Informational Interview Questions

For my informational interview I spoke with a gentleman with the title of Business Development Specialist for a company that does franchise sales. What is your job like? The first thing he said to me about his position is to get comfortable on the phone. He spends a lot of time everyday on the phone with his customers. One thing that he mentioned is that you have to choose your own mood to make for a successful day, he doesn’t let the people he talks to that have an attitude get to him, he simply passes by those that aren’t worth his time. What do you do? The company that he is with does franchise sales for plumbing. Their goal is to find independent plumbing businesses with 3 to 50 trucks in their fleet and franchise them. They take these small businesses, some being second and third generation plumbers, and teach them to grow their business. This company provides the call center, bookkeeping, technology, infrastructure and business process. He compared some of these clients to cavemen hitting two rocks together in the dark, all they know is they are hitting the rocks together, they don’t know if they are even hitting the right two rocks together or why they are hitting them together. This is where his marketing skills come in with up-selling these clients, not
When asked how long he has been in sales, his answer was since he was able to talk. It started with how to get mom to move bedtime to a later and later time, how to get out of being grounded, how to get what you want from mom and dad. His first real passion for sales began when he started his own alarm sales company; this was at the age of 20. Again he mentioned that you must have a true passion about your product and believe in what you are selling. How did you get your current job? He has now had many sales and marketing positions over the years, and was brought to his current position as a referral from a