Advertising Account Executive Question:

If you’ve been working in sales for any amount of time, there is a high likelihood that you failed to meet a quota or benchmark of one type or another. So the interviewer is not expecting you to claim that you’ve never missed a goal. Instead, they want to gain insight into how and why you missed a target, what you learned from the experience and how you applied what you learned to avoid repeating the failure. Make sure your answer demonstrates professional development on your part. If you do have a perfect track record, be ready to discuss any near misses and the strategies you have employed to avoid them.