Interview Questions & Answers for 2021 - Hiring A Standout B2B Marketing VP/ Director - Harris CMO Partners
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Hiring A
Standout B2B
Interview
Marketing VP/
Questions &
Director
Answers for 2021
• Can they do the job?
• Will they do the job?
• Will they fit in?
© Harris CMO Partners 2021, all rights reserved. 1
Content Page
Today’s Challenge 3
The difference between B2B and B2C marketing
Article overview
Telephone screens vs. on-site interviews
Interview questions and recommended answers
Part 1 – Can they do the job? 4
Part 2 – Will they do the job? 7
Part 3 – Will they fit in? 9
© Harris CMO Partners 2021, all rights reserved. 2
Today’s Challenge
The requirements for being a high performing B2B marketing director or
VP have grown dramatically in the past few years. Knowledge and
efficient use of multiple technologies is now the baseline entry ticket.
More than a few B2B marketing candidates today are lacking in
technology skills needed to find a qualified audience and deliver exciting
sales leads. As the interviewer it’s your job to discover whether a
candidate’s skillsets are a match for your company’s needs and goals.
“B2B
marketing Today’s truly effective B2B marketer must know about
sales/marketing automation and measuring marketing effectiveness.
focuses on
Why?
explanation
Because today’s B2B
and ROI” purchaser acquires 70% of
his/her knowledge about your
company, products and
services online before ever
engaging with your
salesperson.
Just as important, the efficient use of automation and technology can
significantly lower the costs of marketing.
Article Overview
This article helps you ask the right questions, in a logical order to discover:
1. Can he/she do the job? – Telephone screen
2. Will he/she do the job? – Telephone and on-site interview
3. Will he/she fit in with the organization? – On-site interview
Start with softer questions to help the candidate get comfortable chatting with
you. Then move on to more technical questions.
© Harris CMO Partners 2021, all rights reserved. 3
Part 1: Can they do the job? (telephone screen)
There’s no point in bringing someone into your office for an interview
who doesn’t have the technical skills to be successful at your company.
Use the telephone screen to address “can they do the job?”, which focuses
on a candidate’s B2B technical and
technology skills.
Remember to take careful notes and refer
back to them when making decisions about
next steps.
Q: Tell me how you became interested in
marketing and how you got started.
A: This is a general question I ask to discover
if the candidate’s on-the-job training was formal or informal. I look for
candidates who pursued a degree in business, economics, marketing or
similar and began in an entry level position in product management,
“Sales &
sales, branding or product marketing. marketing
automation
Q2: What do you believe are the top three marketing challenges today? is a ‘must’
A2: Look for answers that touch on sales/marketing automation,
response.”
metrics, internet/social marketing, qualified lead generation, budgets,
talent, resources and sales/marketing cooperation. Sales and marketing
automation is a “must” response. Ask the candidate to elaborate on
responses. “Why is that important?” It’s important because proper and
consistent use of automation helps deliver a leaner, faster and more cost
effective marketing department…very important to your CEO and CFO.
© Harris CMO Partners 2021, all rights reserved. 4
Q3: How would you create a marketing plan you know our CEO would read?
A3: Look for answers that include the following:
I ask the CEO and other colleagues what’s important and what to
avoid.
I start with all currently available market research from both primary
and secondary resources. I look at important trends including what’s
“How would driving them and what our competitors are doing to address them..
you prioritize I include a 1- or 2-page executive summary, company vision, budget,
marketing timeline, resources, use of sales/marketing automation and
measurements.
tactics?”
I focus on facts, numbers, lead generation and conversion plus those
measurements that tell us if a tactic is working.
I ask the sales team and other knowledgeable colleagues for their
input and opinions as I go along.
Q4: How would you prioritize marketing opportunities for our company?
A4: Look for answers that demonstrate the
candidate’s current knowledge of what’s working
and what’s not. For example, email is still the #1
most successful tactic for B2B marketers. Content
and marketing channels are also critical.
Be sure to ask the candidate to elaborate on
his/her answers and apply them to your
company.
Q5: What percent of our marketing budget should
be allocated to online marketing? Why?
A5: A smart marketer will base his/her answer on a
range and be able to tell you why. I like answers like “According to Gartner (or
whoever) B2B companies spend an average of ___ on online marketing.” The
current average is 30-40% depending on the poll.
© Harris CMO Partners 2021, all rights reserved. 5
Q6: How have you measured marketing tactics and lead generation in the
past?
A6: Look for answers that address
your CEO’s and CFO’s highest
priorities:
• Revenue, margin & cash flow
• Profit and ROI
• Scoring (e.g. prospect’s profile
against current and desired
customer profiles)
• Cooperation with sales and
related functions to establish
goals and measurements
Q7: It takes a lot to run marketing at this company. What controls would you
“What is
use to keep everything moving and your team accountable?
CAC and
A7: Marketing related - Budgets, lead qualification, diagnostic
measurements (what’s working), contributions by tactic/program, how do you
conversion rates, lead gen results by week/month/quarter, KPIs, measure
competitor benchmarks and other numbers-driven activities.
it?”
Sales related – Lead qualification, lead channel origination, marketing
originated leads-to-wins ratio, leading-indicators-to-forecast ratio.
Q8: What is CAC and how do you measure it?
A8: CAC is Customer Acquisition Cost and means the price we pay to acquire
a new customer. It’s measured by adding all sales and marketing costs in a
time period and dividing by the total number of new customers.
© Harris CMO Partners 2021, all rights reserved. 6
Q8: What is MOC and how do you measure it?
A8: MOC is Marketing Originated Customer and
measures how much new business is driven by the
marketing team. It’s measured by dividing all new
customers in a time period by the number that started
as a marketing lead.
“What
marketing Part 2: Will they do the job? (telephone/on-site)
sites, blogs Q9: What marketing sites, blogs and forums do you regularly read?
and forums A4: There’s probably no right answer here. I like answers that include
do you Marketing Sherpa, InsideSales.com, Marketing Profs, Hubspot, Duct Tape
Marketing, Seth Godin, MOZ, SEMrush and Content Marketing Institute.
read?”
The amount of outside reading required to keep up with B2B marketing is
huge. Make sure your candidate is current.
Q10: What is the most effective content marketing you’ve done? What were the
results?
A5: This is a critical component of B2B marketing
because content drives conversions in most marketing
channels today. Look for specific campaign details and
results that were measured by clicks, conversions and
qualified leads.
The best content today solves a problem for someone.
Above all content must be original and show that your
company is innovative and truly interested in helping
people resolve challenges that are related to your
market space. Creativity and innovation are where today’s B2B marketer
must shine to break through the clutter and get conversions from qualified
leads.
© Harris CMO Partners 2021, all rights reserved. 7
Q11: How do you handle last minute requests from sales or the CEO?
A11: Look for answers that show the
candidate understands his/her role is one
of service, not individual expression.
• “I respond quickly with questions to
understand their needs and timing
objectives.”
• “I work with the requestor to prioritize
their request.”
• “I respond with a phone call or go to
their office.”
• “I get it done quickly.”
Q12: What sales and marketing automation platforms have you used?
“What is
A12: There are literally thousands of these on the market today so your
follow up questions are key. The most popular platforms include Salesforce,
CAC and
Marketo, Infusionsoft, Pardot, Eloqua, Hubspot, Act-On, Salesfusion and how do you
many more. Regardless of your candidate’s response you must follow up
with questions like:
measure
it?”
• How long did it take you to become proficient?
• Walk me through a campaign you created and deployed.
• What other applications did you integrate it with?
Q13: What tools do you use for productivity and scheduling?
A13: Again, there’s no right answer here. Someone can use paper and a golf
pencil if that’s what works for them. However the answers I like best are
Outlook, Trello, Basecamp (or similar), Evernote and anything that syncs
mobile to laptop/desktop. If you are with the person ask him/her to show
you on their mobile.
© Harris CMO Partners 2021, all rights reserved. 8Part 3: Will they fit in? (on-site)
Q14: How do you like to communicate with colleagues?
A14: In my opinion face-to-face is the top answer, followed by phone-to-
phone. Although necessary, the least desirable answer is email. A
showstopper is the dreaded memo.
Q15: How do you build a boat?
A15: You’re looking for the candidate’s poise in answering a blue-sky
question. The best answer is ‘I start asking questions’. In rapid order the
“How do candidate should show you how he/she tackles a challenge for which they
you build a may have no knowledge.
boat?” This is a great opportunity for the candidate to show you clear thinking, a
high level of self-awareness, systematic problem solving and, hopefully, a
good sense of humor.
Q16: What do you think about interacting with employees as a group after work?
A16: Marketers must be people persons. They need to enjoy others, be able to
engage comfortably with different points of view and socialize
well…especially with people they see every day.
I like answers that simply convey ‘I enjoy it’ versus
answers that tilt toward ‘I do it out of obligation’. A
candidate doesn’t have to love the annual holiday party
but one who meets others for a beverage after work or,
better yet, has his/her colleagues over for a ball game or
barbecue is a good bet. This isn’t a requirement by any
means but it helps.
Q17: What’s the biggest conflict you’ve ever had with
sales and how did you resolve it?
Sales & marketing fighting over lead quality. A17: A marketer that’s never had a conflict with sales
may be not experienced enough. Look for answers that
tilt toward ‘I asked questions’, and that demonstrate an ability to resolve
conflict quickly and fairly without collateral damage.
© Harris CMO Partners 2021, all rights reserved. 9About the author
Mike Harris is a former CMO and veteran hirer of marketing teams. His
experience is mostly in tech and manufacturing companies.
He developed these interview questions and answers over many years of
refining the interview process to avoid wasting time with soft questions
and cut to the chase quickly on a candidate’s qualifications.
Today Mike heads Harris CMO Partners, a firm based in Phoenix, AZ, that
brings interim and fractional CMO services to clients needing these
solutions.
He has served clients throughout North America and also in Europe, China and Latin America.
W: https://harriscmopartners.com/
P: (615) 200-6336
E: mike@harriscmopartners.com
© Harris CMO Partners 2021, all rights reserved. 10You can also read
