When hiring a top-performing salesperson, you want to find someone self-motivated who handles rejection with ease and is persistent. Therefore, when evaluating how much sales training the potential new hire might need, I ask the following five sales interview questions to gauge sales competency – check them out below.
Also read:
- How To Hire Sales Professionals
- 3 Ways To Use Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Sales Training
- How To Create An Effective Sales Playbook For Your Sales Team
5 Sales Interview Questions to Gauge Sales Competency
Here are 5 sales interview questions to help you gauge sales competency.
1. What does a qualified prospect look like?
By asking this question you’ll find out if they understand what makes a high quality prospect. They should understand what we call the 3As of qualifying.
Ask – They have a need for your product or service
Afford – They can afford your product or service
Authority – They have the authority to make the buying decision
2. What questions do you ask during a sales presentation?
A great sales person can listen as well as they can talk. They should know what questions to ask to diagnose the needs of the prospect so they can propose the right solution.
3. What do you do when a prospect says “no”?
You want to find out how they handle objections and rejection. Do they have the confidence to find out why the prospect said “no” to see if there is still an opportunity for a “yes”? Are they able to quickly move on after a lost sale ready to close the next one?
4. What does it take to close a sale?
Too many sales people go through the sales process then wait for the prospect to close the sale. A top performing sales person will know how to use different questions to ‘trial close’ or ‘hard close’ a sale based on the progress of the sale.
5. How do you get referrals and repeat business?
An excellent salesperson doesn’t see customers as a 1-off transactional deal. They see them as long term partners who can refer business and will come back for more. Look for a salesperson who knows how to increase referrals and repeat business.
Also read: 14 Common Sales Interview Questions and How to Answer Them
Turning an Underperformer into a Top Performer
In today’s market, you might not get many top performing sales people knocking on your door asking for a job, or you might have under performers already on your team. I always say hire for attitude, then train aptitude.
Sales is a skill. One that needs to be learnt and practiced. If your salespeople don’t know how to qualify, acquire new leads, deliver effective sales presentations or how to close, our 7 Pillar SOCO® Selling™ methodology can help. Drop me and email and lets chat about different ways to turn your team into top performers.