Friday 19 August 2011

Sales Interview Questions

When you are appearing for the sales interview, many sales professionals think that their interpersonal and communication skills will help them clear the interview. But if you don’t prepare for the interview, it will be very difficult for you to clear it. Here we discuss some sales interview questions to help you in your interview.

The person working in the sales department of the company must possess excellent communication skills and strong interpersonal skills for handling the customers. Also the person working in the sales department must have good negotiation skills to negotiate on any product. When appearing for the sales interview, interviewer will check all these skills and then hire you for the position. There are many common questions asked by the employers when appearing for such interviews. Below are some sales job interview questions to help you in your interview.


Sales Interview Questions

Tell us something about yourself?
-Employers want to know about your personal details before starting the conversation. Although they have your resume with them, asking your personal details, they want to check your communication skills. Provide the overview of your details and do not over explain them. Talk about your goals and your desire to join the company.

Tell me about your last three days at work in market?
 -Explain your complete work schedule for last three days to the employer. Describing this, you can explain to the employer how you made effective use of your marketing skills to sell any product. What were the difficulties faced by you and how you overcame these difficulties.

What was the product that you sold during your previous jobs and how did you do it?
-This question is directly related to the previous question. You must describe about your special marketing skills. You need to talk about the things you implemented when selling the product.

What do you think is challenging about marketing?
-State the concepts that you think are challenging in marketing industry. You should be aware of the challenges and risks involved in the new business development and explain them to the interviewer.

What can you do to improve your product or service?

-On this question, you can suggest the improvements for implementing in your company to increase the product sales. Suggest some changes that can benefit the sales rate of the company and bring up maximum profit. You need to focus on customer service for improving the sales. You should have commitment towards improving sales and providing necessary help to the company clients.

Can you sell this pen to me?
-This question is generally asked by every employer when you are appearing for the marketing interview. The product may however vary. You should be quick in picking information of the product and sell it successfully to the employer. Applicant must be good in linguistic skills Smart in product selling technique.

The person working in the sales team has to survey in the market and actually interact with the customers. For effective interaction, they must possess excellent verbal communication skills and strong interpersonal skills. Apart from these common questions, there are many other questions asked by the employers during the interview for sales positions. Refer our site for more interview questions and related answers.

Wednesday 10 August 2011

Interview Tips: Phone Interview Tips

 After writing a job winning resume and getting shortlisted for the personal interview, it is your chief responsibility to prepare well for the interview and clear it. Many times employers schedule a telephonic interview before calling you for the face-to-face personal interview. Here we provide you the basic phone interview tips those will be beneficial to you in clearing your telephonic test.

Like in a personal interview, there are many common questions asked by the employer during your telephonic round. Be prepared for these simple and basic questions to make an initial impact  on the interviewer. Telephone round is becoming a vital part of the interview processes. It helps the recruiter to know your communication skills. Most times, interviewers select the candidates on the basis of their performance in these telephonic rounds. Successful telephonic interview will definitely help you in getting the job. Below are some interview tips to help you clear this major round.

Phone Interview Tips:
  • Before spearing for the interview, prepare well for it. Know your strengths, weaknesses, accomplishments and answer the questions related to it effectively
  • When you are talking about your experiences on the telephone, have your resume in front of you to avoid any vagueness in your words
  • Also take notes of the questions asked by the interviewer and answers given by you
  • Turf off the appliances like TV, radio, mixer, etc. those create background noise creating disturbanceIt is important to respond to the question of the interviewer quickly, but make sure that you provide a relevant answer to the question. Wait for a second, think of the appropriate answer and respond instantly
  • Convey a thank you note after completion of the interview to display your interest in the position
  • Do not eat, chew or smoke during the phone interview
  • While answering the questions, make sure that your answers are relevant and to the point. Do not  say anything that is not relevant to the question asked by the employer
  • Listen to the interviewer carefully. Do not interrupt him in between when he is speaking
  • Keep your answers short and to the point. While keeping them short, make sure that you provide complete answer to the question
Common Interview Questions in Telephonic Interview:

Following are some important questions asked by the interviewer in the phone interview:

  1. Give your introduction
  2. Speak about your hobbies
  3. Why are you interested in this industry?
  4. Why are you interested in working in this company? 
  5. Tell me something about your previous work experiences
  6. Why do you find yourself eligible for this particular position?
  7. How can the company get benefited by selecting you?
  8. Where do you see yourself after five years?

Apart from these basic interview questions, interviewer may also ask the questions related to your core qualifications. You can practice for the interview before actually appearing for the interview. You can also take help of your friend who can interview you asking the same question that employer may ask.

Tuesday 2 August 2011

First Interview Questions Approach

 Wonder how your approach may be when you face the first interview question? For this, you can refer to many tips online and get help from it.

From your high school to your first job interview and so on, the job interview questions are more or less the same. Your each personality aspect and confidence can be made out from the first question itself. Your body language, your dressing style and your comfort, the tone of your voice, etc is judged from your first answer itself. So your approach to the first question has to be very perfect in order to impress the employer at the first stroke. But when you need to be so confident, you should have a thorough understanding of the organization, their vision and you should be able to handle it with your way of answering.

To help you more with answering the first question of the interview, (mostly asked on, tell me about yourself) here are some interview tips for you:

  • Planning is one of the important aspects while answering. You should practice few questions before going for the actual interview. It will help you deal with facing the questions easily. It will also help you highlight your achievements which you would like to mention during the interview. Don’t go too much into all your personal information like kids, husband, parents etc. Brief your answer.

  • Once you have decided about what all information you are going to add in your answer then write it down. Check for grammatical errors in the answer.  So that while speaking you don’t go the wrong way. The idea is to highlight your strengths specifically relevant to job. Start with your name and describe at least 2 professional functions, your strengths applicable to the job etc. Avoid negative statements.

  • Before going, don’t just learn your answer; make it as natural as possible or else the employers are smart enough to make out if you just start from a point to end without stopping. The best time to rehearse is before going to interview. It helps you to keep the ideas in your mind. 

  • When you appear in front of the employer, be sure to take necessary pauses while answering any question. You should be fluent and capable of maintaining a particular speed of talking and in an understandable accent. Your approach has to be mannered and a mix of formal and informal. Thus, dress properly; maintain a positive attitude, tone and pace from your first interview question till the end.