Sales
An SDR contacts possible customers (prospects) who haven’t heard of you yet and books meetings for the sales team. A first interview should answer three questions. Can this person start a conversation with a stranger? Can they handle the first “no”? Will they keep going through a slow week? A short role-play and a few stories about past cold calls and emails tell you most of it in 20 minutes.
SDRs do most of their work by voice, and the AI’s follow-up questions push past a rehearsed answer the way a real prospect would.
What to look for
The questions
Ask them in order. Listen for real details: what happened, what the candidate did, and how it ended.
Strong answer
Says who they are, gives a reason for calling that fits my job, names one problem I probably have, and asks for a short meeting instead of pitching the whole product.
Weak answer
Reads out a list of features, never asks a question, or forgets to ask for the meeting.
Strong answer
Agrees, then asks one question to make the email worth reading, like what I’m focused on this quarter, and tries to agree on a time to follow up.
Weak answer
Says “sure” and hangs up, or carries on pitching as if they didn’t hear it.
Strong answer
Names specific sources, such as the company’s website, recent news, job ads and the person’s role, and shows how one detail becomes the first line of a message.
Weak answer
Uses the same template for everyone, or says research takes too long.
Strong answer
Describes the steps, whether they used calls, email or messages, what they said, what the replies told them, and one clear change they made because of it.
Weak answer
Can’t say what they changed, or puts the results down to luck.
Strong answer
Defines a good fit by need, authority and timing (they have the problem, can make the decision and are ready to act), and gives an example of turning down a keen prospect who wasn’t a fit.
Weak answer
Books anyone who says yes, because their target is a number of meetings.
Strong answer
Owns the numbers, looks at what changed in who they contacted, what they said or when, and describes what they adjusted the following week.
Weak answer
Blames the leads, their sales area or the product, and changed nothing.
Strong answer
Passes on useful notes: who’s attending, the problem in the prospect’s own words, what was promised and any objections raised.
Weak answer
Sends a calendar invite and considers the job done.
Strong answer
Enjoys the conversations and seeing their results every day, and has a realistic view of how the job can lead to closing deals themselves.
Weak answer
Sees it only as something to get through, or can’t describe what the job involves day to day.
Before the interview
Short form questions the candidate answers before the interview. You read the answers next to the interview. They aren’t scored.
Listen for
Avoid
Use this in LessRounds
Paste the questions into a scripted interview, where the AI reads each question word for word. Add the skills from the scorecard, then share one link. Every sales development representative (sdr) candidate gets the same questions. You get a score for each skill, with the candidate’s own words that explain it.
An SDR finds possible customers, starts conversations and books meetings with the ones who are a good fit. An account executive takes those meetings and handles the deal through to a signed contract. In SDRs, look for outreach and resilience. In account executives, look for discovery (asking questions to learn what the buyer needs) and closing.
No. Many good SDRs come from jobs where they talked to strangers all day. A short role-play shows how someone handles an objection far better than the titles on their résumé.
Start with 100 free credits, enough for about 20 interviews. No credit card or sales call needed.