Professional Sales Job Interviews

For jobseekers pursuing a career in sales, the next step after you have sent your resume and cover letter to your prospective employer is to make a follow up call. This will let your hiring manager know that you have initiative and are very interested in the job.

When making a follow up call, don�t settle for a human resource personnel or an in-house recruiter. They don�t have anything to offer you. Most of the time, they are preoccupied with work and you will only serve as a distraction to them. Instead, talk to the hiring manager. They don�t just conduct the interview, they also have a say in the screening of applicants and in granting interviews to potential job candidates.

Rejection is a part of every person’s work life. Your resume can get rejected in the screening process, your interview could end in a bitter note, you may not be considered for a promotion and you could even be a victim of a company’s downsizing efforts.

But just because you got rejected means you’re a loser. Remember that there are several factors why you get rejected other than yourself and your capabilities. Accepting your fate is key to moving on with your work life.

Why not try to re-evaluate your career plan to identify what went wrong? You may also set new career goals to make a fresh start. You know life doesn’t end after a rejection and that success can always be achieved with enough determination and hard work.

Resumes are an integral part of a job search. Whether you are a job seeker, an established worker or a seasoned professional, you have to build an effective personal profile over time in the course of your job search, career change and career advancement.

Resumes come in different formats and styles. It is very important that your resume is suited to the job you are applying for. Careful considerations have to be made to be able to write an effective resume that could get you a job interview, the next step of the hiring process after the job application.

Here is a step-by-step guide from Ehow.com on how to write winning sales resume.

Sales professional are busy persons. They are always son the go and continuously looking ways to improve sales. Auto-responder is one of the most efficient tools used by sales professionals in building sales.

Auto-responders are email systems that send multi-tap messages to prospective clients. It is designed to deliver valuable information and connect sales persons to the market.

You can use auto-responders in many ways such as communicating with clients by sending product information, boosting sales through a lead management system and distribute training materials and support to appropriate parties.

While browsing news on the web, I chanced upon this site called TheSalesJob.com that is dedicated for sales jobs and sales jobs alone. The job site is UK-based but has local job sites in different countries.

Once you visit the site, it automatically detects your ip address that if you’re not from the UK, they are kind enough to direct you to their local job site in your host country. Moving your mouse downward, you will see a wide range of sales jobs based on positions, current offerings and popular sales job searches.

If you’re looking for a sales job, why not try your luck at TheSalesJob.com? They have ample resources and services in store for you, from creating your own resume to requesting career advice from their resident career experts.

Preparation is key to a successful sales job interview. From clothes you will wear to how you will present yourself in front of the hiring manager, there is always a preparation needed.

One of the most difficult things to prepare for is the interview questions that will be thrown your way. If you have ample time, try doing a research about how a sales interview is conducted and what kind of questions are usually asked by the hiring manager. Remember that one wrong or flawed answer can lead to failure. Make sure to answer each question in an intelligent manner as much as possible.

Here are some common interview questions from CollegeGrad.com for you to practice on to increase your chance of acing a sales job interview:

1. Tell me about yourself.
2. What do you want to do with your life?
3. Do you have any actual work experience?
4. How would you describe your ideal job?
5. Why did you choose this career?
6. When did you decide on this career?
7. What goals do you have in your career?
8. How do you plan to achieve these goals?
9. How do you evaluate success?
10. Describe a situation in which you were successful.
11. What do you think it takes to be successful in this career?
12. What accomplishments have given you the most satisfaction in your life?
13. If you had to live your life over again, what would you change?
14. Would your rather work with information or with people?
15. Are you a team player?

Job interview for sales professionals differ greatly from interviews for other professions. When a sales interview is going on, it is very much like a selling scenario where the interviewee is the product and the seller at the same time, and the hiring manager the customer.

Selling is key to ace a sales job interview. You have to reach out to your client (the hiring manager) and convince him to buy you.

Here are some strategies that work:

1. Research about the company. Take time to know what the company sells, whom they sell to and how it has grown in the past years.
2. Arrive to the place ahead of schedule. This shows your professionalism and sincerity to get the job.
3. Make a strong connection. Listen attentively to each question and when it’s your turn, ask as much as you want to know about the company.

It is quite common to hear college students and new graduates reject the thought of pursuing a career in sales. They often say salespeople are hated since they sell stuff that people don�t want. This notion is utterly misguided and baseless.

A salesperson may sell a product, but you may also sell a service or a cause depending on the company. From selling different stuff lies the biggest challenge and that is to be able to convince your client that they need the product you are selling.

Many business leaders today started out in sales and believe that their sales experience is the biggest factor responsible for their success. It is because the organizational, communication and persuasion skills learned and honed in sales are crucial in understanding the complex world of the other career fields and in realizing the goals of almost every organization.

Many job seekers who want to pursue a professional sales career often take interview too casually, which results to failure.

The job interview process is a venue where you can make a negative or positive impression of yourself. It is very similar to an important sales call that demands intelligence, commitment, attention to detail and effective presentation.

During the interview, it is best to respond to the interviewer�s needs just like how you would to the inquiries of a consumer in a sales call. You should also focus on the relevance of your own skills and working experiences and be prepared to ask smart questions, if given a chance.

More and more research studies show that emotional intelligence or EQ, not intelligence quotient or IQ is the best predictor of success.

According to Collen Stanley of the Business Journal, emotional intelligence is important for sales people as it is a powerful tool in decision making and understanding the sales process. He mentioned two EQ core competencies, emotional awareness and self-regard, as vital in facing tough situations in the sales industry.

Sales persons who are good at understanding their own emotions and reactions do not make the same selling mistakes. On the other hand, self-regard is the sum of a person’s confidence and worth. Sales persons with high self-regard recover easily from failure and are forward-looking instead of backward-looking.