1. Tell me what is one of your hobbies? How do you do it?
This question will help you assess a candidate's ability to explain a concept they know intimately to someone who isn't as familiar with it. If their hobby is training for a marathon, ask them what advice they'd give you if you woke up one day deciding you wanted to train for a marathon. Are they able to communicate it clearly?
One candidate taught me how to make tagliatelle, which is hand-cut Italian pasta. She gave me the full run-down on how you make the noodles, how you form them and cut them, and which ingredients go into the sauce. She relayed the step-by-step process to me in a way that was very clear and understandable. I felt like I could've gone home and made tagliatelle myself. Not only did this tell me she knows how to convey information clearly, but it was also gave me insight into her personality and interests.
2. What are your strengths as Provincial Head-Sales?
This is one question that you know you are going to get so there is no excuse for being unprepared. Concentrate on discussing your main strengths. List three or four proficiencies e.g. your ability to learn quickly, determination to succeed, positive attitude, your ability to relate to people and achieve a common goal. You may be asked to give examples of the above so be prepared.
3. Tell me why did you leave your current role?
This question isn't specific to banking. It is, however, of particular interest to banking recruiters who are especially keen not to pick up damaged goods now that their hiring budgets have been cut.
Faced with this question, you must never cite disagreements with your boss, problems at your previous firm, or annoying ex-colleagues
4. I'm not sure you're a fit for the role?
This is a comment rather than a question, and it works best when you're hiring people with strong personalities who need to push through constant "no's", like sales reps or sales leaders. They then will do one of three things:
They may ignore you and skip over the comment. They may agree and try to move on. Or, they may try to sell you on the benefits of bringing them into your business, specifically bringing up the main reasons why you can't afford not to hire them. That's the kind of person you want in your business, right?
5. Explain me what is an Example of a Marketing Tactic That Did Not Succeed?
For interview questions about marketing failures there are several things to note about your answer:
☛ Do not get defensive. If you had an expectation that failed, admit it.
☛ Explain how you found out it failed using numerical, analytical measurements as examples.
☛ Describe the adjustments that you made in order to make the campaign more successful.
6. Suppose we have a new product coming out in three months. What would you do to launch it?
This'll show you how well a candidate understands all the different tactics of inbound marketing and how to tie them together into a holistic plan. It'll also give you insight into how creative they are and whether they can come up with new and interesting ways to do marketing.
7. Explain me are you happy with your career-to-date?
This question is really about your self-esteem, confidence and career aspirations. The answer must be 'yes', followed by a brief explanation as to what it is about your career so far that's made you happy. If you have hit a career plateau, or you feel you are moving too slowly, then you must qualify your answer.
8. Why have you applied for this particular job as Provincial Head-Sales?
The employer is looking for evidence that the job suits you, fits in with your general aptitudes, coincides with your long-term goals and involves doing things you enjoy. Make sure you have a good understanding of the role and the organisation, and describe the attributes of the organisation that interest you most.
9. Tell me what was your biggest failure and who was responsible for it?
This is an enlightening question because naturally people don't want to talk about their failures during an interview. However, this question forces a person to be reflective and honest about a past experience. What they say usually reveals a lot about their personality.
10. Can you put this deck of cards in order?
In in-person interviews, I have been known to hand the candidate a shuffled deck of cards and ask them to put it in order. Then I listen for what questions they ask, and use that to determine how they think about solving a very ambiguous problem. Usually everyone asks what I consider order to be, and I usually say, "Whatever you want it to be." People I pass on are people who don't ask any questions or who outright panic under the stress, since neither is a good trait.
11. Explain Me What Do You Think You Bring to the Company?
This common job interview question is often asked in every type of interview. But for marketing jobs this question is especially important. It provides you with a chance to tout your interview preparation by suggesting effective marketing strategies based on the research you completed on the company.
Start by discussing your overall qualifications and experience, but then amend those answers with statements such as, "As I researched your company, I noticed that while your online marketing presence was strong, there are several areas that could be built upon including…" and following up with your ideas. However, you should refrain from this answer if you are interviewing with the head of the marketing department, as you may be undermining their beliefs.
The wisest candidates know you should not do it all, but rather, you should start with the content that's most important to your prospects and customers. They should also have a plan for talking to customers and prospects by way of interviews or surveys to figure out which social networks they use and which types of content they prefer.
13. Tell me how did you deal with a real life situation where your values were challenged?
The emphasis on ethics is manifesting itself in interview questions relating to values. "We use scenarios to ascertain how people will react in particular situations and to see how they fit with our culture and values," says the head of recruitment at one American bank in London, who declined to speak on the record. "We're very collaborative and we want to see that people's values match our own."
14. General Provincial Head-Sales Job Interview Questions:
☛ What percentage of your targets did you achieve?
☛ What are some of the challenges you see that are facing this industry?
☛ What do you see as the key issues in negotiating?
☛ What sales skills do you think are most important to having success in sales? What are top 3 skills for Sales in your opinion?
☛ What are some examples of your sales experience?
☛ Sell me this pen!
☛ How often did you achieve your sales objectives?
☛ Describe a time that you had to change your sales approach.
☛ Tell me about a time that you worked hard for a sale but didn't get it in the end, how did you handle the situation?
☛ Why do you think you would be good in Sales?
☛ How would you know you were successful on a sale?
15. Common Provincial Head-Sales Job Interview Questions:
☛ How does your job fit in to your department and company?
☛ What do you enjoy about this industry?
☛ Give an example of when you have worked under pressure.
☛ What kinds of people do you like working with?
☛ Give me an example of when your work was criticised.
☛ Give me an example of when you have felt anger at work. How did you cope and did you still perform a good job?
☛ What kind of people do you find it difficult to work with?
☛ Give me an example of when you have had to face a conflict of interest at work.
☛ Tell me about the last time you disagreed with your boss.
☛ Give me an example of when you haven't got on with others.
☛ Do you prefer to work alone or in a group? Why?
☛ This organisation is very different to your current employer - how do you think you are going to fit in?
☛ What are you looking for in a company?
☛ How do you measure your own performance?
☛ What kind of pressures have you encountered at work?
☛ Are you a self-starter? Give me examples to demonstrate this?
☛ What changes in the workplace have caused you difficulty and why?
☛ How do you feel about working long hours and/or weekends?
☛ Give me an example of when you have been out of your depth.
☛ What have you failed to achieve to date?
☛ What can you bring to this organisation?
16. Professional Provincial Head-Sales Job Interview Questions:
☛ Describe a recent situation where you negotiated terms with a tough customer?
☛ Tell me how you developed your largest account!
☛ What previous experience do you have in Market Research?
☛ What previous experience do you have in cold calling?
☛ Why would you be the right person for cold calling? (Give pro's & Con's for your answer).
☛ What different approach would you take in making a Sale?
☛ What do you think are the key skills in closing?
☛ Tell me how you developed your largest account!
☛ Describe a recent situation where you negotiated terms with a tough customer?
☛ Tell me about an important negotiation that failed, what went wrong and why?
☛ Tell me about a successful formal presentation you have done recently?
☛ Give an example of when you had to make a presentation to an unresponsive audience, how did you handle it?
☛ Tell me about a successful formal presentation you have done recently?
☛ Give an example of when you had to make a presentation to an unresponsive audience, how did you handle it?
☛ How would you/did you adjust your presentations for each audience?
☛ How well have you worked together with sales execs/Sales reps?
17. Fresh Provincial Head-Sales Job Interview Questions:
☛ Tell me about the teams you've managed and how you built them.
☛ What are some ways you would make our sales team more efficient?
☛ How have you used metrics to develop, manage, and grow your sales team?
☛ What do you think are the top 5 sales metrics for Sales VPs to measure?
☛ What sales tools have you used? What works for you and what doesn't?
☛ What would you do if a sales rep underperformed?
☛ Tell me about any experience you have creating sales processes.
☛ What is your sales hiring methodology? How do you mitigate risk?
☛ What is your sales onboarding methodology?
☛ What is your sales coaching philosophy?
☛ Given what you know about our company, how big of a sales team do you think we need?
☛ What do you think are the best traits for sales reps? Sales managers?
☛ How do you plan to build a compensation plan?
Fast, snappy questions help determine a candidate's knowledge and opinion on certain topics, and also gauge their ability to handle the stress of a fast pace. By asking rapid-fire questions, ZeroTurnaround gains a better idea of whether the interviewer is telling the truth (and what they genuinely believe) or instead telling them what they want to hear (stock answers).
19. Explain me what is the most difficult situation you have had to face and how did you tackle it?
The purpose of this question is to find out what your definition of difficult is and whether you can show a logical approach to problem solving. In order to show yourself in a positive light, select a difficult work situation which was not caused by you and which can be quickly explained in a few sentences. Explain how you defined the problem, what the options were, why you selected the one you did and what the outcome was. Always end on a positive note.
This is a question that we ask certain candidates in the interview process because their answer provides us a solid understanding of how they troubleshoot and problem solve, especially for our technical job applicants. We are looking for candidates that think of how they can use existing, pre-packaged technologies and skills to solve problems, instead of starting from scratch every time, a skill that is practiced on the job every day. We're more interested in hearing about their thought process than the viability of their answer.
21. Explain me how Effectively Do You Think You Can Work within Budgetary Constraints?
Interview questions about the future should be brought back to accomplishments of the past. In other words, when asked about how you would deal with possible future scenarios, refer to your past accomplishments. Your answers should focus on successful campaigns with statement such as, "While I was with company XYZ, I initiated both low cost lead generation strategies and several viral marketing campaigns, using an almost inexistent budget to boost profits by 200%."
22. Tell me why do you love marketing?
You want to hire someone who's both qualified and has the desire to do the work. Otherwise, why would they work for you instead of the company next door?
Part of their answer will lie in their body language and enthusiasm. The other part will lie in how concrete their answer is. Get at the details by asking a follow-up question, like: "Let's say you're at home, kicking around, and doing something related to marketing. What is it that you're doing?" Perhaps they're reading their five favorite marketing sites, or analyzing traffic patterns of websites for fun, or writing in their personal blog, or optimizing their LinkedIn profile. Whatever it is, you want to be sure they're deeply passionate about the subject matter you'd hire them for.
23. Explain me an example of a deal that fell through, what would you have done differently?
This is a question for senior M&A bankers and is intended to test their truthfulness and willingness to learn from mistakes. Correct answer is something along the lines of: "'I'd been calling a client for 18 months and he told me there were no deals he wanted to do - but six months later he did a deal through a competitor. It taught me the value of staying in touch with the client even when he says there's nothing going on."
24. Explain me what Types of Marketing Campaigns Have You Run in the Past?
As you answer questions about your accomplishments with other companies, be specific. Simply stating, "I ran several online marketing campaigns" does not adequately show what you can do for the company. Better answers should resemble, "I started a social media campaign that utilized targeted advertising systems to market the company's services to youth in North America." You will also need to elaborate. Use numbers that support the campaign, such as "Within three financial quarters, sales increased by 427% and brand recognition vastly improved by 10% within the target demographic."
25. Suppose we wants you to evaluate our blog. What would you say?
Before giving you an answer, the best candidates will come back and ask you about the blog's metrics, how many leads and customers it generates, what the goals are for it, how much you're investing in it, and so on. This is also a great way to test whether they actually prepared for the interview by reading your blog.
