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.

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.

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I just found out that there are still series of preparation you need to do before you face your job interview. And its conducting a company background research. So that you can prepare yourself to the question the interviewer might ask you during your interview. Here are some tips you can use to have a good company background research:

1) You can use the resources of the internet for your research. You may ask help from google or yahoo, if your company is commonly known you will not have hard time in searching because they are sometimes required to make some company information available to public.
2) You can also have a lot of friends who might know something about the company you are researching. Like for example your friends aunt is working as supervisor to the company you are researching then you can ask her some question about the company and that will be a big help.

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Don’t respond with comments about your hobbies, spouse, or extra curricular activities. Instead talk about your strengths, achievements, and qualifications for the position. Just remember to support the skills you mention with concrete examples. For example, instead of saying “I’m a hard worker,” go into detail by mentioning that you always make sure your projects are above standards and meet deadlines, and then cite any commendation that complements this. And don’t be too much proud in answering the questions, for it may leave bad impression to the interviewer. Get rid of one’s interview jitters by asking a friend to conduct a mock interview with you. It’s a chance to practice your answering technique and how’d you formulate your responses-live. Plus, you will get constructive feed. This will guide you towards improving your interview styles and presentation.

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Just like any endeavor, job interviews require preparation. With preparation, we mean physically and psychologically. It also includes acquiring interviewing skills that could make your job interview successful.

According to Deborah Walker, a career management coach from QuintCareers.com, one of the essential interview skills is finding the interviewer’s hot buttons.

These are the unspoken concerns or wishes of the interviewer that you must be able to uncover and ask to him. Walker shares two magic questions that will reveal the interviewer’s hot buttons:

1. What do you see as the greatest challenge for this position?
2. What qualities do you see as most important for this position?

After the interviewer has enumerated his hot buttons, tailor the information to your answers to his questions. This way, you will be more confident that your answers are what he wants to hear. Certainly, this interview skill could increase your chances of approval.

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Career experts often advise job seekers to treat job interviews seriously. If you’re a sales professional or someone who wants to pursue a career in sales, preparing for a sales job interview means you have to work doubly hard.

The job interview itself serves as a stage where your sales skills get weighed. The hiring manager is usually more focus as he tries to discover the sales person in you. This is where first impression matters most. You need to impress the hiring manager to get the job. You can do so by being smart, confident and attentive.

You may also want to focus on your personal achievements and answer each question with enthusiasm. This way, you can leave a good impression and the hiring manager could set you apart from the rest.

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As with any other kinds of job interview, intelligence does matter in a sales job interview. The more you know about the organization to which you are applying a sales position, the higher your chance of getting hired. You can do this by researching about the company or talking to established sales professionals who have massive experience in sales.

It is very important that you learn significant knowledge about the organization, its products, market, customers and competitors. Most sales job applicants neglect this advice. What they don’t know is that potential employers expect a lot from its applicants. In fact, applicants’ level of preparation for the job interview reflects the amount of hard work and effort he will put into his job and the selling process in general.

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