Field Sales Representative interview questions and answers
This set of Field Sales Representative interview questions brings together the most essential questions to ask your candidates to identify those who qualify for this position.
10 good field sales representative interview questions
- Describe the sales techniques you’re most familiar with. Which ones do you find the most, and least, effective?
- How do you source potential clients?
- Who do you think our clients are and what would you suggest to increase our market share?
- When do you stop pursuing a client?
- What do you do after you close a sale?
- Describe the customer decision buying process. What’s your role in each phase?
- Have you worked with Salesforce.com? What other CRM software do you know?
- What keeps you motivated in this job?
- Walk me through a successful cold call.
- How do you identify customer needs?
Here are 10 essential interview questions and sample answers to help identify the best candidates for this role.
Describe the sales techniques you’re most familiar with. Which ones do you find the most, and least, effective?
This question aims to gauge the candidate’s familiarity with various sales techniques and their effectiveness.
Sample answer:
“I’m most familiar with consultative selling and solution selling. I find consultative selling to be the most effective as it focuses on customer needs. Hard selling is the least effective in my experience, as it can be off-putting to potential clients.”
How do you source potential clients?
This question seeks to understand the candidate’s strategies for identifying and reaching out to potential clients.
Sample answer:
“I usually source potential clients through networking events, LinkedIn, and industry-specific databases. I also get referrals from existing clients, which often lead to warm leads.”
Who do you think our clients are and what would you suggest to increase our market share?
This question assesses the candidate’s understanding of the target market and their strategic thinking.
Sample answer:
“Based on my research, your primary clients seem to be small to medium-sized businesses in the tech sector. To increase market share, I’d suggest targeting emerging tech hubs where competition might be lower.”
When do you stop pursuing a client?
This question aims to understand the candidate’s persistence and ability to assess when a lead is no longer worth pursuing.
Sample answer:
“I stop pursuing a client when it’s clear that our solution doesn’t meet their needs or if they’ve explicitly asked not to be contacted again. Time is valuable, and it’s important to focus on more promising leads.”
What do you do after you close a sale?
This question evaluates the candidate’s ability to manage customer relationships post-sale.
Sample answer:
“After closing a sale, I make sure to send a thank-you note and schedule a follow-up meeting to discuss implementation and any additional needs the client may have.”
Describe the customer decision buying process. What’s your role in each phase?
This question assesses the candidate’s understanding of the customer buying process and their role at each stage.
Sample answer:
“The customer decision process usually involves awareness, consideration, and decision stages. My role is to provide information in the awareness stage, offer solutions in the consideration stage, and close the deal in the decision stage.”
Have you worked with Salesforce.com? What other CRM software do you know?
This question aims to gauge the candidate’s familiarity with CRM software tools.
Sample answer:
“Yes, I’ve extensively used Salesforce.com. I’m also familiar with HubSpot and Zoho CRM, which I’ve used in previous roles.”
What keeps you motivated in this job?
This question seeks to understand what drives the candidate in a sales role, which can be demanding.
Sample answer:
“Meeting and exceeding sales targets and forming lasting relationships with clients are my main motivators. The thrill of closing a deal keeps me going.”
Walk me through a successful cold call.
This question aims to assess the candidate’s communication and sales skills.
Sample answer:
“I start by introducing myself and the company I represent. I then ask a probing question to gauge their needs before offering a tailored solution. I aim to end the call by setting up a follow-up meeting.”
How do you identify customer needs?
This question evaluates the candidate’s ability to understand and meet customer needs.
Sample answer:
“I identify customer needs by asking open-ended questions and actively listening to their responses. I also analyze their current solutions to find gaps that our product can fill.”
What does a good field sales representative candidate look like?
A strong candidate for a Field Sales Representative position should have excellent communication skills, a deep understanding of sales processes, and the ability to adapt to different customer needs and market conditions.
Red flags
Be cautious of candidates who lack a structured approach to sales, have limited experience with CRM software, or show poor communication skills.
Field Sales Representative Interview Questions
Field Sales Representatives are responsible for sourcing new sales opportunities and increasing revenue. They are excellent salespeople who build strong, long-term client relationships to achieve sales quotas.
This could be a quite tricky role to fill, as you’re looking for a sales rep who can step out of their comfort zone and figure out innovative ways to approach clients and close sales. This means that they’ll have to work outside the office environment, performing door-to-door sales, cold calling and scheduling meetings and presentations at potential clients offices.
Your ideal candidate has a dynamic personality and is passionate about sales and marketing. They have previous relevant experience and are interested in learning new sales techniques. To succeed in this role, your candidates should also be goal-driven and have strong negotiation skills.
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Let’s summarize some of the questions and add a few more divided into specific types.
Operational and Situational questions
- Describe the sales techniques you’re most familiar with. Which ones do you find the most, and least, effective?
- How do you source potential clients? Considering our products, what do you think would be the most effective methods for our company?
- Who do you think our clients are and what would you suggest to increase our market share?
- When do you stop pursuing a client?
- What do you do after you close a sale?
- Describe the customer decision buying process. What’s your role in each phase?
- Have you worked with Salesforce.com? What other CRM software do you know?
- What keeps you motivated in this job?
- Walk me through a successful cold call.
- What tools do you use to forecast sales trends?
- What information do you need to prepare a quarterly report?
- How do you prepare yourself for a presentation to a new client?
- How often do you communicate with existing clients?
- How do you identify customer needs?
Behavioral questions
- Explain how you deal with negative clients giving examples from your past experience.
- Describe a situation where you failed to reach a sales goal. What happened and what did you learn from that experience?
- What would you like to learn more about to become a better Field Sales Representative?
- Are you comfortable with working outside the office environment and possibly traveling a lot?