Landing a field sales job can be challenging, and the first step is to crack your field sales executive interview. Field sales is a tough job and a field sales job interview is one of the toughest interviews there is. Hence, you’ll need to do more than just giving the typical responses to questions. Hiring managers will expect you to showcase your skills and convince them that you’re an effective field sales representative.
In this article, you’ll find the top 10 field sales executive interview questions and suggestions on how to best answer them.
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Tell me a little bit about yourself.
How to answer:
- Start with who you are, and why that is relevant for the position you are after.
- You should mention when you have been successful in sales and highlight your achievements with specifics.
- Be brief, genuine, speak your truth, make it interesting, and be passionate.
- Give examples to give substance to who you are and why they should hire you.
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Why are you interested in working for our company and what skills would you like to improve/gain?
How to answer:
- A hiring manager is going to want to know specifically what it is about their company that interests you. This means making sure you have done your research before you go into the interview.
- An employer will not want to bring on a member of the sales team if they have no desire to sell what the company is making or the service they are providing. Talk about how much you like what they make and demonstrate your enthusiasm for their products and/or services.
- It is also acceptable to talk about other aspects of the company that do not involve sales that you are interested in, including the company culture and values, its career ladder, or anything else about them that genuinely sparks an interest in you.
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Can you tell me more about your sales experience?
How to answer:
- Keep it positive but realistic. Mention what you have specifically done to get sales, such as, turn a no into a yes, and why you made the choices you did regarding the companies you worked for.
- If you do not have formal sales experience, talk about why you are excited to begin a career in sales and give examples of what you have learned about sales already.
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Why did you choose a career in sales? / Why do you want to become a field sales representative?
How to answer:
- This is where you can show the interviewer that this is more than a job to you.
- They want to hear that you have a reason for being in sales other than saying it pays the bills.
- Include some relevant skills you would like to grow doing sales and the challenges you are willing to take.
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How do you know you can sell?
How to answer:
- Share any previous experience when you successfully sold something and explain the process you followed to get it, including the satisfaction you felt after that achievement.
- If you do not have any relevant sales experience, try to remember any situation when you were interacting with customers and the different techniques you used to build rapport with them.
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How do you motivate yourself?
How to answer:
- Saying you are goal-oriented, money-motivated, self-managed, self-determined, and passionate about sales are all good answers.
- Provide simple examples of what you do to keep yourself with a positive attitude to achieve personal or professional targets you set to yourself.
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How do you handle rejection?
How to answer:
- Let the interviewer know that you understand how rejection is a natural fact in sales.
- Explain how you dealt with any rejection in the past, how you handle the situation and your ability to keep yourself resilient and motivated.
- An interviewer is going to want to hire someone who is ready to keep moving forward and take those rejections not as personal attacks, but as lessons to learn and grow from.
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Tell me about a mistake you have made in sales and what you have learned from that mistake.
How to answer:
- Hiring managers ask this question because they want to know how introspective you are and if you can truly learn from your mistakes.
- Sales is a position that involves constant growth and an employee who is unwilling to make changes is going to eventually stagnate in their role.
- If you do not have sales or field sales experience, think about a situation when you made a mistake and the actions you took to learn from it and move on after that, it could even be in your personal life.
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What type of work environment do you like most?
How to answer:
- Do your research on the work environment in the place you are applying to work.
- You may think sales is about individual performance, but if you have ever worked on a sales team, you have probably met a toxic salesperson who damages the morale of the whole team, even though they might have been a top seller.
- Interviewers want to make sure you are not that person.
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How would you sell this pen?
How to answer:
- There is no exact right answer, but the interviewer will be interested in the sales process that you follow, your communication skills, and your enthusiasm and creativity.
- Take some time to personalize your pitch and go beyond just listing out features of the pen.
- Emphasize the features of the product and the benefits that the customer will get from owning and using it.
- Think about your own experience with the product and the possible experiences of other users as you answer.
Whether you’re looking to start you career in field sales or looking for a team of experienced field sales representatives, we can help you transform your business. Check out our current job vacancies or contact us at info@billsave.ie to join Ireland’s leading field sales agency, BillSave!