Winning the Role-Playing Interview

These days, technology candidates pursuing sales-related careers are increasingly being confronted with role-playing tests during their job interviews.

Austin Merritt, COO of HR software review company Software Advice uses an over-the-phone test known simply as the “coffee scenario.” In this mock sales call, candidates are asked to call a customer and guide them through a series of questions to determine which coffee shop they should go to and what coffee drink to order. Merritt likes role-playing because it takes just minutes as opposed to an hour for an in-person interview—and it eliminates up to half of the candidates before having to meet them.

Are You “Wired” for Tech Sales?

The coffee scenario reveals the non-coachable core competencies inside sales people use every day. During the test, the following five selling talents are scored using a scale of one to ten:

1. Are you articulate? Is your sales call punctuated with too many pauses and interrupters like “um,” “uh” or “like?” If you can’t communicate where to get coffee, how will you do with a technical subject?
    
2. Are you energetic? Can you maintain a high energy level for several minutes without sounding fake? Sincere enthusiasm can’t be coached.
    
3. Are you an “Alpha?” When speaking to CEOs and key decision makers, can you be assertive enough to naturally take the lead? Can you take control of the conversation and move it to where you need to go without awkward gaps of silence or unrelated segues?
    
4. Can you think on your feet? Can you take unexpected questions without “dropping the ball?” Here, a long pause, shuffling through papers for the answer, or stammering can take you out of the running. Admitting you don’t know the answer but will find out is preferred over stumbling and guessing.
    
5. Are you coachable? Can you understand and apply the coffee scenario to a real sales call? Even if you've never done a call like this in real life, you should be able to understand what the goals are and put them into practice. The call should flow smoothly, as if talking to an expert.

Holistic Evaluations

If you score well on each of the five competencies, you’ll probably end up on the short list. If you blow one or two, you may still have a chance—if you demonstrated raw selling talent in the other three or four. You may be invited to take the test again, but here, you’ll be judged on how coachable you are based on how well you listened and applied the feedback you received on the first test. Merritt notes that some people just need another chance and that some of their top performers had to do a second call.

If you’re a recent college grad looking for a tech sales job, role-playing tests like the coffee scenario can reveal whether you have the raw talent and street smarts to succeed.

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