How to respond to “Sell me this pen” in an interview

I spent the better part of the past 20 years interviewing candidates for sales positions and rarely missed an opportunity to ask someone to sell me something. I have listened to over 500 answers to this question.

Selling is difficult. Every day, you ask for someone’s money. They won’t give it up easy. You need to handle every kind of objection while keeping cool and thinking on your feet.

An interview is actually a great place to simulate that environment where one person is attempting to sell themselves to another…