How to Answer: What is the most difficult client you had to close and what did you learn from it?
Advice and answer examples written specifically for an Account Executive job interview.
6. What is the most difficult client you had to close and what did you learn from it?
Why the Interviewer Asks This Question
The interviewer wants to see how you face adversity in a role. They want to know that you can overcome strong objections.
Written by Judy Smith on March 13th, 2022
What to Avoid
Do not share that you think every client is difficult or that you have never had a difficult client before. Everyone has had a challenge at some part of the sales cycle.
Written by Judy Smith on March 13th, 2022
How to Answer
Share an example of a recent client that you closed that gave you some challenges. Discuss how you overcame the objection(s) and what you learned from it.
Written by Judy Smith on March 13th, 2022
Answer Example
"One client that I had a difficult time closing was one that I had to follow up with every week. She kept giving me the run-around and would reschedule our meetings or only meet with me for five minutes and tell me she would call me back later after she watched the demos that I sent over to her. I started to think that maybe she just didn't have time or was not interested. I finally added up the amount of time that we had been emailing and calling and it added to over two hours of back and forth. When I shared with her that I only wanted to maximize her time and if we had 30 minutes of uninterrupted time with 2-3 key members from her team then we would be able to determine if this was a good fit. She has never thought about how her employees would feel about the product or service and decided it was a great idea. I learned that every client is different and it's important to share how you can maximize their time and their team's time."
Written by Judy Smith on March 13th, 2022