Steli: Hey everyone.
This is Steli Efti with Close.com and in today's video,
we're going to talk about the top 10 interviewing
questions that you would ask a new sales hire to really
figure out if they're going to be great at their job.
Right?
So for most people that know me, you already know
that I don't, I don't think that there is a perfect
question you can ask in an interview to really
know if somebody is going to be amazing at sales.
I'm a big proponent of giving salespeople
practical tests and really throwing them
into the fire and see how they react.
Similarly to a, you know, if you were a coach, you
wanted to know if somebody is a good basketball
player, at some point sooner or later, you want
to throw them the ball to see what they do.
Right.
You can ask a bunch of questions, but
ultimately you need to see them play the ball.
And with sales, it's very, very similar.
But people still keep asking me
this question every single day.
I just got an email today about somebody asking
me, what are the interviewing questions that
you guys asked before you hire a sales person?
So I thought I'll share some best practices, some
interviewing questions that I think will benefit
you and give you more insights in the process.
And then we're going to link up to the video where I
talk about some practical homework and tests to really
figure out if somebody is going to be amazing at this job.
So 10 interviewing questions, I'm going to go through
them really fast and just some context around them.
And hopefully you can utilize some of them, all
of them to really do better in sales hiring.
So question number one, the most fundamental
question when hiring salespeople is why sales?
Right.
As to why they're interested in doing this
job, why have they been doing this job?
If they've been in a sales career for a long time,
what is it about selling that appeals to them?
What is it about selling that makes
them want to be in this profession?
How did they get into it and why they're still in it?
What is the reason?
What motivates them?
Why sales?
I always need to know what drives a person,
especially in, um, in a position like sales,
where motivation is really crucial to performance.
You need to know what motivates and what
drives that person and what their purpose is.
Why are they doing this job?
What really gets them going?
What really gets them motivated?
What's the higher purpose?
What's the higher goal?
What is their journey?
So you know how to support them on that journey, help them
get to that goal and quickly explore if that goal aligns
with the goals that your business and your team has.
And if it does, then it's a beautiful, beautiful fit.
So, first question is always why sales?
Why selling, why you doing this job?
Question number two is why do you want to sell this product?
Right?
And this is such an obvious question, but a
guarantee you, 99% of all companies never asked them.
You know, potential sales hires.
Why do you want to sell this particular product?
I guarantee you most sales hires
have a really bad answer to this.
Most people you interview will not have a brilliant answer.
And there goes, it doesn't mean that if somebody gives you
a bad answer on any kind of interviewing question, that that
ultimately means they won't be good at the job, it doesn't.
I don't think there's any question you can ask somebody that
will point to, uh, somebody being good or bad at the job.
Those are all clues.
You're trying to collect as many clues
as possible to make a judgment call.
Is it more, is it less likely that this person
is worth more time is worth trying it out is
worth investing into figuring out if they can be
onboarded and be really successful at this job.
Why do you want to sell this product?
Is a brilliant question, because I
want to know if they're thoughtful.
I want to know they thought about the product.
If they're just applying to a bunch of jobs, if
there's purpose behind them, sitting here and
wanting to talk to me, and if they have some
kind of an angle approach or relationship to
what we're doing, that is more than money, right?
Money can be good.
Money is fine.
We all like money, but why do they
want to sell this type of product?
What is it about what we are
selling that gets them passionate?
They're passionate, they have a story, if they have
a relationship with what we're selling, if they
know about our product and they have good answers
to this, again, it doesn't mean they're going
to be great at it, but it increases the chances.
And I like people that are thoughtful.
If you're not thoughtful in selling yourself
in this interviewing process, you're probably
not going to be thoughtful in selling our
products to our prospects and customers.
So why do you want to sell our product?
It's a crucial question.
Seems simple.
Seems obvious.
And because it's so obvious and so simple, most people
miss the opportunity to ask it and then uncover that
the person's totally unprepared for and has no clue.
All right.
Uh, similar to that is question number three.
What, uh, do you know about our customers?
And why are those people that you don't even have
to ask that can come out of the natural conversation
that will, will be stimulated by asking this question.
But ultimately when you ask, what
do you know about our customers?
You really want to know, again,
did this person do their homework?
Do they understand the prospect, your customer?
How well do they understand the customer?
Maybe they're totally misinformed or have a
misconception who your customer is and hence, that
is a huge opportunity for you to clarify that and
make sure that this different type of customer
that you have still is the type of person that.
Sales hire could do a good job with, can relate to, can
be passionate about, can be, um, you know, caring of.
Like who is our customer?
Tell it, tell me that.
And then in that conversation, the follow-up, I would want
to know why is this the type of person that you care about?
Why is this the type of person that you can associate with?
The type of person that you think you can influence,
uh, or that you think, uh, is attracted to you
and your opinions, your, your, your thoughts.
Why do you think you can work really well and
communicate really well with this type of customer?
So, you know, who do, what, uh, what
do you know about our customers?
Fundamental question again, a question that many
sales managers and sales leaders will never ever
ask in the early days of the interview process.
I think it's a no brainer.
Next question.
Number four, it's tell me about our competitors.
And you see how this is following a certain logic, right?
So I want to know why they're into sales.
I want to know why they want to sell my
product and what they know about my customer.
And now, you know, if you want to push it a little
further, I want to know, have they looked around, do
they know what the competitive landscape looks like?
Who we are competing with every single day?
Who this salesperson is going to have to compete
against in specific deals when they talk to prospects.
How again did they do their homework?
How mindful are they?
How thoughtful are they?
Have they done a little bit of research to figure
out who else is in the space and what differentiates
these other competitors from what this company does.
And why do I think I could win selling
this product versus a competitive?
Right.
If they don't know the answer to all this
questions, again, it's not the end of the
world, but it is not exciting necessarily.
And if they have answers and good answers again, that's
another little green little flag, something that makes
me more excited, makes me lean in and want to know
more and want to invest more into this candidate.
Question number five is, tell me about
the last time you were really stressed out
in business and how do you deal with it?
And this a question you can ask to anybody in any
position, but it is a powerful question because you want
to know how people act under stress, especially in sales.
I want to know when something wasn't going well,
and this is not just about a specific deal.
We'll have a, a unique question for that.
I want to know when was a time when this person was not
performing at their best, when this person was stressed out.
It could be for personal reasons, could be for any kind
of reason, but how do they deal with that stress at work.
And what stressed them out?
When was the last time you were really
stressed at work and how did you deal with.
So really revealing things people can bring up.
Um, you know, it is the thing that the, the
situation that this sales person describes a really
crucial one, one you can really associate with
one way you think, yeah, I'd be stressed as well.
Or does it seem really trivial?
Does it seem surprising?
This was something this person is stressed about?
Wow.
Okay.
Knowing that this person is probably
easy to rock out of their balance.
Maybe this person's going to be
stressed a lot at this company.
Right?
Um, it gives you a lot of clues on how this
person is gonna react to pressures and changes
and difficulties and challenges in their life.
And how do they bring this into the business?
And this is going to be a tough one for people to answer,
because as they're trying to think about their answer, and
this is not a question they hear every day, so most likely
they're not gonna have perfectly prepared, answer for this.
As they're thinking about the answer, they're
trying to also filter their answer, right.
To try to get, to be political, to
be like, can't say just the truth.
So what is something I can say that sounds like
I'm on I'm honest, but that makes me look good.
And it's just funny to observe people
when they're under that type of pressure
and salespeople will be under pressure.
So this is not unfair and to see what comes out of it.
Um, most of the times it's going to be bullshit.
Right?
Most of the times they're going to come up with some
story that very much doesn't seem authentic to you.
That has huge holes in it.
And that just seems like they made up, they made it up
because they were struggling to just tell you the truth.
And there was struggling to come
up with a perfect story on the fly.
Again, this doesn't mean that
they can't be a great sales hire.
It can mean a number of things.
Maybe they're intimidated.
Again, they don't want to make a mistake and that's
understandable, but they're going to be under these
types of pressures every single day with prospects.
Prospects are going to ask really tough questions at times.
You want to know, have somebody in hire somebody in
sales that can weather that storm that can manage
difficult interaction or a challenging question
and do it either authentically and with strength
and honesty, or if they bullshit at least bullshit
well enough that you probably could buy it, right?
Uh, one of the two, but if they give you bullshit that,
so thin that you're like, I'm not buying any of this.
Not the greatest answer to give in the world.
Right.
Um, so what, uh, what was the last time you were
really stressed at work and how did you deal with it?
Killer question in the interviewing process.
Question number six.
Um, tell me the last time you took
a big risk and it didn't pan out.
It's similar logic behind this.
Again, people are not going to be really prepared.
And if you ask this question after the stress, one question,
now you're going to start stressing people out, right.
They're going to be like, oh my God.
I can't come up with another
story that's bullshit right now.
And this is good.
Like you're putting them under
fire and you see how they react.
Are they totally comfortable in their own skin?
Can they tell you the truth in honesty and
they're comfortable in where they're at?
Or are they so creative that they come up with one
story after the other and you don't know if they're
true or not, but you don't really care because you're
entertained as hell and all makes sense to you.
Right?
So, um, when was the last time they
took a risk and it didn't pan out.
You want to know that these people are risk takers.
So they've, they're struggling to come up with any risks
they've taken the past 10 years, that's a bad sign.
And the risk doesn't have to be
with prospects on selling it.
The risks could be in any area of life.
You really just want to know that this is a person
that when there's an opening, when there's an
opportunity, they more often than not, they go for it.
And that means in most people's eyes, they take risks.
Right, because that speaks to a killer instinct
that speaks to a certain type of confidence
that will princely really well in selling.
So ask them when they took a
risk and when it didn't pan out.
And how did they deal with that situation.
In similar and related to that questions, question
number seven, which is last time you lost a deal,
you try to sell something and the person said no.
And why do you think they said no?
It's another really good one again, if somebody
is like, well, I'm always closing all deals.
There's never been a time that I have lost a deal.
That's bullshit.
And that means this person's probably not taking
enough risks with a prospect they're going after.
If they have a recent example.
I just don't know.
I not just interested in, yeah, I lost the deal last week.
I tried to close this deal and it didn't work out.
I want to know the reasons why.
What's their self analysis?
How self-aware are they?
If they're really good at analyzing
what happened, why'd worked the widened.
That's again, just a sign of maturity and assigned that
they are going to be really good at understanding where
a prospect is and what needs to happen to close the deal.
And, uh, they're going to know what they need
to work on what they need to change or what they
need to improve on when things aren't working.
Right.
Are they self-aware?
Can they analyze the situation when it's not going well?
How much does their ego go get into the way?
All those are telling clues.
Next question.
Uh, again, related is tell me the last
time you won a deal and why, right?
I don't want to just know about the stress
in life and things that didn't work out.
I'll also want to know about their success,
the things that really worked out and I
want to see, do I see a shine in their eyes?
Does this person get excited?
Do they smile when they're talking
about the last deal that they closed?
Are they passionate and motivated?
Are they animated?
How do they talk about their wins?
How much energy and motivation and
inspiration do they gain from these wins?
Right.
And when was the last time they
won and again, do they know why?
Do they have any fucking clue why they
want the deal instead of just winning it?
I'm curious.
I want to know that.
That tells me a lot about where somebody is in
their maturity and journey as a salesperson.
All right.
Question number nine is what was the last sales
strategy sales tactic that you've learned?
Uh, from somebody or reading a book or reading
an article or observing somebody doing something?
When was the last time you learned something in
selling and in sales that you were able to open?
Either successful or unsuccessful,
that doesn't really matter.
When was the last time you learned
something in sales and how did you apply it?
This is a question that points to, is this person a learner?
Is this somebody that's coachable?
Is this somebody that continuously trying to work on their
craft, get better at what they do improve what they do.
The best salespeople in the world
are constant and lifelong learners.
They will never, ever stop trying to
find ways to get better at their craft.
So they always look out for lessons to learn things,
to observe books, to read people, to talk, to, and
get influenced by and, and, and gain knowledge from.
And again, if the person doesn't have a good
answer, that is not a, not a criteria, but I like
it more when somebody has a good answer to this.
I like it when salespeople are, you know, learners and
when they are passionate about learning, passionate
about, um, gaining more information and more knowledge,
more skills from others and applying that information.
And then last but not least question number 10 on the
top 10 questions, you should ask a potential sales
hire in an interview to know what they're made of.
W, what do you think it will take to sell me on you?
And where do you think we are right
now in the entire sales process?
So you could ask somebody or another way
of asking this is just to say, how do
you think this interview is going so far?
And what do you think would it take for you to
really fully convince me and sell me on you?
Right.
And this is, this is now an the opportunity for the
person to be self-aware and self-reflective on you as a
prospect, the product they are selling is themselves.
And, you know, the, the first part, the qualifying
part let's say of the sales process was this interview.
And the nine question that you've just asked.
And now what you're trying to do is you try to see
what does this person think it will take to close
this deal and make me want to hire him or her.
And, uh, how does this person
think I am thinking about them?
How good are they in reading clues?
How good are they in reading humans?
How good is this person in understanding,
based on your reactions to the questions you
asked them, the quality of answers that they
give you how well this conversation is going?
And again, if they are spot on, if they know what
you like, and didn't like, if they have a good
sense of what's going on here, that will translate
in their, you know, sensibilities when they talk
to prospects and how, how much they can influence
the process since they understand what's going on.
Versus you might be thinking, uh, you know,
that there are amazing and they think they're
horrible, or you think they really missed the
opportunity to shine at question number nine.
And they think they killed it in number nine.
The bigger the gap between what you were
experiencing as the prospect here, and they have
interpreted as what was happening as the seller,
the bigger that gap, the worse the salesperson.
All right.
So these were the top 10 sales questions
you should ask somebody in an interview.
You know, how, how experienced somebody is in their sales
process, how much core knowledge and, and, and how likely
it is that this person is going to be amazing at selling.
But as I said, at the beginning of this video, I don't
think you can ask somebody these 10 questions and then
know if somebody is going to be good at selling or not.
They're all clues.
They're all data you should use that data can help you
in making a decision, but it alone, no question on earth
alone can point to, if you should hire somebody or not.
Other than the one question you can ask yourself,
which is the question, do I like this person?
And would I buy from this person?
If the answer to these two questions
is no, I don't like this person.
I would never buy something.
Then don't hire them.
Don't even throw them a ball.
There's no need for it.
You know, you don't want to be around this human.
It's not likely going to be a good fit
culturally for your business and your team.
But if you think, yeah, I like this person
and I probably would buy something from them.
Anything else that you asked and get information from.
Those are all clues, but they're not enough.
You have to put the person through the fire.
You have to throw them into cold water,
whatever metaphor you want to use for this,
you have to have them sell you something.
You have to have them interact with people.
You have to see how they do the job and how they really
seriously sell versus just how they talk about it.
So we're going to talk about this
and link to this in this video.
I'd love to hear some of the amazing questions you've
heard or you've been asked to in sales interviews.
So share them in the comments, make sure to go to
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Two to three times a week we publish highly
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And if you ever want, you can always
reach out to me at Steli@close.com.
Go out there and crush it.