If you were hired today, what would you accomplish first?
"I created a strategic plan for you to take a look at, using one of your biggest clients as an example. This outline shows how I can make an impact as your Head of Marketing in the next 30, 60, and 90 days. First and foremost, my focus would be on getting to know your highest-spending clients by booking face to face meetings with them. It would be a discovery meeting where I would set out to see where we could serve them better, and increase their marketing spend in areas they were lacking."
"When we were speaking earlier, about sales targets in this position, you mentioned that most new sales professionals begin to hit their KPI's after 120 days. If hired today, my goal would be to exceed my KPI's after the first 90 days. I plan to make a positive impact very quickly by getting on the phone, getting to know my clients, and discovering their needs immediately. I will upsell from there."
"If hired today, I would start with analyzing all quantifiable data from the last month, quarter, and year to identify any bottlenecks or shortfalls in productivity. I would make corrections from there. Perhaps this will be in the form of creating better processes, implementing new applications for productivity, or simplifying the vendor process. This work will, of course, coincide with your biggest pain-points at the moment."
"You mentioned earlier that staff training and retention had become a pressure point for your organization. I considered that and created a 90-day plan to increase retention while streamlining the training process via an online training manual with self-guided lessons. Would you like to take a deeper look?"
"The first thing I would do is acquaint myself with my students, and their parents. The better understanding I have of my class and the dynamics, the more effective of an educator I can be."
"If you hired me today, I would dive right into the training manual, learning all of your products and pricing. I would study your best selling products and work on my sales scripts."
The interviewer would like to know that you would be ready to make an impact on their organization, immediately after being hired. It's important to come to an interview with a 30-90 day strategic plan on how you would impact the business, should you be the successful candidate. Tell the interviewer what your impact goal is, should you be the successful candidate.
"I know you mentioned that the average tenure in this position, before promotion, is anywhere from 6 months to a year or more. I intend to prove over the first three months that I am a rockstar in the organization and would be of greater benefit to you in an account executive role than I am in a sales development role."
Community answers are written by other candidates practicing this set. Reading how others frame the same question is one of the fastest ways to sharpen your own.
Anonymous Answer
While preparing for this interview, I observed that some of the policies posted on the company's website had been overdue for revision, some as far back as December 2018. I would discuss with my Audit Manager on the need to reach out to the leadership of the Departments involved informing them of our observation and the need to review and approve the policies, to incorporate any changes that might have occurred after the last review date.
Kevin's Feedback
Sounds like you have a strong attention to detail, one that is worth advertising. However, you should familiarize yourself with 30-60-90 rule. As it stands, whenever you start in a new position with a new company, you haven’t yet learned the whys of why they do things, nor the priorities your leaders are aware of that you are not yet familiar with. So it is more important to be observant and ask questions. Being presumptive, that just because you observed their website was dated or flawed doesn’t necessarily mean they will prioritize this, nor that they will delegate the responsibility to you just because you noticed it. It very well may be that they are already aware of this, and delegated the task to someone else. However, by adjusting your communication, you can still drive a similar message home.
I’d work on learning the ropes, gaining as much of a big-picture-scope as I can, while building relationships. It’s my philosophy that it’s basically my job to make my bosses’ jobs easier. I have a keen eye for the details, and would point out my observations while asking questions. For example, while preparing for this interview, I observed that some policies posted on the company’s website were outdated and required revision. So, I’d ask my Audit Manager if they were aware of this and see what they had to say. I would gauge if this was a priority, or if there was a reason they sidelined this task. I’d put my all to earn my keep and build the trust of my coworkers to ensure I complimented my new team.
