Leave a great impression during the job interview
Now that you have been invited for the job interview, it is important that you do not deviate from your personal motivation and style as written in your cover letter. After all, you have already managed to convince the employer that you are different from the other candidates and you, as a unique personality with your motivation and experience, can start adding value to the team and to the company.
That’s why you shouldn’t suddenly start throttling down now on interview, because you might get nervous and don’t want to leave a wrong impression. By slowing down and playing it safe, you won’t win. You will still lose out to better qualified competitors.
This is how you prepare and leave a great impression during the job interview.
Interview preparation for sales jobs
Good preparation is extremely important. It really shows your future employer that you really want this.
Prior to the interview, I recommend spending at least one to two hours reading about the company. Read extensively about the website, products and distinguishing features. Also compare the company to their main competitors. Who are those competitors? Ask questions about them during the interview.
By reading the annual report and knowing its main conclusions, you can also have a broad say in the company’s financial results.
For example, link the company’s results to a trend and then ask a question about it. That way you not only show that you have prepared excellently, but you also demonstrate, that you really understand finance and business strategy. Even if only in the basics.
Clothing
In terms of clothing, there is one rule of thumb that I always apply. That rule of thumb makes sure, that you always go to the interview well dressed.
Always dress one level better and neater than what is customary in the workplace. When in doubt or want to play it safe during a client meeting or job interview, put on an anthracite or dark gray business suit with a dark blue or red tie.
Remember that everything is about the first impression. This is really true everywhere in life, both business and personal!
If you are underdressed, it will be very difficult to achieve a good first impression, but if you go to the job interview neatly dressed, you will always get good appreciation for this. After all, you are showing respect. That’s why I recommend playing it safe with clothing and wearing a business suit. Make sure you wear neat, clean, polished black leather lace-up shoes. Then you can never go wrong!
Many job applicants don’t even put on a business suit anymore! They wear dark jeans with a jacket or wear only a business shirt, but by dressing just a little bit neater, you immediately show your serious and business side! After all, doesn’t the company want its future employee to visit their customers just as neatly? Indeed!
That’s why I advise you to always dress formally when visiting clients. Always a nice suit with a tie and leather shoes. It simply shows great respect for the client and you show that you are trustworthy. It really works and the customer and your manager immediately take you a lot more seriously. Don’t care what your colleagues say. They are simply jealous!
For a professional meeting, why not dress professionally? You are guaranteed to look your very best in a nice suit!
On the first day of work, I recommend that you always show up in a full suit. If you notice that everyone is virtually business casual, I recommend taking a small step back. But not too much! Make sure you always stay the best dressed person in the office and preferably just a touch more business casual than the rest. It really works and you will radiate more reliability and confidence. Trust me, it works!
Introduction
Shake your interlocutor’s hand firmly and just a little longer than usual and look at him smiling. Compliment him and thank him for this invitation. Tell, that you have been looking forward to this so much. That you are glad “that we can finally meet and start talking together about the great opportunities and possibilities.”
Always accept a water even if you already drink coffee, because talking a lot can quickly cause dry mouth in air-conditioned environments. Make sure that the night before the interview, you have not eaten too much garlic and that you have well-groomed nails. People really pay attention to how well-groomed future sales colleagues appear at the job interview. After all, they are going to be the company’s calling card. They will soon be visiting the big customers!
Open questions
Ask open-ended questions about the prospective position. By doing so, you show interest and you take control. For example, ask these types of questions:
- What is the current situation like?
- How is sales being done now and how is sales performing?
- What are the plans for the coming year?
- What would they like to improve and how could you help?
- What happens if the company or sales do not change and continue in the current situation?
The red line that you as an applicant should always remember is the following:
What problems does the client (your employer) have? How can you help solve those problems?
Also ask questions about what the atmosphere and cooperation are like among internal departments.
- What is going well and where is improvement needed?
- How could you play a role in that as a new employee?
- What can you do to make departments work better with the sales department?
- How could you connect those people?
This is the type of question, which the HR manager gets really excited about! Who wouldn’t want to hear that from a new employee? In the end, we do all the work together and with each other. And if you, as an applicant, are already showing such good will and initiatives? Well, then you are already well on your way to positioning yourself as a favorite candidate for that top job!
Final responsibility and sales leadership
When it comes to teamwork, there are actually two correct answers all the time. Namely:
- You enjoy working with other people as part of a team.
- You love to win together and share successes.
Specifically for sales, the following is incredibly important. If you miss these, you run the risk of losing and not being hired. Bottom line:
Despite the fact that bringing in and keeping large clients happy is a team effort, there should always be one person ultimately responsible. He should present himself as the leader and captain of the account team.
Therefore, the following in addition to working in a team with final responsibility:
- You enjoy working in a team, but you always want to be ultimately responsible.
- You are not afraid to show responsibility.
- You would like to be able to make important choices independently.
- When things are going well, you want full recognition and success.
- When things go badly, you are not afraid and too proud to blame yourself.
This is so incredibly important and many forget it during the application process. It is so important because companies are paying more and more attention to bringing in “sales leadership talent.” Saying you love sales and function nicely in a team won’t get you through these days. That’s how you lose out to the competition.
You must be able to show sales leadership and, above all, dare to take a lot of responsibility!
You can quickly distinguish yourself from the rest of the candidates by being clear about this early in the interview.
Strengths and weaknesses
HR professionals’ favorite questions, of course, include your strengths and weaknesses. Personally, I always used to find these questions very difficult, but nowadays I think very differently. After all, you can prepare yourself well for these questions. When you are a little older, you are more aware of your strengths and weaknesses. The more confident and clearer you answer these, the stronger you come across as a candidate.
Talk confidently and proudly about your strengths. Give examples, about how those strengths have helped you in the past. Tell, how they have helped to solve a problem and help other people.
With weaknesses, show your interlocutors how well you know them. And what things you do yourself to improve them. You are always aware of your strengths and weaknesses. With weaknesses, you take measures and control mechanisms to transform them into strengths.
Link your strengths to the traits specifically requested in the job posting. Talk about how your characteristics and strengths are going to help you solve problems and meet targets.
Dealing with criticism
How you show how you handle criticism and authority is also extremely important. You can expect a few questions about this from any HR professional. First, see criticism as a unique opportunity to improve yourself even further and make yourself stronger! Don’t treat it as something negative, but show that you are happy to receive constructive criticism and that above all you want to learn and grow in your new role.
Also, the company will ask you questions, how you ideally see your own development and growth within the company. You need to think about this carefully and be prepared!
For example, take a good look at the structure within the company. See, if there are any opportunities for advancement at all? If your manager reports directly to the director, it is not wise to say that in five years you want to be a manager too! Indirectly, by doing so, you are actually indicating that you want his job in a few years!
How are you going to do that? Subtly work him out of the business? No.
I recommend saying during the job interview that you want to develop into a specialist and expert. That way you avoid the manager might start to see you as a competitor and he would rather invite the less ambitious candidate for a second interview!
This is how you can stay in control during the job interview with HR
Finally, treat the entire job interview like a sales meeting with a potential client. This will show that you are extremely qualified and can think like a sales professional.
Here are some examples of how to stay in control from start to finish.
- Ask how the rest of the application process will go.
- Summarize what was agreed upon and when the next contact will take place.
- Define and name when you will contact yourself, should you not have heard anything by the proposed date. No, this is really not being too “pushy” or coming across as desperate! This is how you show that you are in control and, after all, this is how it goes in a sales call. This is what they want to see and hear!
- Always make sure you have clearly defined the next steps and know when the next step will be taken. Then your phone call will never be unexpected, either, because you’ve already agreed on it. Then they can’t send you away with some excuse, because you remind them of that verbal agreement the moment you call.
- Thank your interlocutors and reiterate that you are very excited. That you hope you can start doing business and look forward to working together.
- In the evening, you may want to send another short “thank you” e-mail, outlining the three most important agreements you made.
Always make sure you go into an interview very well prepared. Based on your preparation, developments in their industry and news, try to give the company new insights and tips and ask questions about them. If you succeed, you are already miles ahead and away from the other applicants!
Book Source
The corporate sales winners guide: Transform your life and become a top sales performer – by Gerrit Jan de Vries. Available on Amazon, Google Play Books and Bol.com.