Sales Interview Questions: What to Ask a Sales Rep Candidate

Dave hired the best interview he'd ever sat through. The candidate was warm, quick and funny, and had a story for every question. Six months later the territory was flat, the CRM was empty and Dave was writing another job ad. Looking back at his notes, he couldn't find one answer with a number in it. (Dave is a composite, not a real person.)

Most sales interview questions online are written for the candidate: how to answer "sell me this pen", how to sound confident. This guide is for the other side of the table. It gives sales managers 24 questions in six sections, what a strong answer sounds like and what should worry you, a 15-minute role-play for field reps, a scorecard to grade it all, and the questions you must not ask.

One habit runs through all of it: judge the answers you wrote down, not the feeling you left the room with. If you'd rather keep your eyes on the candidate than on a notepad, try ParrotNotes free and record the interview on your phone, with the candidate's consent.

Before you ask anything: decide what the job needs

A good interview starts before the candidate arrives. Write down the four or five things this role has to do well. For a field rep that might be: books their own meetings, runs a discovery conversation, handles a price objection, keeps the CRM current and works without daily supervision.

Then fix the questions, the order and the scoring before the first interview, and ask every candidate the same ones. That's what the US Office of Personnel Management calls a structured interview: one that uses "rules for eliciting, observing, and evaluating responses." OPM notes that interviews with more structure show "higher levels of validity, rater reliability" than loose ones. In plain terms, structure makes it more likely that the person who interviews best is also the person who sells best.

Two question types do most of the work:

• Behavioral questions ask what the candidate did. "Tell me about the last deal you lost." Past behavior is the strongest evidence you'll get.
• Situational questions ask what they would do. "A buyer says your price is 20% too high. What do you say?" Useful for juniors with little history.

Ask for numbers, names of steps and specific weeks. Vague answers are the most common warning sign in a sales interview, and they're easy to miss when the candidate is likable.

Sales interview questions by section

Here are 24 questions in six sections, four each. You won't ask all 24 in one hour. Pick two from each section for a first interview and keep the rest for a second round.

1. Motivation and fit

"Why sales, and why this kind of sales?" Listen for: a reason tied to the work itself (being out with customers, owning a number, solving problems in the field). Red flag: only money, or "I'm a people person" with nothing behind it.

"What do you know about our customers?" Listen for: they looked at who buys from you and why, and can name a type of customer. Red flag: they only know your product page.

"Walk me through a normal week in your current role." Listen for: how many meetings, how many new conversations, when admin gets done. This is the closest you'll get to watching them work. Red flag: they can't describe a week without saying "it depends."

"What would make you leave this job in a year?" Listen for: an honest answer you can compare with the role (travel, quota, territory size). Red flag: "Nothing", which tells you they haven't thought about it.

2. Track record

"What was your quota last year, and what did you hit?" Listen for: two numbers, without a pause, and how they compare with the team. Red flag: percentages with no base, or a change of subject.

"Tell me about your biggest deal. Who was involved, and what did you do?" Listen for: "I" for their own actions, "we" for the team's, and the names of roles on the buyer's side. Red flag: a story where the deal closed itself or a manager did the hard part.

"Tell me about the last deal you lost." Listen for: a specific reason and what they changed afterwards. Red flag: blame on price, product or the buyer, with nothing they'd do differently.

"How much of your pipeline did you create yourself?" Listen for: a share and a method. Red flag: everything came from inbound leads or an inherited book, if your role needs prospecting.

3. Prospecting and pipeline

"How did you book the last three new meetings you had?" Listen for: channels, numbers of attempts, a referral they asked for. Red flag: "networking", with no example.

"How do you decide which accounts to visit this week?" Listen for: a rule (deal stage, potential, route), not mood. Red flag: "whoever calls me back."

"What do you write down after a customer meeting, and when?" Listen for: next steps, names, a date, written the same day. Red flag: "I remember everything." Nobody does after six visits.

"Show me how you'd review your pipeline with me on a Monday." Listen for: stages defined by what the buyer has done, and deals they'd move out. Red flag: every deal is "looking good."

4. Discovery and listening

"What questions do you ask in a first meeting?" Listen for: questions about the buyer's problem, cost and process before any pitch. Compare them with our list of discovery questions in sales. Red flag: the first thing they mention is the demo.

"Tell me about a time a customer told you something that changed your pitch." Listen for: what the customer said, in their words, and what changed. Red flag: no example, or a story about the pitch, not the customer.

"How do you find out who else is involved in a decision?" Listen for: a question they ask, such as "who else will want a say?" Red flag: they wait for the buyer to bring it up.

"Summarize what I've told you about this role so far." Listen for: an accurate summary with your own words in it. You've just tested listening live. Red flag: a summary of what they said instead.

5. Objections and setbacks

"A buyer says 'we're happy with our current supplier'. What do you say?" Listen for: a question back, not a rebuttal. Red flag: a script that runs over the buyer.

"Tell me about a month when you were well behind your number." Listen for: what they changed in their activity and how the month ended. Red flag: they waited for the next month.

"How do you handle a customer who goes quiet after a good meeting?" Listen for: a dated next step agreed in the meeting, then a planned follow-up. Red flag: "I keep emailing."

"What's the hardest 'no' you turned into a 'yes'?" Listen for: what they learned about the buyer that made the difference. Red flag: pressure or a discount as the whole answer.

6. Coachability and self-management

"What's the best feedback a manager gave you, and what did you do with it?" Listen for: a specific skill and a change you can picture. Red flag: they can't remember any.

"What are you working on getting better at right now?" Listen for: one skill and how they practice it. Red flag: "I'm a perfectionist."

"How do you plan a day when nobody is checking on you?" Listen for: a route, a call list, a time for admin. Field reps work alone most days, which is why managing a field team you rarely see is hard. Red flag: the plan starts when the first customer calls.

"What would your last manager say you need to work on?" Listen for: a real answer that matches what you've heard so far. Red flag: a disguised strength.

The role-play: a 15-minute field visit

Answers about selling are useful. Watching someone sell is better. A role-play shows you discovery, listening and objection handling in one go, and it works for juniors who don't have a track record yet.

Skip "sell me this pen." Give the candidate the same kind of meeting your reps have every day.

The setup (send it 24 hours before): "You're meeting the operations manager of a 40-person company that uses a competitor. Your goal is to understand their situation and agree a next step. You have 15 minutes."

The buyer brief (the interviewer keeps this):

• You're mostly happy with the current supplier, but deliveries were late twice this quarter
• You have no budget until next quarter
• Your finance director will want a say in any change
• Only share the late deliveries if the candidate asks about problems
• Raise "your price is higher" once, around minute eight

What to watch:

1. Do they ask questions before they pitch?
2. Do they find the late deliveries, and the finance director?
3. How do they handle the price objection: question, rebuttal or discount?
4. Do they summarize what they heard before closing?
5. Do they ask for a specific next step with a date?

Afterwards, ask: "What would you do differently?" A candidate who names something real and specific is showing you coachability live.

The sales interview scorecard

Score each candidate straight after the interview, before you talk to anyone else about them. OPM's guidance on structured interviews has each panel member rate "individually" and only then discuss. The same discipline helps a single manager, because it stops the last candidate from rewriting your memory of the first.

Multiply each score by its weight and add them up for a total out of 5. Change the weights to match your role: a farming role with existing accounts might weigh prospecting lower. Our free interview scorecard template builds a weighted card like this and compares candidates side by side.

Sales interview questions you must not ask

Friendly small talk is where most risky questions slip out. The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission lists the characteristics employers may not discriminate on: "race, color, religion, sex (including transgender status, sexual orientation, and pregnancy), national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information." Its page on prohibited employment policies and practices says pre-employment questions should be limited to what's "essential for determining if a person is qualified for the job", and that "employers are explicitly prohibited from making pre-offer inquiries about disability."

State and local laws can add more. When in doubt, check with HR or an employment lawyer before the interview, not after.

Record the interview, then decide

Dave's problem wasn't the questions. It was that he scored a feeling. A recording fixes that, as long as you ask first. Tell the candidate at the start that you'd like to record so you can focus on the conversation, and record only if they agree. Consent rules differ by state, so read our guide to one-party consent states before you rely on anyone's silence.

Here's how a manager might run it with ParrotNotes. Priya interviews three candidates for a territory in one day. (Priya is a composite, not a real person.)

1. She puts her phone on the table and records. No bot, no laptop between her and the candidate.
2. When the interview ends, ParrotNotes gives her a summary and a full transcript. She scores the card from the transcript, not from memory.
3. She asks the recording questions like "What did she say her quota was last year?" and gets the exact answer.
4. Her regional manager reads the same transcript and scores it separately, so two people grade the same answers.

On the Free plan, every recording gets an automatic summary, with 100 minutes of recording a month and 5 AI-powered recordings for chat and insights. Pro ($19.99/month, or $14.99/month billed annually) adds 3,000 minutes a month, speaker identification to separate interviewer and candidate, and AI search across all your notes, so "which candidate mentioned route planning?" is one search. Download ParrotNotes free before your next interview day.

The record keeps paying off after the hire. Priya's notes on what the new rep said about prospecting become the first page of her sales onboarding plan: she knows where the rep is strong and what to coach first. And when a hire leaves, the cost is more than a job ad, as our guide to sales rep turnover shows. A careful interview is the cheapest place to cut it. If you're comparing tools for the coaching that follows, see what to look for in sales coaching software.

Hire on evidence, not charm

Good sales interview questions are only half of the job. The other half is how you listen and score.

• Decide what the role needs, then ask every candidate the same structured questions.
• Ask for numbers, steps and real deals, and treat vague answers as a warning.
• Run a short role-play that looks like a real field visit, with hidden facts to find.
• Score each candidate on a weighted card before you discuss them.
• Stay away from protected characteristics, and record only with consent.

Pick eight questions from the bank, print the scorecard and set up the role-play for your next candidate. Then get ParrotNotes free so every answer is on the record when you sit down to decide.