10 sales interview questions for your next rep, and what good answers sound like

Most salespeople interview well. It's the job. The questions that tell them apart ask what they did: the calls they made last week, the deal they lost and what happened next.

Copy it, print it, or download it for Word or Excel, where the scorecard adds itself up. Free, no sign-up.

Sales interview: [candidate's name]

Role: ______. Date: ______. Interviewer: [you].

Before the interview

• One thing on their CV to ask about: ____________
• What the job needs each week, in numbers: ____________ (calls, meetings, deals)

The questions

1. Walk me through last week at work. How many calls, meetings and deals? Listen for: numbers they know without guessing.
2. Tell me about a deal you lost. What happened after? Listen for: what they did next, and no blame.
3. How do you find new customers when nobody hands you leads? Listen for: a routine, with names of places and people.
4. Sell me the last thing you bought that you'd recommend. Listen for: questions about what I need before the pitch.
5. What do you do in the first ten minutes of a working day? Listen for: selling before admin.
6. Tell me about a month when you missed your number. What did you change? Listen for: more activity, or a different approach, in the same month.
7. A customer says the price is too high. What do you say? Listen for: a question back, before any discount.
8. How do you keep track of who to follow up with? Listen for: a system they use every day, not memory.
9. What would your last manager say you need to work on? Listen for: something real, and what they're doing about it.
10. What do you want to ask me? Listen for: questions about the customers, the targets and how the team sells.

The role-play

Ten minutes: they call you as a customer who said "not now" last month. Score how they open, what they ask and whether they ask for a next step.

The scorecard

Red flags

• Can't give a number for their own last week
• Every lost deal was someone else's fault
• Talks for five minutes before asking you anything
• Asks only about the pay and the commission

The decision

• Total score (out of 50): __
• Role-play (1 to 5): __
• Next step: second interview / a day with the team / no. Date: ______
• Why: ____________

Ask every candidate the same questions in the same order and score them on one card. That's what makes two interviews comparable.

1. Read the CV first, and write one question from it.
2. Ask the ten questions in order, and write down what they said.
3. Run the role-play last, when they've relaxed.
4. Score each area straight after, before you talk to anyone else.
5. Compare candidates on the totals, then on the red flags.

Listen for specific, recent answers, in their own numbers.

• "Last week I made about 60 calls, had 9 conversations and booked 3 meetings."
• "I lost it on price. I called back a month later, and they came back when the cheaper supplier let them down."
• "I block the first hour for calls, before I open email."

Ask again when you hear one of these, and treat two as a pattern.

• Talking in "we" for every win and "they" for every loss
• Numbers that change when you ask the same question twice
• No routine at all, just "I'm a people person"
• No questions about the customers or the targets

Use one when an answer needs a second try. The last two suit someone new to sales.

Write your questions from the job. TAFEP says to "Create a list of interview questions that are directly related to the selection criteria." It lists "How old are you?" and "Are you married?" among the questions you shouldn't ask.

TAFEP also says to keep a record of the interview, assessment and job offer "for at least one year". Keep each filled-in scorecard for that long.

Source: TAFEP, Conducting Job Interviews (For Employers), read 2 November 2026.

Nurul Aina is a made-up candidate for a founder's first sales hire.

Role-play, scored on its own: 4. She asked two questions before offering a next step. Next step: a day with the team.

Once a new hire starts, they log each call and meeting in one tap, and the board shows their week. You can rename the starting tiles to your team's words and give them a weekly points goal.

Needs you today lists people in order: no entry for 3 days, then furthest behind their weekly goal. A new hire who's gone quiet shows up there. See how sales managers use it.

• TAFEP, Conducting Job Interviews (For Employers), read 2 November 2026