Common and Top Interview Questions about Sales Manager

Interview questions are designed to get to know a candidate and whether he or she will fit in at the organization’s culture. These interview questions ask for details about the interviewee’s personality and how that translates into a work personality. Work process and work ethic are two other areas addressed by personal interview questions.

Day-to-day responsibilities may differ depending on the company, but generally this is a supervisor or team leader role. They’ll own several aspects of goal-setting and should be capable of training, motivating, and monitoring sales teams to meet those goals. Use these questions to determine whether or not your candidates have the hands-on, practical experience needed to succeed in this role.

Being a manager in any industry requires a unique set of skills since you need to both be familiar with the ins and outs of the business and have the people and strategy skills to lead a team of employees. This is true in sales as well.

Usually when individual contributors get promoted to management, they teach their direct reports their secrets for success, use many of the same skills they did in their previous jobs, and get a salary bump.

Sales manager might be one of the only promotions where the job differs dramatically from the individual contributor role and necessitates an entirely different skill set.

Tell me about your experience in sales. You’re likely going to have to answer a general question like this early on in the interview, so have your elevator pitch about yourself and your experience prepared.

Interviewers want to get to know how your work history, skills, and passions make you unique, so focus on this in your answer.

Interviewers want to hear your story and what you love about your job. Be specific when you answer to give them a complete picture of what has motivated you up to this point and what continues to drive you.

Hiring managers want to see how you’ll respond to situations that you’ll face as a sales manager, so make sure you’re ready to answer with as much detail as possible.

Companies want employees who are self-aware and taking active steps to overcome their weaknesses, so make sure you include that information in your answer.

No one does their job perfectly 100% of the time, so hiring managers want to find someone who will handle their failures well.

Talk about a specific mistake you made and how you owned up to it, as well as the steps you took to make sure it didn’t happen again.

Remember that you are interviewing for a sales role, so keep your response focused on something relevant to sales. Share a time when you were persistent and it paid off, when you worked hard to knock a goal out of the park, when you accomplished a significant achievement, etc.

Tips for Getting Hired As a Sales Manager

The interview is a crucial point in the hiring process. A candidate that seeks to land a new position would be wise to prepare a lot and research even more for the interview. When preparing, however, some areas might need more attention than others.

Here are some interview tips that can help:

Preparing succinct but comprehensive answers to common open-ended questions for interviews

Gathering many real-world work experience examples to share along with explanations for the hiring manager’s consideration

Organizing any samples of work method, including step-by-step plans, spreadsheets or presentations to share with hiring managers to illustrate his or her process

Finding ways to positively spin negative past work experiences and discuss areas of work experience that create inappropriate emotional responses

Researching the company culture and mission to align answers with the organization’s philosophy

Demonstrating command of the differences between sales skills and management skills

Cultivating self-awareness for what strengths the candidate brings to the position, as well as preparing a plan to overcome weaknesses that could impede his or her success

By preparing for each sales manager interview question category and ensuring the purpose behind the answers, hiring managers and sales manager candidates will be as prepared as possible to find a match that works for both.

Part of a sales manager's job is to regularly translate executive directives and news to their sales staff in clear, digestible ways. Ensure they can do this concisely and without a patronizing tone, before moving forward.

Hiring a sales manager is a big step for any company. Don't rush the process. Instead, be clear about the role and the attributes the right hire will possess. Then, don't settle until that right person walks in the door and blows you away.

Hope this blog will help to Getting Hired as a Sales Manager!