Country Sales Executive

Lack of growth opportunities was one of the top three reasons that would cause a salesperson to look for a new job, according to a survey from Web. If the candidate expresses a desire to pursue a career move your company can't provide, you might be interviewing again sooner than you'd like.

Neglecting to use LinkedIn to research clients is not a viable option in today's sales environment. Ensure that candidates are searching for personal commonalities in addition to professional information so they can tailor their communication as much as possible. Looking into company trigger events would be the cherry on top.

Depending on your company's goals, either answer could be the right one. But beware of reps who will prioritize quota over truly giving customers what they need -- or withholding from them what they don't.

Again, it's not necessarily a deal breaker if the salesperson doesn't actively share and engage with content on their social media accounts, but they should at least want to start doing so.

Short cycles call for reps that can close quickly, and long sales cycles require a much more careful, tailored approach. They're drastically different, and your candidate should recognize this.

Following up on deals to learn how to do better next time -- win or lose -- boosts the odds of winning in the future. A salesperson who takes the time to learn from both their successes and their failures will likely be a valuable addition to your team.

The answer to this question doesn't have to blow you away. However, the candidate should have some sort of action plan to get up and running. No matter how much training you provide, it's still smart to hire a self-starter when you can.

Being thrown for a loop by this question is a sign that your candidate isn't a life-long learner, which is becoming increasingly important in sales.

A large part of a sales manager's job is keeping the team fully staffed with high performers. This question gives the interviewer a peek into the candidate's stance on hiring. The skills and qualifications they deem to be important are those they'll look for when interviewing for open positions. Do the attributes they value line up with the company's standards? If so, it's a good sign. If not, this could be a red flag.

Listen for whether they answer with a description of an ideal buyer, or a particular demographic with no tie-in to the buying process. Depending on your product or service, the second type of response might pose a problem.

Sales managers have to have uncomfortable conversations with their direct reports. Especially if the candidate is a rep on the team that they might be promoted to lead, sales directors must ensure they can maneuver tough situations and deliver bad news in a positive manner. However, a candidate who's overly harsh on their hypothetical stumbling rep is just as bad as one who's too soft. Look for an innate coaching sensibility and a motivational flair.

Even if the target market of their last job is totally different than that of the one they're interviewing for, this will show you their ability to find and keep up to date with relevant trade publications and blogs.

This sales interview question serves two purposes:

It shows how much research the candidate did before meeting with you, and it demonstrates their creative thinking and entrepreneurial capabilities.

Just as successful sales managers understand that every rep is motivated by something different, they also understand that every rep has unique strengths they use to achieve their goals. What's the "right" way for one salesperson is not likely to be right for the entire team.

Be wary of candidates who hint that they plan to force their methods on their direct reports. Instead, look for candidates who want to identify and develop the specific talents of each team member.

Certain companies and roles call for people better at farming or hunting, but look out for a person who performs one of these tasks to the exclusion of the other. Both are vital to selling well.

If their least favorite part is the most important part at your company, that's probably a red flag. This question can also alert you to weak areas.

Every rep has an opinion about the sales process, and some ignore it entirely. But it's the manager's role to uphold the sales process in the name of organizational consistency and forecasting accuracy. Ensure the candidate is comfortable with taking on the role of sales process police, and ask about their strategies for making reps adhere to the regimen.

Everyone has bad spells, so beware of someone who claims they've never experienced a downturn. Nothing's wrong with a temporary slump as long as the candidate learned from it.

It would be nice if a sales manager could do ride alongs and listen in on each and every call a new rep makes, but this model is impractical at scale. Make sure the candidate acknowledges the importance of a repeatable training process that doesn't center around an informal passing down of knowledge.

Social selling is becoming more important in all industries. If the candidate has not used social channels to research prospects or look for leads in the past, make sure they have a willingness to learn.