65 common sales interview questions and answers for sales reps

The following questions address the foundational skills a sales rep needs to succeed. Bear in mind that a strong candidate doesn’t need a perfect answer for every question. Instead, use these questions to see where the interviewee’s strengths and weaknesses lie. From there, you can decide if they’re a good fit.

1. Can you walk us through your resume from start to finish?

Great for: Getting a general overview of the candidate and their demeanor

They know you’ve read their resume. This question isn’t about learning what’s on the paper—it’s about evaluating your candidate’s sales presentation style, poise, and communication skills. You can also get a sense of how they sell themselves. Do they seem proud of their accomplishments? Confident in their abilities?

Salespeople must be extremely comfortable giving presentations, so pay attention to the applicant’s body language and level of confidence when speaking.

2. How would you describe the last product you sold?

Great for: Showing how the rep describes a product they know well

This is one of the most common interview questions for sales reps. It’s an opportunity for them to describe a product they know inside and out. Enthusiasm, in-depth knowledge, and examples of use cases point to someone who can sell your product.

3. What books, blogs, or podcasts do you follow to educate yourself outside of work?

Great for: Demonstrating a commitment to learning and growth

With this question, you can uncover what content the candidate consumes to refine their sales skills. Ask them to share key takeaways from the materials they’ve read. When interviewing sales managers, also ask about leadership resources to gauge how invested they are in developing themselves as supervisors.

If the candidate can’t name any specific sales resources or publications, ask if they can offer details on other ways they’re trying to improve and grow. Maybe they recently completed a social selling course on LinkedIn, or perhaps they attend sales conferences every year. The point is to see if the candidate is committed to personal development—a strong indicator of a top-performing employee.

4. How do you stay informed about your target market?

Great for: Understanding how they keep up with trends and changing demand

As a sales agent, knowing who you’re selling to is as important as knowing what you’re selling. But customer habits and preferences are continually changing, so agents need to have strong research skills.

This question helps you assess whether the candidate can learn about their target market quickly and will regularly investigate evolving sales trends. An ideal candidate will mention efforts to stay ahead of the curve, such as reading sales newsletters and articles from reputable publications. They’ll also mention following sales influencers on social media and learning from conversations with other salespeople.

5. What do you do when the lead volume is low?

Great for: Identifying the candidate as proactive or reactive

When the going gets tough, proactive salespeople keep selling. Listen for actionable lead generation tactics such as sending outbound emails, cold calling, networking at events, social selling, or answering questions on forums like Quora.

6. How do you prioritize your time at work?

Great for: Showing the candidate’s thought process behind their work

This is an especially valuable question when hiring salespeople—every workday involves juggling different prospects, qualifying leads, scheduling meetings, and dozens of other tasks. Knowing how to create order out of chaotic to-do lists is the only path to success.

7. How would you describe your sales process?

Great for: Getting an idea of the candidate’s workflow and seeing if it fits with your team

No two sales reps approach a prospect from the same angle. When the candidate describes their sales process, assess if it fits your product or service. But even if it doesn’t, detailed responses can show how dedicated and disciplined the candidate is.

8. How do you collaborate with other salespeople?

Great for: Learning about their approach to teamwork and collaboration

In today’s market, sales reps rarely work alone. A great pitch will get you far, but you want to ensure your candidate can work well within your company’s infrastructure. Ideally, they can even fill a gap on your sales team, accommodating your current reps’ strengths.

9. How do you collaborate with people outside the sales department?

Great for: Determining if the candidate is an autonomous worker or has a track record of collaboration

This question shows how the candidate feels about and works with their colleagues. For example, a strong candidate may describe how they worked with marketing to create sales enablement materials. Or, they might mention collaborating with sales support staff to discover upselling and cross-selling opportunities.

10. How did you make your first $10?

Great for: Learning if the candidate has always had an interest in sales (or sales-adjacent activities)

This question addresses the core qualities of your candidate. Do they seem proactive and self-motivated? Are they highly competitive and ready to take risks? Listen to the answer closely to determine whether they have traits of successful salespeople.

11. What will you do in your first month if we hire you?

Great for: Seeing how the candidate can go above and beyond

No candidate can predict the future. However, sales reps always come prepared with a plan. They should demonstrate baseline knowledge of the position, the company, and the role’s demands. They should also show a willingness to adapt.

Even if they don’t know the specifics of your onboarding and training experience, they can at least build off your sales rep job description. While they won’t be able to hit the ground running immediately, it helps to know they have a plan to get there sooner rather than later.

12. What’s your experience and comfort level with sales technology?

Great for: Gauging how their sales performance ties into technology

This question allows you to assess the candidate’s feelings about sales tech and their willingness to adopt a new tool. A good answer will include mentions of a sales CRM like Zendesk Sell. The candidate should also provide details about how they use tools to improve their workflow.

Of course, your company’s responsibility is to find intuitive technology that your team can learn without getting stressed out or frustrated. Many SaaS providers design their interfaces specifically to be easy to adapt, so even sales reps without a firm grasp of technology can still make good use of their software.

13. How do you decide if a prospect is right for your product?

Great for: Understanding how they approach and evaluate leads

Finding the right prospect is half the battle in sales. This question reveals how well candidates find and vet leads. The better they are at this process, the less time they’ll waste on the wrong prospects. This is one of the most common outside sales interview questions because the role may involve meeting with prospects outside their normal environment.

14. If you lose a prospect, do you follow up with them later?

Great for: Evaluating whether the candidate has enough tenacity

Very few sales reps will make a sale on first contact. Most of the time, it will take multiple pitches before a prospect says yes. As a result, good salespeople need persistence. This situational interview question for sales reveals a lot about the candidate’s overall philosophy.

15. Which is better: Closing a small but guaranteed deal, or pitching a large but unlikely deal?

Great for: Gaining insight into the candidate’s sales philosophy

Like many others, this sales interview question doesn’t have a correct answer. Instead, the response outlines a rep’s sales priorities. And if your business centers around a sales model the candidate doesn’t prefer, you can discuss that upfront.

16. What sales metrics matter the most to you?

Great for: Assessing their understanding of key sales metrics and their value

Conversions are a great place to start, but they aren’t the only KPI worth monitoring. Look for a combination of general and specific metrics that reveal the rep’s knowledge about the comprehensive sales process. Churn rate, acquisition cost, lifetime value, and sales cycle length are a few noteworthy examples.

17. What’s your greatest strength and weakness?

Great for: Gauging their ability to self-assess and learning more about them

Sales reps need an accurate picture of their strengths and weaknesses. Not only is self-awareness valuable for sales success, but it also shows their commitment to developing their skills over time.

18. What’s more important: Maintaining customer relationships or finding new clients?

Great for: Determining how they walk this balancing act and if their approach matches your model

You don’t want reps to give an immediate answer for one option or the other. Talented sales reps need to balance both, so get a sense of how they juggle old clients and new ones. If they say that one comes at the expense of the other, they may not be the right candidate.

19. How do you approach short sales cycles as opposed to long sales cycles?

Great for: Getting a better sense of their sales strategy

Sales reps generally rush to close short cycles and take a long, personally tailored approach on long cycles. Evaluate how the candidate approaches each of these strategies and see where they put their spin on it. You should also learn their preference between long and short cycles if they have one.

20. What tools do you need to succeed in sales?

Great for: Learning how the candidate can thrive.

A sales rep’s success can come down to more than sheer talent. Sometimes, the right tools or strategies enable a rep to go above and beyond. Ask this question to find out if you can provide the tools a candidate needs to thrive.

21. How do you respond to criticism or rejection from customers?

Great for: Testing a candidate’s humility and response to critiques

Sales reps are accountable to their prospects. So if someone they’re selling to has feedback or a sales objection, the representative must be receptive to it. Ideally, this question will reveal the candidate’s process for incorporating customer feedback.

22. How do you research prospects before a call?

Great for: Getting more insight into their outreach process

A resourceful sales rep is a successful sales rep. Your candidate should pull information from a variety of sources. Ensure they’re comfortable hunting for details on LinkedIn and the prospect’s company website. Additionally, they should adjust their normal sales script to match the personality and interests of their prospect.

23. When should you stop trying to sell to a prospect?

Great for: Seeing how candidates identify a sales dead end

While tenacious reps get the most sales, not every prospect is worth their time. Salespeople need to identify candidates who aren’t a good fit for your product or service. Get a sense of how they assess these prospects and see if they’re paying attention to the right factors.

24. What’s the first step in building relationships with prospects?

Great for: Learning how the candidate approaches the sales process

Sales reps only get one first impression, and it can dictate whether they’ll eventually make a sale. Look for candidates who pass on emails and try to speak to prospects in real-time during the first interaction. You should also prioritize reps who do preliminary research.

25. Tell me how you sell to uninterested prospects

Great for: Understanding how they make sales to difficult prospects

The best sales reps create opportunities by changing uninterested prospects’ minds—but not by wearing indifferent customers down. Instead, a representative should listen to their concerns and help them gain a better understanding of your product.

26. How do you gauge need and interest?

Great for: Showing how they assess prospects and choose a strategy

Need and interest are some of the crucial factors to evaluate when hooking a prospect. However, selling something based on need or interest calls for different approaches. Ultimately, you want a sales rep who can identify the right method and follow up with a tailored strategy.

27. How do you catch up on sales targets when you’re below quota?

Great for: Evaluating how they bounce back from lagging sales

Even the best sales representatives have slow weeks. While missing sales targets is demoralizing, you need a candidate who can turn the tables on dropping quota. Because the best reps work smarter and not harder, see how they use their problem-solving and priority-juggling skills to bounce back.

28. Describe a time you changed your sales strategy and succeeded

Great for: Seeing how well they think on the fly

A prepared, well-researched sales pitch gets your foot in the door with a prospect. But more often than not, sales representatives need to adjust their angle and improvise to reach prospects. This question reveals how well the candidate can change their approach in the moment.

29. What’s the biggest factor standing in the way of closing a deal?

Great for: Learning the candidate’s weaknesses and workarounds

Each candidate should have a different answer to this question. You aren’t judging them based on their biggest obstacle. Instead, review how well they overcome that obstacle. Responding well to sales hurdles is the mark of a strong candidate.

30. What company culture are you looking for?

Great for: Revealing their innate compatibility with your team

Every candidate is entitled to their opinions on the best company culture. This question determines whether their preference aligns with your team. A candidate who appreciates your team’s core values and the product or service itself is just as important as someone you get along with.

31. Can you describe our company in three sentences as if you were explaining it to a client?

Great for: Assessing the candidate’s level of research

Instead of asking what they know about your company, ask the candidate to pitch your business. Tactics like this demonstrate whether they can rise to the challenge without any stalling. This is one of the best interview questions for sales because it puts the candidate’s approach into practice.

A candidate should be able to deliver a succinct, captivating pitch. They should also present accurate details beyond the information on your homepage. Finally, if they’re a top-notch candidate, they should be able to weave together a pitch that sells you on your own product or service.

32. Would you like to jump on a sales call?

Great for: Letting the candidate show off how they’d perform on the job

Talking about your skills is one thing, but showing them off goes further. The best candidates won’t jump right into their pitch, though. Instead, they’ll ask a few clarifying questions and deliver an informed pitch.

Sales managers oversee small teams of representatives within a company. They help run day-to-day operations and mediate between sales teams and upper management. These questions reveal whether a candidate’s approach works within your business structure and company culture.

33. How would you define your management style?

Great for: Getting a sense of how they would lead your team

The candidate will be expecting this one, but it’s worth asking. Whatever answer they give, follow it up by asking for specific examples of how their sales management style has worked before. They should provide stories of testing and implementing their leadership tactics.

34. How would you approach a sales rep who has missed their quotas for three months in a row?

Great for: Gauging their ability to have difficult conversations and motivate team members

Being able to push people toward success is a delicate matter. There are many factors that can go into why a sales rep isn’t meeting their quota. Personal reasons, health troubles, lack of training, and office culture can all affect failing numbers.

Listen carefully to how managers speak about struggling salespeople, and look for any red flags that suggest their core values don’t align with yours. Your sales team deserves a leader who understands that profits are essential but so is their well-being.

35. How did you train your last new sales rep?

Great for: Learning their values and skills as a manager

Ask them to describe their training process with the last new salesperson in their managing career. Ask if the training went according to plan—and if it didn’t, why not, and what did they do to get around that challenge?

36. Have you ever had to fire anyone?

Great for: Understanding how they would approach a termination

Ask them to describe one challenging experience firing someone and what they learned. See if they take that lesson into other similar situations. If the candidate has never fired anyone, tell them to lay out a hypothetical scenario and detail how they’d approach it.

37. Do you use any data analysis tools, and if so, how do you use them?

Great for: Reviewing their technical literacy

If they’ve had access to data in the past, it’s essential to know if they did anything with it. Managers need a strong grasp of how to use data to leverage decision-making, so it’s good to get an example from your candidates about how they’ve done that in the past. Even non-sales tools like help desk software can assist them.

Sales directors supervise managers to ensure company-wide sales are on track. While much of their work is high level, the best sales directors understand the needs and problems facing your average sales rep.

38. What would you do if you received an unattainable sales target?

Great for: Learning their general directorial philosophy

Is your candidate a “yes” person who will accept any challenge and charge ahead, even if they believe it’s impossible? Are they the kind of director who is upfront and honest, even if it’s a hard truth to tell? We can’t say what’s best because in the end, it depends on your team and what they respond to.

39. How would you revitalize a failing sales operation?

Great for: Seeing how they approach short- and long-term planning for incremental change

Tell your candidate to imagine that they’re in charge of a coasting sales operation that isn’t meeting its fullest potential. Then, ask them what they’d do in three months to transform a sales operation like that into a thriving and more profitable one.

40. What metrics have you used in the past to evaluate your team’s performance?

Great for: Understanding how they interpret metrics

Candidates may not assess the same exact metrics you use. Any sales director can learn to measure success with different metrics. The important thing is that they know how to interpret those metrics and act on them if necessary.

Sales engineers perform many of the same tasks as sales reps, but their tech expertise qualifies them to explain products and services to customers. They may also troubleshoot technical problems on their team.

41. What CRMs are you familiar with?

Great for: Gauging their level of technical experience

Across industries, sales teams are increasingly relying on CRMs. This question details their proficiency with the software. Ideally, the candidate will describe how and when they use each CRM. At the very least, you want them to be familiar with popular products like Zendesk Sell.

42. How do you stay up to date on new sales technology?

Great for: Assessing their proficiency with new sales technology

Modern software streamlines the sale process and makes lead nurturing less time-consuming. As a result, reps who know about the latest tech have a competitive advantage over other sellers. While you don’t need a technology expert, ensure your candidates stay on the lookout for new sales tools and features.

43. What’s the most complex sales pitch you’ve ever given, and can you summarize it in a few sentences?

Great for: Determining if they can condense complicated information

Sales engineers must communicate highly complex and technical ideas in a way that people will easily understand. If your candidate gives you a brief summary on the spot—and you can understand it—that’s a pretty good indication that they know what they’re doing.

44. What’s your go-to strategy for generating more leads?

Great for: Testing their foundational sales skills

It’s nice to have someone with a library of solutions in their head. Ask your candidate to talk about the tried-and-true strategies that almost always work for them—and ask them how they handled it when their strategies didn’t work out as planned. Lead generation is an essential part of any sales job.

45. What are your tools for hooking potential clients?

Great for: Deciding if their model of delivering information matches your company’s

Sales engineers have a lot of tools at their disposal for explaining complex products. Strong candidates use presentations, demos, graphs, and other visual tools to help clients understand what their product is and what it does.

46. Tell us about a difficult partnership you had with a sales rep and how you handled it

Great for: Learning what the candidate considers difficult, as each person will have a different threshold for what they can handle

Sales engineers and reps have to work as a team, but partnerships can be tricky. Emotions can sometimes cause awkward tension, which stalls progress. You need to know that your candidates can handle challenging partnerships and maintain relationships with grace and professionalism.

Behavioral interview questions determine a candidate’s attitude or approach in a given situation. Some of the questions above already fall into this category, but the most common sales behavioral interview questions are below.

47. What are your long-term career goals?

Great for: Getting a feel for where the candidate is going in their career

Ambitious candidates who want to grow throughout their career make some of the best sales reps. This question shows the kinds of opportunities the candidate is most passionate about. Based on their answer, you can decide if the company would offer them the right chances to grow. The candidate could become a great asset if your long-term goals are compatible.

48. How would you change our company’s approach to sales?

Great for: Showing their capacity for entrepreneurial thinking

The last thing a candidate should say to this question is “nothing.” Their answer should display how they’d adapt your product or service to their sales process. Ultimately, use this question to test their critical thinking skills.

49. What would prompt you to leave your current role for another (this one, specifically)?

Great for: Learning why they want to work for your company specifically

This question addresses why the candidate chose your company over others and helps you determine if the candidate understands and appreciates what you sell. You can also learn more about their career goals.

50. Why did you get into sales?

Great for: Understanding the candidate’s goals and motivations

While there are no wrong answers, this question helps you get to know the candidate better. It also outlines their internal motivations and gives you a sense of where their ambition comes from.

51. What do you like best about working in sales?

Great for: Revealing a candidate’s strengths and areas of interest

Some reps love sales for customer connections, and others prefer learning about a new product. By understanding their preferences, you can determine the best way to place a candidate on your team.

52. What’s your least favorite part about working in sales?

Great for: Testing the candidate’s honesty and transparency

Selling comes with its fair share of frustrating dead ends. Honest candidates will use this question to discuss their weaknesses and least favorite parts of the job. If you like the candidate, you may even be able to find them a position that avoids their weak areas.

53. What’s the best piece of feedback you’ve received?

Great for: Seeing how the candidate responds to and learns from constructive criticism

Sales reps need to balance feedback from customers and their teams. Representatives who value their feedback enough to remember it can handle criticism with open-minded humility.

54. What motivates you to sell?

Great for: Seeing whether they are internally or externally motivated

Whether quotas or a self-starter mentality grant a feeling of success, motivated sales reps get the most done. This question will tell you how to encourage this rep if they join your team.

55. What product do you most want to sell?

Great for: Learning about their interests and passions

Genuine passion can turn a good pitch into a great one. With that in mind, you should find out what the candidate is most passionate about. If their preferred product aligns with your own, you may get more mileage out of this particular sales rep.

56. How does a client’s personal background factor into your sales pitch?

Great for: Revealing their sensitivity to a client’s emotions and background

While a prospect’s personality should always factor into the pitch, sales reps need to stay sensitive and respectful. Use this question to see how they walk that line. You can also get a sense of the candidate’s experience pitching to diverse clients with different backgrounds.

57. Who is your ideal customer?

Great for: Exploring sales best-case scenarios with the candidate

For the most part, the candidate’s actual answer doesn’t matter too much. Hiring managers should see how the candidate ties their ideal customer into their selling process. Get a sense of why they like selling to some consumers over others. Additionally, the rep shouldn’t get too caught up in demographics.

58. Have you ever lost an extremely valuable customer or sale?

Great for: Seeing how a candidate bounces back from mistakes

Learning from failure is arguably even more important than learning from success. This question will reveal some of the candidate’s hardest lessons. If they say yes, ask them to elaborate on how they handled the situation. Clarify at what point in their career it happened and what they learned from that experience.

59. How do you keep yourself organized in your day-to-day routine?

Great for: Evaluating their ability to multitask and prioritize

You need to know how your staff juggles multiple tasks without dropping any. Do they use sales technology to help organize their workflow? Do they keep detailed planners, or have they worked with an assistant for years?

60. How do you react when your contact for a key account changes?

Great for: Revealing how the candidate adapts to sudden changes

A change in contact can come as an abrupt surprise, even to experienced reps. This question shows how they react to such changes. You can also ask them if they ever had challenges with contacts changing, so you can get an idea of how they handle difficult personalities.

61. What do you regard as the hardest part of sales, and how do you manage it?

Great for: Learning how they respond to adversity

This one is akin to asking someone about their weaknesses. It’s a moment for your candidate to be vulnerable without crossing into self-deprecation. They should be able to give you clear examples of when they met this challenge head-on and how they continue to deal with it today.

There’s no right or wrong answer—unless they say there’s nothing difficult about sales.

62. Tell me about a time you felt overwhelmed with work.

Great for: Assessing how they work in a high-stress environment

It’s good to know how your candidate deals with a large workload. The best answers are ones that include a plan and an example of when this plan was put into action.

63. Tell me about a time you set a goal for yourself and achieved it.

Great for: Giving them the chance to lead with their best foot forward

You can decide whether you want an answer specifically about workplace goals or life goals. Even non-sales-related goals and achievements can say a lot about your candidates.

Did they compete in a triathlon? Self-publish a novel? Build their own computer? Ask them to explain why they set that goal, how they achieved it, and if they’ve used that method in other areas of their life.

64. How did you prepare for this interview?

Great for: Gaining insight into their research, prospecting, and sales processes

Contrary to some candidates’ reactions, this isn’t a trick question. Preparing for an interview isn’t too unlike preparing for a sale, so you’ll want to look for honest answers that shed light on their research process.

65. What questions do you have for me?

Great for: Seeing what they want insight into

This question gives the candidate a chance to understand the role better. It also reveals how curious the rep is and how interested they are in the position. The best sales reps never hesitate to ask questions and get a better handle on their prospect.