Your manager wants you to push through a deal you believe the customer will regret. What do you do?

What the interviewer wants to hear

• Clarify facts about the fit gap
• Raise concerns privately with evidence
• Propose alternatives, such as a smaller scope or pilot
• Be transparent with the customer
• Escalate if asked to mislead

Model answer

I would first make sure my concern is based on facts: which requirements we cannot meet and how important they are to the customer. Then I would talk to my manager privately and explain the risk in business terms: poor implementation, churn, clawbacks, support cost and a damaged reference. I would suggest alternatives that may still create revenue, such as a smaller scope focused on what we do well, a paid pilot, or being clear about the gap so the customer decides with full information. If the customer understands the limitation and still wants to buy, that is a legitimate deal. But if I am asked to hide or misstate something, I would decline and raise it with senior leadership or compliance, because my credibility with customers is what my whole career depends on.

More hard Sales Executive questions

• Tell me about a time you missed your quota. What happened and what did you change?
• The business team wants your product, but procurement is pushing hard for a 25% discount near quarter end. How do you handle the negotiation?
• Your manager wants you to add a deal to commit to make the team forecast look better, but you believe it will not close this quarter. What do you do?
• You learn late in the cycle that the prospect is leaning towards a competitor. How do you respond?
• You are given a new territory with no existing pipeline and a quota starting in 90 days. How would you plan your first three months?
• A customer who signed three months ago says you mis-sold them and wants to cancel. How do you handle it?
• You have a mid-size customer paying $50,000 a year. How would you try to grow them to $150,000 over two years?
• Your commission plan pays most on a product that is often not the right fit for your customers. How do you handle this?
• You take over a territory where most of the pipeline is old, inactive or unqualified. How do you rebuild it quickly?