Pottery Barn Interview Flashcards
So tell me about yourself….
Ya absolutely! Can I ask how in depth you’d like me to go through?
-grew up in San Diego
- studied soc & played volleyball at UCLA
- Have always been a strong communicator and wanted to further develop my presentation and client management skills, so I got into sales
- went through one of the best/well known sales training programs out there - was the only BDR in history to be promoted in 9 months
-then from there spent the majority of my career at Braze - where I fell in love with marketing and the creative process
- I advised top marketing leaders at brands like goop, Alo yoga, houzz, goodeggs, etc. on their email, sms, push, and web campagaigns.
- After almost 4 years there and a successful IPO, I then moved to multiverse.
- I am passionate about creating diverse and equitable workplaces, and learned a ton working for and managing a team at a mission driven start up
- But I missed the eCommerce/retail marketing space, which has lead me to look for a new full time role in the space.
Why do you want to work here? Why project management specifically?
The role: The part of sales I loved most was owning large scale projects. I am meticulously organized and my background as a team captain has prepared me well for a role where I’ll be a liaison between teams. I am eager to get my toes wet and learn about and work with every part of the marketing and creative team.
The company: My mom flips houses and is an amateur interior designer. I grew up loving home decor and have always been inspired by pottery barns ability to own the space, appeal to everyone, and stay on top of trends. I am also super impressed with your companies values. Almost everyone I look at on Linkedin has been with the company for years, which shows that there is strong internal growth opportunities and training and development which is the number one thing I am looking for at this point in my career.
Why should we hire you? 3 greatest strengths?
- Mastered the art of onboarding
- Hard worker / persistence
- Great communicator & team player
Why should we hire someone without real creative PM experience? Sales is different
There are a ton of parallels in project management and sales: you have an idea, you have a deadline, you have a budget you need to work within, and a large amount of internal and external teams to work with to get there.
In my 6 years as an enterprise sales rep, I conducted hundreds of external sales cycles, internal projects, and client projects.
As an example, at Multiverse, I worked a $1M+ deal with a company called GXO. For this deal, we had a goal to launch 3,000 apprentices across their employee base. So I created a robust project plan, which included getting creat
Whats one area you’ve been given negative feedback on? Greatest weakness?
I’m a quality person. I will take however long it takes to get things worded just right, and in sales, specifically on the cold outreach side of the house, I quickly had to learn to balance quality and quantity if I wanted to not work until midnight every night.
Can you give us an example of a complex project you’ve managed from start to finish? What were the outcomes?
- Detail the project scope, objectives, and your role
- Describe your approach to planning, execution, and closing
- Highlight the results and learnings
Tell me about a time that you’ve failed
- At braze I actually lost the deal with Goop. It was a long and competitive deal cycle, and in the final hour our competitor dropped the offered them a deal half the cost of what we were offering and they went for it. It was a HUGE learning curve, and after every deal we do a 1 hr retrospective presentation in front of all of leadership. In this, I came up with a new plan for how we’d mitigate these risks in the future, and ended up winning a deal just a month or so later against the same competitor, despite us being twice as expensive.
- built stronger relationships with all leaders, (procurement, finance, etc. not just marketers)
- proactively suggested use cases (for example action triggered messaging) we knew our competitors could not do
What do you know about Pottery Barn?
How do you manage a project when there’s little to no existing structure in place?
- Establish processes and direction
- Engage and align team members
- Implement tools or methodologies
Describe your process for prioritizing project tasks and managing your time effectively.
- Differentiate between urgent and important tasks
- Use time management tools or techniques
- Provide an example of prioritization importance
What strategies do you use for managing client relationships, especially during difficult situations?
- Maintain open and consistent communication
- Problem-solving with a difficult client
- Understand client needs and expectations
How do you measure the success of projects you’ve managed in the past?
- Use metrics or KPIs to assess success
- Incorporate feedback into improvement
- Share outcomes or successes
Explain how you balance team management with achieving sales targets in a project management role.
- Delegate and empower your team
- Share time management practices
- Highlight success in team management and sales
Tell us about your involvement with initiatives like ‘Tech for Black Founders’. What was your approach and what were the results?
- Goals and vision of the initiative
- Steps taken to implement
- Impact and results with examples
What has been your experience in CRM consultancy and how have you customized CRM strategies for different clients?
- Customize CRM strategies for different clients
- Improve customer engagement using CRM
- Increase conversions or ROI
How do you ensure the effectiveness of your cross-channel communication strategies?
- Evaluate communication effectiveness
- Improve strategy and results
- Importance of integrated marketing communications
What is your approach to managing budgets for creative projects?
- Forecast and track expenses
- Optimize budget without quality sacrifice
- Use budget management tools or methods
How do you handle a project that does not go according to plan?
- Flexibility and adaptability
- Address deviations from the plan
- Learning experience for future improvement
With the constant evolution of project management tools and techniques, how do you stay updated and integrate new advancements into your work?
- Continuous learning and development
- Engage with resources for trends
- Implement new tools or techniques
Given your proficiency with various technical tools, can you give examples of how you have used these to deliver successful projects?
- Use tools to enhance project outcomes
- Benefits of tools in efficiency and data analysis
- Certifications or training for tool mastery
What project management methodologies are you most familiar with, and how do you determine which to use for a project?
- Experience with methodologies
- Select and tailor methodologies to project needs
- Methodology adaptation for project success
How do you manage and motivate your team during significant organizational changes or project pivots?
- Communication strategy during change
- Support systems for the team
- Positive outcomes from change
Can you talk about a time when you had to deal with conflict within your project team? How did you handle it?
- Conflict resolution and team cohesion
- Example of resolved conflict
- Positive work environment and team morale
What strategies do you use to ensure clear and effective communication among project stakeholders?
- Specific communication channels
- Importance of feedback loops and updates
- Effective communication leading to success
How do you manage stakeholder expectations, particularly when they are not aligned with the project’s progress or outcomes?
- Align stakeholder expectations with project realities
- Handle differing opinions among stakeholders
- Successfully managed expectations
Discuss your approach to risk management in projects. Can you give an example of how you identified and mitigated a potential risk?
- Identify potential risks
- Analyze and prioritize risks
- Mitigate risks with an example
With your background in sociology, how do you leverage that knowledge in project management and team dynamics?
- Understand social dynamics for team and stakeholder management
- Anticipate team and client needs
- Sociology knowledge in project context
How do you handle project deadlines? Tell me about a time you worked on a project/deal that went past a deadline and why?
How do you prioritize tasks and mitigate risks when you’re juggling multiple projects
Here are my 6 projects I am working on
Break them down into Sprints & detailed project plans: Break down the project into small, manageable iterations (sprints), with deliverables at the end of each iteration.
Have weekly or daily stand ups with clients on progress.
Weekly/daily meetings with sales leaderships were we’d think through risks together using MEDDIC, would apply a similar structure in PM
Post Sprint or post project Retrospectives: After each sprint, review what went well and what could be improved (sprint retrospective) to continuously refine the creative process.
