TSR Interview Questions & Answers

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Cold calling is soliciting potential customers who were not expecting to speak with you. The term 'cold' refers to the fact that you haven't laid any groundwork for your call. If you are calling prospects who have already expressed interest in your products, such as a prospect who fills out a postcard or website request for information, then it's referred to as 'warm calling.'

This is a favorite sales interview question for trainee-type sales jobs. Sales interview answers to the "Sell me this product" question should clearly show your ability to uncover the customer's needs and wants, to select key features of the product and to sell the benefits of these features to the customer.

The benefits should meet the customer's needs and make the sale. A basic rule of selling is to sell the benefits the customer will gain from the product rather than the list of features the product has.

Say that in telesales, especially with cold calling, you should expect a high percentage of rejection. Explain that you never take it personally and simply move on to the next customer. Say that confidence is a vital asset in sales.

Obviously the answer has to be yes. Go on to explain that you enjoy the challenge of calling a new person and trying to close a deal. Say that cold calling can teach you sales skills that can be transferred effectively to when you call previous customers. You can quickly learn to become better at sales when cold calling.

If you are new to this career you can expect this question early on. This is where your preparation comes into play. Provide an answer that provides some personal reasons why you want to work in telesales and give a reason that is relevant to the specific job. If, for example, the job is with an insurance company, say that you are keen to enter the insurance industry because it is an interesting and constantly developing market.

Following tips can help in make a call successful :
1. Make sure the first impression of the call is good as it is very important for the rest of the call.
2. Be professional yet courteous.
3. It is very important to be a dedicated to a call, the opposite can be sensed very easily on a call.
4. Clear the objective of the call before you make one.
5. At times it is important not to sell over the phone instead connect with the customer and make the deal in the business place.

Any time you are asked to provide a negative trait about the position you are applying for, you should tread carefully. An example of an answer that effectively resolves the question is, "Walking away from a sale when I know the prospect could benefit from our solution." This answer shows you know that there are times where you need to walk away and show that you understand that sales is about solutions.

Following are the ways of telemarketing fraud :
1. Charity purpose.
2. Asking for advance payment or fee.
3. Fraud by over capturing increased payments.
4. Bank related frauds.
5. Lottery
6. False representation of office supplies.
7. False verification calls.

When attending a client or customer on phone some basic telephone etiquettes should be followed. Following are telephone etiquettes that should be followed by a tele caller :

1. Be quick in answering the phone.
2. Always make sure that the customer is greeted well.
3. When putting a line on hold take permission prior to it from the customer on the other end.
4. When transferring a call make sure you do it the right way and make it polite.
5. At the end of a call make sure that the customer is satisfied and does not have any query or doubt in mind.

This is where you demonstrate your understanding of the entire structure of selling. Focus on your view of selling as a professional service directed at showing the customer how your product or service meets their needs and improves their lives.

Prepare a concise sales interview answer that highlights your knowledge of how to communicate and build rapport with a client, ask the right questions, identify and understanding the client's values, motives and needs, offer the appropriate solutions, handle objections and close the sale. Include adapting to different personality types and using persuasive communication skills.

My goal is to have a very short learning curve on this particular product portfolio. By doing this, I can aim to be among the top performers in the next 3-6 months. After showing consistent results for another 6 to 12 months, I will aim to become a team leader in the same company because I believe that growing with the same company will give me a strong foundation for my career growth.

Any interview questions about your discomfort in sales should always be responded to with a "no" without any elaboration. If you are uncomfortable, reevaluate whether the position is right for you.

Turning a cold call into lead is not easy but it is not impossible either. If handled with the right motivation and skill a cold call can be changed into a lead. It can actually be put down as the way that cold calls are perceived by the person making the call and the fear of failure. The key should be to back track for a moment and then offer what you have when you have completely understood what is the landscape of the situation. Always step in with a positive attitude as for this situation it is very important.

Here are a list of problems which are associated with paying per appointment :
1. Poor quality.
2. Rate of conversion is low.
3. Requirements for more meetings is not solved.
4. High competition.
5. Suppliers face a lot of problems.
6. Quality is deteriorated by quantity.

There are a few disclosures which are must before a person engages in telemarketing. Listed below are a list of issues that need to be disclosed.

1. Disclosure of identity on behalf of which the call is made at the starting of the call in a polite and fair manner.
2. There should be a proper description of the product or business being put forward.
3. The price and terms and conditions related to the product should be made very clear.
4. Any other information related to the product prescribed should be conveyed.

Sales is partly a skill and partly an art. You should answer that you should know the product well enough to be able to answer most questions about it. You should also be a good listener and be able to read a person's mood and intention. You also need to be patient and not allow rejection to get you down.

Unwanted marketing is a crime by the law but one can opt out of it by filing a petition or a request in court. Only some firms are exempted from this law. To avoid unwanted marketing one can file a request in the court to be in the list of numbers which are not to be called by telemarketing firms. I personally think that one should not barge into somebody's private space causing any form of inconvenience to the end user. Telemarketing should be handled more responsibly to avoid such situations and maintain standards of marketing and not degrade them.

This can be a very difficult question to answer. It is designed to trip people up who are not too keen on sales specifically. In sales a good answer would be that you sometimes dislike having to abandon a lead even when it starts to become clear that they will not commit. This answer should indicate that you are eager to close deals and pursue harder markets.

I think there are interesting points to both types of sales. I like a longer sales cycle, as it gives me time to get to know the customer, and spend time educating them about the benefits and uses of the product. Shorter cycles are more intense, since you typically don't have the luxury of too much personal knowledge of the customer, or the time for lengthy explanations. You need to hit the high priority topics rather quickly.

B2B stands for business to business which describes commercial transactions between businesses such as between a web development firm and a reseller. Such transactions are big in volume and thus b2b is flourishing today the most. B2C stands for business to consumer and describes transaction between business and consumer. It can be best explained by defining retail in which tangible goods are sold from stores or fixed location directly to the consumer. B2G stands for business to government and is a derivative of B2B and is described as transaction between business and government in which a business entity supplies services or goods to a government sector or firm and can be stated as public sector marketing.

If you are currently working, let the interviewer know and inform him that you will be resigning from there which may take a week or so to wrap up. Do not delay the call by long as this may give a wrong impression also do not convey that you will join on the next working day just to leave an impression when you have some chores left to be attended which will delay the process. Be honest and straight as most of the firms are familiar with the procedure of resignation and will grant the time to join in with them when you have been relieved from your duty from your last working place.

This very ambitious question is designed to test the candidate. If you have a history in sales you may well have some good ideas, so share these and say that you will be able to see how your experience and knowledge can be used to enhance processes when you start in the role. If you have no experience, say that your enthusiasm and desire to learn from a great team will help the team to become more effective.

Marketing can be broadly classified into two categories :
1. B2B - business to business
2. B2C - business to customer

The categories can be further classified into four categories based on the process carried out which are :
Generating lead - Process of identifying a potential customer to make sale.
Sales - Selling out products
Outbound - Calls are made to the customers.
Inbound - Calls are received from the customer.

When making a call to a customer the call should be directed in the following way.
1. Greet customer politely.
2. Identify yourself to the customer.
3. Make clear the objective of the call
Who you are calling for?
What you are calling for?
4. Give complete information of the product or business you are promoting.
5. Make the customer understand how the objective of the call can be beneficial for him/her.
6. Close in the call with a warm end note.

Telemarketing is termed deceptive when misleading information of product is conveyed to attract customers. Deceptive telemarketing can be avoided by taking the following measures :

1. No telemarketer should represent a product with false or misleading information.
2. Lottery, chance and skill based offers should not be offered where :
► Delivery of prize is conditional and is not conveyed at beggining.
► Information about the prize is incorrect.
3. Offering products at no cost or less price when based on terms and conditions not specified before purchase should not be carried out.
4. Selling products at a very high rate.