Tell me about your current goals. Do you have them written down? How often do you review them? What is your sales goal for this year? Do you have goals for other areas of your life?

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Tell me about the top 3 priorities in your current or most recent sales job. How do you know these are the right priorities? Are they the same priorities your boss would list? How do you go about setting your job priorities? How often do/can these top priorities change?

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Describe a time when you were working on a sale and something happened which required a significant change to your solution. What was the situation? What happened to derail your original plan? How did you react?

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Tell me about a sale you are proud of in which you were forced to adapt your original approach/solution based on signals from your prospect that your plan was not going to work? Do you think you adapted quickly enough? Tell me about any signals you overlooked in the moment that you now know should have caused you to alter course sooner than you did.

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Recall a time you acted to shorten the sales cycle, making it much shorter than the prospect originally expected. What was the key thing you did to accomplish this? How did the prospect feel about this? Was the sale dollar volume larger or smaller than originally discussed? Did the prospect resist or delay at any time? Do you often shorten the sales cycle? How so?

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Tell me about a time when a customer or prospect was very mistaken about what they thought they wanted. Was it easy for you to exert influence and redirect them? How would you approach such a situation? Do you have techniques or a system you find helpful in this regard? Have you ever declined to participate rather than redirect the process? How do you feel about the phrase "the customer is always right?"

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Give me an example of a situation when you realized you wouldn't be able to meet a prospect's requirements or timeline. What actions did you take? What was the result?

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Give me an example of a sale you lost which really was costly or hurtful to you. In terms of losing the sale, what percentage of the loss was due to your actions and what percentage was due to the actions of others or circumstances? Was there a way you could have avoided it? What could you have done differently? Did you conduct a "post-call debrief" analysis? What did you learn?

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Everybody makes mistakes. Describe your most memorable sales call mistake. What did you do when you realized the mistake? What steps did you take to correct the mistake? Were you able to continue the sales process? How did things turn out? What did you learn?

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If there was one element of your selling style or process that could be improved, what would it be? How have you been working on this? What difference do you think it will make if you do not improve in this area? Why haven't you resolved it yet?

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Like all of us, sales managers sometimes make bad decisions. Describe a situation when you disagreed with authority and challenged the request/decision. Why did you disagree? How did you let management know of your disapproval. What was the result? Describe the relationship with management afterwards.

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Tell me about a manager that you respected and trusted. What was their management style? Are you open to management suggestions even if you don't fully "buy in?" Recall a manager who closely supervised you when you wanted to be left alone or one who provided little supervision to you when you were looking for clear direction to do your job. What happened? What would that manager say about you?

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Tell me about how you keep your manager fully informed of your sales pipeline. Is it a chore or do you find it helpful? At what point can it become a chore? Can you give an example of helpful input you received as a result of providing the updates? Give an example of how you seek help from your manager or others on sales strategies.

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Give me an example of a sale you forecasted to close and then the prospect raised an objection that placed the sale in jeopardy. How long did it take you to decide what to do next? What were the results of this situation? Did you worry about losing the sale? How much did you worry? Would you do anything differently now? What would you say most often throws you off balance in a typical sales pursuit?

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Tell me about a time you became flustered when a prospect stated an objection or related a false perception about your company. What did you do or say? How do you correct a prospect's false perceptions? What did you do to justify or defend your position? Do you usually get the sale when these situations occur?

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Describe a time when you enrolled in training or an education opportunity without being asked to do so. How did you select the training? How much time, effort, or sacrifice was required to get the most out of the training? What do you see as the most important results of the training? How would you describe the "personal ROI" on the effort? What is the main reason you would take additional training?

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Market changes will eventually impact everyone's job and make some skill sets obsolete. Name the market change in your current industry which could most likely impact how you approach your job. Are you currently equipped to deal with this change? What would you have to change to be successful in the future? Are you willing to make this change happen? Have you ever switched jobs or careers because you didn't want to accept a change? Describe.

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Give me a recent example of your decision to learn a new sales technique where you very clearly stepped out of your comfort zone. Were you tempted to drop the effort when it initially was uncomfortable? How long did it take you to become proficient? Did it improve your sales results? Short term? Long term? Would you do it again? How long ago was this? Do you have a more recent example?

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Give me an example of a job which required "too much" travel. How long was this a problem? Was it a problem at first, or did it become a problem over time? What did you do about it? What was the end result?

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There are many ways to communicate with others - in person, phone calls, web or video conference, or email. How do you decide what method is appropriate in a given scenario? Tell me about your experience with these forms of meetings. Have you ever landed significant business without a face-to-face meeting? Describe. Did the method you chose ever hurt your chances on a sales call?

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Tell me about a sale you made to a prospect who didn't care for you or who treated you poorly. How did you make the sale happen? How did you feel about the prospect? Was it difficult not to take the treatment and comments personally? Did you avoid the prospect? Did you go "above and beyond" to satisfy the prospect's requests?

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Suppose a new prospect assures you that you are in a "good position" to receive the business. Your sales manager asks you to assign a percentage likelihood of closing the business. What do you say? If you assign a percentage, what is it? If the answer is "it depends," what does it depend on? Isn't the phrase "good position" a positive indicator?

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In sales, how important is it to be liked? Do you think most successful sales professionals have a bubbly personality? Is it better in sales to be optimistic or pessimistic? What makes you say that? If a prospect is upset with you, does that mean the sale is lost or under threat?

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What does it take for you to address a situation which may cause conflict? Are you comfortable addressing it immediately or do you need to think it through first? Do you ever avoid the situation entirely? Give me an example where you were able to resolve the conflict satisfactorily for both parties?

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Tell me about your toughest negotiation. Describe the situation. Describe the tasks or behaviors that you had to use to get the resolution. What was the end result? Did you win? What constitutes a win? Was it difficult for you? Would you do it again? Was anyone else available on your team to assist you? Could you do it today without any help?

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Give me an example of a situation where you had to give bad news to your manager. Did you wait to tell them the news? Why? Was the reaction better or worse than you expected? Would you approach it differently now? Describe.

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Describe a time when you lost a huge client or a large sale. How did you rebound from the adversity? How long did it take you to rebound? Do you have any techniques to help you? Describe. If you were to give yourself a pep talk, what would you say?

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Could you give me an example where you saw the positive in a situation before others did? What is a current situation where you are a positive influence on others? How do you interact with those who have a negative attitude? How do you avoid being pulled into the chorus of "naysayers?"

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Do you have a written plan to work your territory and accounts? Is it short-term, long-term, or both? Is it driven by your goals and objectives? Describe. How often do you change your work plan? Give me an example of a reason why you would change your work plan. How would you plan to work this opportunity if you were hired?

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If I wanted to schedule a meeting with you next week, could we do that right now? How do you keep track of your schedule? What do you put on your schedule? Do you schedule blocks of time for important tasks?

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What is the longest period of time you have called on someone before receiving business? What made you continue to prospect them? Do you feel that if you can just establish a relationship with a prospect, they will do business with you?

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Tell me about a time when you sold a prospect a product or service only to find they were unhappy because they were expecting a different solution than the one you provided. What was the disconnect? Did you rely on them to tell you what they were looking for?

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What is your strategy for getting prospects and clients to trust you? What are the best ways to have the prospect think of you as a trusted advisor, not just another vendor? Describe a time when you were proud of your ability to withhold your comments until you had all the facts. What were there results?

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You met with a prospect 2-3 times and have a good rapport with them. They request that you return and present a proposal but you suspect they are loyal to their current supplier. What would you do? Would it make a difference if the resources to write the proposal were limited? What further questions would you ask? Isn't a prospect asking for a proposal usually a good sign?

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What is the longest period of time you have called on someone before receiving their business? What made you continue to prospect them? Do you feel if you can just establish a relationship with the prospect, then they will do business with you?

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What makes it difficult to relate well to certain prospects/clients? With what type of prospect or client do you find it difficult to establish a meaningful relationship? Can you give me a specific example where you struggled in this regard? What is your strategy for developing business relationships? How do you go about developing these relationships? What do you do to sustain and maintain them over time?

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How important is it to establish, maintain, or grow relationships with prospects and clients? Why do you believe that? How consistently do you seek to learn about a prospect's job duties, experiences, interests, and background? Do you have a systematic approach? Describe. Can you easily remember the information from sales call to sales call? Do you have a system to record the information?

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Tell me about a time when you believed a prospect was going to buy. They asked for time to consider all of the information. They said they would call you the following week. You followed up over and over, yet did not get the sale. How did you finish the sales call? What could you have done differently? Do you have any favorite questions to ask in these cases? How did you feel about them calling you back? Is granting a prospect's request for time to review the information an acceptable way to end a sales call? Give me an example where you resisted a "think it over" end to the sales call? What were the results?

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Tell me about a recent major purchase you made. Did you comparison shop? How many places? Did you do thorough research? Should you have done more? How long did it take to make the purchase? Do you have admiration for people who research to get the best buy?

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How would you describe the ideal sales lead for this company? How do you see yourself obtaining leads? Who do you typically call upon in the company hierarchy?

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How do you determine what activities must be completed to achieve your sales quota? Are the activities written down? Do you keep track of activities you complete? How often do you achieve your goal each week? How often do you review or revise your activities and goals?

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