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Outside Sales Representative Interview Questions

Edited by Indeed Employer Content Team
Last updated 30 January 2025
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Indeed’s Employer Resource Library helps businesses grow and manage their workforce. With over 15,000 articles in 6 languages, we offer tactical advice, how-tos and best practices to help businesses hire and retain great employees.

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Whether you are preparing to interview a candidate or applying for a job, review our list of top Outside Sales Representative interview questions and answers.

  1. What strategies would you implement to improve our sales process? See answer
  2. How do you recognise your prospective clients while pitching to them for the first time? See answer
  3. How would you leverage the importance of social media to boost sales? See answer
  4. When do you stop convincing or persuading a client? See answer
  5. Please tell us about the most difficult deal you closed. What major factor proved valuable to closing the sale? See answer
  6. If you ended up failing to make the sale after multiple attempts to convince the client, what would you do? See answer
  7. Describe the major values that define an ideal salesperson. See answer
  8. What certifications do you currently possess that relate to this role? See answer
  9. What do you do to learn more about the client before your initial contact with them? How does this affect your sales process? See answer
  10. Would you rather have a few happy customers or complete your sales quota? See answer
  11. As an outside sales representative, which do you find most interesting between maintaining an ongoing sales relationship and creating a new one with another client?
  12. What’s your strategy for reassuring potential clients when they have doubts about your sales offerings?
  13. Would you ever decide against selling to an interested buyer? Why? 
  14. Would you regard this company’s sale cycle as a short or long sales cycle?
  15. Would you rather work independently or collabourate with others in a sales team?
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Indeed’s Employer Resource Library helps businesses grow and manage their workforce. With over 15,000 articles in 6 languages, we offer tactical advice, how-tos and best practices to help businesses hire and retain great employees.

Read our editorial guidelines

15 Outside Sales Representative Interview Questions and Answers

As an outside sales representation, which do you find most interesting between maintaining an ongoing sales relationship and creating a new one with another client?

Maintaining existing relationships and establishing new ones are both crucial to making more sales. However, outside sales representatives tend to be better at one than the other. It's important to know which category the candidate falls. What to look for in an answer:

  • Knowledge of personal strengths and weaknesses
  • Ability to handle both considerably well
  • Ability to strike a balance
Example:

"I consider both maintaining existing sales relationship and establishing new ones as my major responsibilities as an outside sales representative. Nonetheless, I have observed that I tend to generate repetitive sales from existing clients with whom I have built trust with over time. I find it easier to maintain relationships with them."

What's your strategy for reassuring potential clients when they have doubts about your sales offerings?

People tend to develop more trust when they have no doubts. This question helps you see if the potential outside sales representative has a proven strategy for reassuring potential clients to guarantee sales. What to look for in an answer:

  • Proven strategy for making sales
  • Experience spotting doubt
  • Persistence
Example:

"When making a sale, I try to make sure that the client already loves the idea of my value offering before I have to do a lot of convincing. I ensure that I have my facts right and only show them facts they can attest to themselves."

What strategies would you implement to improve our sales process?

Even though your current sales process is productive, it's important to know if the candidate is an independent and creative thinker who is looking to add something tangible to your company's existing strategies. What to look for in an answer:

  • Enthusiasm
  • Well-thought-out action plan
  • Research about the company's sales process
Example:

"Your company educates the clients about the specific value they're deriving from the product, which proves very efficient. However, I would incorporate your brand story and general storytelling into the sales process. I believe it would help build a fan base, which we can then continuously return to for sales across different sales periods."

How do you recognise your prospective clients while pitching to them for the first time?

The ability to recognise the clients with the most prospects within the shortest possible time saves the company's resources and allows the representative to concentrate on the right people. The candidate should be able to identify prospects quickly. What to look for in an answer:

  • Experience qualifying prospects
  • Instinctive reasoning
  • Thoughtful questioning
Example:

"I look out for their level of interest, I ask questions in order to learn about my product's level of importance to them. Their response coupleaded with my gut feeling at the final stage is how I recognise prospective clients."

How would you leverage the importance of social media to boost sales?

Social media brings everybody together, which means sales representatives are able to get closer to their clients than ever. Hence, the ideal candidate must be able to leverage the proximity to boost sales. This question tests that skill. What to look for in an answer:

  • Basic knowledge of social media usage
  • Research skills
  • Experience researching clients via social channels
Example:

"I use social media channels like Facebook and Instagram to understand the interests, likes, and dislikes of prospective clients. I gather enough personal information about the clients on social media so that I can pitch my sales in a pattern tailored specifically to them."

When do you stop convincing or persuading a client?

The candidate's response to this question demonstrates how persuasive they can be to make a sale. An outside sales representative needs to be very persistent and consistent. What to look for in an answer:

  • Tenacity
  • Persistence
  • Ability to convince clients
Example:

"I often expect a no as an initial default response from prospective clients. However, I ensure to keep mentioning my offer from time to time, especially when I know they have a need for the product. I only stop when they're firm about why they won't be making a purchase or when they've gotten an alternative."

Would you ever decide against selling to an interested buyer? Why?

Selling to prospects who aren't a good fit can potentially hurt the brand image, which may hinder sales. A good sales representative should be able to identify clients who aren't a good fit and turn away from them. What to look for in an answer:

  • Willingness to sacrifice for the greater good
  • Understanding of brand image
  • Ability to identify the right clients
Example:

"I care about making a single sale that has the potential to generate more sales down the line. I sell to only the right people who understand product value to ensure this. I wouldn't sell to people who cannot bring out the value of products."

Would you regard this company's sale cycle as a short or long sales cycle?

This question aims to test the candidate's level of work readiness. Gathering enough knowledge about the company's preferred sales cycle allows them to get started easily and seamlessly.  What to look for in an answer:

  • Evidence of research about the company
  • Knowledge of both sales cycles
  • Ability to execute both cycles
Example:

"I understand that a short sales cycle requires closing quickly, and a long sales cycle requires a tailored and stepwise closing approach. This company executes both of these strategies at different stages of the sales cycle."

Please tell us about the most difficult deal you closed. What major factor proved valuable to closing the sale?

The best sales representatives go after the most difficult clients and make a sale. The candidate's experience with challenging clients can help you determine whether they have what it takes to convert difficult customers. What to look for in an answer:

  • Successful sales strategy
  • Experience with difficult clients
  • Ability to overlook personal issues for the greater good
Example:

"I had to sell some home appliances to a man who had horrible experiences with similar products he bought from a sales representative. He was convinced that all salespeople only cared about making sales. However, I could sense he still needed the right product, although he didn't like the people pitching them to him. That was key to making him buy the product…"

If you ended up failing to make the sale after multiple attempts to convince the client, what would you do?

Even the best salespeople don't close all sales. However, they make sure to learn from every sale. Strong sales representatives figure out better ways to go about the sale and apply the knowledge to subsequent sales processes. This question helps you test the candidate's ability to learn from difficult situations. What to look for in an answer:

  • Ability to cope with tough situations
  • Ability to learn from failure and collect feedback
  • Willingness to improve and make changes
Example:

"My sales process involves ideation, implementation, observation, and correction. I repeat this process from time to time to better optimise my strategy to fit various scenarios. When I don't make a sale, I seek the honest opinion of the client, and then I try to look for ways in which I can incorporate their feedback into my sales process or even the product design."

Describe the major values that define an ideal salesperson.

The candidate's defining values for an ideal salesperson most likely describe the kind of salesperson they are. You should listen for values that either align with or contradict the company's values. What to look for in an answer:

  • Candidate's morals and values
  • Alignment with company values
  • Specific features of a good sales representative
Example:

"An ideal salesperson should be a team player who is willing to identify and rank the client's needs and product value offerings above every other thing. They should be patient enough to communicate properly and humble enough to help customers with the basic knowledge of product usage and features."

Would you rather work independently or collabourate with others in a sales team?

It's important to understand a candidate's individual preferences in order to identify their strengths and weaknesses. An ideal candidate should be capable of working alone when the need arises, but they should also be able to work with others toward company-wide goal. In their answer, listen for their ability to perform both roles. What to look for in an answer:

  • Collabourative skills
  • Flexibility based on company requirements
  • Ability to work independently and in a team
Example:

"I work based on the company's requirements as a professional. Working independently gives me the freedom to act on my instincts. In comparison, working in a team gives me the opportunity to collabourate with others and learn new ideas. I have no preference for one over the other and enjoy working in both ways."

What certifications do you currently possess that relate to this role?

Formal and job-specific training related to the role guarantees a level of professionalism needed to perform excellently. By pursuing certificates, candidates show that they are interested in furthering their skills and working professionally as outside sales representatives. What to look for in an answer:

  • Relevant certifications
  • Demonstration of role requirements
  • Relevance of certifications to the job role
Example:

"I am a Certified Sales Professional (CSP). This certification gives me the relevant expertise to project a professional outlook onto any prospect. I also have a sales management certification, which gives me the required knowledge to work professionally with a sales team to accomplish set goals."

What do you do to learn more about the client before your initial contact with them? How does this affect your sales process?

Research is crucial to almost all processes. A sales process can become more effective by gathering the right information before the initial contact. It gives the sales representative the right insight on what to focus on and leverage during the sales process to make the sale. What to look for in an answer:

  • Research skills
  • Ability to identify personal commonalities
  • Familiarity with information-gathering platforms
Example:

"I ensure to gather as much personal information as possible. I make use of platforms like Facebook and Instagram to gather information about the potential client's likes, dislikes, work history, and preferences before meeting with them. It helps me know the essential things to include or leave out when I pitch to them."

Would you rather have a few happy customers or complete your sales quota?

This question helps you learn about the kind of salesperson the candidate would be. The candidate's response would describe how well their priorities align with the company's priorities. What to look for in an answer:

  • Ability to meet set company goals
  • Experience balancing priorities
  • Willingness to align with company values
Example:

"I believe having happy customers can help sales reps complete their sales quotas, so both complement each other. Nonetheless, the company's specific goals and requirements determine which I prioritise."

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