Key Things to Know For a Sales Role

Here are key questions to ask when you are interviewing for a new sales job/role:

1 - Role

• How am I being judged?

  • AM/AE/SDR

• What does success look like for this role specifically?

• What does day to day look like

  • phone calls

  • emails

  • meetings

• What are expectations

  • Daily/weekly/monthly/annually

• What would the best performer look like

  • Is anyone doing that? Can I talk to them?

2 - Book of Business

How big is my book of business?

How many accounts am I managing?

• are they warm? Cold?

What does the account structure look like?

• size of each? % breakdown

Existing opps in accounts?

• growth/upsell?

3 - Product

• - What am I selling

• - Does it work

• - How good is it

• - Why do we win deals

• - What do people love

• - Competitive Landscape

• - Churn?

4 - Sales Cycle

• What are average sales cycles?

• Timeline

• What is the average deal size

  • What is velocity

• How are we getting leads?

  • Are they high-quality

• Process

  • walk me thru specifically what full sales cycle looks like

  • timeline/processes/touch points/parties involved

  • conversion percentage as folks progress thru pipeline

4 - Compensation

• How am I being paid

• Base vs. Commission breakdown

• Who is hitting plan? What % of folks?

• Bonus structure/payout specifics

5 - Team

• What does org structure look like?

• Who reports to me

• Who do I report to

• Paths to growth

• Who else will I work with

• What does access look like

• How open are lines of communication

• Support

  • technical/other

• Mentorship

  • Anyone besides my boss?

  • Peers? Nice to have people who do the same job well showing you the ropes

6 - Other

• CRM

  • historical data

  • communications between myself and clients in the past

• Training

  • What exists?

  • Programs? Materials? Documentation

Good starting spot :)