What is your favorite sales interview question and the best answer you've heard?

I don’t have a single favorite question, but there are two traits I love to test for: curiosity and grit. Curiosity: In my mind, this is hands down the most important trait in a seller. You have to be curious to learn your product and the problems it solves -- at Figma, that means developing real technical acumen -- and even more curious to deeply understand your customer: their environment, workflows, and pain points. You can’t solve a problem you don’t know exists. The only way to uncover thos ...Read More

One of our company’s core values is having the courage to be vulnerable. This behavior is key to being successful at Culture Amp and within a sales role. In order to better understand someone’s ability to lean into this value, I like to ask the question “What are you currently working on professionally or personally to develop yourself?” I also ask this question because the best talent never rest on their laurels. Top performers are always looking for ways to improve. The most common answers I r ...Read More

My favorite sales interview question is meant to figure out if a sales rep has really run complex deals regularly.  I ask them to name their top 3 large and complex deals they've closed.  Then I ask them to tell me in more detail about a large & complex deal which is not in the top 3 list they shared.  Most sales reps would prepare for an intierview with details about their top 2-3 deals but if a sales rep has truly run multiple complex sales cycles, they should be able to answer this questi ...Read More

One of my favorite sales interview questions to ask is "Tell me about a time something did not go according to plan in your personal or professional life. What happened and what would you do differently, if anything?" This one's great because it helps the interviewer see if the interviewee is just as comfortable talking about their failures as they are about their successes. It allows the interviewer to see how the person handles setbacks, what they do when setbacks occur and what their overall ...Read More

Personally my favorite interview question, which I ask all of my hires from SDRs/BDRs to Sales Directors, is: "Of everything in your life (professionally, personally, academically, athletically, artistically, etc.), what do you consider to be your greatest accomplishment?" Of the hundreds of times I've asked this question, I've received so many incredible answers. Some people have talked about the accomplishments of building a family, qualifying for the Olympics, summiting mountains, changing ca ...Read More

I love to ask a rep to walk me through a deal they closed. Then I ask for a second deal. Then I ask for a third. And I really spend time having a deep conversation on the third. I'm a huge fan of behavioral interview questions (and most hiring analytics suggest they are the only types of interview questions that correlate at all to future job success, which is why you see them so often.) But it also requires skill from the interviewer. The goal of the interviewer is not to sit back and listen to ...Read More

A question I use often is: "Tell me about a deal you lost — and what you'd do differently" or if early in career, a question with the same sentiment: "Tell me about a time you failed - and what you'd do differently". I love this question because it tells me everything: self-awareness, coachability, how someone processes failure, whether they own their outcomes or externalize blame. In sales, we celebrate wins but how you handle a loss is really where sellers are built. We're told "no" more often ...Read More

I have 2 questions that I love to ask to guage self-awareness. 1. The first is simply - What is the 1 thing that you think you could really improve on or do better? 2. The second - Tell me about a time that you weren't successful and help me understand how it impacted your approach to your job. These are the kinds of questions that I like to use to determine if the candidate is focused on self-improvement or, is an excuse maker.  Why: In sales - having humility enough to qualify 'why' I lost tha ...Read More

My favorite to ask always starts with, "Tell me a story about..." The ending can be anything from professional to personal. Tell me a story about your proudest customer win. Tell me a story about a lost opportunity that you wished you won. Tell me a story about the last vacation you went on. Tell me a story about someone you stopped being friends with and why. For me it's not the answer, it's how you give the answer. In sales you need to be quick on your toes and engaging. Storytelling is the ke ...Read More