Sales Assistant Interview Questions
If you are applying for a post of sales assistant at a retail store or in a financial sector, you have to face a round of interview questions that determines your selection or rejection. Sales assistant job interview questions vary for each sector. The type of questions asked broadly caters to the sector in which candidates apply.
A sales assistant is a vital bridge between the sales manager and the customers, who ensures a smooth functioning of the sales process. A sales assistant is supposed to be highly customer oriented person with impeccable communication and interpersonal skills. Only a highly assertive, decisive and knowledgeable candidate can successfully secure the job of sales assistant.
These are the generic questions that a sales assistant candidate has to answer.
- Tell us something about yourself.
After you summarize your resume for the interviewers, brighten up your introduction with some interesting facts about yourself that relates to the job in some way or the other. Speak about the good experiences you had during your previous employment. Although make sure that your introductory speech does not extend for more than 2-3 minutes.
- What are the key skills for being a sales assistant?
Excellence in communication skills, proactive thinking, maintaining good client relationship, strong work ethics, strong sense of responsibility, ability to work independently, efficient work co-ordination, self confidence, self motivation, efficient administration etc. should be included in your response.
- On an average, how many customers did you handle in a single day?
The customer count you have handled in a day reflects your efficiency and speed of working. Do not unnecessarily inflate the number to impress the panelists; it will only make them expect more from you, if you are employed. Similarly, do not underplay your answer, you will be seen as an underperformer.
- How would you describe your experience as a sales assistant?
What do you think about the key areas of the job, what were the challenges that you have had to face, were there any bad experiences and if yes, how it was handled; are the options that you may consider to discuss while answering to this question.
- Have you had to disagree with a customer, or Have you had to face a situation where you could not comply with the customer's demands? What had happened?
Every sales assistant experience at least one customer with unruly demands. Narrate your experience by first mentioning the problem and then the step you took to resolve it. Finally explain the outcome.
- Are you fluent with the basic computer applications like Microsoft Office?
Tell them about the work you handled and the use of computer and its various applications. If you had to give a presentation about your product or service, mention that too.
- What was the sales procedure that you handled?
Elaborate the sales proceeds that you have worked on. Starting from receiving the sales order to concluding the sales. What are the steps involved, what is the chain of responsibility that is handled and by whom etc. should be neatly explained.
Questions asked will be more or less based on the similar lines. Basically the questions will be framed as per the job profile. However, you can prepare yourself to answer these questions during the interview.
