Why every sales role should not use the same hiring criteria

Many companies use one broad definition of a good salesperson.

Confident.
Resilient.
Persuasive.
Commercial.
Driven.

Those characteristics may sound relevant across sales roles.

The actual work is not the same.

An SDR must create attention, handle repetition and decide which prospects deserve pursuit.

An Account Executive must uncover commercial problems, qualify opportunities and navigate buyer decisions.

A sales manager must diagnose performance, coach different people and resist taking over every difficult deal.

Giving all three candidates the same assessment, interview questions and scorecard creates the appearance of consistency while ignoring the work they are being hired to perform.

A role-specific sales hiring process asks a more useful question:

What situations will define success in this role, and what evidence would show that the candidate can handle them?

Begin with the work, not the job title

Job titles can hide significant differences.

An SDR at one company may:

• Make high-volume outbound calls
• Work from a fixed account list
• Follow established messaging
• Book meetings for Account Executives

An SDR at another may:

• Research strategic accounts
• Personalise multi-channel outreach
• Engage senior executives
• Qualify complex business problems
• Work closely with marketing and sales

The same variation exists across Account Executive and sales-management roles.

Before selecting assessment criteria, clarify:

• Customer segment
• Average contract value
• Sales-cycle length
• Inbound versus outbound responsibility
• Level of account research
• Number of buyer stakeholders
• Pipeline ownership
• Degree of process maturity
• Managerial support available
• Level of independent judgment required

The assessment should reflect those conditions.

The role comparison at a glance

Area

SDR or BDR

Account Executive

Sales Manager

Primary responsibility

Create qualified sales conversations

Progress and close commercial opportunities

Build team capability and performance

Typical decision

Who to contact and how to create relevance

Whether and how an opportunity should progress

What is causing a performance gap and how to address it

Main uncertainty

Prospect response and message relevance

Buyer intent, qualification and stakeholder alignment

Differences between people, deals and development needs

Common pressure

Repetition, rejection and activity expectations

Quota, pipeline risk and complex deal decisions

Team targets, escalation and leadership expectations

Important transition risk

Learning to convert activity into quality

Moving from conversations to commercial ownership

Moving from personal execution to developing others

Useful assessment method

Prospecting scenarios and message exercises

Opportunity scenarios and structured work samples

Coaching, diagnosis and prioritisation scenarios

This table is a starting point.

Every organisation should adjust the criteria to its own sales environment.

What to assess in an SDR or BDR

The SDR role is often treated as an entry-level activity position.

That can lead hiring teams to overemphasise:

• Energy
• Confidence
• Competitiveness
• Willingness to make calls
• Ability to handle rejection

Those qualities may contribute.

They do not explain whether the candidate can create relevant conversations consistently.

1. Account and prospect prioritisation

An SDR rarely has unlimited time.

They need to decide:

• Which accounts deserve attention
• Which people are likely to care
• What evidence suggests relevance
• How much research is appropriate
• When to continue or stop pursuing an account

Scenario

You have 150 target accounts, but only 30 can receive highly personalised outreach this week. How would you decide which accounts receive that effort?

Evidence to examine

• Uses defined criteria rather than instinct alone
• Considers timing and commercial relevance
• Separates account fit from contact availability
• Explains trade-offs
• Avoids treating every account identically

2. Message judgment

An SDR should be able to convert account information into a reason for the prospect to engage.

This is different from writing an email that sounds polished.

Work sample

Provide:

• A short company profile
• A target persona
• Two potential business triggers
• A basic product description

Ask the candidate to write an outreach message and explain the choices made.

Evidence to examine

• Connects outreach to the prospect’s context
• Avoids leading with a product dump
• Uses a proportionate level of personalisation
• Creates a credible reason to respond
• Can explain why the message fits the buyer

3. Response to rejection and silence

The goal is not to find someone who claims rejection never affects them.

Examine what they do after it.

Questions

• What do you believe when a prospect does not respond?
• How do you decide whether to continue?
• What would make you change the message?
• When should an account be deprioritised?
• What do you learn from repeated rejection?

Evidence to examine

• Does not interpret every rejection personally
• Avoids endless persistence without new evidence
• Changes approach when the pattern demands it
• Maintains activity without abandoning judgment
• Can distinguish an unsuitable prospect from a weak message

4. Coachability through application

Asking “Are you coachable?” is unlikely to provide useful evidence.

Give the candidate feedback during an exercise.

Then allow them to try again.

Evidence to examine

• Understands the purpose of the feedback
• Applies it rather than merely agreeing
• Asks relevant clarifying questions
• Retains their own reasoning where appropriate
• Produces a meaningful second attempt

5. Activity discipline

SDR work requires consistency.

The assessment should not confuse discipline with enthusiasm during the interview.

Questions

• How have you managed repetitive work?
• What do you do when results remain weak despite consistent activity?
• How would you balance daily targets with message quality?
• How do you recognise when activity is becoming unproductive?

Evidence to examine

• Can build a repeatable working rhythm
• Uses outcomes to improve activity
• Does not sacrifice all quality for volume
• Takes ownership without hiding behind numbers

Useful SDR assessment components

A practical SDR process might include:

1. Structured recruiter screen
2. Account-prioritisation scenario
3. Short outreach exercise
4. Feedback and second attempt
5. Hiring-manager interview
6. Reference check

The exercise should remain proportionate.

Candidates should not be asked to complete hours of unpaid prospecting work.

What to assess in an Account Executive

Account Executives are often evaluated through:

• Previous quota attainment
• Largest deal closed
• Average contract value
• Industry experience
• Familiarity with a methodology
• Ability to conduct a role-play

These are relevant inputs.

The AE role also requires a continuous stream of decisions with incomplete information.

1. Discovery judgment

Discovery is more than asking a fixed list of questions.

The salesperson must recognise what matters, follow the buyer’s response and decide where to go deeper.

Scenario

A prospect says their current process is inefficient and they want to see a demonstration next week. How would you handle the conversation?

Evidence to examine

• Does not rush directly to the demonstration
• Clarifies what “inefficient” means
• Explores impact and priority
• Identifies who experiences the problem
• Recognises what remains unknown
• Avoids forcing every buyer through the same script

2. Qualification discipline

A full pipeline can still be weak.

An AE must decide whether an opportunity deserves more time, evidence and organisational resources.

Questions

• Tell me about a deal you qualified out.
• What evidence was missing?
• How did you make the decision?
• What made walking away difficult?
• When have you kept a weak deal for too long?

Evidence to examine

• Can distinguish activity from progress
• Recognises weak buyer commitment
• Does not protect pipeline for appearance
• Understands opportunity cost
• Can explain when additional discovery is preferable to disqualification

3. Stakeholder navigation

Complex B2B decisions rarely depend on one person.

Scenario

Your operational champion supports the product, but finance questions the business case and procurement wants a discount. How would you approach the opportunity?

Evidence to examine

• Identifies different stakeholder interests
• Does not assume enthusiasm equals authority
• Understands the need for a defensible business case
• Chooses stakeholder actions deliberately
• Avoids treating procurement as the entire problem

4. Commercial judgment

A salesperson constantly decides:

• Whether to discount
• When to involve leadership
• How to respond to competitive pressure
• Whether to extend a trial
• How to protect value
• When to walk away

Scenario

The buyer says the preferred competitor is 20% cheaper and asks you to match the price before introducing you to the economic buyer.

Evidence to examine

• Investigates the comparison before reacting
• Understands the conditions attached to the request
• Avoids discounting automatically
• Considers access, value and decision process
• Explains the commercial trade-off

5. Decision-making under changing information

Give the candidate new information after their first response.

Example

Initial information:

The deal is stalled because the CFO has not approved the budget.

New information:

The CFO has approved the budget. Legal is concerned about data residency.

Evidence to examine

• Updates the diagnosis
• Changes the next action
• Does not defend the original answer unnecessarily
• Identifies new expertise required
• Preserves the commercial objective while adapting the approach

6. Learning from lost deals

Success stories are useful.

Lost deals can reveal how the candidate processes evidence.

Questions

• What did you believe while the deal was active?
• Which belief turned out to be wrong?
• When should you have recognised it?
• What was within your control?
• What changed in your later opportunities?

Evidence to examine

• Takes appropriate responsibility
• Avoids blaming everything on price or product
• Does not turn every failure into self-blame
• Identifies specific learning
• Demonstrates a later behavioural change

Useful AE assessment components

A practical Account Executive process might include:

1. Structured career and performance review
2. Opportunity-analysis scenario
3. Discovery or commercial work sample
4. Change-of-information exercise
5. Role-specific interview scorecard
6. Targeted reference check

The purpose is not to recreate an entire sales cycle.

It is to collect evidence from situations that represent important decisions in the role.

What to assess in a sales manager

A top-performing salesperson can still struggle as a manager.

The role changes from producing personal results to creating the conditions in which other people can perform.

Hiring or promoting a manager based primarily on individual quota attainment leaves significant areas unexplored.

1. Performance diagnosis

Managers see outcomes first:

• Low activity
• Weak conversion
• Poor pipeline
• Missed targets
• Inaccurate forecasts

The same outcome can have several causes.

Scenario

An AE has strong activity and plenty of first meetings, but few opportunities progress beyond discovery. How would you diagnose the issue?

Evidence to examine

• Does not prescribe training immediately
• Seeks call and opportunity evidence
• Considers targeting, discovery, qualification and messaging
• Distinguishes individual issues from system issues
• Defines what additional evidence is required

2. Coaching judgment

Managers must decide when to:

• Ask questions
• Give direct instruction
• Demonstrate
• Observe
• Challenge
• Escalate
• Allow the salesperson to learn

Scenario

A representative repeatedly loses control when buyers challenge price. You have explained the recommended response twice, but the pattern continues. What would you do next?

Evidence to examine

• Investigates why previous feedback did not transfer
• Uses practice and observation
• Adjusts the coaching approach
• Defines what improvement would look like
• Avoids repeating the same instruction more forcefully

3. Ability to avoid taking over

Stepping into a deal may protect the quarter.

Doing it repeatedly can create dependency.

Questions

• When should a manager join a customer call?
• When should the rep remain responsible?
• Tell me about a time you allowed someone to work through a difficult situation.
• How do you balance deal risk with development?

Evidence to examine

• Understands short-term and long-term trade-offs
• Does not use personal selling ability as the default solution
• Prepares the salesperson rather than replacing them
• Reviews decisions after the event
• Transfers ownership deliberately

4. Differentiated people development

Not every salesperson needs the same coaching.

Scenario

Two AEs are both missing target. One creates insufficient pipeline. The other creates enough pipeline but qualifies poorly. How would your response differ?

Evidence to examine

• Separates similar outcomes from different causes
• Creates role-relevant development priorities
• Does not deploy generic motivation
• Uses evidence to determine the intervention
• Establishes different progress measures

5. Forecast and commercial judgment

A manager is responsible for more than collecting numbers from the team.

They must assess the evidence beneath those numbers.

Questions

• What makes you challenge a rep’s forecast?
• How do you distinguish optimism from a credible commit?
• What do you do when the team’s pipeline is thin near quarter-end?
• How do you prevent pressure from weakening qualification?

Evidence to examine

• Uses buyer and deal evidence
• Does not manage the forecast through pressure alone
• Understands the difference between pipeline creation and pipeline inflation
• Can communicate risk without creating panic
• Protects commercial judgment under target pressure

6. Transition from individual contributor to manager

First-time managers require particular attention.

Questions

• What part of your current work will you need to stop doing?
• How will success feel different when someone else closes the deal?
• What would make delegation difficult for you?
• How would you respond if a rep ignored your advice and succeeded?
• How would you manage someone who sells differently from you?

Evidence to examine

• Recognises the identity shift
• Does not expect everyone to copy their selling style
• Can create success through others
• Accepts that coaching does not guarantee compliance
• Understands accountability without control

Useful sales-manager assessment components

A practical manager process might include:

1. Leadership and role-transition interview
2. Performance-diagnosis scenario
3. Coaching simulation
4. Forecast-review exercise
5. Team-development discussion
6. Structured references from different working relationships

If the candidate is internal, previous performance reviews should not replace the role-specific evaluation.

The new position requires different evidence.

One scoring model should not be reused unchanged

A company may use the same scorecard structure across roles.

The dimensions and behavioural anchors should change.

Example comparison

Dimension

SDR evidence

AE evidence

Manager evidence

Judgment

Prioritises accounts and chooses outreach approaches

Qualifies opportunities and navigates commercial decisions

Diagnoses performance and chooses interventions

Adaptability

Changes messaging based on prospect response

Updates opportunity strategy when buyer evidence changes

Adjusts coaching for different people and situations

Resilience

Maintains quality through repetition and rejection

Recovers from lost deals without damaging later decisions

Holds team pressure without taking over every problem

Communication

Creates relevant, concise prospect conversations

Conducts discovery and builds stakeholder understanding

Provides clear feedback and aligns the team

Ownership

Maintains activity and improves personal execution

Owns pipeline quality and deal progression

Builds accountability without creating dependency

The category may remain the same.

What counts as evidence must reflect the role.

Avoid weighting everything equally

Some capabilities are critical for the position.

Others can be developed during ramp.

For each role, label dimensions as:

• Critical
• Important
• Developable
• Advantageous

For example:

SDR

Critical capabilities may include message relevance, activity discipline and learning from feedback.

Account Executive

Critical capabilities may include discovery, qualification and commercial judgment.

Sales Manager

Critical capabilities may include performance diagnosis, coaching judgment and the ability to develop others.

Set minimum evidence requirements before interviewing candidates.

Do not change the threshold because the preferred person performed strongly elsewhere.

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How IncaZing approaches role-specific assessment

RecruiZing is structured around the sales role being evaluated.

The assessment context changes across:

• SDR and BDR roles
• Account Executives and Senior AEs
• Sales Managers and Associate Directors
• Sales Leaders
• Founder-led sales roles

Candidates respond to situations reflecting the decisions and pressures relevant to the role.

For an SDR, the focus may include prospecting judgment, relevance and response to rejection.

For an Account Executive, scenarios may examine opportunity judgment, ambiguity, stakeholder interpretation and commercial decisions.

For a sales manager, the assessment may examine coaching, performance diagnosis, manager dependency and leadership decisions.

The output provides hiring teams with narrative observations, role-alignment signals and interview prompts for deeper investigation.

RecruiZing does not rank candidates or make automatic hiring decisions.

It provides another source of role-specific evidence alongside structured interviews, work history, work samples and references.

The role determines what good evidence looks like

A confident SDR is not automatically ready to create relevant conversations.

A high-performing Account Executive is not automatically ready for a more complex selling environment.

A successful salesperson is not automatically ready to manage other people.

These are not criticisms of the candidates.

They are reminders that readiness belongs to a context.

The hiring team’s responsibility is to define that context before evaluating the person.

The question is not:

“Is this a good salesperson?”

It is:

“What does this particular role require, and what evidence shows that this candidate is prepared for it?”

Once the role changes, the assessment should change with it.