milkyway

Account Executive

Contributor

Fire Starter

Interview question

How would you respond if asked about your previous year's attainment knowing it was under 70% and currently on a PIP?

Do you tell them the truth or do you fib a little and say its close to 100% than it really is?

Keep in mind you really need the job because there is a small risk of not getting off plan.

Response to attainment

Attached poll

Tell the truth and that you're on plan Fib and say its over 100% Really fib and say its over 125% Try and defer (explain please)

*Voting in this poll no longer yields commission.

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32 comments

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oldcloser

Arsonist

💀

92% and it was the toughest year I’ve experienced. I got there by selling {weird creative deals like this} and {out of the box deals like that}. Had it not been for my innate ability to solve, I’d have been at 62% where the rest of them are.

DionysusClytemNe

Valued Contributor

Account Executive

This answer ^

Founding BDR

Yeah this is a great answer

milkyway

Contributor

Account Executive

I really like this approach, thanks!

DungeonsNDemos

Big Shot

Rolling 20's all day

Are you me? Haha this was my year

oldcloser

Arsonist

💀

Same right here- that answer didn’t just come out of nowhere. I lived it.

wwwb2b

Executive

Tech & AI Advisor

well said

oldcloser

Arsonist

💀

Please upvote, would ya? There’s a badge that comes with 50 likes and I want it 😁

wwwb2b

Executive

Tech & AI Advisor

got you with the 43rd

oldcloser

Arsonist

💀

My dude. ✊

Pachacuti

Politicker

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

“I was on track to exceed quota but some of the global economic trends hit my clients and I ended the year at 70%”.

Own it but have a great story to explain it.

jefe

Arsonist

🍁

Good talk track. Delivery will be key

milkyway

Contributor

Account Executive

I always try and be honest and I like this take. Thanks

As a hiring sales manager, I personally would not like this answer. Management is keenly aware of economic trends, so we look for those that can get creative to close in spite of what is happening in the world.

Gasty

Notable Contributor

War Room Community Manager

Tricky one;

You can always say that you were hitting targets, not like going crazy over them or something.

I don’t think telling interviewers that you underachieve will help. Play it smart, talk about the brands you worked with, the pipeline of deals, the work style and not the attainment of target in a direct way when asked, try to build a great story I’d say.

milkyway

Contributor

Account Executive

Good advice, thanks!

medhardwaredr

Politicker

Director of Sales NA

This is a great question. Honestly if you’re confident enough be honest, however the way you handle explaining it is key. Tell them what you did to overcome this shortfall (forecast/gap analysis). What did you do to try and fill the gap?
Some people truly value this some however will disqualify you immediately if you missed by that much so do your research on the interviewer and know your audience. Good luck!

milkyway

Contributor

Account Executive

Solid advice here. Thank you!

Founding BDR

Don’t outright lie but maybe go into detail how you changed and adapted the strategy to match the economic buying climate. If you reeeeeally stretch the truth it could come back to bite you in the ass come the reference check

milkyway

Contributor

Account Executive

That's what I was curious about. Can employers check that kind of stuff if they don't know someone at the company?

medhardwaredr

Politicker

Director of Sales NA

No they can’t officially check, however just like you and I as sales people dig for info, so can anyone. It’s as simple as looking someone up on LinkedIn at your old company and asking them how you did. It’s significantly easier than you think

TomRice

Head Of Sales

Redirect the question to the metric that matters most - How you stack ranked against your peers. Top 3 / Top 10% etc., whatever you feel most comfortable with. Then if they insist on knowing your attainment, you tell the truth…and insist that’s a major contributing factor in your decision to look elsewhere.

CRAG112

Valued Contributor

Account Executive

It’s unlikely anyone will ever truly know. Say what you need to say to sell them on hiring you 🤷‍♂️

MTW

Opinionated

Sales Director

You have to provide context.

Context on your local team
Context on similarly tenured reps
Context segment

Eg I hit 97% one year, but that was 3rd on my team, 11th/65 I’m the nation and with only 6 months in territory. Top 10 had all been at least 2 yrs in territory

This is the absolute best way to answer.

Kosta_Konfucius

Politicker

ERP Sales

Is there a time where you were over goal, either a quarter or month where you can talk in detail about your success

milkyway

Contributor

Account Executive

Yes, I was actually on the rising stars list for H1, then summer hit and deals started stalling and I got desperate and prospects felt that.

oldcloser

Arsonist

💀

This kind of honest self reflection will serve you very well.

Armageddon

Opinionated

Enterprise Account Executive

definitely side step this, you will immediately be DQ'd. I do however thing it can be powerful to talk about a time when you were on a plan and battled your way off of it during an interview

EdgarMint

Good Citizen

Account Executive

Don’t openly admit you’re bad at sales when interviewing for a sales job. I’m close to a CRO who says that “everyone is presidents club during the interview.”

playerone

Politicker

Regional Account Executive

Better to be honest about your ability than switch jobs to have the same problems follow you there

GreenSide

Politicker

Sales manager

What is the rest of the team’s attainment? If you can compare yourself positively against them, then you can use that as your answer. Any hiring manager worth working for understands that not all quotas (or territories) are created equal.