Show How You Are an Awesome Sales Rep During the Interview

Posted July 15, 2017

For job seekers, every job interview involves some degree of selling, and this reality puts extra pressure on those applying for a sales job.

Like a writer trying to compose the perfect cover letter, sales professionals need to take the interview as an opportunity to flex their sales skills and hopefully impress a hiring manager. In essence, you must be able to sell both your qualifications and your ability to communicate convincingly. You also have to show you can "close the deal."

Here are a few helpful strategies for showing off your sales abilities in an interview.

Research the company and what it does

Invest some time researching the company, the products or services it sells, its competitors and the industry as a whole. The more you know about the company and its business environment, the better prepared you'll be to address specific products, services and objectives from a sales point of view.

Back up your statements with hard numbers

Sales professionals know providing hard numbers is an effective way to sell a product or service, and the same goes for selling yourself.

Hopefully, you've already included your most impressive sales figures on your resume. In the interview, bring these numbers up to reinforce the sense of how you can support and grow sales at the company. For instance, saying you grew annual sales at Company ABC by 50 percent year-over-year is a more compelling case than saying you were a "rock-star salesperson" with your last employer.

Talk about strategies and specifics

There's no getting around it: Your interviewer is going to probe you on the specifics of the job. Therefore, you need to be able to talk about things like making cold calls and sales cycle preferences.

Cold calls are an essential part of almost any sales job, and you should be able to explain why you are comfortable making them. So, you could give example of your cold calls that went exceptionally well. Or you could explain why they work for you and your process.

You should also be able to say whether you prefer a long sales cycle or a short one, and give a reason for your preference. For instance, you could say you prefer long sales cycle because it gives you a chance to build a relationship with the customer.

Be ready to sell

A common sales interview technique is to have the interviewee sell something random to the interviewer. When asked to sell something in the interview, it's important to maintain your composure, take an upbeat tone, emphasize any valuable features, ask about any concerns and close the sale. Also, it doesn't hurt to get creative, so long as you don’t take a dark or negative turn.

Become a Member of Team Ambassador Today

At Ambassador Personnel, we have years of experience helping sales professionals take the next step in their careers. Please contact us to work with a full-service staffing agency and learn more about how we can help your career.