Tell me about a time when you had to convince a stakeholder who was not initially on board with a business idea or proposal. How did you approach it and what was the outcome?
RoleBusiness Development Associate
DifficultyMedium
TopicBehavioral
Asked at
Why This Is Asked
Unilever's Business Development track values stakeholder-awareness and practical reasoning over technical push. They want to see how you build a case and handle pushback constructively.
General Approach
Start by identifying the stakeholder's real hesitation. Describe how you listened and tailored your pitch. Then detail the low-risk pilot or step you proposed. End with a measurable outcome that proves your method worked.
General Answer
Start by naming the stakeholder and the specific concern they raised, then show that you took that concern seriously before you pushed your own agenda. Say plainly that you listened first, and in the Philippine workplace context this often means acknowledging the practical pressure they are under, whether that is a tight BPO delivery deadline, a budget constraint from finance, or a compliance worry from legal. Explain that you reframed your proposal around their metric, not yours, so instead of saying the idea is good, you said it reduces their overtime hours or cuts their reporting time. Then describe the small, reversible step you offered, such as a two-week trial with a single team or a limited pilot on one account, and note that you set clear success criteria together before starting. Finally, give the outcome in numbers or observable change, like a fifteen percent efficiency gain or the stakeholder asking to scale it up. Keep your tone conversational and avoid jargon, and if you are comfortable, a short Taglish phrase like "na-realize ko" can make the story feel genuine, but only if it fits naturally. The key is to show that you treated the stakeholder as a partner, not an obstacle, and that the result came from their buy-in, not your insistence.
PH Interview Gotcha
Many candidates start with 'I just explained everything to them' or 'I convinced them by showing I was right.' Instead, show empathy: acknowledge their concern first, then present evidence and a safe trial period.
Sample STAR Answer▾
S
Situation
In my previous role as a sales support associate at a BPO, I proposed automating the weekly manual report generation for our internal client's sales team. My immediate supervisor was hesitant because she preferred the existing manual process and worried about accuracy.
T
Task
I needed to get her buy-in to pilot the automated report tool so we could save 20 hours of work per month and reduce human error.
A
Action
I first scheduled a 15-minute meeting just to listen to her concerns, understanding she was worried about data integrity. I prepared a side-by-side comparison of the manual process versus the automated one, highlighting specific error points. I offered a two-week parallel run where both manual and automated reports would be checked, so she could see the results without risk. I also committed to personally test each output before sending it to the client.
R
Result
She agreed to the trial. After two weeks, the automated report had zero errors while the manual had three. We fully adopted the tool, saving our team 20 hours monthly, and she became a champion for similar projects.
Key Takeaway
Listening to and addressing a stakeholder's specific fear builds trust and makes buy-in much easier.
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