Did a consult the other day with someone whose actively interviewing at SaaS companies
He already got 2 offers from top tier companies (one of them got back to him a few days earlier than they said they would i.e they’re eager)
Here’s how I prepped him to nail the interviews 👇🏼
He already got 2 offers from top tier companies (one of them got back to him a few days earlier than they said they would i.e they’re eager)
Here’s how I prepped him to nail the interviews 👇🏼
First off is anticipating the interview questions for sales roles.
Sales managers typically ask these types of questions to screen you:
1) Opinion questions
2) Behavioral questions
3) Competency questions
4) BS questions
Sales managers typically ask these types of questions to screen you:
1) Opinion questions
2) Behavioral questions
3) Competency questions
4) BS questions
1) Opinion questions
They’ll ask you what if / scenario questions like this:
What would you do if X
What’s your greatest weakness
Purpose is to see how you present your opinions in different scenarios
They’ll ask you what if / scenario questions like this:
What would you do if X
What’s your greatest weakness
Purpose is to see how you present your opinions in different scenarios
2) Behavioral questions
Here’s where they’ll look for answers that indicate productive behaviors
Expect questions like:
Give me a specific example of how you would solve or have solved X
If you were missing quota, what steps would you take to improve performance?
Here’s where they’ll look for answers that indicate productive behaviors
Expect questions like:
Give me a specific example of how you would solve or have solved X
If you were missing quota, what steps would you take to improve performance?
3) Competency questions
Here they want to see how you stack up to the core competencies required to succeed in the role:
What’s been your biggest achievement in the last 5 years?
Describe a situation where you had to step up and lead
Example of how you handled conflict?
Here they want to see how you stack up to the core competencies required to succeed in the role:
What’s been your biggest achievement in the last 5 years?
Describe a situation where you had to step up and lead
Example of how you handled conflict?
So we roleplayed these questions. A lot.
We took a Frame based approach to the answers by using lots of visual language, contrast, and positive associations to nail the answers.
Example:
“I’m a self aware person. If I see an issue with colleagues i’ll confront it because I
We took a Frame based approach to the answers by using lots of visual language, contrast, and positive associations to nail the answers.
Example:
“I’m a self aware person. If I see an issue with colleagues i’ll confront it because I
believe that strong relationships are the key to success for us as a team”
or
“I know rejection is part of the job in sales, but funny enough it’s actually part of Life too. Anything worth doing comes with inevitable rejections too. Part of the process in order to succeed”
or
“I know rejection is part of the job in sales, but funny enough it’s actually part of Life too. Anything worth doing comes with inevitable rejections too. Part of the process in order to succeed”
Next up we did an exercise where we “productized” him
Because at the end of the day it’s true. The company is “buying” a product (you) to solve a problem (grow the sales team with capable talent)
He’s the solution.
This is the exercise we did 👇🏼
Because at the end of the day it’s true. The company is “buying” a product (you) to solve a problem (grow the sales team with capable talent)
He’s the solution.
This is the exercise we did 👇🏼
We drew 3 columns on a piece of paper:
Problems / Impact / Solutions
Problems / Impact / Solutions
Problems
Write down all the problems he thinks the sales team faces:
Low Closing Rate
Salespeople not ramping up efficiently enough
Turnover (retaining strong talent)
Write down all the problems he thinks the sales team faces:
Low Closing Rate
Salespeople not ramping up efficiently enough
Turnover (retaining strong talent)
Impacts
Not hitting quota
Lower revenue
Managers have to micromanage
Waste of money hiring talent that leaves
Not hitting quota
Lower revenue
Managers have to micromanage
Waste of money hiring talent that leaves
Solutions (Him)
Hungry and open minded with a willingness to learn from top reps
Desire to be great
Team player
Works independently
Wants to be an Enterprise AE (long term goals align with theirs)
Hungry and open minded with a willingness to learn from top reps
Desire to be great
Team player
Works independently
Wants to be an Enterprise AE (long term goals align with theirs)
He finished the exercise and proceeded to nail the interviews and I couldn’t be more proud.
If you guys found this helpful make sure to like and RT so more people can see!
If you guys found this helpful make sure to like and RT so more people can see!
Forgot to include examples of 4) BS questions.
They ask this to see if you’re original & quick on your feet:
If you were an animal which would you be and why?
What’s your superpower?
What would I find in your refrigerator?
What’s your favorite ice cream flavor and why?
They ask this to see if you’re original & quick on your feet:
If you were an animal which would you be and why?
What’s your superpower?
What would I find in your refrigerator?
What’s your favorite ice cream flavor and why?
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
