Sales Example

Successful sales performance is supported by a number of critical skills, including Customer Relations Building. Here’s how to use a Structured Interview Approach to evaluate Customer Relations skill. The sales interview would flow as follows:

1. General: Describe a long-standing customer relationship.
2. General Question: What tactics have worked well to help maintain the relationship? Look for:
• a recognition of situations which may become problems so focus on building goodwill
• pro-activity in asking the customer for ways to improve
• not allowing previous problems to bias how customers are treated now
3. Specific Question: On a scale of 1 to 10 (10 = high), how would you rate your ability to nurture customer relationships and why? Look for:
• willingness to listen to customer’s challenges and help problem-solve even in unrelated areas
• helping customer stay abreast of changes that may be of benefit
• objective and cool-headed approach; not trying to impress for its own sake

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