Sales Manager Interview

Can you describe your experience in leading sales teams and driving margin growth?

In my role as a Onesource Account Manager, I manage a panel of brokers where I have been responsibility for driving sales growth in a competitive market by engaging brokers with our product and proposition and digital solutions offering.
I have done this by taking the lead on generating close relationships with those brokers and identifying opportunities for margin growth in line with Irish Life Brokerage’s sales goals. I got buy in from those brokers on how they could increase revenue, broaden their offering to their clients and increase value within their business over the medium to long term
I initiated targeted training sessions where I saw the opportunity to broaden the product reach of certain individuals which included 1-2-1 training and coaching or group calls with the pension, investment or product managers. I collaborated closely with colleagues to ensure that each business had access to the appropriate supports team to execute these plans effectively, ensuring each member understood their role in driving sales.As a result, I increased sales and margins across my panel by 60% over the past 2 years, contributing significantly to the overall success of Onesource

Your answer effectively communicates your experience in leading sales teams and driving margin growth. You provided concrete examples of your role as an Onesource Account Manager, highlighting key actions you took to engage brokers and improve sales performance. Here’s a breakdown of your answer:

1. Clarity and Structure: Your answer is organized, detailing your responsibilities, strategies, and outcomes. You clearly outline your approach, making it easy for the interviewer to follow.

2. Specifics on Actions: You mention specific initiatives, such as generating relationships with brokers and initiating training sessions. This illustrates your leadership and proactive approach to driving sales.

3. Quantifiable Results: You effectively quantified your success with a clear statistic—60% margin growth over two years—which lends credibility to your claims and showcases your impact.

4. Collaboration and Team Support: Your emphasis on collaboration with colleagues and ensuring access to support resources highlights your understanding of team dynamics and leadership.

Areas for Improvement:
- You could expand slightly on how you motivated and inspired your team, as this adds further depth to your leadership experience.
- It might also be beneficial to include any challenges faced during this process and how you overcame them, demonstrating resilience and problem-solving skills.

Conclusion: Overall, your response is strong but could be enhanced by adding elements that illustrate your leadership style and ability to overcome obstacles.

Rating: 4/5

How would you approach developing and maintaining relationships with brokers across distribution channels?

I have managed a full Core Panel as an Account Manager in Limerick and more recently, I have managed a Onesource Panel. My approach to managing these panels has been somewhat different.
My job with the Onesource Panel was to pick up on a panel where relationships were already good and to deepen those relationships and drive sales. My job with the Limerick panel was to develop relationships, almost from scratch with a panel of broker and to find ways to
On both panels, I developed a structured engagement plan that included regular meetings, training sessions and regional seminars. I connected the brokers with product and investment managers to broaden the reach on their overall relationship with Irish Life. On the Onesource side, I challenged them on what their personal or business goals were and helped them to identify their own plans to achieve those goals. On the Limerick panel side, I took a lead on sales, service and digital, working with them closely to develop the relationship and generate a flow of sales for the panel. I had particular success with SYS and Gallivan Kennedy who hadn’t place much business with Irish Life but liked the way I worked with them, helping them to identify opportunities or maximise sales from client meetings.
As a result, I improved our broker relationships significantly, leading to a 6% annual increase in sales on the Limerick panel and 60% increase in sales over 2 years on the Onesource panel.

Your answer effectively addresses the question about developing and maintaining relationships with brokers across distribution channels by demonstrating your hands-on experience and strategic approach. Here’s an evaluation of your response:

1. Content and Relevance: You provide concrete examples of your experiences with both the Limerick and Onesource panels, showcasing your ability to adapt your strategies based on the existing relationship status. This is relevant to the role of Sales Manager and illustrates your understanding of relationship dynamics.

2. Structure and Clarity: Your answer is well-structured, outlining the differences in your approach based on the state of relationships. However, it could benefit from a clearer separation between the two approaches; perhaps explicitly labeling when you switch from discussing the Limerick panel to the Onesource panel.

3. Results-Oriented: Mentioning the statistical outcomes—6% annual increase in sales on the Limerick panel and 60% increase over two years on the Onesource panel—strengthens your response by quantifying your success.

4. Room for Improvement: To enhance your answer, consider briefly addressing how you plan to sustain these relationships long-term. You could mention tactics such as ongoing feedback loops, regular check-ins, or leveraging CRM tools for tracking engagement and sales trends.

5. Persuasive Language: Using more persuasive language about your passion for relationship building and its importance in sales can further enrich your response.

Overall, I would rate your answer a 4/5. It is strong with practical examples and clear results but could improve with a slight reorganization and additional focus on long-term relationship maintenance strategies.

What strategies have you implemented in the past to meet ambitious commercial objectives?

In my role as Business Development Manager for Onesource, I was asked to develop a range of supports for the retention of existing partners and for the recruitment of new partners that would make Onesource a compelling offering for brokers at different stages of their business cycle.
My task was the identify the challenges a broker faced in their business and what range of non product related supports we could offer that would help brokers meet those challenges
I worked with people from right across the business, researching both brokers and Irish Life staff team on a 1-2-1 and workshop basis. The challenges faces were wide ranging from succession planning, communication, compliance, business practice, lead generation and business planning. From the research, I identified the needs of the broker and matched potential solutions that we could offer from both available resources in Irish Life and off the shelf digital solutions, developing a programme of offerings that I then worked with account managers and the wider broker team to get brokers to engage with. The programme included training modules, network meetings themed around those challenges, email marketing and a digital community.
As a result, we retained existing partners and 42 new partners joined Onesource over a the period, resulting in a 50% increase in business from this broker segment.

Your answer effectively addresses the question by presenting a concrete example of a strategy you implemented to meet ambitious commercial objectives. You clearly outline your role and the context in which you operated, detailing your focus on partner retention and recruitment, which is critical for a Sales Manager position.

Strengths of your answer include:

1. Specificity: You specify your role as a Business Development Manager for Onesource and describe the supportive measures you implemented.
2. Research and Collaboration: You highlight the importance of research and collaboration, indicating that you value input from both brokers and internal teams.
3. Results: You conclude with quantifiable results—retaining existing partners and recruiting 42 new ones, leading to a 50% increase in business. This data is crucial for demonstrating the effectiveness of your strategies.

To improve your answer, consider the following:

- Clarify Objectives: Explicitly state the ambitious commercial objectives you aimed to achieve at the outset.
- Customer-Centric Focus: Emphasize how your strategies directly addressed the needs of brokers and how this ultimately benefited the company.
- Ownership and Leadership: Highlight your leadership role in the implementation process, emphasizing how you motivated others to adopt these strategies.

Overall, your answer is strong, but refining it with added clarity around objectives and your leadership role could enhance it further.

Rating: 4/5