The entire marketing and selling industry interviews are being and had been flooded by this question very frequently. The interviewees from around the globe had been trying to find out the best possible answer to this question for a long time now. It is so incessant in nature that ‘sell me this pen’ is a question that ranks as the 17th most frequently asked question in an accustomed personal interview round. A lot of experts in the field of Human Resource and Marketing have provided an umpteen amount of convincing answers but the famous and the most eloquent answer to this typical and think out of the box question is discussed below.
According to a survey conducted by the management association of California, if a person from marketing or sales could convince the interviewer to buy the pen, the chances of his CV to be analysed by the assessor decreases up to 57% and the odds could highly fall into the basket of the interviewee. So here is how you can easily tackle the famous question, ‘Sell me this pen’-
To answer this question you have to keep in mind that the interviewer is looking for four main key sets of skills when taking an interviewee into consideration:
- How well he can gather information.
- How well he can respond to information.
- How well he can deliver information.
- How he can ask for something close.
Procedure: So as soon as the assessor hands over his pen to you, start rolling the pen between you fingers and get yourself ready to ask some questions to gather information. The key is not to sell the pen but to know who is buying it. So you could start with the first question saying, “When was the last time you used a pen?”. The probable answers to the question could be yesterday, today morning or even right now. This provides you an apt knowledge that the person to whom you are selling the pen is a vigorous user of the pen and is indeed a potential customer. The next question that you can throw is, “Do you remember what kind of pen it was?” to which the answer could be a straight no or somewhat no which will further indicate you that a pen is not much of an important thing in the life of the buyer. This connotes that you have now found a loophole in the entire psychology of the buyer which could be used to a greater advantage at selling the pen. The last question could flow like, “Do you know for what cause did you use your pen the last time?” and the answers could be very predictable for example the interviewer cum buyer could reply that he used it to sign some contract papers, deal papers and investment plan initiatives. The point here is that you have to analyse and emphasise the importance of the event where the pen was used.
Now that the stage is all set, try to manipulate and ask him that, “Don’t you think such events are very important for the business or shouldn’t it be treated like one?”. You can further add that your sign could be a great value for the business in the years to come as your one sign could change the entire company and could make history. Now that the interviewer is somehow connected to the pen, you could strike back by saying that you are making history by signing the contracts all while using an unrememberable pen. The interviewer is now at a position where you can persuade him strongly that the pen you are selling to him is of a greater value and is specially made for such prodigious events and you can also add that this pen is like a symbol of growth for your company and could give your luck a great push. And the last thing you have to persuade is by saying that, “last month we have shipped 10 boxes of such pens to the office of Elon Musk and now we are running out of stock but fortunately, I have the last pen left for you here. Try it out and if you don’t like it then I will personally come to your office to buy it back”.
So by doing this, you have connected emotions to the pen and the chances of the interviewer buying the pen have jumped to an extensive level. This method is not a full proof plan to counter the question, ‘sell me this pen’ but is considered to be the most helpful answer.
