I personally never thought anyone would actually say, “sell me this pen” in a sales interview. I was wrong. It will happen to you too. And to avoid panic, you should know exactly what to say back.

I am going to give you the right sales framework to respond perfectly every time.

On a quick side note, did you know this sales interview question has been around for millions of years? Its origins date back to the earliest of cavemen. Selling slingshots cave-to-cave. Except back then, they asked, “sell me this bowl of crushed berries.”

Anyways. The point is, one day it will happen to you and I want you to be prepared.

Because if you start to describe how smooth the pen feels and how shiny the pen looks, just like you saw in the Wolf of Wallstreet…

You probably won’t get the job.



Why it matters to sell me this pen

At first, I didn’t realize why it mattered. It just seemed like a silly question. But, you’ll see.

When you become good at answering this question, you actually become one hell of a salesperson.

And that’s why people still ask it in interviews. It shows your creative approach and how good you are at actually selling product (not just reading your resume).

There are exactly four sales skills the interviewer is looking to see when you answer:

how you gather information

how you respond to information

how you deliver information

and how you ask for something (closing)

Now, since I had a lot of sales interviews lined up at the beginning of last year. I thought, I better practice my response just in case.

The “just wing it” strategy is best for making pancake mix, not for sales interviews.

So let’s go through exactly what you can say to address each sales skill. Because when you do it right, you will blow their mind!



Here’s exactly what you can say

Just to back up for a second, I had 26 sales interviews in a period of three months. Someone was bound to ask me.

Ok. The Director of Sales stood up and said, “it was great meeting you Ian. Let me go grab the CEO to come in next.” Moments later, the CEO of the 30 person startup walked in the small conference room.

Shortly after initial greetings, the CEO wasted no time to start the interview.

I practiced my answer beforehand. I made sure my answer displayed the four sales skills the CEO needed to hear.

Now you can read it for yourself. And then use it for yourself.

At the bottom, you can see a simple sales framework to memorize that will make this work for you in any situation.

You can memorize the script, but more importantly, memorize the sales framework at the end.

[b]Here you go…

[b]CEO: Do me a favor, sell me this pen. (reaches across to hand me the pen)
Me: (I slowly roll the pen between my index and thumb fingers.) When was the last time you used a pen?
CEO: This morning.
Me: Do you remember what kind of pen that was?
CEO: No.
Me: Do you remember why you were using it to write?
CEO: Yes. Signing a few new customer contracts.
Me: Well I’d say that’s the best use for a pen (we have a subtle laugh).
Wouldn’t you say signing those new customer contracts is an important event for the business? (nods head) Then shouldn’t it be treated like one. What I mean by that is, here you are signing new customer contracts, an important and memorable event. All while using a very unmemorable pen.
We grew up, our entire lives, using cheap BIC pens because they get the job done for grocery lists and directions. But we never gave it much thought to learn what’s best for more important events.
This is the pen for more important events. This is the tool you use to get deals done. Think of it as a symbol for taking your company to the next level. Because when you begin using the right tool, you are in a more productive state of mind, and you begin to sign more new customer contracts.
Actually. You know what? Just this week I shipped ten new boxes of these pens to Elon Musk’s office.
Unfortunately, this is my last pen today (reach across to hand pen back to CEO). So, I suggest you get this one. Try it out. If you’re not happy with it, I will personally come back next week to pick it up. And it won’t cost you a dime.
What do you say?
CEO: (picks jaw up off floor) Yes.[/b]
See how simple that was. The CEO loved it. Why?[/b]
Because all four sales skills were displayed.

Here’s the simple sales framework I used to answer “sell me this pen”. Memorize it for yourself.

Find out how they last used a pen (gather info)
Emphasize the importance of the activity they last used a pen (respond to info)
Sell something bigger than a pen, like a state of mind (deliver info)
Ask for the buy (closing)


Does that make sense? Yes. Ok, good.

Conclusion

Remember, it’s not about actually selling a pen. It’s about showing how well you can sell a product.

Take 15 minutes today to practice the script above. I promise you will benefit.

Plus, would you mind doing me a favor. Share this with ONE person in sales. It could save their career ��



credit: http://www.dealermarketing.com/sell-me-this-pen/

AUTHOR: DARIN GEORGE

cc: lalasticlala

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akdrealman:
Dogan’s Sugar Limited was consolidated in July 2013 in Lagos, Nigeria as a European contributed organisation for the will to create quality sugar items in Nigeria. The organisation is a backup of Ata Ltd. Co.; Ukraine’s greatest and market pioneer shape sugar fabricating organisation with more than

70% piece of the overall industry. At present Ata is assembling more than 20 distinctive FMCG items in Ukraine with various weights and bundling.

We are selecting to fill the position beneath:

Work Title: Area Sales Manager

Area: Lagos

Requirements

Hopeful must have a decent first degree in the pertinent course and ideally a post-graduate/proficient capability.

He/she, who ought to be close to 50 years of age, must have 5 – 10 years’ involvement in deals and advertising of dish espresso, deals, promoting and conveyance and in addition, expendable glasses deals, showcasing and dispersion.

Applicant must have pertinent involvement in the particular deals, promoting and dispersion of the above items before applying for the job

akeem stop spamming threads to promote your blog....

And he will be watching you and listenig to you act nollywood before him? You'd better be suited going for a movie role on 'Pen Sellers' Billionaire Club'

Well I saw this post on the authors Linkedin Page a while back. Anyways sha, atleast the author was given Credit (his name was written).
.
..
To the topic,
The wolf of wall street way is also a very good method.

TheBatman:
Well I saw this post on the authors Linkedin Page a while back. Anyways sha, atleast the author was given Credit (his name was written).
.
..
To the topic,
The wolf of wall street way is also a very good method.

i second the wolf of wall street style... less complicated.... created a demand and provided the supply...
if I was the ceo who happened to have watched this film.... i will so damn this guy wen he is putting up his show... wasting all my time.. telling me the importance off signing contract...remember time is money.

I can categorically tell you that your answer was far from brilliant! And if anyone gets hired with that kind of answer, then the interviewer doesn't know what to look out for.

As far as marketing is concerned, everything you have to tell the potential buyer is useless if you don't place emphasis on user benefits. That is, answer the question subconsciously running through the potential buyer's mind, and that is, "What will this product do for me?" or "Why should I favour this product over the ones I'm already using?"

The response above placed no emphasis on user benefits. It only talked about the features of the pen, which the potential buyer won't convert to features on their own. And the OP added that some units were shipped to Elon Musk. How does that help the potential buyer?

And within the response, you embedded much more hype and fluff than one would expect to hear from someone trying to sell something as trivial as a pen. You tried too hard to make a pen look more important than it really is.

So if he remembered the name of the pen what would be your reply huhn??

webincomeplus:
I can categorically tell you that your answer was far from brilliant! And if anyone gets hired with that kind of answer, then the interviewer doesn't know what to look out for.

As far as marketing is concerned, everything you have to tell the potential buyer is useless if you don't place emphasis on user benefits. That is, answer the question subconsciously running through the potential buyer's mind, and that is, "What will this product do for me?" or "Why should I favour this product over the ones I'm already using?"

The response above placed no emphasis on user benefits. It only talked about the features of the pen, which the potential buyer won't convert to features on their own. And the OP added that some units were shipped to Elon Musk. How does that help the potential buyer?

And within the response, you embedded much more hype and fluff than one would expect to hear from someone trying to sell something as trivial as a pen. You tried too hard to make a pen look more important than it really is.

I have just these words to say, if this answer is far from brilliant, kindly give us a brilliant answer that'll sell a pen.

GreatHercules:
I have just these words to say, if this answer is far from brilliant, kindly give us a brilliant answer that'll sell a pen.

webincom is so right!! Your response definitely shows you have very little or no sales experience. Let me help you. He was selling features, no way sell, the benefits brother-sell the value proposition. What do I stand to gain when I use your product. How can you attempt to sell a product you dont know?

Point 2: I showed up for a multinational sales manager interview, I was given a milk to sell. I told the interviewer that for me to do that , he will need to tell me more about the product. I was also unsure if he was my target market. I rather should be selling chinese tea in here. They lol loud. In the end he gave me a firm handshake, the rest na history.

Every product out there is embedded with a different feature and benefit, that will attend to peoples needs and wants.

Sell me the benefits brother..

GreatHercules:
I have just these words to say, if this answer is far from brilliant, kindly give us a brilliant answer that'll sell a pen.

My post contained tips clear enough to help any smart person come up with a brilliant answer. There's no one hard-and-fast answer; any answer can be brilliant provided it focuses on buyer benefits (not features), gives convincing reasons to favour the product over other similar ones, and contains no shitty fluff or hype. You get it now?

They actually got that from the Hollywood movie;
The wolf of wall street.

You didn't even get the answer 100percent right.

Great

charles009:


webincom is so right!! Your response definitely shows you have very little or no sales experience. Let me help you. He was selling features, no way sell, the benefits brother-sell the value proposition. What do I stand to gain when I use your product. How can you attempt to sell a product you dont know?

Point 2: I showed up for a multinational sales manager interview, I was given a milk to sell. I told the interviewer that for me to do that , he will need to tell me more about the product. I was also unsure if he was my target market. I rather should be selling chinese tea in here. They lol loud. In the end he gave me a firm handshake, the rest na history.

Every product out there is embedded with a different feature and benefit, that will attend to peoples needs and wants.

Sell me the benefits brother..

You are a clown to state outrightly that i have no sales experience because i asked him to give his own perspective of a brilliant answer.

I agree that you have to understand your product to sell it. But you guys are missing something, which is "thinking on your feet". They asked the interviewee to sell a product he has no idea of and instead of backing out, he actually came up with something that satisfies the end game "selling the product". his methods, although unconventional, but it worked didn't it.

Btw, your answer to the interview was equally brilliant.

webincomeplus:

My post contained tips clear enough to help any smart person come up with a brilliant answer. There's no one hard-and-fast answer; any answer can be brilliant provided it focuses on buyer benefits (not features), gives convincing reasons to favour the product over other similar ones, and contains no shitty fluff or hype. You get it now?

I understand you perfectly, but i'll refer you to the above.

gud to c an intelligent thread

GreatHercules:
You are a clown to state outrightly that i have no sales experience because i asked him to give his own perspective of a brilliant answer.

I agree that you have to understand your product to sell it. But you guys are missing something, which is "thinking on your feet". They have the interviewee a product he has no idea of and instead of backing it, he actually came up with something that satisfies the end game "selling the product". his methods, although unconventional, but it worked didn't it.

Btw, your answer to the interview was equally brilliant.

My friend, the moment you attempt to sell a product you dont know in an interview you have failed.leave all this sell me a pen example . asking you to sell plantain flour for example and you go out stunting with all the vitamins bla bla. Failed.. know your product or tactfully beat the interviewer in his own game. Haha

well, i was at an interview and a head of the department i was to be employed gave me his mobile phone and told me to assume its a corpse, and that I should sell it to him...am for real here...got the job anyway

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interviewer : sell me this pen
interviewee : (collects pen ,adjusts belt,stand up ) wose wose buy your pen here 30 30naira pen buy your pen here.....
interviewer : we would contact you later
what do you think happened next? lol

;'

In 2015 I was asked almost a similar question during a sales interview. My question was, how can you convince me(the interviewer) to buy a pen of 100 naira when I can simply go to a shop down stairs and buy a pen at 30 naira which can also perform the same function. Op what will be ur reply in this case

We should all know he was asked to sell a pen.... So trivial you'd say.
How do convince a ceo to buy a pen from you? Someone talked about giving the features of the pen and the benefit to the user. Lol
Who doesn't know the use and benefit of a pen. What the writer did here was to place a premium value on the pen. He attached much importance and hype to the pen. Its a mind thing. As a ceo, you'd love to own a collectors pen.
You don't expect that he should start telling him how faster and cleaner the pen writes. Sunny Ade's guitar was sold for 50m not cos it was the best around, but because a premium was placed on it.

This reminds me of that joke where an applicant was asked by an interviewer to sell his (interviewer's) laptop to him (interviewer). The guy took the laptop home, after some hours the interviewer called him asking him for his laptop, he told the interviewer to pay some amount to have(buy) his laptop back. All follow for "selling"

veinless:
well, i was at an interview and a head of the department i was to be employed gave me his mobile phone and told me to assume its a corpse, and that I should sell it to him...am for real here...got the job anyway

Is that the credit officer Job you got via NL?

oluwafreshkid:
We should all know he was asked to sell a pen.... So trivial you'd say.
How do convince a ceo to buy a pen from you? Someone talked about giving the features of the pen and the benefit to the user. Lol
Who doesn't know the use and benefit of a pen. What the writer did here was to place a premium value on the pen. He attached much importance and hype to the pen. Its a mind thing. As a ceo, you'd love to own a collectors pen.
You don't expect that he should start telling him how faster and cleaner the pen writes. Sunny Ade's guitar was sold for 50m not cos it was the best around, but because a premium was placed on it.

You are in an interview for the post of a sales manager, lets say for instance minimie noddles. And you are asked to sell minimie noodles to him? What are you gonna do or sell??

There are lots of articles on linkedin that counters this outmoded sell me a pen analogy!

For you to make a sales pitch, you must have enough information and value proposition of the product you seling.

I once worked as a brand manager of a premium brand in Nigeria, once I meet any key distributor , I quickly remind you that the product you see as the market leader has a lot of refill. This information alone makes our interaction more interesting. Being a sales pro goes beyond knowing your brand, know the competition too. My fifty kobo

Kkk

charles009:


You are in an interview for the post of a sales manager, lets say for instance minimie noddles. And you are asked to sell minimie noodles to him? What are you gonna do or sell??

There are lots of articles on linkedin that counters this outmoded sell me a pen analogy!

For you to make a sales pitch, you must have enough information and value proposition of the product you seling.

I once worked as a brand manager of a premium brand in Nigeria, once I meet any key distributor , I quickly remind you that the product you see as the market leader has a lot of refill. This information alone makes our interaction more interesting. Being a sales pro goes beyond knowing your brand, know the competition too. My fifty kobo

Very good analogy you put up. However, remember this is an interview. Not a full sales job with proper briefing about product information et al. Without saying this answer style is the best out there, you have to agree that for a young grad who reads this and out of intuition fashions out his own pitch will very well wow most CEOs at any given interview.