“Sell Me This Pen” is probably one of the most common job interview questions for sales positions.
Knowing how to answer this question can make the difference between landing the job or not.
Some interview questions are meant to test your limits, making job interviews very stressful at times. With good preparation beforehand, you can avoid feeling overwhelmed, therefore increasing your chances of acing any job interview.
Although not technically a question, “Sell Me This Pen“, in order to know how to answer, you first need to understand the reason behind it.
Recruiters use this to test a candidate’s sales skills and approach to the whole sales process.
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Sell Me This Pen – How to answer
What is expected, as opposed to actually answering this question, is in fact, to start asking questions.
One of the most important aspects of the sales process is to know as much as possible about your potential customer and to identify his needs. Therefore, instead of actually selling the pen, you are expected to ask questions.
Example of good questions to ask:
- Do you usually use a pen in your day to day life?
- What type of pen do you use?
- What do you like the most about your pen?
- What is it that you don’t like about your pen?
- What qualities do you usually look for when purchasing a pen?
Starting from here, you can come up with many more questions about the pen. Once you identify the needs of your potential client, you can then actually start selling the pen by explaining the benefits that come with that pen and how the pen will solve the problems that your prospect has.
Although “Sell Me This Pen” sounds like a basic question, it actually tests one of the most important skills needed in a salesperson, which is listening.
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Contrary to popular belief, talking a lot does not make a good salesperson. Communication skills mean both talking and listening and listening is what makes a person likable. Once you are able to make your prospect start talking and opening about his needs, the sale is halfway done.
The key to a successful sale is identifying a need and you can only do that by asking questions and by listening.
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