Everything You Need To Know Before Your Tech Sales Phone Interview
According to Salesforce, 92% of all customer interactions happen over the phone.
Needless to say, talking on the phone is an important part of a sales job, which makes the phone interview an important part of the sales interview process.
There will likely be more than one phone interview round. Depending on the size of the company, there will be some combination of the following:
A short “screening” call with a recruiter.
A recruiter will be checking for the basics, e.g., location preference, salary expectations, work authorization, and whether your background matches the job description.
A longer call with a hiring manager.
A sales hiring manager will be testing for culture fit, sales acumen, and past sales performance. There will be more questions about the nitty-gritty and the details of the job itself. There might even be a sales role play. Remember, this might be your future boss. From the hiring manager’s perspective, they’ll be asking themselves, “Do I want this person on my team?”
A call with a Director, VP, or CEO (less common).
This will usually only happen for smaller startups where senior executives are still involved with entry-level sales hiring. If you get this chance, make sure to spend extra time preparing. You should treat a phone call with a senior executive like a final round interview.
Whether it’s a phone screen with a recruiter or a 10-minute call with the CEO, these five tips are essential to success for any phone tech sales phone interview.
1. Find a quiet place to take the call.
Don’t schedule a phone interview for when you’re walking to lunch. It can be annoying for your interviewer to hear honks and other street noise in the background.
If you’re at home, let your roommates or family members know that you’ll be taking an important call to avoid any possible interruptions. If you’re at an office, schedule time in a phone booth or conference room.
2. Build rapport at the very beginning.
At the beginning of a phone interview, there is usually an awkward pause right after the interviewer and interviewee exchange greetings. Don’t let that pause happen.
Instead, show off your sales skills by making natural small talk. Easy topics are the weather and recent local news.
Even better, but slightly more difficult, is getting the interviewer to talk about themselves. The key to this approach is to listen closely to their answer when you ask how they’re doing and then ask follow-up questions.
Here’s an example:
You: “How are you today?”
Interviewer: “Hmm, I’m pretty busy.”
You: “Busy in a good way or a bad way?”
Interviewer: “A good way!”
You: “Oh cool, what are you working on?”
Interviewer: “Well, it’s this new project …”
And boom, now you’re having a conversation.
The words will be different in every situation, but the formula is the same. Listen closely to the interviewer’s response when you ask how they’re doing. No matter what they say, ask a follow-up question. And then keep asking follow-up questions until they open up with a more long-winded answer.
In sales, prospects buy from salespeople that they like. And it’s the same with recruiting: interviewers hire candidates that they like.
Building rapport is an essential sales skill and a huge opportunity to make your interview like you, thus increasing your chances of making it to the next round.
3. Don’t forget to ask questions.
Answering questions is the easy part. It’s the same as studying for a test. If you’ve done your research and prepared ahead of time, you’ll be fine.
But don’t forget to ask questions!
After all, this is a tech sales interview we’re talking about. Being able to ask good questions is part of the job.
After your interviewer has finished with their questions, they will inevitably ask, “Do you have any questions for me?”
Make sure you have your list of questions ready. Here’s a list of questions you can ask and here’s a guide on how to ask questions in an interview.
Your two last questions should be about any hesitations your interviewer might have and next steps: Do you have any hesitations about my fit for this position that I can address? What can I expect for next steps in the interview process?
4. Send a prompt “thank you” email.
This should be a short email. The subject line can be simply “Thank you.” It can be sent as soon as 1-2 hours and no later than 24 hours after the interview.
Here’s a template:
Hi [interviewer name],
Thank you for taking the time to meet with me today. I’m very excited about the opportunity to join [company name] and help with [job description].
[mention something specific from the interview, e.g., something you have in common with the interviewer or something you learned and found interesting]
I look forward to hearing from you about next steps and please let me know if there is any additional information that I can provide.
Thanks again,
[your name]
This goes a long way. Remember that your interviewer is human. It feels good to be appreciated and a simple “thank you” email can do nothing but help your chances of moving forward to the next round.
5. Follow up if you don’t hear back.
To know when to follow up, make sure that you ask for a timeline when you ask about next steps during the phone interview. You can simply ask, “When can I expect to hear back?”
Let’s say the interviewer says you should expect to hear back in 2-3 days. Then after the end of the third day is the appropriate time to follow up for the first time.
Here’s a template:
Hi [interviewer name],
I wanted to reach out to follow up and see if there have been any updates to the status of my application since our phone interview.
Thanks in advance,
[your name]
Following up is the key to a successful tech sales job hunt. A lot of times professionals just get busy and forget. The candidate who follows up will move forward in the process. The candidate who waits to hear back will be forgotten.