Sales Representative mock interview
Answer common sales representative interview questions out loud, from “Tell me about yourself” to price objections and missed targets, then get feedback on what you said.
- Free, no account
- Answer by voice or by typing
- About 10 minutes
What they assess
What Sales Representative interviews look for
Track record
What you’ve sold, against what target, and how you did it. Interviewers want numbers with context, not just “I exceeded quota”.
Sales process
How you prospect, qualify, run a discovery conversation, handle objections and close. They listen for a repeatable method.
Resilience
How you handle rejection, a slow month or a lost deal, and what keeps you making calls when results are behind.
Listening and communication
Whether you ask good questions and adapt to the buyer, rather than pitching the same way to everyone.
Organisation
How you manage your pipeline, plan your week and keep the CRM up to date so your forecast can be trusted.
Questions
8 common Sales Representative interview questions, and how to answer them
- Opening
Tell me about yourself.
What they’re looking for: A two-minute summary of you as a seller: what you sell, to whom, the size of the deals, and how you’ve performed.
How to answer: Start with your current role, product and type of customer. Give one result with numbers, such as target attainment or a notable deal. Finish with why this product and team are the right next step.
- Role-specific
Sell me this pen.
What they’re looking for: That you ask questions before you pitch, link the product to what the buyer needs, and ask for the sale.
How to answer: Start by asking a few questions: how they use a pen, what they need it for, what matters to them. Connect one or two features to what they told you. Handle any objection, then close by asking directly for the sale.
- Role-specific
How do you handle a customer who says your price is too high?
What they’re looking for: That you treat price objections as a question to explore, not a reason to discount straight away.
How to answer: Explain how you’d find out what’s behind the objection: budget, value, or a competitor quote. Describe how you’d reframe around the value to their business and when you would or wouldn’t negotiate. A real example helps.
- Role-specific
How do you build and manage your pipeline?
What they’re looking for: A disciplined routine: where your leads come from, how you qualify them, and how you keep enough activity going to hit target.
How to answer: Describe your main sources of new business and how much time you spend prospecting. Explain how you decide which deals to focus on and how you keep the CRM current. Finish with how you forecast.
- Behavioural
Tell me about a deal you’re proud of closing.
What they’re looking for: Your process in action: how you found the opportunity, handled the buyer’s concerns and got it over the line.
How to answer: Set up the customer, the deal size and what made it hard. Spend most of the answer on what you did at each stage. Finish with the result and what you learned that you now use in other deals.
- Behavioural
Tell me about a time you missed your target. What did you do?
What they’re looking for: Ownership and resilience: an honest reason, no blaming the market, and what you changed afterwards.
How to answer: Give the target and how far short you were. Explain the real reasons, including your part in it. Finish with what you changed and how the next period went.
- Behavioural
Tell me about a time a promising prospect went quiet. How did you handle it?
What they’re looking for: Persistence without pestering, and the judgement to know when to move on.
How to answer: Describe the deal and where it stalled. Explain how you followed up, what you changed in your approach, and who else you tried to reach. End with the outcome and what you do now to stop deals stalling.
- Motivation
Why do you want to sell for us?
What they’re looking for: That you understand the product, the customers and the market, and believe you can sell it well.
How to answer: Show you’ve researched the product, who buys it and the main competitors. Link it to your experience selling to similar customers. Finish with what excites you about selling it.
More Sales Representative interview questions to practise
- Walk me through your resume and your results in each role.Opening
- What motivates you, apart from commission?Motivation
- Why are you looking to leave your current sales role?Motivation
- Tell me about a time you had a run of rejections. How did you keep going?Behavioural
- Tell me about a time you had to learn a new product or market quickly.Behavioural
- Tell me about a time you worked with another team to win or keep a customer.Behavioural
- Tell me about a time you found a new customer through your own prospecting.Behavioural
- Tell me about a time you lost a deal you expected to win.Behavioural
- Tell me about a time a customer was unhappy after the sale. What did you do?Behavioural
- How do you research a prospect before a first call?Role-specific
- How do you qualify a lead?Role-specific
- How would you open a cold call to someone who has never heard of us?Role-specific
- What would you do if a customer asked for a discount you’re not allowed to give?Role-specific
- How do you use a CRM in your day-to-day work?Role-specific
- What would you focus on in your first 90 days in this role?Role-specific
- What questions do you have about the team and how targets are set?Closing
All 24 questions on this page are in the practice above; each round picks five.
Mistakes to avoid
- Launching into a pitch in “Sell me this pen” without asking the buyer a single question.
- Quoting big numbers without context: the target, the time period, and your share of the deal.
- Blaming the product, the market or the leads for a missed target.
- Talking for most of the interview and asking nothing, when listening is most of good selling.
Questions
About Sales Representative interviews
How the practice works and what happens to your answers: about this mock interview.
What is a sales representative interview usually like?
Usually a recruiter or hiring manager screen, an interview about your track record, and often a role-play such as a discovery call or a pitch. Some employers add a presentation or a meeting with the sales leader. This practice covers the spoken questions.
Should I share my sales numbers?
Yes, as long as you don’t share confidential customer details. Give your target attainment, deal sizes or ranking honestly, and be ready to explain how you got there. Claims without numbers are hard for an interviewer to believe.
Can I get a sales job without sales experience?
Often, for entry-level roles. Use examples from any job where you persuaded people, worked to a target or served customers, such as retail, hospitality or fundraising. Show you can handle rejection and like being measured on results.