r/sales • u/Hopeful_Figure_6446 • 2d ago
Sales Careers Honesty about not hitting goals in future interviews
Are you guys honest if you got fired for not hitting goals? I’m torn between giving a non answer when asked why I left vs being brutally honest and saying the territory was not developed enough to handle the goals, they had 5 reps in 5 years and I was playing clean up, combined with a downward trend of the industry (wine)
I’d say I was up 15% on total sales while the industry was down though and increased accounts substantially
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u/kgsovobd 2d ago
Never say you were fired for not hitting a quota. Interviewers do not want to hear that.
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u/Smooth-Lavishness436 2d ago
don't tell them you got fired, just say you left. nobody checks that shit anyway. say the territory was a mess and you grew it 15% while the whole wine industry was tanking, that's the story. focus on the accounts you added, spin it like you built something from nothing.
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u/Capital-Value8479 2d ago
This, there is always some story you can tell
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u/Swimming-Boss-1437 2d ago
Yeah... I feel like if you're any good at sales you don't need to ask this question lol
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u/Hopeful_Figure_6446 2d ago
If I was better at sales I wouldn’t have gotten fired 😂. Lesson learned
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u/Hopeful_Figure_6446 1d ago
Thanks. When interviewing for non alch jobs I say that the wine business is tanking and I want somewhere with growth.
When interviewing for wine jobs I say their portfolio seems very strong, bonus if I have experience selling their product at retail- and looking for “growing” companies
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u/jrs_90 2d ago
SaaS sales interviews are often a mutual game of lies. Reps lying about past quota attainment. Companies lying about the % of reps hitting quota, and gaslighting new hires about their chances of hitting quota on a new territory that is basically the dregs carved out of other territories or has been farmed barren.
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u/Hopeful_Figure_6446 2d ago
Yeah I don’t wanna play that game. I’m being real picky for a job where it’s not bullshit back and forth
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u/Lionabp1 2d ago
If you’re interviewing for any sales job, it is absolutely a game of back and forth bullshit with interviews. If you are not greatly exaggerating your performance and experience, then you are behind everyone else who is
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u/Poopidyscoopp 2d ago
ok enjoy not getting a job because you failed to hit goals! or be honest and hope that some business respects your honesty (aka absolving yourself of responsibility and blaming it on the environment) and wants to give you a fair go! :)
come on, you're in sales. that's a terrible excuse anyway, if you couldn't handle an environment that was very challenging and instead decide to blame the environment and others, how do they know you will take responsibility for your own failures and improvement in future? :)
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u/Embarrassed_Flan_869 2d ago
You are applying to sales roles. If a customer is wanting to buy a lot of an expensive wine but you have a similar one that is cheaper, would you tell them the expensive one is a waste of money and to buy the cheaper one?
You lie. Maybe not a blatant one. Maybe "I was up 20% YoY".
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u/bestUsernameNo1 2d ago
I’ve worked in wine sales and as a sommelier. To answer your, “would you tell them the expensive one is a waste of money?” Question…
Yes, and often. Wine sales is built on trust and 90% of the wine in the market is trash. Caymus? Disgusting. Opus One? Highly overrated.
You make money on BTG placements/volume and there’s hopefully enough good wine in your book where you can steer them away from the BS
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u/Hopeful_Figure_6446 2d ago
The goals I got hit for were for $10 bottles no one wanted. Big volume moves without the bribes that southern glazers gave, and no brand recognition to move on shelves.
Fuck me for selling plenty of $50 bottles of whiskey though those weren’t the goals they cared about.
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u/bestUsernameNo1 2d ago
I had barefoot bubbly goals, and all my accounts were like Michelin starred restaurants in West Hollywood and Beverly Hills 😭
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u/DeeJayDelicious 2d ago
I would navigate this differently.
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Admit failure about something inconsequential to establish that you are self-critical and "honest". This could be something like a dumb mistake with tooling (i.e. I didn't have my lead sourcing tool set up etc. or it took me 6 weeks before I got Sales Navigator etc.).
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But when it comes to why you changed/left, try and make it about organizational/structural issues rather than objective performance metrics. Remember, HR's goal is to hire someone who hits the numbers. Something like your manager left and you were without for a long period. Or you were servicing an industry where you had weak product market fit etc.
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Obviously think your story through beforehand and fill it with useless details. You don't want to be caught in contradictions later on. And consider what they might be able to verify.
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u/Relevant-Spot-3192 2d ago
5 reps in 5 years lol
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u/Hopeful_Figure_6446 2d ago
I’ve straight up said that in interviews and had the people laugh their asses off.
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u/Primary_Excuse_7183 2d ago
Never say it as the reason you left. figure a way to spin it to a positive when you are inevitably asked to name a time you overcame a very tough challenge. The passion you’ll have when answering will come out easily while not sounding like you just didn’t cut it.
Understand that improving the revenue of the module 40% doesn’t mean you hit your goal.
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u/SecretWasianMan 2d ago
“Org A gave me a strong foundation in X sales, prospecting, and building relationships with business owners. I wanted to expand beyond traditional X solutions into a more comprehensive Y solution and develop my ability to sell on business outcomes rather than individual products. Org B offered/offers that opportunity.”
Your answer should always make it obvious you’re a competent performer with a coherent strategy.
You can also say youre still at your last employer and then put in your actual end date with the background check vendor since they’re silo’d from your manager/regional director, and that’s assuming they check for actual end month.
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u/justSomeSalesDude 2d ago
I never lie in a job interview.... but I always assume the interviewer is lying to me.
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u/NindieNation 2d ago
If I'm not hitting the number, I'll say where I ranked on my team, region, etc.
"19 years, hit quota about 2/3 years, regularly in the top 20%, made presidents club (or equivalent) 9 of the 14 years I was eligible"
If they push about the number, just give them a number, I think stating you left a territory that had 5 reps in 5 years is fine, as long as you're not walking into a similar situation.
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u/JoeyMcMahon1 2d ago
Learn to lie, just like the way they lie to you why the position is open. It’s a job not the IRS.
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u/backtothesaltmines 2d ago
I count losses as wins when losses are due to someone else f-ing up or some internal bureaucracy that I would have won.
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u/physical-vapor 2d ago
Dude, in an interview, you've never not hit quota, ever. You hit in your anual quota even though you started in August, there was no pipeline. And they didnt prorate your quota. You hit quota while also spending 28 hours a week training new BDR'S and AE's and giving your girlfriend 3 orgasms a day.
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u/employerGR 1d ago
If they ask...
I joined and thought it was a really good opportunity. it was not. But I made the most of it, I grew the territory and was up 15% over the previous year. The company made changes and had layoffs. I am looking for a company like yours that has a great reputation and is known for being a good long term place to work.
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u/ApplePrimary2985 19h ago
Guys, the interview process in sales has become an assessment of your capabilities to lie or stretch truth. I am literally doing a group interview and the prompt is basically like "sell us on why we should hire you," with examples. Think like Altman level of bullshittery. That is what the market expects now.
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u/H4RN4SS 9h ago
I would position my success against the prior reps who filled the role and speak to my ability to build pipe and develop a territory.
If they ask why you left then it was because of whatever you want to say. There's no reason to be honest about the firing.
I have yet to meet a company that doesn't lie their fucking ass off to candidates - not sure why you'd offer them anything but what they give you.
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u/Flat-Fee6934 9h ago
How long have you been in sales? I feel like anyone who has been in the industry long enough has gone through some sort of layoff or firing or something along those lines. The important thing is to have a planned answer and not have a deer in the headlights response when people ask you about why you left. You also don't want to get caught rambling in the interview about excuses of what happened.
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u/Fabulous-Piccolo-138 2d ago
up 15% while the whole industry was down and they still fired you. say that and stop talking.
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u/Hopeful_Figure_6446 2d ago
Awesome. I’d said before “we were told the industry was down 30%, I was up 15% “ and kinda leaving it there
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u/Similar_Anteater2568 2d ago
Five reps in five years, sounds like a haunted territory