Generic sales presentation for Interview

So today I was thrown a curveball as I have to do a sales presentation part of the interview for a SaaS AE role, however this is the first time a company at said make up your own product / solution and present it.

In the past I was given something to present with the company, whether documentation or a sandbox to demo, then went from there.

Any others encounter this before as it seems like the whole "sell this pen" type of setup. 
🏙 Corporate Experiences
🤝 Interviewing/Offer
📳 SaaS
7
Jewcan_Sam81
Politicker
5
Account Executive
This one time i had to do a product presentation, so I made a fake company that i called "The Paw Police" that i was pitching their product to. The deck basically had 4 slides selling their product, each page had a picture of a cute puppy wearing a police officer uniform and ran through the deck as if this was an actual sales presentation.

Got the job two days later. Everyone loves puppies, and this is 100% a true story.
Diablo
Politicker
1
Sr. AE
Oh my! That was a great idea. Thanks for sharing.
Sunbunny31
Politicker
0
Sr Sales Executive 🐰
I was going to suggest that IYNFYL set up him/herself as the product/solution for sale, but I like this better.
CuriousFox
WR Officer
4
🦊
I have not. It seems like such a waste of time to me, but apparently it happens often.
Sunbunny31
Politicker
0
Sr Sales Executive 🐰
It does.  It became part of the standard hiring process at my former employer, even for lateral/departmental moves, because they had to use the same process to avoid being perceived as having unevenly applied standards for candidates.
TheOverTaker
Politicker
3
Senior Account Executive
I've had to do that before. My only instructions were "create a sales deck like you would have for your last job". I did it and got the job. Its a weird ask but I think it's just to challenge you creatively and see if you can produce a basic deck
CharmingSalesGal
Politicker
1
Account Executive
Just had a similar situation and searched tirelessly for some insight in the WR. Thankfully I found @poweredbycaffeine 's comment on this ( https://bravado.co/war-room/posts/should-mock-demos-be-apart-of-the-interview-process/comments/189411) post super valuable and insightful.

One thing I sometimes forget/struggle to remember is that the interviewer just wants to see your style and how you handle potentially uncomfortable situations (like pitching a fake product/solution).
Blackwargreymon
Politicker
1
MDR
I have not. It seems like such a waste of time to me, but apparently it happens often.
IYNFYL
Politicker
0
Enterprise SaaS AE
Didn’t follow through with the interview after trying to confirm the base which was $20k less than the recruiter told me so I bounced
Error32
Politicker
0
ISR
My advice is to just work with your individual SDRs and don’t open the big can of worms.
Clashingsoulsspell
Politicker
0
ISR
Exactly. Lead by example. Help the ones who work with you. Results will help make your case.
3

Interview Demo?

Question
13
15

IMO, having someone do a presentation on a product during an interview is dumb. Thoughts?

Question
17
16
Members only

Should Mock Demos be apart of the interview process?

Question
25
Mock Demos in an interview?
47% Yes
53% No
217 people voted