Account Manager Interview Questions You Should Be Asking Candidates
By Marta Gongos Account managers are generally the main point of contact from the client’s end to your company. How they interact with your clients can determine the amount of business you retain.
Because it’s a client-centric role, you’ll want your account manager to be empathetic, service-oriented, resilient, confident, and strategic.
When interviewing for an account manager position, many companies prefer candidates with experience to help expedite projects. Then again, wouldn’t it be great if you could also spot a few unpolished gems?
That’s the purpose of these account manager interview questions. Whether or not your applicants have account management experience, these interview questions will reveal their suitability for the role.
Asking Questions Based on Key Criteria
We’ve divided the questions below based on key qualifications so you can quickly pick the ones that best relate to your business. We have some tips here for when you want to compose your own questions.
Ready? Let’s go find your unicorn!
Communication Skills
Good communication skills are essential for account managers. You’ll want someone who can understand instructions and express their ideas during presentations and meetings. Their interview answers should be able to demonstrate their fluency.
- How confident are you when writing correspondence? How about when presenting to clients?
- I’d like to see how you explain concepts. If I am a client with no knowledge about [choose a relevant topic, e.g. marketing funnel], how would you explain it to me?
Social Skills
An account management role often demands a high EQ. A person who can read the room, foster good connections, motivate others, and handle interpersonal conflict is a good candidate for this position.
You can get a closer look at their social skills by asking the following:
- How do you build rapport with clients?
- What is the most common objection you get? How do you manage objections, criticism, or confrontations?
- How would you handle a personality conflict with a colleague or client?
- Would you describe yourself as an introvert or an extrovert? Do you think this has an impact on your work?
Negotiation Skills
Does your candidate know how to make a sale? Do they sound convincing when they answer your questions?
Test their negotiation skills with situational questions.
- How do you close or upsell a client?
- Let’s say your client needs a service you’re currently not offering and is considering one of your competitors. How would you convince them to accept a compromise?
Organization and Project Management Skills
Handling a project involves seeing things from different perspectives. Can you trust them to spot flaws in the system? Are they capable of organizing tasks and timelines? How do they decide on a strategic direction?
Ask them to walk you through their process:
- How do you stay organized? What tools do you use when organizing projects?
- How do you plan your targets or projects?
- What do you do when you’ve fallen behind schedule?
- How do you manage contingencies?
Leadership Skills
Anyone can give orders, but can your candidate persuade people to do things? Are they capable of leading the team to higher grounds? If you want to know if they are leadership material, try to assess their learning abilities, accountability, creativity, and drive.
- Tell me about a time when you served as a leader at work/school.
- How do you keep your team aligned with your project goals?
- How do you motivate yourself? How do you manage uncertainty?
- Have you ever made a suggestion that impacted your project or company? In what way? What was your inspiration behind it?
- Have you ever felt challenged as a leader? What prompted the challenger to react that way toward you? Was it a colleague or a client? How did you handle the situation?
- What do you think are your weaknesses as a leader? Your strengths? What is your leadership style?
History of Meeting Goals
You’d like a growth partner that can help achieve business goals. Look for evidence of success by letting them share some of their success stories.
- What project are you most proud of? Why? What was your role and what contributions did you make?
- Where do you get ideas and inspiration from? What was the result of those elements being implemented in your work?
- How often do you hit targets? How often do you exceed targets? By how much?
- Have you ever missed a target? What did you do to resolve it? What was your client’s or supervisor’s reaction?
Finding High-Calibre Account Managers
Businesses thrive on customer loyalty. You want customers to do business with you, so taking care of them should be one of your top priorities. Finding people who can help you do exactly that is a must.
Here at Ad Culture, we pride ourselves on being able to scout and match the right talent with the right employer. Our recruitment strategy has resulted in superior partnerships that exceed both employer and candidate expectations.
If you’re looking into hiring an account manager, allow us to handle the process for you so you can focus on running your business instead. You can count on us to ask the most effective account manager interview questions to help you find a top performer.
Get in touch now to get started!
