How to conduct the best possible interview for a sales role

Hiring the right talent, with the right experience, that fits your company culture is important in a market where hiring the wrong candidate can negatively affect your business. Some of the best sales professionals operate from the UK, and recruiting this talent is all about improving your offering to ensure the best first impression possible. Presenting your business well during the first interview is crucial, as top salespeople will join the business they felt most comfortable in during the interview process. 

Depending on the scale and the responsibilities of the role you are hiring for, the interview process can be challenging for all involved. When hiring for a specific role, sector experience or a proven route to market may be required to offer the position. By identifying the key role requirements before beginning the interview process, you will find it easier to highlight target areas to discuss during the interview and delve into relevant detail around certain areas of the candidate's CV. 

Of course, attracting and retaining talent doesn’t start with a sound job description, a diverse team and inclusive culture is key here. Be sure to check out our expert insights on ‘how to create a culture of high performance.’ With a strategic D&I policy in place, you will be well positioned to win top talent in the market. 
 

Preparing to interview a sales candidate

Before any sales interview, it is important to research a candidate’s background to gain further insights into their career journey. The products, and services they have sold, and the sectors they have worked in. This can form a solid base for conversation and help to formulate questions to ask prior to the meeting. 

Using LinkedIn to learn more about a candidate is also a great way to gain a deeper insight into their experience and how their colleagues perceive them. Looking specifically at their top skills and endorsements will give you a better picture of what they are like as a person. 
 

Five key tips on how to host a great sales interview

When recruiting for top talent it is important to present yourself and your business in the best way possible. This will not only make the candidate feel more comfortable in what can be a tense environment, but you will also showcase the best of your business and it will be more likely that the person will want to join you.

  • High energy introduction and rapport building. This is a great way to break the ice and inject positivity into the meeting.
     
  • Use a bright, natural-lit room.
     
  • Meet the team when suitable so that the candidate can see the cultural environment in the office.
     
  • Use open questioning. Preparing questions before the interview can really help with this part.
     
  • Ending an interview with high energy leaves a positive impression of the business with the candidate.
     

Example Q&A with a sales professional:

Q: What products are you selling in your current role?

A: I sell IT Infrastructure and IT Support Services.

Q: That’s a strong product portfolio. Who do you sell those solutions into?

A: It is – I purely focus on selling this solution into the financial services sectors, so I have a clear customer base to focus on.

Q: Having a clear route to market certainly gives you that clear focus. What types of deal sizes do you tend to work on in the FS space?

A: I deal with a range as I work with smaller and larger firms. My smallest deal would be £50,000 TCV, with my largest deal being £500,000 for the major FS provider. The average is probably around £200,000.

Q: That’s interesting to work on smaller deals right through to the larger, enterprise deals. That average size is slightly higher than ours at the moment, however, we are looking to push towards the £300,000 in the next year. What targets have been you set in your current role to achieve those types of deals?

A: I have a new business target of £1,000,000 per year. Last year I achieved £1,380,000 – which was made up of both larger and smaller deals coming in.
 

The best tasks to test a candidate’s skill set for a role

Depending on the role being recruited, there are different ways to assess a candidate's strengths during an interview. However, any sales role will involve communicating with stakeholders at various levels. The most common way to assess this is through a presentation. An effective and widely used presentation subject is the ’90 day plan’. During this presentation, the candidate will explain how they will attack the first 90 days in their new role. This highlights their sales methodology, understanding of the role, and of course, their presentation style. 

Asking a candidate to present on a topic of their choice is also becoming a popular choice for employers. This enables the interviewer to learn more about the person and provides a more relaxed setting to assess their presentation skills. Furthermore, if the role involves working with copious amounts of data, a numeracy aptitude test may be suitable. Lastly, for a more marketing-orientated sales role, a literacy test would be a good way to analyse their skills.

By prioritising what skills you need for the role and integrating this into the process, whether it’s through an assessment or questioning during an interview, you can ensure that the key competencies are explored and you can make the best decision for your business. 

If you are looking to hire top sales talent to your organisation, please get in touch with one of our specialist recruitment consultants today. Alternatively, submit a job spec, and we will call you. 

To learn more about how you can develop and integrate a D&I strategy in your business, why not download our free eBook, Inclusion in the UK workplace.’

Edward Harrison
Senior Consultant, Michael Page Sales