[SP] Answering Complex Questions

[stellar renegade]

Do any of you guys have trouble answering these kinds of questions too?:

1. Do you have prior retail experience? If so, please describe your selling style.

2. Do you have an art background? If so, please explain your involvement in the field. If not, please explain how you would adapt to the product mix.

3. Please explain how you have previously been successful in sales and how that success was measured.

4. Do you have experience with customer retention strategies? Please explain.

5. Please describe your last sales manager’s efforts to support your professional growth

I mean, I can easily answer the part about my art background and what kind of art and products I've been involved with, but the rest I don't really think about. I don't self-reflect or evaluate how I've done in salesmanship. I generally just treat the customer with respect and give them the pros and cons of various products. I enjoy people so I usually am pretty outgoing with them.

But for me to go back over and think about how I've done something? It's a chore. I don't think they'd be satisfied with the vague answer I just gave.

I don't think about what I do; I just find myself doing things. Anyone of you other SPs have trouble self-reflecting like that?

 

[6sticks]

Yes.

 

[Jeffster]

Uh huh.

 

[stellar renegade]

How am I supposed to get a job if I can't answer these questions!?

Maybe I should just look elsewhere... groan.

 

[Two Point Two]

First off, I know you didn't ask for advice, that I'm not an SP, and that I'm not answering your question, but I want to say something anyway. If you don't want it, feel free to ignore (and I apologise).

Now, you say this:

I generally just treat the customer with respect and give them the pros and cons of various products. I enjoy people so I usually am pretty outgoing with them.

And you say that they wouldn't be satisfied with that vague answer. But it seems to me that you can really sell this up quite easily. Something like 'I don't like to think about the tactics associated with selling something to a customer - it seems calculating and disrespectful to me. I like to take an honest, up-front approach. I tell the customer about the products, and because I'm an outgoing person and I genuinely like people, they seem to respond well to me.'

You have described your selling style - and rather than framing it in an 'I don't think about those things' context, which they might see as uncooperative, you're putting it in a context that makes it come across as the desirable quality that it is.

Similarly, 'I don't think about what I do; I just find myself doing things' can be described as having good instincts, being able to think on the spot and adapt to a range of situations. Again, it's something they'll probably value.

So...I guess what I'm saying is, maybe you've already done enough reflecting, and what you've found is how these kinds of questions strike you (and how you respond to some of the situations they describe, and it's more a matter of describing it in a way that presents it in a good light than anything else.

 

[rhinosaur]

Yes, I have trouble with it, especially the extraordinarily vague ones like "Describe how you have tackled a complex problem" or some shit like that.

I think those kinds of interview questions are made with only the company in mind, not the interviewee.

I wonder if other personality types have problems with the other kinds of questions.

 

[sunshinebrighter]

yes, Yes, YES!!!!!!!!

The only method that helped me answer those kinds of questions are telling stories.

Like the question "Do you have experience with customer retention strategies? Please explain."

I would say something like --> "I really do not have a particular strategy of customer retention. I tend to treat every customer differently depending on their needs. *Insert unique positive customer interaction story or stories* I want to make them feel special so they will keep coming back and they did."

If you don't have a story, make up a believable one that they can't trace. Fake it at the interview! Be prepared. Interview questions tends to be the same in every field.

I think telling stories is the best way of making a good impression. You are giving them an example of what type of worker you are. Most people's primary function between N and S is S. Stories and analogies are easier to swallow for S's.

 

[rhinosaur]

Yes, telling stories is also my primary strategy for hard questions. I haven't had an interview in a while, though, so I might be out of practice.

 

[stellar renegade]

First off, I know you didn't ask for advice, that I'm not an SP, and that I'm not answering your question, but I want to say something anyway. If you don't want it, feel free to ignore (and I apologise).

Now, you say this:


And you say that they wouldn't be satisfied with that vague answer. But it seems to me that you can really sell this up quite easily. Something like 'I don't like to think about the tactics associated with selling something to a customer - it seems calculating and disrespectful to me. I like to take an honest, up-front approach. I tell the customer about the products, and because I'm an outgoing person and I genuinely like people, they seem to respond well to me.'

You have described your selling style - and rather than framing it in an 'I don't think about those things' context, which they might see as uncooperative, you're putting it in a context that makes it come across as the desirable quality that it is.

Similarly, 'I don't think about what I do; I just find myself doing things' can be described as having good instincts, being able to think on the spot and adapt to a range of situations. Again, it's something they'll probably value.

So...I guess what I'm saying is, maybe you've already done enough reflecting, and what you've found is how these kinds of questions strike you (and how you respond to some of the situations they describe, and it's more a matter of describing it in a way that presents it in a good light than anything else.

Wow, thanks. That's kinda what I had at the back of my head, I just couldn't make it rise to the surface. You expressed it very well for me. I shall use this strategy now.

yes, Yes, YES!!!!!!!!

The only method that helped me answer those kinds of questions are telling stories.

Like the question "Do you have experience with customer retention strategies? Please explain."

I would say something like --> "I really do not have a particular strategy of customer retention. I tend to treat every customer differently depending on their needs. *Insert unique positive customer interaction story or stories* I want to make them feel special so they will keep coming back and they did."

If you don't have a story, make up a believable one that they can't trace. Fake it at the interview! Be prepared. Interview questions tends to be the same in every field.

I think telling stories is the best way of making a good impression. You are giving them an example of what type of worker you are. Most people's primary function between N and S is S. Stories and analogies are easier to swallow for S's.

Yeah, when I got hired at WalMart they had me give them examples of how I did such and such. I was always taught from a young age to be truthful so I've tended to just exaggerate over making something up out of thin air, but I could definitely do that. Doesn't hurt, especially if I know that's what I'd do in that situation anyway, y'know?

 

[wolfy]

Those kind of questions are hard to answer. What I do is reflect back on something around that area. Something about that that I have a lingering memory of. Then when it comes up I quickly shove a stake in the ground and work from there.

 

[stellar renegade]

Yeah, that's usually what I do, too.

 

[Speed Gavroche]

Theses questions are absolutely boring and don't make any sense for me.

 

[6sticks]

When I do an interview I try to take the offensive. Instead of just answering questions about yourself, try and ask questions about the company. If the interviewer is talkative you can try and get them on a tangent with insightful questions and comments about what the company wants.

 

[Giggly]

May the best bullshitter win.