How to Choose the Right Examples for a Sales Interview
Most interview preparation can end up focusing on predicting questions, with candidates crafting a different answer and story for each one.
It creates a lot of effort in preparation, more cognitive load on you in the interview, and can make answers feel rehearsed.
This misses what the interviewer is actually looking for:
Providing evidence that you can succeed in the role
Answering the question isn’t the ultimate objective as such. The question gives you an opportunity to demonstrate your fit for the role, and the opportunity to provide evidence to support that.
💡 Step Up Sales Principle
Think less about building an answer bank, and more about building an evidence bank.
What Do You Need to Prove?
“Selecting evidence must be informed by the research you’ve done on the company you’re applying to.
In simple terms - what are the key attributes they need in this role?”
When I got my first strategic sales role, I picked a deal I had closed not long before as my main piece of evidence. I chose this because whilst it was more fitting of an Enterprise deal (about £300k ARR), the company and the sales motion were strategic-like.
I knew that the role I was applying to would want to see evidence of performing at strategic level, and I knew from speaking to the hiring manager that handling complexity and long sales cycles were key capabilities he wanted. I’d also researched the type of clients they sold into and my example was well aligned to that.
If you need more guidance on this, I have a dedicated article on researching a company before a sales interview which you can read here (opens in a new window).
What are your gaps?
Alongside what they need in the role, it’s also worth thinking about your gaps in skills or experience. The hiring manager will be able to tell from your profile the areas that you aren’t as strong in (and other candidates maybe are!).
In the example above, I knew there was a gap in my experience having not held a “strategic” AE title before that.
I went out of my way to make sure I was able to talk through it in detail, highlighting all the elements important for strategic sales that I had shown in this deal. I didn’t leave it to the hiring manager to interpret it - I proved readiness to do the role with compelling evidence.
Be analytical and honest with yourself about your gaps, don’t shy away from them. With evidence framed in the right what you can overcome this before it becomes a concern.
Go Deep on a Small Number of Examples
“Don’t be too concerned about using just 1 or 2 deals as evidence in an interview.”
It's great if you do have many, but interviewers are rarely expecting you to talk through every deal you've done. They want snapshots of evidence to support your capabilities.
You know what the company and role require, so select your evidence with intent. What do you want to draw attention to and why? You have to be clear in your own mind why you are sharing something.
It’s common in sales interviews to refer to deals, performance metrics, ways of working, territory development, finding leads and so on. In all cases, there are some principles I would look to have in mind for the core examples I intend to raise in the interview.
Evidence Principles:
Context - a brief overview to set the scene
Facts & Figures - if there were metrics involved, know them
Stakeholders - whether internally or with the client
Challenge - what was difficult, or why this was a key moment for you
Outcome - highlighting success
What you learnt - how this further developed your capabilities
Why this is relevant for this role - don’t leave the interviewer to make that link, be clear on how this sets you up to do well in the role, linking this back to the traits you know are required in the role.
Remember you don’t need to have a story for every question. The goal is to have a few rock-solid examples that demonstrate your readiness for the role.
I’d rather walk into an interview with 2-3 really strong and highly relevant examples that are well aligned to the needs of the role vs a collection of random experiences.
✅ Practical Exercise: Build one compelling piece of evidence:
Pick one deal you've worked on that you feel provides strong evidence for this role:
What Does it Prove - what do you want the interviewer to understand about you from this example? (note - it should match some of the capabilities required for the role)
What Makes it Compelling - Think about the challenge, people involved, key moments, what you did, the outcome and what you learnt. Focus on the details that actually demonstrate your capability.
Why is it relevant to this role? Complete a sentence like the below:
“This example is particularly relevant to this role because…”
Be Flexible
If you’re going deep on 2-3 great examples, then it’s likely you’ll need to adjust how you use them depending on what questions are asked.
Think about the example earlier of the 300k ARR deal I sold. I mainly intended to use this if they asked me to talk through a deal, or what strategic experience I had.
But maybe they don’t ask those questions. Then what?
Because I’ve gone deeper in this example, fully mapping it out against the role needs, I’ll be ready to adjust. They ask about when I’ve been involved in a complex deal…when I’ve had tough procurement interactions…when I’ve had to leverage internal stakeholders…
…You can effectively take any question related to a sales motion and I can use that story.
“You should be looking for suitable opportunities to bring up your top evidence. Don’t force evidence into every answer, but look to be flexible and weave it into relevant questions.”
📌 Key Takeaways
Giving examples of your experience isn’t secondary to answers - it’s a way to provide evidence that you can succeed in the role.
Depth is better than quantity - aim for a few highly relevant examples you know inside out.
Call out the relevance - make it clear what the evidence proves and why that matters for this role.
If you've got an interview coming up and would like help building your compelling evidence, book a free discovery call.