General Interview Q's Flashcards
Tell me about yourself
I’m Sean, my last employer was at OBT and I had several key roles at the organization. My primary role was registrar and my secondary role was managing our boutique which was a marketing and sales arm of the organization. As registrar I was responsible for generating, nurturing, and closing new business and developing relationships with our over 340+ existing account holders yearly. My responsibilities at the boutique included cultivating 200+ new volunteers each year through emailing, calling, and social media marketing as well as training them on our sales process. Additionally I developed relationships with our 3000+ customer base through selling products which generate revenue for OBT. My previous background in grant writing and development is where I developed the nack for effective and engaging written customer communications which helped me to secure funding for our programs. Finally at sprint I was responsible for receiving and closing new business and was a top 10 producer each month for my time there. This was done through consumer and B2B accounts. I also developed people management skills by coaching a team of 5 successful sales reps. I look forward to building a new future getting back into a corporate sales environment with Trovatrip and am excited to hear about all the opportunities you can offer me.
Describe yourself
I’m motivated by results, statistics, and making a measurable difference for my clients. I like to improve my skill set to be better at my job as that will result in higher customer satisfaction and sales for the company.
What do you know about this role/company:
From your website, I have determined that your platform connects trip hosts, travellers, and operators to share authentic travel experiences in a respectful, eco conscious, and inclusive way. It’s my understanding that prospecting will be mainly done through social media platforms, via DMs, and emails to set meetings between account executives and qualified leads who are interested in possibly selling trips in their area.
How do you get organized?
My organization system is really grouped in three buckets (Google calendar or outlook calendar, microsoft to-do’s, and whatever CRM we use. Google calendar or microsoft outlook for meetings, important dates, deadlines, reminders, and follow ups. I use Microsoft to-do’s to prioritize things based on today, short term, medium term, and long term tasks. I make a regular practice of reviewing those tasks in the event that I need to re-prioritize or dedicate more time to something especially if a surprise task drops onto my plate. I use these two systems to break tasks down into bites making them more manageable especially if they are lofty, long term goals. Finally I use our CRM for storing customer information and setting reminders to reach back out to folks who require follow up.
What are your biggest strengths and weaknesses
Concise Communication/Communicator.
I’m an effective communicator and am the sounding horn for multiple parts of our organization. In my previous position as registrar I would frequently communicate complex messages to leads to encourage new business and also repeat business from existing customers, oftentimes to over 340+ accounts each year. This is done verbally in person, through written messages, and over the phone.
Continuous Follow up.
While I prefer to close business at the first opportunity, it’s not always possible which is just a reality of working in a sales environment. In my last position as registrar I was responsible for taking all new leads and closing them. So I’m responsible for the entire sales process. This is oftentimes done through proper lead qualification and multiple follow ups through different formats such as phone, email, and in person. We also used our CRM system to automate reminders so that no account went without communication.
Superior customer experience.
I oftentimes go the extra mile to ensure that my customers are taken care of and that all the information they need has been communicated clearly. This looks like over communicating and ensuring I am reaching customers in multiple formats. My communication style has been proven effective by multiple survey feedbacks which have been received over the years I’ve worked here. Performing 30, 60, and 90 day follow up calls has proved effective for ensuring this quality.
A weakness.
how detail oriented I am, I do find myself getting lost in details sometimes. Though I will say that I have never had a customer that left without every base being covered and every detail being clearly communicated. It’s something that I’ve been working to remedy via organization methods which help me to zoom out at times and see the bigger picture. Things like long term planning help me see the goal of the project instead of just the first steps.
How do you think your current position prepares you for this work
What do you know about sales?
As far as sales goes, for me it’s all about building rapport with your customer. Oftentimes our new customers at OBT stay on with us for a long period of time (some at 10 years or more). We’re working with multiple decision makers including parents and kids there are often lots of emotions being brought into the sale and my job is to answer any questions, understand objections, and continue to build rapport and a relationship with the customer and eventually close their business. These folks are giving us a significant amount of money, some classes cost close to $7,000 for 9 months. As this job oftentimes requires me to build long lasting relationships with my clients, I have made that a natural part of my sales process. In addition to my superior sales process, I have performed many of the Business development rep position’s primary duties such as prospecting, developing, and converting leads to clients with great success, most recently demonstrated by increasing gross profit at my previous employer by 11% over 5 years.
Why do you want this job
I know that I am an effective communicator and can build relationships with most anyone that I meet. I have always applied this approach to my work and it has paid off for me in the results I get. I also really enjoy a sales environment as I find that it pushes me to be the best at what I do. I love selling and have proven results at previous employers to back up my claims. I’m a concise communicator, I provide superior customer service, and I continuously follow up with leads. I want the job because I think my experiences would allow me to be a top producer and could help your company produce more revenue.
Why are you looking for work
I’m really looking for a new challenge and beginning a new chapter in my life. Within my organization there is not a lot of mobility as my department only has a total of 4 employees. One position I’m not qualified for as I’m not a dancer and the other two positions are occupied by employees who have been here for nearly 10 years. To expand on that, I went from sales to non-profit and back to sales for a few reasons. I REALLY enjoy sales and was good at it which can be reflected by my record at Sprint. I still felt passionately about music and art and decided that I could take my money making ability to a non-profit so that I could make a ton of money for my community. As stated before, I’ve been a little disappointed in the lack of career growth and also income, even though I did do quite a bit of prospecting work, rapport building, and relationship building during my time there. I want to re-immerse myself in a corporate environment where there is the ability to move up or laterally. Also, I believe in your mission and the intent behind your ethical tourism charge.
How Do You Qualify Leads?
I ask open-ended sales qualification questions to determine whether a prospect could become a high-quality lead.
Budget Authority Need Timeline
-Tell me a little about some of the problems your business is currently experiencing.
- What does solving this problem mean to you personally? What do you stand to gain if the issue was solved? What do you stand to lose if it goes unresolved?
- Do you have a budget allocated for this project? If not, when do you expect to have one?
- When do you need a solution in place?
- How would the decision process work with an offering like this? What would be your role in the process, and the roles of others on the decision team?
How Do You Prepare Before Reaching Out to a Prospect?
As a jobseeker, I have spent a lot of time recently on Linkedin networking with folks from many different companies. I have found Linkedin to be the most effective way to get your foot in the door with people. It’s equally valuable in finding out information about your prospect, and their network, so you can leverage that information on a sales call.
Social networks such as Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook are really helpful for finding out more personal information about prospects and creating organic relationships with them. Interacting with a prospect’s posts or content, responding to stories, do things which are helpful to them and start to demonstrate your value (sharing posts, tagging people in their posts to boost engagement with their content, engage thoughtfully with content), all to build a relationship is key. Lastly subscribing to their mailing lists, other content they produce via a website or blog, joining groups which they are part of.
How would you reach out to someone on social media?
Consider engaging the prospect with a thought provoking question about something you both have in common (I noticed your post about reducing single use plastics, I have been using a reusable water bottle for years now, what ways have you changed your lifestyle to avoid single use plastics?), Open conversation by raving about a post they have made recently (I love this photo set you posted of your pugs on the beach in Bali, how long did it take to get them to stay still like that?), ask for tips or advice (I noticed that a lot of your posts are from Costa Rica, what’s your favorite spot to visit there? OR I noticed that you have been getting tons of engagement with your posts recently, what’s your secret?), (you always post the most to die for food content from your travels, could you please tell me how you find these places?) Additionally, using any of these tactics on stories would be ideal since immediate engagement is encouraged.
If you really want to get into the finer points, I think it’s super important to check to determine that company values and mission align with the prospect before reaching out.
“Pretend I’m a prospect. Describe our product or service to me.”
Trovatrip offers a platform and marketplace that brings together trip hosts, travelers, and tour operators to create authentic travel experiences.
As we discussed earlier “insert influencer” some of your current problems are that you are having issues with securing new brand partnerships, issues understanding the motivations of your followers, and also bumping up from the mid-tier to macro level of followers. These problems are probably costing you money and preventing you from reaching a more diverse market. Trovatrip has been developing a unique business model for the past 7 years. You’ll have the opportunity to host an intimate trip with some of your largest followers to some of the most unique destinations in the world. Hosting this trip will allow you to connect directly with your followers to gain a more in-depth understanding of their motivations and why they follow you, the opportunity to produce some fresh, unique, and very eyecatching content to attract new potential brand partnerships, and increase your total number of followers to help you bump up to the macro or mega level of influencing. Our platform offers an itinerary marketplace of vetted tour operators, marketing tools to help you maximize your revenue, booking management to remove the stress of finding group accommodations, meals, etc and more. Our client reviews show that they’re happier, less stressed, and enjoy our “all included” trips over a traditional travel experience because they provide greater value. You can see reviews and client posts on socials here (link to user generated content). Let me set up a meeting between you and my account executive so we can discuss making folks who attend your trips just as satisfied.
Closing Options
Our client reviews show that they’re happier, less stressed, and enjoy our “all included” trips over a traditional travel experience because they provide greater value. You can see reviews and client posts on socials here (link to user generated content). Let me set up a meeting between you and my account executive so we can discuss making folks who attend your trips just as satisfied. (Testimonial and Assumptive)
Based on our discussion, it seems that our product can solve problems AB and C for you and save you some significant money. In fact, we solved the same problems for your friend Julie and you can see her success based on her posts here (link to client social page). When can we set a quick meeting for you to discuss in depth options with our account executive so you can start saving and succeeding ASAP? (summary and referral)
How would you spend the money that comes from a 10% increase in your revenue? We want to start putting more money in your pocket today. I’ve set up a tentative quick meeting between our account executive and you on [date, date, or date]. Please let me know which date is best. They’re looking forward meeting you! (value and Assumptive)
What experience do you have using marketing automation platforms?
I have used Mail Chimp, Send in Blue, Salesforce, Facebooks and Instagrams timed posing feature primarily. Send in blue was the one which was used at OBT for registration purposes. I used it to send yearly renewals. If customers didn’t open the email, they were sent a follow up email. If they clicked certain links in the email, but not others they moved on in the funnell and sent a different email as a reminder to fill out any missing information. If they never opened the original email or the follow up they were added to a separate list for long term follow up. I used Mail Chimp with the gallery. Once we had collected their information at gallery events, they were added to our mailing list, and were sent targeted emails based on how they interacted with our marketing emails. Ultimately the goal was to drive prospects further in the funnell so that we knew they were interested in our product and were the most likely to buy pieces or become donors.
What experience do you have with social media marketing?
I certainly have experience in this area. At one point when I was working with Cannon Beach gallery, I was in charge of their facebook marketing and creating posts that drove customers and potential donors to our events. I also started the Instagram account which is still in use today for the gallery. My efforts to spread the word on Facebook and Instagram about our gallery openings helped to generate some of the highest revenue producing events for the gallery at the time. This also resulted in new leads coming to the business who could then be prospected for potentially becoming a donor or buying high end pieces.
