Top 10 sales and business development interview questions

The interviewer wants to see whether you ask before you pitch.

1. Discover: "Before I tell you about it, can I ask a few questions? When did you last use a pen? What did you use it for? What do you like or dislike about the pens you use?"
2. Find the need: suppose they say they sign important documents and hate pens that smudge or run out.
3. Pitch benefits matched to that need: "This pen has quick-dry ink, so your signatures on client contracts never smudge, and its refill lasts about 3 months, so it won't die in the middle of a meeting. It's also sleek enough that it looks professional when you pull it out with a client."
4. Handle an objection: "It costs more than a ₹10 pen, but for the price of one coffee you get a pen that represents you well in every meeting."
5. Close: "Shall I give you this one now, or would you like a pack of two?"

Confidence, questions, tailoring and actually asking for the sale are what score.

Be honest and specific; connect your motivation to what the job actually is:

"I enjoy understanding people's problems and convincing them of solutions I believe in. In college I raised ₹2.4 lakh in sponsorships for our tech fest by calling 60+ local businesses, and I liked that my results were directly measurable. Sales gives me that: clear targets, fast learning, real conversations with customers, and income linked to performance. I'm also interested in your product because [specific reason about their company or customers]."

Avoid "I'm good at talking": listening and organisation matter more.

"I treat rejection as part of the numbers and as information. If my conversion is 1 in 10, every 'no' brings me closer to a 'yes'. After a rejection I note the reason in the CRM, and at the end of the week I look for patterns: is it the opener, the targeting, the pricing objection? Then I adjust. I keep my energy up by focusing on what I control: my activity, preparation and learning. For example, during our sponsorship drive, the first 20 businesses said no; I changed my pitch to focus on footfall numbers instead of brand visibility, and closed 7 of the next 25."

Use acknowledge, clarify, respond, confirm:

• Acknowledge: "I understand. Budget matters."
• Clarify: "Too expensive compared to what: another tool, your current process, or your budget for this quarter?"

• Respond depending on the answer:

  • Compared to a competitor: highlight differences in value that matter to them and the total cost (onboarding, support, results).
  • Compared to the current process: quantify the cost of the problem ("Your team spends about 40 hours a month on this; at your HR cost that's ₹40,000. Our plan is ₹15,000.").
  • Budget timing: a smaller plan, phased rollout or a start date that fits.
• Confirm: "If the numbers work out like this, would you be comfortable going ahead?"

Discount only in exchange for something (a longer commitment, faster signing, a case study).

1. Define the ideal customer profile and personas (industry, size, location, role, triggers).
2. Build lists from LinkedIn and Sales Navigator, company websites, job postings, directories, events, and referrals from existing customers.
3. Research quickly before reaching out (recent news, hiring, funding) to personalise.
4. Use a multi-channel cadence: call, email and LinkedIn over 2–3 weeks, with 5–8 touches that each add value.
5. Track everything in the CRM and measure conversion at each step to improve.
6. Work with marketing on inbound leads and content that warms prospects up.

Give numbers if you have them: "In my internship I booked 18 demos a month from about 400 outbound calls."

• Prioritise by deal value and likelihood: hot inbound leads and late-stage deals first, then qualified pipeline, then new prospecting.
• Time-block the day: prospecting (when decision-makers pick up, often mid-morning), follow-ups, meetings, CRM updates at the end of the day.
• Use lead scoring and CRM tasks so nothing slips.
• Plan the week against the target: work back from the quota to the daily activity needed.
• Batch similar work (all calls together) to stay in rhythm.

• Lead: any person or company who might be interested; unqualified (a name from a list, a form fill, an event attendee).
• Prospect: a lead that fits your ICP and has been engaged or researched; you believe there's a potential need.
• Opportunity: a qualified prospect with a confirmed need, interest and a realistic chance of buying (for example, they meet BANT criteria); it becomes a deal in the pipeline with a value and an expected close date.

Companies define these slightly differently, so mention that you'd follow their definitions in the CRM, consistently.

Use STAR with numbers:

• Situation: "During my summer internship at an ed-tech company, our team had to enrol 120 students for a weekend course in 3 weeks; we were at 30 after week 1."
• Task: "My personal target was 25 enrolments."
• Action: "I analysed my calls and saw parents asked about placement outcomes, so I prepared a one-page sheet with alumni results and shared it on WhatsApp before calling. I also called in the evening, when parents were available, and asked enrolled students for referrals."
• Result: "I enrolled 34 students, 136% of my target; the team adopted the outcome sheet and the referral script."

Freshers can use fundraising, fest sponsorships, campus ambassador programmes or selling in a family business.

A CRM (customer relationship management) system such as Salesforce, HubSpot, Zoho CRM or LeadSquared stores all customer and prospect information, interactions, deals and tasks in one place.

Why it matters:

• Never lose track: every follow-up has a date and owner; deals don't fall through the cracks.
• Context: anyone can see the history before contacting a customer.
• Forecasting: managers see the pipeline by stage and predict revenue.
• Improvement: conversion rates by stage, activity and source show what works.
• Handovers between SDRs, account executives and account managers are smooth.

Good CRM hygiene, meaning logging interactions the same day with clear next steps, is a sign of a reliable salesperson.

Prepare by knowing the company's product, customers and a likely persona. Then follow a structure:

1. Permission-based opener: "Hi, this is Riya from [Company]. I'm calling out of the blue. Do you have 30 seconds for me to tell you why I called, and then you can decide if it's worth continuing?"
2. Relevant reason: "We help [type of company] like yours [solve specific problem]. For example, [similar customer] [achieved specific result]."
3. Discovery question: "How are you handling [problem] today?" Listen and ask one or two follow-ups.
4. Handle the brush-off: if "I'm busy", then "Totally understand. Would a 15-minute call on Thursday or Friday be better?"
5. Close for the next step: book a specific time for a demo or meeting and confirm their email.

Stay calm, friendly and curious; don't monologue. The interviewer will throw objections to see how you adapt.