I recently held sales job interviews and more than half of the applicants lost the job because they made the same basic mistake. I’ve seen this error made many times and no matter what you do after you’ve made this mistake you will have no chance of getting the sales job.
The interviewer is looking for someone to sell their products or services. You don’t have to have experience of selling the exact same product, or a track record in the same marketplace. But what you must demonstrate in the sales job interview is evidence and experience of one of two the basic types of selling. The interviewer will be looking for either a new business sales person that contacts potential new customers, or they will want an account manager that builds long term relationships with existing customers. These two different types of selling are often described as Hunters and Farmers. Presenting yourself as the wrong one will ruin any chance of being successful in an interview.
Imagine presenting really great evidence in your job interview of how you have managed the top accounts in your present role. You have documented proof of growing the revenue and profit from your employer’s customers. Your portfolio of accounts has increased and you have won awards and incentives for this outstanding success. But the sales interviewer is looking for a new business hunter. Someone that knocks a door, makes a sales appointment call, meets the buyer, and closes the deal. You come out of the job interview feeling like you’ve done a great job of showing how good a sales person you are. But all the interviewer has seen is how you don’t match the sales job they are looking to fill.
I’ve also interviewed sales people that have shown me what great new business hunter they are when I was looking for an account manager and relationship builder. The job applicant tells me all about their great closing skills, how assertive they can be, and the conversion rate of prospects that become buyers. But these are not the skills or experience I am looking for in the person that will manage my valuable existing accounts. Even if the job applicant realises their mistake part way through the sales job interview, it is very difficult to suddenly change direction and show a different approach to selling.
Are you making this basic mistake, and is it stopping your sales career from moving onwards? You must learn what the sales interviewer is looking for so you can prepare for the interview and present yourself in a way that matches the job requirements. There are some sales jobs that require a combination of both sales styles. The same job interview techniques apply. Find out before the interview and match the needs of the job. Remember, you are a sales professional and when you sell to customers you find out their needs before you make your sales presentation. So follow the same sales process when you sell your attributes at a sales job interview.
By: Stephen Craine
© 2010 Salesman Jobs
