Finding the right SDR interview questions to ask can be challenging – especially if your team is scaling quickly. Bandalier has tested our interview questions across thousands of interviews, and we’ve found that these three questions are some of the most predictive indicators of long-term performance:
1. What questions do you have for us?
Salespeople have to be curious. They need to get to know each prospect and their pain points in a matter of minutes. Asking a great question at the right time can make or break a cold call.
Our best team members have been all asked great questions during their interviews. Look for candidates who ask open-ended questions about your processes, your goals, and the role. This is a great time for candidates to show that they’ve done their research. The questions they ask here will give you a preview of what they’ll sound like during the sales process.
2. Tell me about a situation where you demonstrated resilience.
Making cold calls is challenging at the best of times. Sales development representatives hear a lot of people say “no” each day. They need to weather market changes and keep finding new ways to excel. Doing so takes resilience – and a lot of it.
As you evaluate candidates’ stories of resilience, focus on how they describe the experience. We’ve had candidates share stories of athletic feats, workplace achievements, and personal triumphs. It’s not just about the size of the challenge they faced – it’s about how they faced it. Some of our best entry-level SDRs answered this question by describing a particularly challenging topic that they studied. Listen for the strategies that the candidate used and the lessons that they learned along the way.
3. Tell me about a time when you persuaded someone effectively.
Persuasiveness is a key skill for every salesperson to develop. Your SDRs will need to persuade prospects to listen to them, and then they’ll need to persuade them to make time on their calendar for a meeting.
As you listen to the candidate’s responses, think about how the strategies they describe would affect your prospects. If their process is closely aligned with your team’s, they’re likely to require less training and ramp time. If the candidate’s process significantly diverges from your team’s, you may need to provide some additional coaching during their onboarding process.
Get the Most Out of Each Interview
Creating great interview questions is only one part of building a great interview process. As you prepare for your next round of SDR interviews, keep these tips in mind:
Be Consistent
Regardless of the questions you decide to ask, be consistent with them. Ask the same questions in the same way in each interview. In doing so, you’ll be able to accurately compare the responses each candidate offers. Even if your team is asking similar questions across interview, subtle changes in phrasing can dramatically impact the way candidates will respond.
Be Creative
The questions we’ve shared are designed to isolate the key qualities that lead SDRs to success. However, they won’t help you get to know the candidate. Asking follow-up questions is a great way to learn more about their personality as the interview progresses, but it’s helpful to include a few unique questions. Unexpected questions change the rhythm of your conversation, and that will help you see how the candidate thinks on their feet.
Creating an incredible interview process is challenging – but it’s equally rewarding. If you’d like to learn more about how Bandalier’s data-driven interview process and how we evaluate our questions (and candidates), contact us today.
