your opportunity to showcase how you discovered your affinity for sales and how your motivations align with the company. The more aggressive the position, the more critical it is to be motivated by money. We don’t suggest making that the sole focus of your answer, but don’t be afraid to share it.
Many potential sales professionals point towards their love of people and the attractiveness of getting paid to connect. Although this is true, sales positions come with much rejection. After all, more potential customers will say “no” to you than “yes”… If you don’t have a solid and convincing answer as to why you’re interested in a career in sales, stop reading this blog and figure that out. Examples we like to hear are the desire to compete, be paid what you’re worth, and be challenged… If you have personal examples from your past where you enjoyed and excelled in competition, weave them in.
Example Answer
“My love for sales started when I opened my childhood lemonade stand. I ran that stand for three summers, had a lot of fun running my own business, and made good money. That experience taught me that my hard work and hustle translates into success and I’ve held several retail sales jobs since. I also have family members who are in corporate sales and have done very well for themselves. Beyond that, I miss the level of competition that I had playing basketball in high school. I loved the pressure and want to work in a career where it’s on me to perform and I’m rewarded when I do.”
3. What do you know about our company and our product?
This question immediately exposes if the candidate spent time preparing for the interview while revealing what draws them to the company.
Interviewer Perspective
A tight answer demonstrates your preparedness and alignment with the company’s mission, while a poor response serves as a telling red flag. A significant factor in a sales professional’s success is their preparation before client calls. If you don’t take the time to prepare for something as important as a job interview, it suggests you won’t prepare for sales calls.
Candidate Perspective
This is your first opportunity to demonstrate your research before the interview, your knowledge of the company, the product they sell, and how seriously you take your career. Learn everything you can about the company through its website, customers’ websites, reviews, and Youtube product explanations. Practice your answer to ensure you can distill what you learned into a succinct 30-45 second overview.
(Bonus points if you take the time to connect with and speak to a sales rep (or two) on their team. You can find them and connect via LinkedIn.)
Example Answer
“I learned a lot about your company culture after talking to a sales rep from your company through LinkedIn. They specifically shared how your product solves customers’ problems better than your competitors. I also learned that your product is the most expensive, and I love the idea of selling on value. Beyond your product, your company values also stood out to me. As I mentioned earlier, I miss the teamwork of being on a basketball team. Your emphasis on collaboration is something I’m looking for.”
4. What interests you most about this sales position?
This is another question that will reveal the level of pre-interview research you invested while also demonstrating your ability to sell the company and yourself by explaining how your skills, interests, and abilities align with the available position.
Interviewer Perspective
This question can reveal much about you and your level of interest in the company. Similar to question 3, It’s an opportunity for the interviewer to see how much time you invest into something you want and how well you can take what you know about the company and pitch the product enthusiastically.
Candidate Perspective
This is your opportunity to give the interviewer an elevator pitch about the company. When done correctly, an elevator pitch can demonstrate your sales skills, understanding of the company, and how your interest in the position makes you the best candidate. You can also use it to explain why you’re potentially leaving your current job artfully.
Example Answer
“What interests me most about this position is the quality of your product. When I can sell a product I genuinely believe in, I’m confident in my ability to perform. The fact that your product provides benefits 1, 2, and 3 to help customers accomplish X, Y, and Z at this price point is outstanding. I’m also interested in your comp plan. From what I understand, it’s uncapped. My current role has a cap on earnings. I was 176% of quota last quarter, but my commissions max out at 150%. Many reps on our team sandbag and push sales into the next quarter, which goes against my personality. I love to push as hard as I can.”
5. Walk me through your current sales process.
This is a critical question. Along with highlighting your understanding of a structured sales process and your unique creative approaches, this question gives the interviewer a better understanding of your ability to remain organized in a self-directed role.
Interviewer Perspective
It’s essential to focus on your ability to explain your sales process. Do you describe your process with good depth or give a straightforward summary? The level of detail provided in answer to this question demonstrates your understanding of the role of the interviewer and your ability to explain complex concepts. All other things being equal, hiring managers will choose candidates who can explain their sales processes and why they’re successful.
Candidate Perspective
When responding to this question, be sure to demonstrate a thorough understanding of the core principles of a sales process: prospecting, initial outreach, researching, pitching, and closing new clients. Additionally, include any unique steps you take that have proven successful in the past and the tools you use to remain organized throughout the process. It’s a bonus if you’ve uncovered a difficult aspect of the company’s sales processes and can explain how you excel at that.
Example Answer
“My sales process begins with building a list of potential clients in x-software, which I’ve found helpful when tracking my progress with each client. When I reach out to a potential customer, I focus on connecting with them personally (seeking common interests, displaying empathy, etc.). Throughout the conversation, I ask questions designed to uncover opportunities for our products to solve problems. From my conversations with a few of your reps, it came up that getting in the door with your customers is the most difficult part of the job. I’ve won several prospecting contests and used creative ways to get in the door. Would you like to hear some examples of how I’ve done this?”
Advanced tip: It’s easy to give answers that are too short OR too long. The remedy to this is checking in with the interviewer. Check-ins keep the interviewer engaged and keep you from droning on or tangentially into the material the interviewer isn’t interested in. You can provide a succinct answer to their question and check in with them to see if they want to hear more (as we just demonstrated in the example answer above). If they’re good, move on. If not, find out what they would like to hear more about.
6. What’s your proudest sales accomplishment?
This question allows you to share your home run accomplishments. It also demonstrates your motivations, ambition, and work ethic. Be prepared to go into how you “won” and why your achievement moved the needle for your company.
Interviewer Perspective
How you answer this question can be very telling regarding your motivations, your level of success, and the impact you’ve made. For example, if you give answers with financial figures, this indicates a financial incentive. If you answer with a customer service success, this may suggest to the interviewer that you are motivated by human connection or even reveal a lack of significant financial success.
Candidate Perspective
When sharing your most significant sales accomplishment, explain why that experience was a success in your eyes, the specific steps you took to reach the outcome, and how that benefited your employer. When considering your answer, make sure that it aligns with the culture and demands of the position. The more specific you can be with your example (customer’s name, challenges, and obstacles to success), the more specific you can be with tangible benefits, the better.
Example Answer
“If I had to single out my proudest sales accomplishment, I’d have to go with the time I was finally able to close XYZ prospect that our company had been pursuing for quite some time. After several failed attempts by other account executives, I was able to close the deal by establishing a genuine connection with the customer and helping him see some of the weaknesses in their current vendor’s offering. Despite that, Bob, the company’s decision-maker, told me that despite these weaknesses, he was loyal to his current vendor, and the cost of switching vendors was high. I stuck with the sale because I saw a huge opportunity, and I focused on learning more about the challenges he faced and tried to stay top of mind with him.
Eventually, their existing provider failed to fulfill an order, and Bob called me in a panic. He shared that he couldn’t switch all of his business to me, but he was hoping I could help… That was all the window I needed to show him what our company and I could do. Within six months, I had gained all of their business which took me from 101% of the quota for the year to 212%
(Check-in) Would you like to hear more about how I was able to build on that initial sale to gain all of his business?” [No]
7. If you asked your manager and a coworker what your biggest strengths and weaknesses are, what would they say?
On the surface, this question informs the interviewer about the candidate’s strengths and weaknesses. However, it also allows you to demonstrate your self-awareness and capacity to internalize constructive feedback.
Interviewer Perspective
While the strengths and weaknesses you share will give them a better understanding of how you will fit into the organization, how you respond is often more important to the interviewer. Did your answer come across as sincere and candid? Did you come across with a positive and open tone, or were you defensive? Did you agree or disagree with the feedback (especially regarding your weaknesses)? Did you take action after receiving the feedback?
Candidate Perspective
Honesty, vulnerability, and discretion are the key to answering this question correctly. While it’s easy to talk about our strengths, very few people enjoy discussing their weaknesses, especially in interviews. Note that you aren’t trying to hit a home run with this answer. You are trying to display self-awareness and openness to feedback.
With this in mind, the best examples of weaknesses to share are ones from the past that you’ve remedied or negatives that don’t apply to the position you are interviewing for. Give a short but open answer, look the interviewer straight in the eyes and wait for the next question.
Example Answer
“In my previous role, my manager and coworkers all made comments about the level of passion I brought to the workplace. I learned that, while my passion is one of my greatest strengths in selling, I received feedback from my managers a few years ago that my passion can also cause others stress. Sometimes I push the internal team to deliver excellence to our customers. I never want to compromise on my commitment to my customers, so I took that as a sign that I needed to strengthen my relationships with our internal team.
Once a month, I made it a point to connect with each member of the internal team personally. It helped them to understand me better, especially my desire to give excellent service to our clients. They have a hard job, so I now go out of my way to thank them when they deliver for our clients. I appreciate receiving this feedback about my “passion,” as I now have deep internal relationships. These relationships have helped me win accounts that I wouldn’t have otherwise.
(Check-in) Would you like me to give a specific example of a client I won because of this?” [Yes]
“In 2020, we had supply chain delivery issues of our products that cost our company more than a few sales. I sat down with Jenna, our liaison with our largest supplier, to strategize what we could do about this. After our meeting, she worked on building her relationship with their internal team, just like I had with her. A few weeks later, Jenna called to tell me that she had secured an additional shipment of product which I already had a prospect in mind for. Because of this, I made a sizeable sale, and I also took the time to recognize her and make her the hero during the next department meeting.”
8. How did you prepare for this interview?
Preparing for a job interview is similar to the preparation required when approaching a potential client. You can read our post, How to Prepare for a Sales Interview, to learn more on the topic. Here are a few steps to help you understand the company:
- Read the company’s Glassdoor reviews and focus on posts similar to your position.
- Review their website.
- On Linkedin, read their company page, and review the hiring manager(s) and a few of your potential peers’ backgrounds.
- Reach out to a few peers on Linkedin before your interview to learn more about the position.
- Watch videos on Youtube or other platforms to better understand the company’s offerings.
Here are a few steps to prepare yourself to answer the hiring manager’s questions:
- Review your annual sales performance for each of the last five years. Most hiring managers will ask you about your sales performance. Be ready with your exact % to quota and rankings.
- Your big 3. What are your big 3? Your top 3 sales successes. Be ready to share a succinct story about the obstacles you encountered, the skills you used to win the deal, and the specific numbers involved in the win. Ideally, you will have different stories for each skill you have mastered. For example, have a sales success story that displays your prospecting skills, account management skills, and most significant win.
- Advanced tip: prepare your brag book. If you’re a top performer and can prove it, we share how to put one together in our blog – The Sales Brag Book. You can attach an electronic copy of this book when you email the hiring manager a thank you email post the interview.
Interviewer Perspective
The level to which you prepare for their interview is the only indicator that they have as to your willingness or ability to prepare for a sales call. It is also a good indicator of how badly you want the job. A common mistake we see is candidates being underprepared for an interview because they aren’t sure if they want the job. After meeting their potential boss, they realized they wanted the position badly… but it was too late. The hiring manager chose the candidate that came to the interview fully prepared.
Candidate Perspective
Here are a few questions to ask yourself to determine if you’re ready for this question:
- Can you give a high-level explanation of who they are and what they do?
- Do you have three strong reasons why you’re interested in working at this company?
- Do you have three strong reasons why you’re interested in selling their product/service?
- Have you connected with 1-2 peers on the team to learn more about the company, its offering, and what it’s like to sell it?
- Are you ready and able to share your exact sales performance?
- Are you ready to go with your big three sales success stories? Ideally, they’ll be tailored to the job’s demands, which you learned about when you spoke with one of your potential peers via Linkedin.
Example Answer
“I did several things to prepare for the interview. I started on your company website, watched Youtube videos, and reviewed LinkedIn to ensure I was interested in your company and understood what you do and what I would be selling. Then I reached out to one of your reps (give their name) on Linkedin to learn more about your company, what it’s like to work for you and what it takes to be successful here. My conversation with her was extremely helpful and cemented my desire to work here. Finally, I reviewed my sales performance over the past several years to prepare me for your questions when they arise.”
9. Why did you leave your last role (or are you considering leaving)?
Leaving a sales job and starting over in a new position and territory represents a lot of hard work. Without question, you need to be prepared to give a solid answer to this question. A lack of a great response is a red flag.
Interviewer Perspective
The interviewer’s objective is to learn whether you left for desirable reasons (such as seeking greater opportunities) or less desirable reasons (such as missing sales quotas) and use that information to evaluate how they would fit with your company.
Candidate Perspective
This is another question requiring a tight, honest answer… Give enough to explain why you would leave but refrain from listing every reason. You want to get a head nod from the interviewer and move on to questions that show your performance. To put it another way, you aren’t going to win a job based on your answer to this question, but you can lose it.
A few more thoughts. Start positive about your experience with the employer and give a solid reason why you left without ever disparaging your previous employer or boss.
Example Answer
“I genuinely enjoyed my time at XYZ. After two years, I’ve accomplished all of my goals. My boss, Cheryl, allowed me to move into a senior role and championed me the whole way. My next promotion would be her job, and she’s not going anywhere. Sadly this means that I have to move on, but now I’m ready for the next challenge, and I’m super excited about this opportunity.”
10. What is your most recent quota? How did you do vs. your quota YTD? And the previous year?
It goes without saying that your answer to this question is critical to getting hired. This question helps interviewers to evaluate how well you have performed, how big of a quota you have carried, and how well your performance aligns with the expectations of the new position.
Interviewer Perspective
Quotas are often hard to compare from one company to the next. For example, your quota might be easy to hit or extremely hard to reach, and the interviewer would like to understand what your numbers mean. Ideally, your response will give the interviewer a black-and-white answer as to how well you’ve performed, how much revenue you are responsible for, and how your company measures your success.
Candidate Perspective
Be ready to share the numbers as to how you are performing and how your quota works. The more precisely you answer, the more believable your answer will be. In the best-case scenario, you can share employee reviews or other documentation that proves that you’re a top performer. This information gets compiled into what is known as a brag book that you can email to the hiring manager after the interview (read The Sales Brag Book for more). It’s also helpful to give the interviewer context. For example, you might be 97% of quota, but #1 on the team and the second best rep sitting at 81% of quota.
If possible, determine the company’s performance expectations before the interviewer asks this question. If your quota is currently much lower than their expectations, find out the deal size, prospect size, and who the decision maker is. More important than how much your product costs is the difficulty of their sale relative to yours. All other things being equal, hiring managers like to see that you’ve carried similar responsibility levels and sold to a similar clientele.
Example Answer “For 2023, my sales quota is $1M. Last year my quota was $850k, and I finished the year at 127% of quota. This placed me in the top 10% of the national salesforce, and I earned our President’s Club award. To give you some perspective, my average deal size was $86k, and all this revenue was from brand-new accounts. I’m happy to explain more about any of our sales metrics and/or how I exceeded quota.”