Don’t compare yourself to your colleagues: I’ve met candidates who respond to the above questions by stating they were the ‘best in their team’, and although that’s great – it doesn’t answer the question. The strongest candidates are those who state their individual targets and their personal sales achievements and are able to highlight their personal success without having to criticise their colleagues.

Know your stats: Knowing specifics around individual sale amounts and their targets makes a candidate sound like they are discussing facts and less like they are exaggerating or stretching figures.

Highlight the hard work that went into hitting your targets: In an interview you may get the urge to make it look easy but be cautious because this could backfire and you could be perceived as ‘boastful’. Don’t be afraid to mention that huge sale which you 6 months to get across the line, or if you had to make 100 calls before you finally got past the gatekeeper.

Be prepared to talk about your failures. I always ask my candidates to describe a time they’ve lost a sale. What I’m looking for is to hear how they responded and what they learned from that situation. Hearing that a candidate has never failed isn’t believable, and doesn’t demonstrate vital competencies such as resilience, hard work, and the ability to learn from your mistakes.