In order to get a better understanding of what you could be walking into, I suggest asking the question "What is your biggest problem and can I help solve it?" It shows genuine interest in the interviewer's pains/goals and enables you to see how you can make an impact. Aside from this key question, always make sure to check out these resources before stepping into the interview. 1. Company Website: Familiarize yourself with the company's products or services, mission, values, financials and recent announcements. 2. LinkedIn: Research the hiring manager and other key stakeholders to gain insights into their backgrounds and professional interests. 3. Glassdoor or RepVue: Read reviews from current or former employees to learn about the company culture, interview process, and potential interview questions.

I really like this question because it's so true! Leadership can break a lot of trust by implementing incorrect KPIs for a segment. Experienced sellers will get angry they are treated like SDRs, etc. The best thing leaders can do is watch, listen, observe, and then replicate. What have the most successful reps done in this position? Are they having 10 calls a week, 2 on-sites a month, and 1 "high value activity" a quarter (like exec intro, hackathon, etc)? Standardize from the top and make excellence the norm.

* Not doing enough research on the company they're interviewing with * Not anticipating the questions the interviewers will have * Not coming prepared with their own questions for the interviewer * Not coming with multiple examples prepared or not having results and metrics at the ready to speak to in the interview * Not leveraging their recruiter as a resource to adequately prep for the interviews * Not asking for feedback from their interviewer to apply to the next interview * Not closing their interviewer * Not sending a follow up email post-interview * Not practicing concise answers ahead of the interview

This is such a great question! Having been a sales professional since 2013, I completely understand how burnout can arise, especially with the constant "reset" every quarter. What’s helped me is creating clear personal boundaries with work and sticking to a structured, repeatable process. By focusing on the things I can control and holding myself accountable to weekly, monthly, and quarterly KPIs, I’ve built a more predictable and manageable workflow. I view sales as running my own business—it requires exceptional time management and operational efficiency.

Sales KPIs play a critical role in forecast accuracy, especially in unpredictable markets. Amidst the market turbulence, really the only thing you have are deal execution and forecast accuracy. The difference between having a math based forecast everyone is aligned around vs not is stark. There are so many ways to cut your forecast in an effort to determine where you'll land. The math itself is important but the most important is having a shared language and "walkup" in order to pinpoint the assumptions you're making - so you can have an in-depth discussion in a short amount of time.

Clarity of expectation setting early on is important as it is the foundation of your relationship with a prospect and the rest of the sales process. When I'm operating at my best, I start the conversation by informing the prospect that I view my role as helping them get to a point of clarity as soon as possible to determine if & how our business/product may be able to help them, and then aligning on our social contract outlining what to expect from me and what I expect from them. From me they can expect: * Curiosity: I will take a genuine interest in them, their business, their needs and will spend the time probing deep to really make sure I understand what they need * Honesty: through all of the business I conduct, I will do so honestly, and will directly share if we are not a fit and will direct them in the direction of another possible solution for their problems * Customer Experience: through accountability, speed, and responsiveness, I will work to create the best customer experience I can for them, and if I ever feel like I can't then I'll communicate to them the reason ahead of time From them, I need: * Information: the more information they can empower me with, the more effectively I'll be able to help them * Honesty: this is a two way street as honesty goes both ways. I'll expect they will be respectful of me & my time, just as I am of theirs and if circumstances change that may affect our working relationship, then I'll need them to tell me honestly * Communication: building on the first two, communication is critical, so I recommend spending time here understanding how they prefer to communicate (method, frequency, etc.) and I'll normalize the fact that bad news doesn't get better with time, so if either of us has bad news for the other, let's address it promptly and directly With that understanding of a relationship & social contract established, both myself & the prospect can continue with clear expectations, and I've found when done well, it can lead to the most pleasant buy/sell process for both parties.

Very interesting question — and one that brings up a few more! * Quota attainment is a KPI that is directly meaningful to a seller—if she can hit her KPI of quota attainment year after year, that will be meaningful to her personally! * However, quota attainment isn’t a helpful KPI to the company by itself — we could find out that the above seller is selling bad deals — selling deals that have low margins, high churn rates, and more… This is why it’s important to have a several KPIs that are developed to the needs of the business—and to the needs of the seller. Otherwise, it’s like judging someone’s safe driving ability solely by whether or not they drive the speed limit. Many people drive the speed limit, but are looking at their phone, or are ignoring their turn signals, etc. It’s one KPI that will help inform whether a driver is safe, but it’s not the only way of determining whether a driver is safe.

Good OKRs define the output you are looking to achieve. Be clear in your outcome and give your sellers the space to define their process. Your managers can lean in on process suggestions, if they need help there. It can be easy to focus on effort metrics like volume of calls or emails, however if the true goal is simply the weekly PipeGen that was achieved or amount of revenue that was booked, use them as your North Star. For roles where they also act as Post-Sales/Success, instead of monitoring meetings, you may want to hold the team accountable to product activation, usage milestones, or active users.

I think it makes sense to look at what success has looked like for your business as opposed to looking at general industry guidelines. What do the metrics look like for the top performers within your business and what do they do differently to the bottom performers? You will get more buy in from reps if you can show them how others are achieving success within their team. I would also recommend regularly reviewing these metrics, so that you can also demonstrate how top performing sales reps are adapting to any market changes.

Everyone should own the KPIs which are relevant to achieving the goals. If you can't influence the KPI they become less relevant and impactful. The context of the KPIs are also important if the intent is to drive behaviour. If there is no attention from management to KPIs this is probably also a good indication that they are no longer a priority.