Advertising Sales Agent Interview

Evidence of a repeatable method for locating and contacting potential clients, qualifying them against real criteria, and keeping a pipeline full while servicing an existing account base.

Whether the candidate obtains and uses information about a client's products, needs, advertising history, and business practices before recommending anything, rather than pitching from a rate card.

Quality of live pitching and negotiation: reframing price objections, trading concessions instead of discounting, and explaining how a specific advertising type will promote the client's product.

Command of available sizes, formats, placements, and deadlines, plus accurate cost estimates including frequency terms and production charges that a client can question line by line.

Track record of protecting and increasing existing advertising — contact cadence, renewal planning, reviving declining accounts, and reading client signals before spend disappears.

Handling of contracts, correspondence, insertion orders, proof delivery and approvals, and collection of payments due without errors or dropped follow-ups.

Ability to propose promotional plans, artwork options, and size and format combinations that fit the client's goal and budget rather than defaulting to the largest available unit.