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Bobclay

Account Executive

Fire Starter
Contributor

Best interview screening exercises for SDRs & AEs?

What exercises have you seen to be most telling for interviewing SDR & AE candidates? I.e. cold call exercise, cold email example, etc...

Would love to hear from folks that have gone through an exercise as a candidate as well as implemented as a hiring manager. Thanks!

👥 Hiring
🗣 Interviewing
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17 comments

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Pachacuti
Politicker
6
They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy
Push ups. Maybe Muscle Ups if you have 2 very equally qualified candidates.

That said...

I always liked the "tell me about a time..." types of questions. Don't ask stupid questions like Tell me your Strengths/Weaknesses, etc... Amateur questions.

And do you expect your new SDR/AE who doesn't know anything about your solution to craft cold emails about it? Don't you have a SDR manager who does that for them?

You're better off asking them for a general sales presentation and presenting them with a couple objections during the presentation to see how they react.
Sunbunny31
Politicker
3
Sr Sales Executive 🐰
Completely agree. The gyrations I’m hearing that recruiters and hiring managers are putting novices through are making me crazy. Isn’t it better to ask some questions that lead to a conversation rather them putting them through some exercises they’re not equipped (yet) to handle?

And for those with experience, questions that again, lead to a conversation, are going to be far more revealing than “what are your strengths…” The “tell me about your favorite deal” or similar is a great way to get information about the candidate and loosen them up so you get a better sense of what he or she is about.
CuriousFox
WR Officer
4
🦊
As a seasoned AE if someone gave me homework for an interview I'd politely decline and walk away.
Bobclay
Fire Starter
1
Account Executive
@CuriousFoxwhat about a mock demo or discovery call during one of the interviews?
Sunbunny31
Politicker
1
Sr Sales Executive 🐰
Foxy can answer for herself, but I struggle with that myself.

I've been asked to demo a solutlon I'd never sold. I had to figure out the value prop, talk track, and other items on my own, before any training. The company required it of all people both internally and externally to "even the playing field", but it's really not a great approach IMO. You're all role playing, which means even the interview team has to learn what a CTO or VP Marketing might know or ask, and it's a huge time sink for everyone. All for knowledge you are immediately going to walk away from because it's fake and you haven't been trained.

As an EAE, I would expect the mock demo requirements only from those large public companies who have a lot of checkboxes when hiring and have to be exceptionally concerned about that "even playing field". I'd still hate it, though.
CuriousFox
WR Officer
3
🦊
Even the big logos I've been a part of never asked for mock or stupid ass assignments. Complete waste of everyone's time for something fake, not to mention I don't work for free.
Sunbunny31
Politicker
2
Sr Sales Executive 🐰
Yeah, had to go through it when changing roles at my previous employer - apparently due to some complaint that there was bias toward internal candidates or something (and, duh). So the risk-averse company made sure that all candidates, regardless of where they were from, had to do exactly the same things. It couldn't just be a quick interview with the hiring manager and "you're in" any longer, it had to be a full process.

The stupid thing was, unless I utterly failed, I was getting the role, so it really was a waste of time. Anyway. Not there any more, and the "big company must do things a certain way or risk lawsuit" concerns are gone.
DungeonsNDemos
Big Shot
3
Rolling 20's all day
Ask about methodologies. See how they budget and conduct their time. Try to find out how they perceive sales, relationships, and overall communication.
SADNESSLieutenant
Politicker
2
Officer of ♥️
Ask them about how they prospect, organize their time, handle rejection, stay motivated, destress, maintain consistency, reach the target persona, how they personalize
nomdeguerre
Executive
2
Account executive
I think you might be mixing up screening vs focus interviews. Screening you’re not going to do exercises, you’re just trying to get some basic information to make sure the candidate is with further conversation.

The screening interviews you’ll want to ask question such as what they are good at, what they are not good at/don’t want to do. Who their last 3 bosses were (get names), what works they say about the candidate when you talk to them. What their career goals are and what their salary expectations are. Make sure you all the same questions of every candidate or you won’t be able to compare.

The ones that make it through the screening, you will do a focus interview which is focused on practical exercises. Give them a prospect and have them do a personalization exercise beforehand and have them explain what and why they did it. Also, do a role play and throw a standard objection at them in the call to see how they handle it. Again, do the same thing with every candidate.

Finally, have they talk to other people in your organization to see how the fit culturally.

For more info Google the WHO interview process.
Sunbunny31
Politicker
2
Sr Sales Executive 🐰
Oh, yes, good catch!
Bobclay
Fire Starter
1
Account Executive
This is great. Thanks!
nomdeguerre
Executive
0
Account executive
My pleasure
Gasty
Notable Contributor
0
War Room Community Manager
1-minute loom video on anything:
- product pitch
- why they are the right fit for this role
- explanation of the role
- explanation of product in layman's terms

It tells you so much:
- comm skills
- presentation caliber
- negotiation potential
- determination (making the loom itself)
- assertiveness
- seriousness (dressing sense?)

If you wanna dig-down a level:
- Check their room in the background.
- How one keeps their room is how one would keep their pipeline
- The background in their loom can tell you so god-damned much @Bobclay
ThatNewAE
Big Shot
0
Account Executive - Mid enterprise
- What discovery questions would they ask.
- A mock call for SDRs and Mock demo for AEs - But mind you, the idea is not to see how they nail the demo; but to see how they navigate from one point of conversation to another. They don't know anything of the product so might be a little scattered.
- Create a territory map on how they think they would start prospecting in a region: What are the first few things they would look for and take care of.
- Who do they think are the right personnas for prospecting | What value propositions the AEs would give to different personnas!
IYNFYL
Politicker
0
Enterprise SaaS AE
What does your current sales process look like (AE role)
jefe
Arsonist
0
🍁
Thunderdome.

2 reps enter, 1 rep leaves.

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