tell good deal stories in an interview

following up on one of my last posts, telling good stories about deals you have won and lost is a great way to stand out in interviews.

Why do interviewers care about this?

• IMO they dont really care about the result. They really want to know how you think about your deals. The good and the bad.

Closed won: What should I say?: (again all i can do is share how I have done this. its worked well since i have never been turned down for a role if I get past the second interview.)

• Quick recap of the deal: "$300k ARR deal that took 9 months, where I started selling to the Director and ended up having to coach the VP on how to present it to the board for approval"
• A reason why it stands out to you: " i was really proud of my ability to navigate from the director who was not a decision maker, to the VP who ended up being the most important person."
• What you took away from this deal that you will do more of: "when we were getting ready for the demo I realized we were missing a few pieces of information. instead of making assumptions and putting something generic together, i called the POC back explained the situation and got exactly what i needed. they were thankful we were being so thorough. Ill make sure i keep doing that going forward"
• BONUS: don't feel like you need to share ALL the details. you want them to ask you questions and if they want to know something specific, they will ask.

Closed Lost: What should I say? (Pretty similar to the closed won)

• Quick recap: same as closed won but be sure to include HOW you found out you lost the deal, and HOW you found out the reasons why you lost.
• What role YOU played in the loss: IMO, you become more relatable when you take the blame and share what you could have done differently. " looking back its clear now that i did not fully understand which pain was the MOST important to them. we solved for all of them but spent too much time talking about #3 and 4 not #1.
• What did you learn and how have you improved: give a specific thing you took away from this loss and how you will change it going forward.

BONUS: if you can quickly share a deal that you won where you made that change, DO IT!

what did I miss???