Introduction:
A VP (Vice president) in sales is responsible for managing and building the sales force of the company. They monitor the market to identify opportunities and threats to the business. They analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the company so as to direct the sales force towards the profitability of the company. Here, let’s know about the Questions to Ask Your VP of Sales.
The sales VP is one of the most strategic and important positions in any company and you want the most suitable fit for it. Your sales VP will be the builder of your future sales team. If you choose the wrong sales VP, the future sales team will also be wrong, and you may lose big business opportunities.
The main aim of asking questions to the VP of your company is that you need to see if he or she is a good researcher and observer of consumer behavior in the market. A VP should have a strong grasp of selling methods and customer retention skills. Other than this, it is necessary to judge the candidate on the basis of communication, interpersonal, and relationship skills. Before deciding the questions, we need to look into the traits that a VP needs to have.
Qualities of a sales force leader-
People management: The VP of the sales force must be a great guide and mentor. Through his/her guidance, the most productive and efficient working culture should be built. You need someone who can cultivate the talents of average, medium, and first-class individuals. The management of the VP should be centered on achieving the target revenue for the company.
Customer management- To achieve the financial results of the company VP needs to work in close association with their customer. And for doing this it is necessary to segment the customers on the basis of their purchase behavior. On the various buying stages of the customer journey, different strategies are required to engage them with the brand. VP can only optimize the sales revenue if they have a proper understanding of market potential and competitors.
Business management: The resources and channels involved in generating sales should be used judiciously. Any VP should know the tools of analysis to predict the malfunction areas using data, hence improving the operational and infrastructural efficiencies. Exploiting the appropriate channels, having the right number of sales individuals in different regions, and not wasting unnecessary resources are crucial to revenue growth and success.
Here is the list of some of the best questions that you should ask a VP of sales-
- Why do you want to join us? What do you know about our company?
Start asking this question so that you understand what made a candidate join your company. Check if he or she is really connected with your company. Because they cannot devise any sales strategy till they are interested in and know about your company deeply.
- What should be the size of our sales force team? How many more members do we need to add?
His answer to this question will show his strategic management skills. Ask him the exact number of business development members, account executives, sales development representatives, etc. that are required and that are ideal for your company.
- Can you tell me about some of the major deals that you lost and what you learned from them?
The answer to this question will tell you the ability of the candidate to identify mistakes and mend them for the next time. Failures are not the problem unless we ignore them and don’t learn anything from them.
- Give me some good team management experience. How did you manage the team in previous organizations?
You will get a glimpse of the exact leadership and strategic traits he or she is holding. You can easily fetch out different ways in which the interviewee reacts in a different situation.
- Please explain some of your top performing marketing campaigns to generate sales?
It is necessary to choose the right platform with an appropriate marketing strategy if you want to generate sales. Here you have to see if the candidate has a proper understanding of the power of each and every platform and type of campaign to get the best quality leads.
- How can we combine our sales and marketing work together for maximum growth?
You will understand the candidate’s understanding of sales and marketing automation. How to create an effective sales funnel and automate the marketing actions for prospects, leads, and hot leads.
- How do the sales team and client management team work in tandem with each other?
No theories and bookish language. Just look at his or her practical approach. You have to judge him based on his knowledge of handling and understanding the customer lifecycle. Try to ask questions from the perspective of the future strategy of your company.
- Please sell me this product from my company.
Now you are the CEO or top-level manager of your company. If a candidate can convince you, then he or she is the perfect fit for your company. Monitor his communication skills, tone of voice, and aggression with a passion for selling.
- How can you create a positive, productive, and winning atmosphere in the company?
This answer will show his or her attitude towards failure and success. It is necessary to know the capability of a candidate to create an extremely focused, high-performing sales team within the company.
- Give me the list of all the sales tools that you have used in your previous company.
To comprehend the technology and software handling capabilities of the candidate, you need to understand all the advanced and basic software used by him in his previous company. What you want in your company is high efficiency and performance.
- What results are we going to see in the next 6 months in the sales department after we hire you?
This question will give you an understanding of the candidate regarding KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) that are required in sales. See if those KPIs he is talking about relate to your company in some way or not. The answer to this question will give candidates analytical and numerical skills in handling sales work.
- What will be your strategy for setting up a sales quota for our company?
This question can be used to judge the data management capabilities of a candidate. You need to see that the candidate divides the goals at the team level and the individual level.
- If you have to appoint someone to join our sales team from your network, whom will you choose?
You can see his or her interviewing and judging capabilities. In the future, the VP of your team will hire the salespeople. So he or she must be an intellectual to sift out the right individual to create a team of efficient, high-performing salespeople.
- What are the ways by which you break the fears and uncertainties in the prospects that are skeptical for our business?
The answer to this question will show the client objection handling capacity of your candidate. This will also show his pitching and closing skills. If you are a startup, then this question is one of the most important questions for you because there are a lot of doubts in prospects’ minds regarding your company at the initial stage. You have to see how tactfully he can pitch the functionality of company products against the urgent needs of a client.
- Describe your daily routine.
Just fetch out the prioritization skills of the candidate. You have to see if they can give priority to the right things at the right time. It is necessary to divide the time slots of your day for different tasks. You need to check how the candidate shifts their priority about growth.
- Can you describe the sales rep that was toughest to deal with?
Here you will see the toughest situation the candidate has been through in the past. Now let’s see if your company also had the same type of difficulties in handling the client. From this answer, you can make out if the candidate can handle various interpersonal and managerial problems, and also what they are learning from this experience.
- Can you explain some of the special tactics that our company can use to beat the competitors?
This question will give candidates an understanding of the competitive positioning of your company. Here you will understand the adaptability of candidates to competitive shifts in the industry. Once the candidate answers competitors, you will understand if his perception of our competitors is right or not. Remember that a person who cannot tell the name of the right competitors in the market also cannot make the right strategies for your company.
Conclusion-
The sales VP is going to be the recruiter and manager of your sales team. He/she should have the proper command of the business and should be adaptable to changing technology, competition, and other scenarios in the market. The sales VP should have the attitude of courage, commitment, and confidence that develops strong bonds and connections with the customer base. For this, the EQ (Emotional Quotient) of the VP needs to be very high. He or she should think like a strategic business leader who can adapt and change in different business situations to come out of a crisis trench and into profitability.
