Sales Interviewing FAQs for Employers

Last updated: June 2025

→ All answers are written by Mike Basso, CEO of SalesTalent.com — a 6-time executive sales leader and expert in sales hiring and recruiting.

What’s the most effective way to structure a sales interview process?

Start with recruiter screening — internal or external — to vet and deliver 3 to 5 strong, interested candidates. If no one moves forward after the first round, expand the pool. However, if you’ve interviewed seven or more candidates and still haven’t identified a finalist, it may be a sourcing issue.

Limit the process to no more than 3 interviews per candidate. Avoid panel interviews when possible — they tend to introduce unnecessary complexity and friction that can turn top talent off.

What are the best interview questions to identify top salespeople?

• Walk me through a complex sale you sold from prospecting to close. What were the challenges, objections, and how did you overcome them? Reveals: deal strategy, sales process, persistence, problem-solving, and communication skills.
• Tell me about a deal you lost. What happened, and what would you do differently next time? Reveals: self-awareness, accountability, adaptability, and coachability. Also helps weed out reps who blame others or can’t reflect.
• What did you do to prepare for this interview? Reveals: curiosity, discipline, motivation, and attention to detail. Sales leaders use this to gauge whether a rep preps like they would for a sales call.
• What were your quotas and results in your last few roles? Reveals: metrics fluency, ownership of results, consistency, and depth of understanding of performance.
• What would your manager and customers say you do best? What would they say you could improve Reveals: emotional intelligence, self-awareness, and communication style.
• Why did your customers choose to buy from you? Reveals: value articulation, customer focus, and consultative selling.

What red flags should I look for when interviewing salespeople?

Top Red Flags to Look for When Interviewing Sales Reps:

• Lack of Metrics and Specifics: If a candidate can’t clearly explain their quota, attainment, or sales impact, they likely didn’t drive the results. Vague answers or no data = major concern.
• Job Hopping Without Context: Multiple short stints (under 2 years) across roles, especially without solid reasons, signal a lack of commitment or performance issues.
• Blaming Others or Playing the Victim: When candidates blame managers, the product, or support teams for their own poor performance, it reveals a lack of ownership. Top reps own outcomes—even in tough situations.
• Poor Preparation or Curiosity: No questions, no research on the company, and no grasp of the role means they’re not invested. In sales, curiosity and preparation are everything.
• Weak Communication: If they struggle to communicate clearly during the interview, they will likely struggle to communicate effectively with buyers. Watch for rambling, vague answers, or overuse of jargon.

What are the best traits to look for in top-performing sales reps?

Top Traits to Look for in High-Performing Sales Reps:

• Curiosity & Active Learning: Intellectual curiosity, asks great questions including follow-ups, thirst for learning, and researches/qualifies the opportunity, not just sells.
• Listening & Empathy: Active listener, sees through the customer’s lens, understands unspoken needs, and is strong at building rapport and making others feel understood.
• Drive & Accountability: Takes ownership without excuses, doesn’t need constant oversight, willing to take smart risks, former athlete/military, and strong work ethic.
• Coachability & Self-Awareness: Open to feedback, doesn’t get defensive, understands strengths/gaps, and can talk about past failures with insight.
• Mindset & Character: Disciplined, confident but authentically humble, optimistic, forward-thinking, and does what’s right even when no one’s watching.

How do I spot resilience, persistence, and grit in a sales candidate?

Ask open-ended questions like these during the interview.

• To spot resilience: Ask, “Tell me about a time you failed repeatedly but eventually succeeded.”
• To gauge persistence: Try, “Describe a time you kept pushing after being told no.”
• To uncover grit: “Tell me about a time you wanted to quit something — but didn’t. What kept you going?”

You’re looking for detailed answers and always ask follow-up questions.

How can I tell if a candidate has real sales ability rather than just interviewing well?

Ask detailed questions about their sales process, how they prospect, and how they handle common objections. For example:

• “Walk me through how you find new business.”
• “What’s your strategy for reviving stuck deals?”
• “What are your go-to discovery questions?”
• “Tell me about the last big deal you sourced and closed.”
• “I’m happy with my current vendor — what would you say?”

Be sure to follow up. Shallow answers often fall apart under pressure — strong reps will go deeper with clarity and confidence.

How can I evaluate and verify a candidate’s claimed past sales performance record?

Start with a scorecard and reference checks. Ask the candidate to fill out their last three years of quota, quota attainment, their team rank, and new business metrics. Then verify these with former managers.

Another method is to ask detailed questions about their sales process: win rate, deal size, prospecting methods, and how they hit quota. Top reps know their numbers cold. Reps who don’t—or speak in generalities—are waving a big red flag.

How can I effectively evaluate a candidate’s closing skills during an interview?

Use roleplay to simulate closing scenarios. Present common objections like:

• “I’m not interested”
• “The price is too high”
• “I need to check the budget”
• “That won’t work for us”
• “I need to think about it”

Strong closers handle these by asking thoughtful, open-ended questions that uncover the real objection. Weak reps tend to respond by pushing more information instead of diagnosing the issue.

How can I tell if a candidate fits our specific sales culture?

Ask the candidate to describe the sales environments they’ve worked in — what they liked, disliked, and which team was their favorite and why. Their answers will give you insight into whether they align with your current culture and expectations.

You can also have them meet with one or two of your current sales reps. Candidates tend to be more candid with peers, and this often reveals cultural alignment (or red flags) that might not surface in formal interviews.

What assessments or tests best predict success in sales roles?

It depends on the candidate’s experience level. For entry-level reps, personality assessments like DISC and Objective Management Group (OMG) can help identify traits like drive, resilience, and grit. These are useful for spotting raw sales potential.

For experienced reps, real-world evaluation matters more. Use objection handling roleplays or ask them to sell you their current product. How they perform under pressure will reveal more than a test ever could.

What interview questions best assess a sales candidate’s coachability?

To gauge coachability during a sales interview, provide the candidate with real-time feedback and observe their response.

For example, say:
“You didn’t answer my question directly—you went off track.”
Watch how they react. Do they become defensive or take the feedback in stride and make adjustments?

This live-test approach reveals how well they handle feedback—one of the clearest signs of coachability. Candidates who are open, adaptable, and eager to improve typically show it in the moment.

What are the biggest mistakes companies make when interviewing sales candidates?

The two most common — and costly — mistakes I see are:

1. The interview process is too long or inefficient.
Dragging interviews out over weeks with multiple rounds wears candidates out and often results in losing top performers. High-performing salespeople are quick to judge how you run interviews as a proxy for how you operate as a company. If your process is slow or disorganized, they’ll assume your sales org is too — and they’ll move on.

2. Not testing real sales skills.
Too many employers rely on surface-level Q&A. Instead, ask candidates to walk you through their sales process or how they’d handle a live objection like, “We’re happy with our current vendor.” Great reps will thrive with role-play-style questions. Weak ones will fold fast.

About This Sales Hiring Careers Hub