Type · product knowledge
How would you differentiate Informa's portfolio of brands and events from competitors like Reed Exhibitions or dmg events?
How to Pass the Informa Sales Interview in 2026
The Informa DNA (TL;DR)
Commercial awareness surrounding Informa Markets trade shows and Taylor & Francis publishing models anchors every evaluation. Interviewers test your ability to explain audience monetization strategies using concrete yield-per-attendee metrics and trade-off justifications.
The Informa Interview Loop
Your onsite loop will typically consist of 5 rounds.
- 1
Round 1
Recruiter ScreenMotivation, territory fit, logistics. - 2
Round 2
Sales Pitch / DemoPitching the company's product to a mock prospect. - 3
Round 3
Deal StrategyPipeline management, multi-stakeholder navigation, MEDDIC qualification. - 4
Round 4
Customer DiscoveryAsking diagnostic questions, surfacing pain, qualifying. - 5
Round 5
Behavioral / LeadershipPast evidence of ownership, influence, resolving conflict.
The Danger Zone: Top Reasons Candidates Fail
Based on our database of Informa interview outcomes, avoid these common traps:
- Failing to articulate how to leverage internal CRM data to identify cross-sell opportunities
- Generic answer not tailored to Informa's specific business areas.
- Denying or downplaying the failure.
- Focusing solely on price as a differentiator.
Test Yourself: Real Informa Questions
Three real prompts pulled from our database.
Type · deal qualification
Describe a complex B2B sales cycle you managed involving multiple stakeholders (e.g., IT, Procurement, Business Unit leaders). How did you navigate these relationships and qualify the opportunity using a framework like MEDDIC?
Type · pipeline management
At Informa, our sales cycles often span multiple fiscal quarters and involve cross-selling across events, digital platforms, and intelligence subscriptions. How do you balance the short-term pressure of meeting monthly event sponsorship quotas with the long-term strategic need to nurture high-value enterprise accounts that require multi-product integration?
+ many more questions, signals, and worked examples
Sign up to unlock the full Informa grading rubric
Informa Interview Question Bank
A sample from our database, grouped by round. Sign up to see the full set.
10 of 13 questions shown
1
Recruiter Screen
2- 1
Type · motivation
Why are you interested in a sales role at Informa, specifically within our media and events division? - 2
Type · territory fit
Describe your experience selling into the sectors Informa serves (e.g., marketing, finance, healthcare, technology). How would you approach building a territory from scratch here?
2
Sales Pitch / Demo
2- 3
Type · mock pitch
Imagine you are selling our 'Informa Connect' platform (a hypothetical integrated event and digital content solution for B2B audiences). Pitch this to a Head of Marketing at a mid-sized tech company who is struggling with lead generation and brand visibility. - 4
Type · product knowledge
How would you differentiate Informa's portfolio of brands and events from competitors like Reed Exhibitions or dmg events?
3
Deal Strategy
3- 5
Type · pipeline management
At Informa, our sales cycles often span multiple fiscal quarters and involve cross-selling across events, digital platforms, and intelligence subscriptions. How do you balance the short-term pressure of meeting monthly event sponsorship quotas with the long-term strategic need to nurture high-value enterprise accounts that require multi-product integration? - 6
Type · deal qualification
Describe a complex B2B sales cycle you managed involving multiple stakeholders (e.g., IT, Procurement, Business Unit leaders). How did you navigate these relationships and qualify the opportunity using a framework like MEDDIC? - + 1 more questions in this round (sign up to unlock)
4
Customer Discovery
3- 7
Type · diagnostic questioning
Root Cause Analysis (Issue Tree + 5 Whys)A potential client, the VP of Events for a large financial services firm, mentions they are 'looking for better ROI from their event sponsorships.' What are the first 3-5 diagnostic questions you would ask? - 8
Type · pain identification
How do you typically identify the 'true' pain points a prospect is experiencing, beyond what they initially state? - + 1 more questions in this round (sign up to unlock)
5
Behavioral / Leadership
3- 9
Type · ownership
STARTell me about a time you identified a significant opportunity for improvement within your sales process or territory, and what steps you took to implement the change. - 10
Type · conflict resolution
STARInforma often requires collaboration between the sales team and the editorial or content production teams to ensure our event programming meets market needs. Tell me about a time you had to advocate for a client requirement that conflicted with the editorial or production strategy of an event. How did you negotiate this to protect the client relationship while maintaining the integrity of our product? - + 1 more questions in this round (sign up to unlock)
Unlock all 13 Informa questions, free
No credit card. Every question with its framework, the grading signals interviewers score against, and a worked answer for each.
Interview tracks at Informa
How Informa's DNA translates across functions. Pick your role.
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Practice Informa interviews end-to-end
Informa Mock Interview
Run a live mock interview with our AI interviewer using Informa-style prompts. Get scored on structure, signal, and answer length - exactly how the real loop grades you.
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STAR Stories for Informa Behavioral Rounds
Build a Story Bank of your past wins, mapped to the leadership signals Informa interviewers grade on. Reuse them across every behavioral round.
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Informa Interview Prep Hub
The frameworks behind every Informa round: CIRCLES for product sense, hypothesis-driven debugging for analytical, STAR for behavioral. Learn each one in 10 minutes.
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Interview Frameworks
CIRCLES, STAR, AARRR, RICE, MECE. The exact frameworks that make Informa interviewers nod instead of frown. Step-by-step playbooks with the moves and the pitfalls.
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Sample answers
What a strong answer to these Informa interview questions shows.
How would you differentiate Informa's portfolio of brands and events from competitors like Reed Exhibitions or dmg events?
A strong answer shows: Competitive awareness; Articulation of USP; Strategic positioning.
Describe a complex B2B sales cycle you managed involving multiple stakeholders (e.g., IT, Procurement, Business Unit leaders). How did you navigate these relationships and qualify the opportunity using a framework like MEDDIC?
A strong answer shows: Stakeholder management; MEDDIC proficiency; Complex deal navigation; Understanding of buying committees.
Frequently asked questions
How long does the Informa interview process take?
Most candidates spend between 4 and 8 weeks from recruiter screen to offer. The onsite loop itself runs in a single day or is split across two half-days, with debrief and offer typically within 5 business days after.
How should I prepare specifically for Informa?
Focus on three things: (1) the company DNA shown above - what they actually grade for, (2) the rounds in your loop, especially the round most candidates underestimate, and (3) drilling on the question types in this guide using a structured framework like CIRCLES or STAR.
Does this apply to engineering or design roles at Informa?
The DNA stays the same - what changes is the round mix. SWE candidates face coding screens instead of Product Sense; designers face portfolio reviews and design exercises. The "what they value" and behavioral signals carry across all functions.
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