Delivery

☛ Describe the most challenging project you have planned, where you needed to juggle the needs of multiple stakeholders. What did you do?

☛ Describe a project you've managed where things did not go to plan. How did you handle it? What was the result?

☛ What tools or techniques do you use to manage your time? How do you prioritize projects? Provide an example when it was difficult to do this.

☛ In any project there are times that you will find that people lose focus of the objective. Can you describe a time this has happened to you and what you did about it?

Try to think about how you would describe yourself if someone asked you for your strengths, then relate these to what people say about you; peers, agents, managers and stakeholders. Have three or four at the ready, ideally in line with the role you are being interviewed for. Have examples or situations ready, in case your interviewer wants to drill down as to why you think or believe these are your key strengths.

Here your interviewer is checking that you are capable of working consistently towards your targets.

In an ideal answer you will outline what your current targets are, then follow this up with a discussion about how you break these targets down into weekly objectives to ensure that you are consistently working towards your annual goals.

This question is asked to determine whether or not you are going to bring something to the team.

In an ideal answer you will confirm that you are creative in your job role, and markedly so compared to some of your colleagues. You should then proceed to give examples which demonstrate this.

This question gives you the opportunity to tell the interviewer about how you developed a Monday-morning prize-giving incentive to get your team fired up for the week. Or how you introduced daily staff meetings to keep your team engaged with the goals of the organisation. Or implemented a buddy-up training programme to help your new recruits settle in faster.

The answer to this will depend on the job you're interviewing for and your experience.

I would recommend thinking about a specific instance and then discussing this in detail. Outline the process stage by stage and, if there are areas that need improvement, focus your answers on the solutions instead of the problems.

This is about your networking ability and your pride in your employers. It's what we call the 'engagement bit' - it's about not being afraid to recommend or refer people to the business, and how connected you are.

When I ask this question, I'm really asking: 'Are you thinking across the business?' A lot of people think in a silo mentality: they'll think they're in working solely in the call centre or the accounts department. Your example should show that you understand the overall strategy of a business, not just your area.

The company I currently work for publishes an annual report of KPIs relating to the goals they hope to achieve that year. I extract the company goals that are relevant to my department and break them down into weekly objectives. I then use these objectives to ensure that my team is constantly contributing to the overall goals of the organisation.

This question is about leadership qualities, so it's easier if you're in a management role, but you can still be a leader without managing. You can be a leader simply by the way you act and the way you are.

This question is especially important if you are applying for a management position.

An ideal answer will demonstrate that you are capable of assessing a situation and implementing improvements.

For example:

I started to notice that a lot of customers were complaining about feeling patronised by my agents. In response to this, I listened to the calls these complaints stemmed from and realised that words such as 'wonderful' were being over used.

I then had a meeting with the worst offenders in my team and suggested changes that they could make to correct this behaviour. After this meeting, customer complaints reduced and sales increased.

This one is about proactivity. The big thing here, particularly for leadership and management roles, is whether you determine if it's the person or the process that was the issue. Was it that somebody wasn't doing the job properly or is it the process that's poorly designed?

What you need to show here is primarily an understanding of the particular project management methodology. For example, 6 sigma or lean management.

You should do this by giving an example of a project that went well, and show some of the challenges that you had to overcome along the way.

In particular, it would be useful to show examples of how you managed to get the team on your side and sharing the same vision for success.

If you have no experience of these types of methodologies, you should just give an example of a project that you worked on that went well.

The answer to this really depends on the job/company you're interviewing for. However, it's a good idea to discuss your understanding of the company, processes, products, clients and the marketplace. As a sales team leader, you'll also be expected to deliver strong results against your personal sales and team targets.

Only you will know if your team really trusts and respects you. Respectful employees will usually make you coffee, hold a door open for you, properly carry out tasks assigned to them and rarely undermine your judgement.

To maintain this level of respect, you should make time to recognise your employees' efforts, occasionally explain how you reached a solution to a problem (this can help with buy-in for larger changes or projects) and do your best to be consistently level-headed and successful in your judgement - as it only takes one slip-up to undermine your credibility.

This question is set to test your ability to identify and analyse customer insight, trends and data, and drive continuous improvement, by identifying and understanding the root cause.

The interviewer will be looking for an example of where you have taken this insight and subsequently developed, implemented and improved your sales process. This could be through the introduction of training, post-sale procedures, a change in marketing communications, or other process improvements, to ensure that the cause of any future complaint is eradicated.

This question requires you to understand the benefits of setting SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound) objectives and developing action plans.

For example:

In line with the over-arching goals of the company, I would set personal goals for myself and my team which I would subsequently break down into weekly SMART objectives. I would monitor these closely through general in-office communication and a series of team meetings, as well as through scheduling individual appraisal meetings at 3, 6 and 12 month intervals.

We all have a list of things to do. This question is about how you look at that list and determine a process to decide where the priorities are. I want you to give examples of what the priorities are for the business, for example, as well as those for the team - that way, you can demonstrate how you weigh up tasks and add balance to them.

An ideal answer to this question will demonstrate that you are capable of monitoring a situation as it evolves.

For example:

Whilst working in a call centre as a supervisor, I introduced 'Sugar Fridays' - giving my team sweets and treats to get them through the Friday slog.

Prior to introducing the incentive, I compiled a backlog of sales figures from previous Fridays. I then introduced the incentive on a trial period, continued collecting data and cross-compared the results. There was an obvious peak in sales figures and so the incentive became permanent.

It's also important to remember that not all employers are looking for people who are overly ambitious! Sometimes an employer is looking for somebody who just wants to do his or her job very, very well. Being ambitious is not the be-all and end-all.