Sales development representative screening questions: activity, meetings held, outreach and coachability
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Sales development representative screening questions should find out two things: whether the candidate did the work (a steady daily volume of calls and emails that turned into meetings an account executive accepted), and whether they can learn fast enough to be productive in the first quarter. The resume will say "140% of quota". The screen should find out 140% of what, measured how, and how much of it came from inbound leads that arrived on their desk ready to book.
The broader sales rep phone screen questions compare SDRs, account executives and account managers side by side. This page goes deeper on the SDR seat, including candidates with no sales title at all.
Know the seat before you screen
Ask the hiring manager four things before the first call: whether the seat is inbound, outbound or both; what counts as a meeting (booked, held, or accepted by the AE as qualified); the daily activity expectation; and the promotion path and timing. An inbound SDR at a well-known brand and an outbound SDR cold calling a new category are different jobs, and candidates who have done one often overstate the other.
Knockout questions
| Question | What a strong answer sounds like | Red flag |
|---|---|---|
| 1. This role is about [X] calls and [Y] emails a day, mostly outbound. How does that compare with what you have done? | A comparison with their real numbers: "I did about 60 dials and 40 emails; I'm comfortable going higher." | Surprised that the job is mostly outbound calling. |
| 2. The base is [amount] and on-target earnings are [amount], paid [monthly or quarterly] on [meetings held or pipeline]. Does that work? | A yes, and a question about how the variable is measured. | Only interested in base, for a role where variable pay is a large share. |
| 3. The team works [in office days, time zone hours]. Can you work that? | Yes, or an exception said now. | Expects fully remote for an in-office team. |
Activity and results
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"What was your monthly target, what were you measured on, and where did you land over the last four quarters?"
- Strong answer: "Twelve meetings held a month. I averaged about 13; one quarter I missed at 9 when our territory changed."
- Red flag: quotes only a best month, or cannot say whether the target was meetings booked or held.
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"Of the meetings you booked, how many actually happened, and how many did the AE accept as qualified?"
- Strong answer: knows the show rate and acceptance rate, and what they did to raise them (confirmation emails, multi-threading, better discovery).
- Red flag: has never tracked what happened after booking.
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"What share of your meetings came from inbound leads versus your own outbound?"
- Strong answer: a split and an example of an outbound meeting they sourced from scratch.
- Red flag: all inbound, applying to an outbound seat, without acknowledging the gap.
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"Walk me through a normal day: when did you call, when did you research, when did you write?"
- Strong answer: blocks of time, a reason for the order (calling when buyers pick up), a way to track follow-ups.
- Red flag: no structure; activity happens "when I can".
Outreach skill
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"Tell me about a prospect you reached after many attempts. What was the sequence, and what finally worked?"
- Strong answer: the channels, the number of touches, the message that changed, and why.
- Red flag: the same template sent eight times.
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"Before you contact a new account, what do you look up, and how long do you spend?"
- Strong answer: a short, proportionate list: company news, role, a reason to reach out now; spends more time on top accounts than on long-tail lists.
- Red flag: spends 30 minutes per prospect on a high-volume seat, or none at all.
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"Which tools did you use every day?"
- Strong answer: names the CRM, the sequencing tool and data sources, and what they logged and when.
- Red flag: did not log activity because "the manager could see it anyway".
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"What rules did your team follow for cold email and calling?"
- Strong answer: honors opt-outs, uses accurate subject lines, knows the physical address and opt-out rules in the FTC's CAN-SPAM compliance guide, respects do-not-call lists and the team's policy for prospects in other countries.
- Red flag: "We just blasted lists we bought." That is a risk to the employer.
The two-minute cold call
Tell the candidate when you book the screen that you will ask for a short practice call, and give them the product: something simple, like a scheduling tool for dental practices. On the call, play a busy office manager who says "We're all set, thanks" within 20 seconds.
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"Go ahead, you've just reached me."
- Strong answer: states who they are and why they are calling in one breath, asks a question about the prospect's situation, responds to the brush-off with curiosity rather than a pitch, asks for a small next step.
- Red flag: a memorized feature list, or gives up at the first no without a question.
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"How do you think that went? What would you change?"
- Strong answer: names one or two real improvements.
- Red flag: "That was perfect," or harsh self-criticism with no specific fix.
Coachability and motivation
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"What is the most useful feedback a manager gave you, and what did you change?"
- Strong answer: specific feedback, a specific change, and a result they could measure.
- Red flag: cannot recall feedback, or the feedback was always wrong.
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"Where do you want to be in 18 months, and what have you done to get there?"
- Strong answer: an AE seat or another path, with evidence: shadowed discovery calls, ran their own small deals, studied the product.
- Red flag: expects promotion on a fixed date regardless of results.
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(No sales experience.) "Tell me about a job where you had to hit a number or handle a lot of rejection."
- Strong answer: customer service handle times, fundraising calls, retail targets, recruiting: with the number and how they kept going.
- Red flag: no example of steady, measured effort anywhere.
Qualification and handoff
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"What did a meeting have to meet before you could book it for an AE, and who decided?"
- Strong answer: names the criteria their team used (company size, role, a confirmed problem, timing) and how they checked them on the call, not just in the data.
- Red flag: "If they said yes to a meeting, I booked it." That inflates meetings booked and costs the AE's time.
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"What did you write in the handoff note, and what did AEs complain about?"
- Strong answer: a note with the prospect's situation in their own words, who else is involved and why now; names a real complaint and what they changed.
- Red flag: no handoff note; the AE "could read the CRM".
How SDR results get overstated
- Booked presented as held. A 150% booked number with a 50% show rate is a different story.
- Team pipeline as personal pipeline. Ask what share of pipeline was sourced by them, by marketing, or by the AE.
- Inbound as outbound. Meetings from demo requests counted alongside cold-sourced ones.
- Best month as average. Ask for the last four quarters, including the weak one.
- A title without the seat. "BDR" at a company where the role was mostly list building or event follow-up. Ask what a normal day contained.
A 25-minute phone-screen flow
- Minutes 0 to 3: the seat: inbound or outbound, what counts as a meeting, pay plan and promotion path.
- Minutes 3 to 6: knockouts 1 to 3.
- Minutes 6 to 13: activity and results 4 to 7. Write the numbers down as they say them.
- Minutes 13 to 18: outreach questions 8 to 11, and qualification questions 17 and 18.
- Minutes 18 to 22: the practice call and debrief, 12 and 13.
- Minutes 22 to 25: coachability 14 to 16, their questions, next step.
Score each area 1 to 5 against written anchors so candidates are compared on the same terms; the interview scorecard for sales roles has a structure you can adapt, and how to interview for coachability has more follow-ups for early-career candidates.
Legal cautions
Many states and cities ban asking about salary history; ask about expectations instead, as covered in salary expectation questions. Avoid "culture fit" questions about age, graduation year, family plans or how "young and hungry" the team is; they invite age and sex discrimination claims. Ask about the work and the numbers. The full list is in illegal interview questions.
Questions people ask
What metrics should I ask an SDR about?
Ask what they were measured on and their results against target: meetings booked, meetings held, meetings accepted as qualified by the account executive, and pipeline created. Then ask for their daily activity: calls, emails and connects. The ratio from activity to held meetings tells you more than any single number.
Should I run a mock cold call on an SDR phone screen?
A short one works well, as long as you tell the candidate in advance and give them a simple product to sell. Two or three minutes shows how they open, whether they ask questions and how they handle a brush-off. Score it on those behaviors rather than polish.
Can I hire an SDR with no sales experience?
Many teams do. Look for evidence of the same behaviors in other work: handling rejection in customer service or fundraising, keeping a steady daily volume, learning a product quickly and asking good questions. Ask about those experiences with the same demand for numbers you would apply to a sales resume.
Does CAN-SPAM apply to B2B prospecting emails?
Yes. The FTC's CAN-SPAM guidance says the law makes no exception for business-to-business email. Commercial emails need accurate headers and subject lines, a valid physical postal address and a working opt-out that is honored within 10 business days.