Black Sales Journal

The Black sales professional is subject to the same questions that others will face.  If you have been through several interviews, you are basically hearing the same questions over and over.  It is not that there is a lack of ingenuity on the part of the interviewers.  The interview process is a combination of observing the physical presence of the applicant, noting the reaction to your questions, and noting the quality of the answers to those questions.  The interviewer is attempting to envision you as a sales professional representing his organization.  That is the real test.

I am not going to cover the multitude of questions that you can be asked on an interview.  I will talk about some of the usual questions that you have heard before, and a quick general example of how they can be handled.

First Do Your Homework

Before you do anything else, do your research!  Know the company, and the duties of the job without reservation.  The web makes for an excellent resource for you to do this.

Check the organization’s web site to get an idea of their approach to diversity.  In larger corporations, they will have a diversity mission shown on their site, or at least their view of their diversity efforts.  This does not give you an edge, yet tells you this organizations investment in diversity and what you are up against.

7 Questions You Will Answer

I am going to cover 7 questions you will answer in the next job interview.  They may state them in a slightly different way, yet they are seeking the same information.

As commonplace as these questions sound, practice them and go in prepared to answer to them:

#1.  Why are you leaving your current job?

Do not ever criticize you previous employer or manager!  Whether the facts are true or not, this is a guaranteed way to not get a second interview.  Stay north of this issue by talking about challenges, larger product lines, better territories and products, etc.  This positive part of the interview might be the first question you get, so this chance to speak positively is important.

#2.  Tell me something about yourself?

As you practice this know the job you are applying for including the skills necessary to do it.  Know and practice your “elevator speech” on yourself. You are giving a brief synopsis of your social, educational, and employment background.  You will add to this some quality statements that set you apart from many others.  State clearly items that describe your drive, ambition, and desire to be successful.  Example: “ I am a sales professional trained in professional sales while at ABC products.  I believe in hard work and the benefits of preparation.  My successful sales career has benefited from my study at ABC University with Marketing as my field of study…” Your statement should last no more than 1.5 minutes, and is always better followed by saying “…is there anything in my professional or educational history that I may clarify for you?”

#3.  Why should we hire you over the other candidates?  What makes you different?

Since you don’t know the other candidates, and don’t necessarily know, so spend your energy on the second question.  Talk about your results orientation, your ambition and drive, your record of accomplishment, and your vision for what you might do in a better territory, with a better product, or better support.  This question hinges on your ability to verbalize why you are better.  Practice your statement and delivery.  Example: “I have a wealth of relevant experience and education.  Most importantly, I have verifiable accomplishments in this same territory selling a product that, I believe, is inferior to yours.  I know the industry, and the customers, I just need the right product.”

#4.  What qualifications do you have which would make you successful in this business?

You are the expert on yourself and you have studied the job description and the company.  Your answers here should be designed to let you list the qualities which make you’re a good candidate.  You know the qualifications that will make you successful, now you need to be able to prioritize them and deliver a flawless speech that links together your qualifications and the position.  Example:  “ I believe my technical background coupled with my quantitative skills gives me great chance of success as a technical sales representative for ABC equipment.   I have a degree in mechanical engineering, and have had an a career selling technical products to the same clients that your organization depends on.”

#5.  What are your strengths and weaknesses?

Most interviewers ask it because they just think they should.  Some ask it because you might tell them you are an impatient being that could be prone to slapping a fellow employee.  I think that if it is asked, it should be on the basis of the interviewer trying to determine your ability to self-assess and even be critical.  This one deserves more practice than many of the others questions.  You don’t want to be known as a perfectionist, nor someone uncomfortable with detail, you want to always appear well adjusted in your activities and reactions.  Example: “One of my strengths is that I am persistent, with prospects and customers.  One of my weaknesses is that I always believe that there is a possibility of the sale even when I get rejected repeatedly.  I often, in the face of low odds, continue the solicitation.”  This one takes the sales mentality and gets strength and a weakness from the same essence.

#6.  If this position gets filled, would you take another job in our organization?

This is a basic, unadulterated trap. Don’t fall into it.  A true sales professional might want to be a sales executive, sales representative, or sales manager, yet does not want to be a purchasing person or a human resource professional.  The answer, if you want to be a sales professional is no.  I asked this question in the past, and was able to determine that the candidate wanted a job, not a sales career!

# 7.  Where do you see yourself in five years?

This question is designed to find out your career orientation.  Don’t let it be a trap.  Be prepared to answer in a way that stresses that you want to be successful as a sales professional.  You want to talk about what success might look like, and you might mention that at some point down the line you might consider sales management.  They want to know your intentions.  Example:  “I see myself being a successful sales professional with a profitable, well developed territory.  I would like to be your sales leader in revenue and product sales.”

As stated before, practice is important.  Landing that new sales position will involve more questions than these, yet you can be assured these will be asked.  Practice will give you the confidence that you need to answer these, and other questions confidently.  Good Luck.

Please feel free to give us comments.

If you are like many of us, there will be a time in your career that things will go wrong.  You will feel aggrieved that it does not appear that you get equal or fair treatment, including important resources like preferred territories, distribution of prized or house accounts, or even issues regarding salary increases or promotions as compared to your peers.

This problem can be vexing in the sales workplace.  You might feel embarrassed, emasculated, and even paralyzed, yet need to have answers.  Your job is important to you and your family, so you must take care to do this correctly.  It is also difficult because you feel powerless to affect outcomes when you believe management is working against you.

Yes, you feel your options are limited as you are working hard to insure that you keep your job, yet your results don’t always put you in a position of strength.  Frankly, I have been there.

What Are Your Options?

There are some things you can do; yet you need to do them correctly.  I am going to give you an example:

Problem -Distribution of orphaned accounts and prospects to favored sales representatives.

As a sales professional you know how refreshing it is to get customers and prospects that you do not have to prospect for.  Customers who get the introduction to you as their new representative  feel instant credibility based on the organization that you work for and will give you a chance to consummate the relationship by your actions.  That credibility can be very important to a Black sales professional.   I also talk about “the spoils of sales” and how the distribution of business and prospects can help, or hinder.  I made references to situations like this in Black Sales Journal December Post of Preference, Perceptions, Prejudice and Your Employer.  Feel free to take another look at it.

When you are seeing these accounts distributed to other sales executives who have less experience, less product or service knowledge, and less tenure than you have, it can be disheartening.  This happened to me years ago when I was a sales representative.  You may feel powerless, but you should not feel voiceless.

I was pretty good at selling commercial insurance products to medium and large businesses in the Chicago metropolitan area many years ago.  I was also proud of the organization that I worked for 5 years (eventually I retired from virtually the same organization with 32 years).  You can imagine what I felt like when in the midst of various situations where there were several distributions of prospects and accounts and I received literally nothing.

What I did was simple.  If faced with the problem, you should do it as well:

STEP # 1 – Research your sales record and your effort and be brutally honest

Be honest with yourself about your record, which will buttress you case, as well as the situation.  Did you handle a previous situation like this poorly?  Take an honest account.

• Seek Counsel – Find someone (a sales colleague or another sales professional) who is objective that you can seek honest counsel with and really listen to his or her response.
• Review Your Activities – Take positive account regarding what you have received in terms of “call-ins”, and other business, and any other failures.
• Take account – Know what you have done with this type of business, and be prepared to show the facts.
• Know Your Total Performance -Note your total performance, activity and production, and be ready to account for why it should have come to you.
• Be Ready to Prove Up! - Note that speculation and conjecture do not count, it is “not what you know, but what you can prove”!

STEP #2 – Have a frank but professional discussion with the sales manager or principal.

I went to my manager and advised of my concerns.  I was one of two Black sales professionals in a staff of over thirty-five.  I talked clearly, and unemotionally, and stated my concerns.  We reached agreement that I did deserve more.  The facts should speak for themselves, yet you still may not reach an agreement.

You may find that it is still an issue.  I met with the manager again four months later, yet felt the need to hedge my actions and set up a meeting with Human Resources as well.  In my discussion with my manager, I had to make the inevitable statement that I was still bothered and that my concerns were being ignored.

Here is the part where you have to put your self “out there”.  Do not be afraid of the conflict generated from it.  Conflict can be healthy if done correctly.  If you believe the situation, it is what you have to do!

This meeting might seem fruitless to some, yet it is the meeting that gives you the opportunity to say that you may need to look for some satisfaction or discussion elsewhere.  The manager should not be surprised at that point when HR calls to get his rendition of the facts.

STEP #3 – Make Your Case with the Human Resource Manager

Let’s be clear here, you need a party that can be fair and is also interested.  I am not telling you that the HR manager or generalist is an ally, but I am telling you that this individual has a tendency to be fair, and has knowledge about how the company will handle such a concern.

The reason that you had the conversation with the manager first is because that would be the first request of HR, or anyone else called in to help.  It just makes sense.

For HR you want to do the following:

• Define the problem.
• Summarize the conversations with the manager
• Be clear about the disparate treatment or inequities, and be ready to prove up.
• Open yourself up to asking for help.  That help might be having a discussion with the manager, getting clarifications, or even having discussion with the manager’s manager.

What you should not do is:

• Lose emotional control
• Play the “race card”
• Talk about confrontation

In Summary

Whether it is distribution of favors, salary, or other issues regarding equitable treatment, Human Resources is not the end-all, yet they can be objective and provide perspective to both parties regarding equitable treatment. If you believe that it is because of racial discrimination you should be prepared to enunciate it clearly and succinctly with as much evidence as possible.

Always note that your previous record with HR, and your current sales record are all in play in this discussion.  But…if you are being treated unfairly, you should find comfort in discussing it without a focus on race as the possibilities of discrimination, if any is obvious, will be on the mind of a good HR manager or generalist anyway.

This is a sensitive subject with a heavy impact on the lives of sales professionals.

I look forward to your comments.