Interview Tips to Land Your 1st Sales Job

  • 1st Interview

  • Know Before You Go: Do your homework. Google the company, the product, the CEO, the recruiter conducting the interview, and find out everything you can.

  • Practice: Great salespeople continually practice and refine their pitch. Practice your pitch - introducing yourself, your qualifications, and your experience.

  • Prepare: Create a list of questions to ask and write them down. Not just any questions: intelligent questions that demonstrate you understand their product and target audience.

  • Dress for Success: Appearance matters. Research the company\'s and their corporate culture. Your 1st impression lasts; a sales job involves selling yourself as well as your product.

  • Stow your Devices Don\'t check your phone during a job interview: you\'re sending a message that your priorities are elsewhere. If you use your phone to take notes, tell the interviewer.

  • Virtual Interview: Phone or Skype interviews are more common, be prepared to conduct a virtual interview in a quiet spot where you won\'t be interupted or have background noise.

  • Listen: Spend 50% of your interview listening to what the recruiter is telling you, and 50% of the interview explaining how you can meet their specific needs.

  • Name-Drop: Don\'t boast or brag, but clearly identify your contacts, resources and references who can be useful getting and performing the job: as long as it’s all true and accurate.

  • Don\'t Talk Money: Focus on the job requirements and your qualifications, not how much the job pays or how much vacations you\'re entitled to.

  • Send a Thank-You Note: After the interview reaffirm your interest in the job with a thank-you note, and add any information you may have forgotten to mention during the interview.

  • Follow-Up: A week or 2 after the interview, call or email the interviewer, repeating your interest and availability.

  • Remind Your References: Make sure references know that you gave their name during the interview, and to expect a call. If they provide a reference, be sure and thank them.

  • Know When to Fold \'Em: If you get no response of any kind after several attempts, accept that the job is not yours, and move on. Who knows: they may call you again for another job.

  • 2nd Interview

  • Ask Who You\'ll Interview With: Typically a 2nd interview is with a different person, or even a group of people.

  • Follow-Up: Ask in-depth questions about the job responsibilities and company culture that you learned during the 1st interview.

  • Request a Tour: If your interview is conducted at the company, ask to be shown around the office.

  • Find Out the Hiring Timeline: Now that 2nd interviews are being conducted, ask the interviewer when they expect to make a job offer and have a new person on board.

  • Sell Yourself: For a sales job, a 2nd interview is your opportunity to demonstrate you\'re a closer.

  • Plan Your Strategy: Review what you discussed - or didn\'t discuss - at the 1st interview, and provide any missing qualifications or critical expertise.

  • Keep Your Schedule Open: 2nd interviews can take some time, and if its going well, could lead to more interviews the same day. Don\'t double book yourself!

  • The Sales Assassin: Master Your Black Belt in Sales - My international best-selling sales book https://www.amazon.com/dp/B016X3PBH4/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

This checklist was created by anthonycaliendo

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