Interview Questions for an Aspiring SaaS Sales Pro- What to Ask & Prepare For
If you are interviewing for a sales position with a VC-backed Internet/SaaS company, congrats! You are competing with the best reps out there and it's important to know your numbers and to be prepared.
Interview Questions to Expect (AE’s, SDR’s, and AM’s)
Questions you should be prepared to answer in a clear and concise manner
What do you sell and who do you sell to?
What is your company’s sales process (from prospecting, initial connection, demoing, negotiation, closing, on-boarding, management and upselling)?
What is your sales process (where do you fit in to the question above)?
What are your quota requirements in revenue (be prepared to go back a couple of years)?
What is your quota achievement in revenue (be prepared to go back a couple of years)?
What is your average deal size?
How many deals do you close annually?
Why are you interviewing? (even if you are not actively looking for a new position employers will want an intelligent thought out answer to this. Growth isn’t considered a good answer – best to elaborate on what growth means; financial, professional, bigger deal sizes)
What do you know about our (the company you are interviewing with) company and product (most high-growth internet companies are in the news, do a google search, see who their VC partners are, see who their competition is, what does their product do)?
How do you think your experience will translate into our environment?
Also, Be Prepared to Discuss:
The company’s product(s)
Check news articles and researching funding if applicable
Of course, the answers that you provide are really important, but one of the things that can give you an edge over your competition is your level of interest in the company and position you’re applying for. This bring us to our second part of the article:
Ask Smart Questions - Questions you can ask on an interview
What is your target market?
Is your product industry specific?
In which industry does your product seem to have the most success?
Do you target Enterprise, Mid-Market, or SMB?
How big is the sales organization and how is your sales process broken down (SDR’s, AE’s, AM’s, Sales Ops, Marketing and inbound efforts)?
What is the quota for this opening?
How many of the reps are hitting quota?
What is the average tenure of the sales team?
What are the growth metrics your team would like to hit this quarter, this year?
Is this position open due to growth?
Based on my experience and this interview is my skill set what you are looking for?
Best of luck in your interviews to come and keep in mind, we have open positions for top internet companies across the US, so feel free to contact us if you're on the look-out for a new job!
