Inside Sales Manager interview questions and answers
Use these sample Inside Sales Manager interview questions to assess candidates during your hiring process. Feel free to modify them to meet your specific job requirements.
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Inside Sales Manager Interview Questions
Inside Sales Managers monitor quotas, suggest ways to increase customer engagement and improve a sales team’s performance. They also ensure that the sales administration process runs efficiently.
This is a senior-level position, so look for candidates with relevant work experience. Behavioral questions will help you understand how candidates approached challenges in the past. Successful Inside Sales Managers are driven by goals but are also proactive. They suggest improvements and features to increase client satisfaction.
This individual usually trains, evaluates and motivates a sales team. Candidates with solid communication skills who are able to set goals and assign tasks will stand out. They should also be comfortable working in team environments and collaborate with various departments (e.g. Marketing and Product Development) to help meet company objectives.
- Source Inside Sales Managers using our Boolean Search Cheat Sheet.
Operational and Situational questions
- How and when would you approach an employee from your team who struggles to meet quotas? What would you tell them?
- How would you ensure new team members onboard well?
- You want to implement a new tool that’ll help your team organize their work better, but it requires extras hours of training and this means they won’t be able to meet their monthly goals. Would you proceed with implementation?
- How would you tell senior managers about a big sales opportunity you lost?
- What information would you include in a report to forecast the next quarter’s sales results?
Role-specific questions
- What CRM software have you used?
- Are you familiar with our products? Who do you think are our customers?
- What’s our competitive advantage? How do you think our salespeople should use it during the sales process?
- Describe the phases of the sales process, from initial outreach to closing the deal. What factors most influence the customer’s buying decision?
- Describe the steps you take to set goals for your sales team (e.g. for next month or quarter.)
Behavioral questions
- Describe how you motivate disengaged team members.
- What is the most important lesson you’ve learned from your customer service experience so far?
- How have you improved the sales administration process in your previous positions?
- What training methods are the most effective for new salespeople?