Use a 30/60/90-Day Action Plan for Non-Sales Job Interviews
If you’ve read this blog at all, you’ll know how important a 30/60/90-day plan is to your job interview success. In most cases, we’re talking about sales jobs in the medical sales arena. But I often get questions from people who aren’t in sales jobs and they want to know if that kind of plan can help them, too.
The answer is absolutely YES.
A 90-day plan is critical to bring to every job interview. It works for any marketing or technical support role in medical or health care companies–not just for the sales jobs.
Why?
Watch the video and I’ll tell you:
- How the 30/60/90-day plan demonstrates that you understand the job and can do it
- Why the 30/60/90-day plan makes you stand out from the pack and showcases your drive and initiative
- A hiring manager’s secret fear and why a 30/60/90-day plan makes him much more comfortable hiring you
I would never go into any job interview without a written plan outlining for the hiring manager how I would attack the job and be successful at it. It’s that important. I’ve worked with hiring managers for over 10 years now (and been one myself), and they never fail to be impressed with a candidate who can create a good, well-thought-out plan.
Want a shortcut to success? Check out the brand new 30/60/90-Day Action Plan for Non-Sales Jobs kit at Career Confidential.
5 Killer Questions to Ask In Your Medical Sales Job Interview
Usually, the emphasis in job interview prep involves getting your answers ready for the toughest medical sales interview questions–and there’s no doubt that it’s a critical component. But you must remember that interviewing is a two-way street. In one respect, the job interview is your chance to find out if the company is somewhere you can shine and advance in your career. You have to ask the questions that will tell you what you want to know.
But the most immediate benefit to asking questions in the interview is that just by asking those questions, you stand out as a medical sales candidate. You show yourself as a go-getter, and you change the interview from a one-sided interrogation into a conversation between professionals. It helps you establish rapport, and it uncovers for you what the interviewer is looking for–so that you can tailor your answers to what’s going to make the best impression on him.
To effectively find out what the interviewer wants to know, you have to ask the right questions. What are they?
1. “Tell me about what you’re looking for in this position?” Or, if you want to be more specific, “Tell me about the best member of your team?“ You want to know what has made the top performers successful. What skills or characteristics do they have? Then you can point out similar skills and qualities that you have that will allow you to be a top performer here, too.
2. “What’s the greatest challenge for this position?” Same idea. You want to know what the hiring manager’s greatest problems are so you can tell him how you’re going to solve them. You can talk about similar situations you’ve dealt with, and show how you already know what it takes to be successful.
3. “What do you like or dislike about working for this company?“ Asking this question gives you insight into the company and even more help with the responses you give.
4. “Are you confident that I’m a person who can meet the challenges and issues that your company faces?” What you want to know here is that you’ve told the interviewer what they need to know to make a confident decision to hire you. This question will help you uncover any objections while you’re right there to answer them. Maybe there’s some doubt the hiring manager has about your experience or abilities, you can find out what it is and speak to that. It’s sometimes hard to do, but it’s worth it. (It becomes easier and more effective if you practice with an interview coach first.)
5. “What’s the next step in this process?” I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to close the deal. You can’t leave the interview without asking for the job. Not only will you give yourself a little more peace of mind by knowing what their timeline looks like, you demonstrate that you’re proactive and confident as well as give them an idea of how you’ll deal with customers.
Asking the right questions leads you to give the most impressive answers and creates a very successful environment for you to have a killer interview–a must-do for landing a medical sales job.
Best of luck.
Typical Phone Interview Questions for Medical Sales Jobs
Phone interviews can be deceptively casual to some medical sales and health care sales job seekers–maybe because it doesn’t feel like the “real thing”…and they can’t see you anyway. But not taking the phone interview very seriously is a huge mistake. If they called you, they like you, and they are screening their top candidates to decide who deserves the time and expense of a face-to-face interview. They’re looking for a reason not to like you. Don’t let them screen you out.
Beyond the basic phone interview survival tips of dressing professionally (it’s an attitude thing), reducing distractions, smiling, and keeping your resume, brag book, and notes in front of you (hey, you might as well take advantage of the one benefit of phone interviews), you should prepare for it just like you would prepare for a face-to-face. Research the company thoroughly. Think about what questions you might be asked, and practice your answers so that you’re smooth and confident.
What are some typical phone interview questions? Since this is really the first step in the hiring process, they are essentially the same questions you might hear in a normal interview. Like these:
Tell me about yourself. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking it’s a social question to break the ice. It isn’t. All your answers should relate to the job.
Why are you interested in this job? Relate it to your skills and what you can do for them.
Do you have the right educational/work background? However they ask this question, they’re looking to see if you have the skills and/or education to be successful at this job. In medical sales, you’ll need a science degree, or at least some science classes if you’ve got a strong sales record.
Are you in the right location? Is relocation going to be an issue for you? Are you willing to move? It could be a factor when deciding between candidates.
What’s your greatest weakness? It’s OK to admit to a real weakness, as long as you can turn it into a positive for the job. “Perfectionism” is overdone, though.
How do you handle conflict? This is a great place to use a story. The STAR technique–the Situation you faced, the Task at hand, the Approach you took, and the Results you got–is a fantastic way to answer this question.
Who would serve as your references? If they ask this, they’ll probably check them before they call you in. Choose great references like past managers or other high-level execs who can speak to your work skills, and prep them before they’re called.
One more thing: Never hang up without asking a few questions of your own, just as you would in a normal interview. Clarify, ask questions about the company, and ask for next steps. Active, engaged conversation and questions make a great impression on the interviewer. Prepare well and you’ll be on your way to acing the phone interview and getting to the face-to-face.
If you’d like an objective, expert evaluation of your phone interview style, consider a phone interview coaching session. It’s an investment in yourself that will pay off in more job offers.
What You MUST Ask Before You Leave The Interview
To prepare for a job interview in medical or health care sales, you have to make sure you’re ready to answer both common and tough interview questions, and know how to frame your answers to highlight what you’re going to bring to the company (a great way to do that is to structure your answers in the form of stories that spotlight your skills). You also have to have some interview questions of your own ready–after all, you’re interviewing them, too. You want to know if that company’s a good fit for you, and is going to be a place where you can succeed. But there’s one question you should absolutely remember to ask before the interview ends.
It’s “Do you see any reason why you wouldn’t hire me for this job?”
I know…there are many who would disparage that question, finding it too canned and predictable. So ask it another way, then. But ask it.
Uncover the hiring manager's objections.
Why? The interview is your best shot at securing a job offer. You don’t want to leave any doubts in the hiring manager’s mind about hiring you. You need to uncover those doubts and objections while you have a chance to address them. And many legitimate objections can be addressed simply by giving the interviewer a different perspective on whatever it is that’s bothering them. Or maybe you’ve forgotten to highlight some experience in your job history. The answer to that question will show you the weak spots in your interview, and give you another chance to shore them up.
Although this advice applies to any job interview in any industry, it’s especially true for sales. If you can’t even close the deal during your interview, what’s going to make the medical device, laboratory sales, or pharmaceutical sales hiring manager think you can close the sale when you’re on the job?
If you have any doubts about your ability to ask this question in the interview, PLEASE consider hiring an interview coach to role-play interview questions with you. Practicing asking that question with a coach will make it easier and more natural for you to ask it in an interview. You deserve to know the answer.
And getting it could make the difference in whether or not you get the job offer.
Listen to these tips on how to close for the job in the interview–exactly the words you need to say to the interviewer.
3 Sure-Fire Ways to Ace Your Medical Sales Interview: Prep, Technique, and Follow Up
There are so many details involved in a successful job interview, and every one of them is more critical than the last. Hiring you is a big, expensive risk for the company. (If they put in the money to train you, pay you, and give you health care benefits, are you going to make it worthwhile for them?) It’s up to you to take care of every single detail to put their minds at ease and be excited to hire you. But if you boil down those details to the 3 most basic parts that make up a successful health care sales interview, you’re going to get to (1) preparation, (2) interview techniques, and (3) follow up.
1. Prepare, prepare, prepare. Interview preparation is so critical, I can’t emphasize it enough. The more you do, the better. The closer you appear to being able to walk right in and hit the ground running, the more they’ll be able to see you in the job–which brings them one step closer to hiring you. Google the company, check out their corporate website, read the company’s LinkedIn page as well as the pages of high-level executives there, and then scope out their place in the market. What are their biggest challenges and goals?
Then, research the job. If you’re transitioning in or are a new graduate, consider riding along with a sales rep for a day to get a better grip on the details. Think about what you’ve done in your background that will lend itself to your success at this job. Pick out stories in your job history that illustrate the qualities they’re looking for.
All of this preparation should go into the development of your 30/60/90-day plan. This plan is a written outline for what you intend to do your first 3 months on the job–from how you’ll learn the ropes to how you’ll begin to stand on your own two feet and make your own contributions to the company. It does take significant effort to create this plan, but hiring managers are so impressed by them, the results are worth it.
2. Sharpen your interview skills by hiring an interview coach. It’s the fastest, most efficient way to find out how you’re coming across to a potential employer. Get the coach to role-play interview questions with you and evaluate your answers. Get a critique on how you’re dressed, your body language, your overall style and general job interview etiquette. You’ll almost certainly be surprised at something you’re doing that you shouldn’t be; or at some small thing you can improve that will lead you to exponentially greater results.
3. Follow up. Don’t underestimate the power of the follow up. You can do more than just send a thank you note, although you’ll already stand out if you do because most people don’t. Revamp your 30/60/90-day plan with the input you got from the interview, and resend it with your note (that mentions points you missed or need to expand on). You’ll communicate that you can take constructive criticism, that you’re adaptable and flexible, that you can think strategically, and that you are really interested in this job. Check out these additional job interview follow up tips.
If you’re new and trying to break into the medical sales arena, check out the How to Get Into Medical Sales Kit from Career Confidential.
The One Question You Must Ask The Interviewer
Don’t get me wrong…there are many questions you must ask the interviewer in order to land a medical sales job. Asking questions in the interview demonstrates your intelligence, drive, enthusiasm, and preparation for the job. It turns the interview into a conversation between professionals, putting you in a better psychological position, interview-wise. You’ll also find out if you really want to work there. You’ll find out, for instance, if the environment is a good fit, if you can work with this manager, and if it’s a place where you can advance your career. All in all, having questions of your own to ask in the interview is a great thing.
But.
What's the most important interview question?
What’s the one question you can’t afford to forget? It’s the one question that can make or break your interview.
It’s “What are you looking for?”
Or you could ask it in a different way: “Can you describe your top performer in this role? What are his or her characteristics?”
Why would you ask this question? Because it sets up the interview…tone, structure, focus, etc. Maybe you think it’s obvious from the job description, or otherwise self-explanatory. By asking this question, you’re going to get at the heart of what the employer’s looking for, and it’s going to give you major guidance for how to formulate the rest of your answers–especially if you’re asked any behavioral event interview questions. You can choose the stories that are going to really tilt the interview in your favor.
Health care sales managers are going to have a “formula” in their heads for what makes a great medical sales rep. It will vary depending on the industry (medical devices, laboratory sales, pharmaceuticals, pathology, biotech, etc.), the individual company, and the products they sell. If you can uncover what that formula is, then you have a much better shot at showing the hiring manager why you fit.
The interview is pretty precious real estate in your job search. You don’t want to waste time addressing what you THINK the employer wants. Just ask. Make every minute count, and make every answer give the hiring manager one more reason to offer you the job.
Check out my free training webinar “How to Get a Better Job Faster” for more job search tips.
Don’t Sabotage Your Job Search By Making This Critical Interview Mistake
Just got off a coaching call with a candidate who is making a critical mistake in the interview and missing the job offer.
I don’t want you to miss this – it’s a less-than-5-minute audio that will change the way you think about the interview.
Here is what you should do:
1: Click the audio control below to listen to the audio
2: Go here to sign up for custom interview coaching (or coaching on any other aspect of your job):
I know that this will make a difference in your job search.
Peggy
Interview Prep for Medical Device Sales
Get the job offer!
If you’re in the job search for a medical device sales job, you know how tough it is. Even if you have the right background in science and technology plus sales experience, there’s some intense competition for these fantastic positions. What can you do to prepare for your medical device interview so that you’re the one who walks away with the job offer?
- Harness the power of LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a powerful resource for the job hunter. Once you have a profile, you’re good to go.
You can research companies you’re interested in, as well as the profiles of the people who work there. That’s going to give you a lot of information you can use. The LinkedIn pages of companies are usually a lot more informative than their corporate pages. By researching individual employees, you can see who’s who and get a clearer picture of what’s going on there.
You can get involved in groups and discussions on the medical device industry and the job market. Not only will you become known by people in the area, you’ll pick up quite a few nuggets of knowledge on companies, the industry, and job leads. Start with the Sales Cafe: Sales Rep Careers.
You can actively job search by using LinkedIn to contact hiring managers directly. You’ll get much better results than by going through traditional HR channels. Check out this video: LinkedIn Ninja Tricks to Bypass HR and Get the Job. It’s full of the insider advice you need to gracefully, professionally, and effectively get hiring managers to call you for an interview.
Seriously. It doesn’t even have to be me. Before you go into another interview, find a career coach. Maybe you just need a resume review. Maybe you need to put a positive spin on a dicey situation. Maybe you need an image check, a body language refresher, or better answers to interview questions. You’ll be amazed at how much faster you’ll get job offers with the right coaching. If pro athletes at the top of their games need coaches, you do too.
- Bring all the tools in your toolbox to the interview
So you know to bring your resume (plus extras for the other members of the management team you’ll be meeting). Have your references already lined up and prepped. Also, don’t forget your brag book and absolutely don’t forget your 30/60/90-day sales plan. (In case you’re not familiar with that, a 30/60/90-day plan is a written outline of what you will do when you start the job…how you’ll get trained, how you’ll bring yourself up to speed with the team and your customers, and how you’ll bring in new sales.) That’s the one document that impresses hiring managers above all others. You might think you can bring up your ideas as part of your conversation, but that’s an iffy possibility that doesn’t allow you to take control over your interview. You can control the interview with a 30/60/90-day sales plan.
If a 30/60/90-day plan is good, would a 1-year plan be better?
I was recently asked this question by a laboratory sales candidate: “If bringing a 30/60/90-day plan to the interview is so impressive, would a 1-year plan be even better?“
Now that’s a go-getter!
But, my answer is: Maybe, but probably not.
I can see where there’s a possibility that someone with tremendous amounts of experience who’s going for a very high-level executive position might want to extend the plan out for a year, in the same way that someone who’s starting their own business would do–it’s a big deal.
A well-written 30/60/90-day plan is very impressive to hiring managers for a lot of reasons, and one of them is that not many people take the time to create one. So you’re already ahead of the game if you do. When you add in the advantages of your careful and thoughtful analysis for exactly how you’re going to be successful at this job (and make your new boss look great!) and the way it helps you turn the interview into a professional conversation rather than a question-and-answer session, you become a job-winning candidate.
I think the answer is that for most people in medical or health care sales jobs, a 90-day plan is going to be as far out as you need to go. You’re showing the manager how you’re going to transition into being a contributing, productive member of the team, and by 3 months in, you should be sailing along pretty well. And you’ll have additional goals given to you from your boss and your boss’s boss that you can’t predict right now–so there’s no point.
What do you think?
Listen to this audio of how to incorporate a 30/60/90-day plan into your interview.
Get a proven 30/60/90-Day Sales Plan here.
Should you hire a career coach to role play some job interview questions?
You know the drill for medical sales job interviews: research, prepare, and be ready for the toughest interview questions.
There are some job interview questions for health care sales jobs that inevitably trip candidates up. “What’s your greatest weakness?“ is a famous one. The typical advice you’ll usually find is to prepare for the interview by practicing your answers, and role-play it with a friend (if you’re really serious).
Preparation is key to landing any job in medical device, laboratory sales, or pharmaceutical sales; and role-playing your interview answers is going to do nothing but help you. That’s the truth.
Having said that, I want to suggest that you kick it up a notch: hire a career coach to role play job interview questions with you.
Think of it this way: You will get better at your golf game by going to the driving range or playing a few holes with your buddies–your skills will improve over time with practice and the competition from your friends. But if you were really serious about improving your swing or wanted to get Phil Mickelson good, you’d find a coach.
So how serious are you about your job search?
A coach can help you
- construct answers that sell you as a candidate for the most common interview questions as well as the toughest ones.
- take your personal history into account so that you don’t answer standard interview questions with the same standard answers everyone else gives–you’ll be memorable.
- practice closing the deal (many candidates find this difficult to master–but it’s vital).
Think about hiring a career coach before you go to your next interview. Seriously.
Corporate Website
-
Mailing List
