chubbybunny

Sales Development Representative

Interview Question - Curious How You Would Response

Around the middle of the quarter you lose 2 bigger deals and this puts you off track to hitting your targets. What would be one or two initiatives you'll implement? Tell us why you have selected these initiatives and what you expect the outcome of them would be.

📈 Closing

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fidelcashflow

Catalyst

Account Executive

Here's a post i saw that basically gives you the answer:
In my last quarter at (redacted) I was pacing to miss quota for the first time ever.
So I did an audit of all the deals I lost the prior 6 months.
I looked at Gong data, listened to calls, and was able to spot 4 key reasons that those deals fell through.
Here were my self-diagnosed biggest skill gaps, and how I solved them.
1. Getting to Power
Problem: The number one reason I lost deals is I lost my discipline when it comes to getting to power. Last year I got away with closing deals without power involved, in this market If you are not at power you don’t have a deal.Solution: I spot-check all of my open deals. If I wasn't at power I looped in leadership to help me get there.
2. Actively Seeking Risk
Problem: I stopped asking those really hard questions. “What could get in the way of this deal,” “are you evaluating anyone else,” “where is the budget going to come from to fund this project.”Solution: I listened to calls from BLANK and BLANK who are two of the very best at asking the hard questions.
3. Multi-threading
Problem: I was single-threaded in a lot of the deals I lost. That is just lazy selling. Solution: I sent value-additive content to new people at all of my top accounts. I also started ensuring I am talking to at LEAST 3 people before believing a deal is real.
4. Discovery
Problem: My talk time has gone up and my question rate has gone down. This means I’m over-pitching, not doing enough disco, and losing interest.Solution: I recommitted to my mantra, two ears one mouth, I have it tattooed on my arm for a reason :)
I dug in, worked my ass off, closed the gaps.The result: Over 120% quota attainment

Phillip_J_Fry

Opinionated

Director of Revenue

You're hired!

jefe

Arsonist

🍁

You're too kind, doing the work for him!

poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

☕️

How did you answer that question?

oldcloser

Arsonist

💀

By asking it here. It would seem.

pirate

Big Shot

🦜☠️ Account Executive

Depending on why the deals were lost. For example deal was lost because you didn't have the correct people involved. Lesson: multithread more and how and why

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Nice to see you back! I’ve been a little worried about you. Sounds like you’re getting interviews. When is this one?

CareerInertia

Contributor

Sales Director

One thing I would do is to forecast equitably.

Relying on two major deals to put you through a quarter is not a safe measure.
I was once working for a company that sold a $5k/annum service, and I landed a $500k contract, all signed by the CEO and PO issued - and we still managed to lose it (internal shake-up) - threw of all the numbers we had put together.
But we never depended on that deal. We had our targets split between SMBs and Mid Market clients which are 1) easier to score and 2) help spread the target such that losing a few does not throw much out of balance
The outcome will be to rely on larger spread of clients so we'd rely on a larger number of clients and mitigate risk
2) Evaluate the deals we've lost in the last year and see if we can revive some of them
In one of the companies, my first approaches were to clients that we had sold to and lost in the last 3 years - as long as we could still help them solve a problem that was still relevant. The first one I signed up started at $200 a month, and has grown to $15k a month since the last decade.
They don't need a reintro - they already know you so that part's there, this requires finding out why they left, and if you can uncover enough reason to bring them back on board.

The outcome is that you will (or might) find some clients that would close earlier than what may otherwise be cold.
Great question though.

Retired Sales Professional

Well since I understand how critical each sale is to the growth of the company, I would reevaluate the reason behind the lose, implement steps to overcome any objections that might have cause the lost, implement what has been learned and close on the sale. In sales no doesn't mean NO, it just means you have yet to show me why it makes business sense to go with your service or buy you product.
Ex: Hello, Mr. Anderson in our previous conversation we discussed a package which I belive would fit your companies needs, you were clear to point out why the package would not work, I listened intently to what you were asking for and put together what is call a partner package which would not only meet your needs but will assure incremental revenue growth while making sure to give you optimum control over real time information throughout your company. Would you like to hear more?

Pachacuti

Politicker

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

You answer it by not answering it. And what I mean is that you don’t tell them 1-2 initiatives, you focus on Sales 101 things - pipeline movement, 3-5x funnel, etc. if you’re focused on those basics, losing 1-2 big deals shouldn’t have a huge impact.

Kosta_Konfucius

Politicker

Sales Rep

So the way I would answer it would be telling a real story how its happen. In Q2 of 2021, I lost two major deals. I did a Review Meeting with my team to discuss what we did wrong and where we can improve, so I can better my skills for the upcoming meetings. This is where I learned we didnt include x stakeholder and we didnt utilize our time in "feedback" meetings well. Knowing this I made these changes leading to me finishign x% of quota Q2

GDO

Politicker

BDM

Why were these deals lost?

Justatitle

Big Shot

Account Executive

pipeline eases all anxiety, you would mention that deals get lost it's part of the profession, most organizations are built off of a 20-30% close win rate. Just because 2 larger deals were lost doesn't mean pipeline is gone.

wolfofmiami

Opinionated

-6

🐺

“I wouldn’t implement anything, bc I don’t lose 2 big deals in a row, 1 tops, even then that’s a stretch. I don’t lose, I don’t miss numbers. Why would you a hire candidate that thinks they’re gonna lose out on deals and miss quota vs a guy like me that knows he’s gonna hit his number and even exceed it?”

poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

☕️

What a fucking awful answer.

wolfofmiami

Opinionated

-3

🐺

HAHAHAHA

Pachacuti

Politicker

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

You’re young and don’t have much experience with large deals and multi-year sales cycles do you? You eventually lose deals and they can often happen in batches.

wolfofmiami

Opinionated

-4

🐺

I know you do lol I wouldn’t actually say that an interview

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Have you used this? Did it work for you?

wolfofmiami

Opinionated

-5

🐺

No I wouldn’t say that

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

🙄

wolfofmiami

Opinionated

-2

🐺

Don’t give me that look

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

😂. You’re lucky it wasn’t THAT look.

oldcloser

Arsonist

💀

Phillip_J_Fry

Opinionated

Director of Revenue

I'd love to be a fly on the wall in this conversation just to see the interviewer's face.

wolfofmiami

Opinionated

🐺

Me too

wolfofmiami

Opinionated

-5

🐺

Turn it on them. Why do they want you to fail already. Or ask do a lot of your reps lose deals before closing ? If so why?

fidelcashflow

Catalyst

Account Executive

This doesn't work. They want to hear some BS answer that isn't even realistic. I hate questions like these. I recently saw a post by someone describing a similar scenario. Gonna try and find it and share. Standby

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chubbybunny

Interview Question - Curious How You Would Response

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