Sales managers are in charge of hiring, coaching and motivating sales reps that can thrive in their team and grow both as individuals and in a group setting. A sales manager doesn’t just need to be a talented salesperson, they also need to have a knack for leading and people-managing—a skill even many of the best salespeople don’t have. Nearly every hiring manager reads from their list of questions. If you aren’t sure where to start, research common questions in your industry and note the ones that pop up the most frequently.

You’ll get a much clearer picture of how they’ll contribute toward creating a positive environment for your prospects and customers. Learn how to build an efficient, scalable and high-converting sales process for your sales team. High-performing salespeople share certain skills, many Sales Development Representative job of which can be learned. Find out how to be a great salesperson by developing these 11 traits. The key approach is to always look for all three traits of a team player. If there’s even one missing, that sales rep might throw off the entire team balance, productivity and even trust.

Experienced candidates without another professional passion can also share their hobbies while highlighting how their practices benefit their success. Some individuals may share that they can’t imagine themselves anywhere but sales. While the enthusiasm is appreciated, it may be insincere or shows the candidate’s lack of consideration. Candidates who can’t identify a time they turned a rejection around in https://wizardsdev.com/ sales or otherwise may not have significant sales experience and would likely require additional guidance if hired. Quality salespeople will identify their limits and share what they expect to be briefed on before entering sales calls. Even the preferred “no” isn’t a great answer if the person can’t explain why they said “no” and what they’d need to know before they’re qualified to hop on a sales call.

Alternatively, you can take a direct approach and ask if you will need to do certain things outside of the job description. The answer interviewers are looking for with the “no” question is one that shows you can either push back on an objection, get an explanation for the “no,” or a combination of both. Most of the job itself is done online, down to the phone calls being made over an internet connection. If that’s the case, do all of the things you would for an in-person interview. It means having an established relationship with whoever you need to sell to.

They want to know you took time to understand the company and the role before the interview. If they see that you’re unprepared for the interview, they’ll assume you’ll be unprepared for sales calls as well. You need to outline the qualities you want in a candidate and draft follow-up questions to ask in a sales interview. Ensure that you can speak to candidates with confidence and respect. Whether quotas or a self-starter mentality grant a feeling of success, motivated sales reps get the most done.

Sales Development Representative Interview

You lose the energy from being together with peers, you lose overhearing what’s working on someone else’s call, you lose the celebration from the team when someone finally picks up. So interviewers want to know either that you thrive in that environment, you’ve found a way to make it work for you, or you have a plan for it. While several questions seem to be timeless favorites of hiring managers, I’ve also seen quite a few changes and trends. Sales directors supervise managers to ensure company-wide sales are on track. While much of their work is high level, the best sales directors understand the needs and problems facing your average sales rep. The candidate will be expecting this one, but it’s worth asking.

This question addresses why the candidate chose your company over others and helps you determine if the candidate understands and appreciates what you sell. Sales engineers have a lot of tools at their disposal for explaining complex products. Strong candidates use presentations, demos, graphs, and other visual tools to help clients understand what their product is and what it does. If they’ve had access to data in the past, it’s essential to know if they did anything with it. Managers need a strong grasp of how to use data to leverage decision-making, so it’s good to get an example from your candidates about how they’ve done that in the past.

How would you change our company’s approach to sales?

Sales engineers are often naturally curious and respect quality solutions when they see them. You should ask this question in order to gauge whether they like your product/service, and whether they’ll become a natural and authentic advocate. Learn whether or not your candidate has a good foundation and strategic mindset with this simple question. You’ll be able to see if your goals and expectations are aligned, too. Every inside sale professional will have a communication channel that they prefer compared to the others. Ask this question to build a clearer picture of your candidate and of where you might need to help them in the future.

• If they know more, then it gives them some extra points for curiosity.
• Don’t make your decision until you read our guide to creating a successful partnership for growth.
• They said everything else is automated and all you do is call in this role.
• If you plan to represent a company – even as an SDR/BDR who rarely leaves the office, plan on having a professional haircut and no facial hair.
• Interviewers expect you to be able to respond to questions fluently, especially to common ones that shouldn’t be a surprise.

A great answer goes further to offer statistics that back up their experience, like their conversion rates or how many calls they’ll make to one prospect. Candidates who aren’t interested in cold calling likely aren’t a fit for your company. Great answers show the continued value of satisfying the customer’s needs and how the success is more than the initial dollar amount. “A year ago we were pitching a simplified version of our marketing software to high-end freelancers and small businesses that didn’t need all of the bells and whistles.

General Interview Questions for a Sales Development Representative

The job of prospecting, fielding, and vetting new clients is generally essential to the lifeline of a company. As a sales representative, you’re uniquely situated to succeed at an interview. Just think of yourself as the product, and apply the same principles you would use in any sales meeting, demonstrating that you’re a good fit and selling yourself to the interviewer. Ask these sample Business Development Representative interview questions to evaluate candidates’ skills and hire the ones who best fit your company’s needs. This is a chance to show that you know that sales roles are demanding.

Candidates who can’t identify upcoming trends or expectations may have less experience or are out of touch with the industry’s evolution. “I was recently working with a local coffee shop that was interested in our point of sales systems. They wanted tablet stations for self-ordering and checkout, but the initial installation costs were higher than they anticipated. There’s a tentative agreement to follow up at the end of the year, but lacks a follow-up strategy. Their answer doesn’t describe a complete picture of the scenario with the S.T.A.R. model. Sales pitch best practices — particularly trying to close the sale.

I read on your site that your company values ____ here. How do you encourage its existence?

A high-performing salesperson isn’t worth having on the team if they’re a jerk, or negative. Once you understand the expectations of the role, this is another huge opportunity to sell yourself! Show you have been listening by calling out specific items that matter to them, and noting why you in particular have those attributes or experiences. “I’d like to give my current employer two weeks’ notice, so I don’t leave my team in a bind. It’s also very important to me that I start this new role with a clear mind, lots of energy, and free of distractions in my personal life, so I’d like to ask for a week in-between roles. They don’t need to know everything about each role; they’ll just want to hear the skills that you learned that will help you excel in sales.

The candidate should also provide details about how they use tools to improve their workflow. Under each question, we’ve also included a list of green, red, and yellow flags to watch for. Green flags indicate a great answer, yellow flags warrant a follow-up question or clarification, and red flags may point to an unfit candidate. Once you’ve built the best sales team, you should shift your focus to supporting their productivity with the automation of manual, routine tasks and AI-driven insights. Here is another great question to elicit humility in a candidate.

A sales hiring manager needs to determine whether the interviewee can handle the rejection, learn, and move on. Every response you give to interview questions should include concrete examples of your sales achievements. It’s important to be clear about how you can help the company and grow sales. For example, you might say, “At XYZ company, I was responsible for bringing on ABC account, signing a contract that resulted in XX profit over YY time.”

Interviewers will be looking for you to demonstrate that you have the necessary skills. Review thislist of sales skills, and look for ways to highlight your mastery of them in your answers. So often, I think sales are lost because of a lack of follow-through. So I’m always determined to have a strategy with scheduled benchmarks when it comes to interacting with prospects—that way, I never miss a potential powerful touch-point moment. I found this extremely relevant and helpful, thank you so much for sharing. These questions do absolutely come up during the interview and it is a really good move to prepare these answers ahead of time.

Most successful sales teams are those that are always growing, so take this as a chance to not only bring your sales people closer, but also continually help them develop their skills. Let’s say that your current sales reps aren’t the strongest in following up. They close sales easily (and quickly!) with highly responsive prospects, which helps them hit their targets each time, but their less responsive leads go completely cold quickly. Your candidate should be willing to work as an SDR in your company.

This question will tell you how to encourage this rep if they join your team. Some reps love sales for customer connections, and others prefer learning about a new product. By understanding their preferences, you can determine the best way to place a candidate on your team. Conversions are a great place to start, but they aren’t the only KPI worth monitoring.