Smartly Sales Manager Interview Questions
& Process

The process was really tough and took a lot of time, but it was super helpful. It shows the company is professional and attractive when they take their time to hire someone. It's also a chance for me to be sure about my choice. First, a call with the hiring manager and HR. Second, a sales role interview where they asked about my sales approach, how I close deals, how I prospect, and how I work. They also checked if I fit the company values. The last part was about my familiarity with Facebook and Instagram advertising, but in a smart way. You need to prepare your strengths and weaknesses with examples, and know how Smartly can help marketers on FB and Insta, and why they should pay instead of using the free FB business manager tool. Third, a sales demo, which I think was the hardest but most interesting part. The company gave me access to the platform for 15 days to prepare my demo. I spent about 15 evenings training myself on it. It was tough, but I knew I made the right choice. The FAQ, video tutorials, and employee chat helped a lot. Step 4 was a call with a board member for a final check. I had to present my main past experiences, values, strengths, and weaknesses, being factual and giving examples of past successes. What's good is that HR tells you at each step if you're moving forward, so you don't have to do all steps and wait for the final answer.

The interview process was quite slow for a relatively small company. The first round with the recruiter took three weeks to schedule the next round. The second round was a panel interview with two peers. My experience in Ad-Tech and in-market sales, managing a larger book of business than the interviewers, was apparent. The interviewers seemed to be looking for specific keywords in my responses. One of the interviewers was openly critical of the company and the region, which struck me as a major red flag. After reviewing Glassdoor comments, I was already only 50% committed to this company, and this interview solidified my decision that it's not the right place for me.

The interview process was pretty quick until it wasn't. It started with a 45-minute HR round, then a 30-minute Hiring Manager round, and finally a 60-minute round with two team members. Unfortunately, the HR person disappeared afterwards and didn't respond to emails. It's okay to reject a candidate, but a simple update would be respectful of their time. It's disappointing when well-known companies behave this way.