Sales Recruitment Interview Questions
There are different categories questions which you can use during your sales recruitment interviews.
These include the following types of interview questions:
* Questions about product knowledge: You need to decide how important product knowledge is to your sales role, particularly if you are selling more technical products that will be difficult to train someone up for. Figuring out what depth and breadth of product knowledge is required is often driven by your customers' expectations and how they make buying decisions.
* Questions about functional skills: This category of questions has to do with a candidate's perception of their role and their understanding of the sales process. They should probably be asked in all sales recruitment campaigns, because you need to gauge whether the sales skill level of the candidate is a good match to the sales skills required to perform the job.
* Level of industry knowledge: Another thing you need to consider is whether it is necessary for your salespeople to have a good background and knowledge of your industry and/or that of your customers'.
* Questions about leadership skills: Even if you don't require your salesperson to lead a team, various leadership competencies can be important for a sales role. Skills such as self confidence, effective communication skills, influencing skills and building relationships can all be classified as 'leadership' skills and are all important to effective selling.
A combination of the above categories of questions will help you to make good hiring decisions. Before embarking on your interviews, you need to decide which questions from each of the above categories are most appropriate and will elicit the information you require to make an effective selection decision.
How to shortlist
If you are conducting the sales recruitment process in-house and you receive many applicants for any one job, say 100, you may consider conducting a quick screening interview.
Decide first, based on resume checks, who you would like to talk further to, then conduct your screening interviews. If you have many applicants to get through, this screening interview can be conducted over the phone and need not last more than about 10 to 15 minutes.
Once you have shortlisted your applicants you will likely be calling them in for a one-on-one interview with the sales manager. By this stage of the process, you should have no more than 6 candidates.
Questions to ask in the final interview
By this stage of the sales recruitment process you would have determined that your final 6 candidates are capable of performing the actual sales role. What you now need to determine is which one of these 6 candidates is most likely to succeed in your organization.
Probably the most effective type of questions to ask by the time the candidate makes it to the final interview are structured behavioral questions. These types of questions are situational, in that they probe the candidate's past behavior in specific situations, the premise being that past behavior is a good predictor of future behavior.
Probably the best thing to probe by this stage of the sales recruitment process is the candidate's drive / motivation, particularly in the face of adversity. Questions such as "Tell me about a time when you had to achieve a difficult goal despite fierce opposition", or "Tell me about a time when you had to overcome obstacles to achieve a difficult sales target", are both good questions.
When listening to your candidate's answer you are probing for such behaviors as:
* Strong motivation to complete the task at hand
* Tirelessly pursues the goal despite significant adversity
* The candidate is self motivated
* Never loses sight of the goal despite dealing with multiple rejections
* Does not give up
* Has a high standard of excellence that is relentlessly pursued
Make sure you ask all of your final candidates the same questions. It is the only way that you will be able to compare your candidates fairly and objectively. Your final sales recruitment decision will be based on how well the candidate answers your questions during this final interview.
by: Tim Williams
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