All 16 SDR interview questions
Cold calling
- 1.Cold call me right now. I am the head of operations at a 200-person trucking company. You have 30 seconds.
- 2.The prospect picks up and says, "I am busy, just send me an email." What do you do?
- 3.A receptionist answers and asks, "What is this regarding?" How do you get through?
- 4.Tell me about a time you got a stranger to say yes after they started at no.
Written outreach
Qualifying
Resilience and activity
What a good sales development representative does on a shift
A sales development representative starts the pipeline. They reach people who have never heard of the company, get a short yes to a meeting and hand that meeting to an account executive (AE), who closes. Most days are blocks of cold calls, email and LinkedIn steps in a sequence tool, and follow-up on website leads.
An SDR may make 50 or more calls a day and reach only a handful of people. They research each account briefly, write their own first lines and log every touch in the CRM. Pay is a base salary plus commission, usually per meeting the AE accepts or that actually happens.
The job is a training ground. Most SDRs aim to become AEs in 12 to 24 months. The ones who get there take coaching well, keep their activity up on bad days and learn to tell a real buyer from a polite maybe.
| Skill | Why it matters for this job |
|---|---|
| Cold calling | The first ten seconds of a call decide whether the prospect hangs up. SDRs live on the phone. |
| Written outreach | Email and LinkedIn messages are half the sequence. Short, specific messages get replies and generic ones get deleted. |
| Qualifying | Booking meetings that go nowhere wastes AE time and hurts trust between the teams. |
| Resilience and activity | Most calls end in no answer or a no. SDRs who keep their activity up through a bad week hit their number. |
| Coachability | SDRs are new to sales. The ones who change after feedback improve in weeks instead of months. |
Knockout questions to ask first
Ask these before the interview, on the application form or in the first minute of a call. A clear no on any of them means the job will not work, however good the interview is.
| Question | What counts as a pass |
|---|---|
| The team works 8 am to 5 pm Eastern to match our buyers. Can you work those hours? | Yes. State the time zone, since many SDR teams are remote. |
| The role means 50 or more calls a day, plus emails and LinkedIn messages. Are you comfortable with that much phone work? | Yes, ideally with an example of phone-heavy work. |
| Pay is a base salary plus commission for each qualified meeting. Does that work for you? | Yes. Put the base and the target earnings in the posting. |
| For remote roles: do you have a quiet place to make calls and reliable internet? | Yes. Background noise on cold calls costs meetings. |
| Are you legally allowed to work in the United States? | Yes. Documents are checked on the I-9 after an offer. |
Sales Development Representative interview questions and answers, by skill
Each question says why to ask it, what a strong answer sounds like, what should worry you and one follow-up question. Ask every applicant the same questions in the same order, and score each skill with the scorecard below.
Cold calling
The first ten seconds of a call decide whether the prospect hangs up. SDRs live on the phone.
1. Cold call me right now. I am the head of operations at a 200-person trucking company. You have 30 seconds.
- Why ask it
- The best test of an SDR is a call. Listen to the opener, the reason for calling and the ask.
- A strong answer
- “Hi Dana, this is Sam from Routewise. I know I am calling out of the blue, can I have 30 seconds and then you decide? We help trucking companies cut the time dispatchers spend rebuilding routes when a driver calls out. Is that something your team deals with?”
- Red flag
- A long product speech with no question, or "How are you today?" and silence.
- Follow-up
- I say, "Not interested." What do you say next?
2. The prospect picks up and says, "I am busy, just send me an email." What do you do?
- Why ask it
- The most common brush-off. A strong SDR agrees and still gets something useful.
- A strong answer
- “I would say, "Happy to. So I send something useful, are you the one who handles scheduling, or is that someone else?" Then I send a two-line email that day and call back in two days, mentioning the email.”
- Red flag
- Says okay and hangs up, or keeps pitching after they said they are busy.
- Follow-up
- What goes in that two-line email?
3. A receptionist answers and asks, "What is this regarding?" How do you get through?
- Why ask it
- Gatekeepers are part of calling into small and mid-size companies. Honesty works better than tricks.
- A strong answer
- “I tell the truth in one line: "I am calling about how the team schedules drivers, I was hoping to reach Dana." If they will not connect me, I ask for the best time to reach her or her direct email. I thank them by name because I will call again.”
- Red flag
- Pretends to be a customer or says it is personal.
- Follow-up
- What do you do if the receptionist says Dana does not take sales calls?
4. Tell me about a time you got a stranger to say yes after they started at no.
- Why ask it
- Any job with cold approaches counts, like canvassing or fundraising.
- A strong answer
- “I did phone fundraising for my college. An alum said he never gives to phone calls. I asked what he liked about his time there, and it was the rowing team. I told him the team needed a new boat, and he gave $100 to that fund.”
- Red flag
- No example, or a story about pressuring someone.
- Follow-up
- What did you learn about how to open a call?
Written outreach
Email and LinkedIn messages are half the sequence. Short, specific messages get replies and generic ones get deleted.
5. Write the first two lines of a cold email to that operations head. Read them to me.
- Why ask it
- A practical test. You hear whether they open with the prospect or with the product.
- A strong answer
- “Subject: drivers calling out. "Dana, saw you are hiring four dispatchers in Dallas, which usually means routes are getting harder to cover. Is rebuilding routes on short notice eating into your team’s day?"”
- Red flag
- Opens with "I hope this email finds you well" or the company’s history.
- Follow-up
- What is your call to action at the end?
6. You have five minutes before you contact an account. What do you look at?
- Why ask it
- SDRs reach many accounts a day. They need a fast, repeatable research habit.
- A strong answer
- “I check the company’s job posts, the last few posts on the prospect’s LinkedIn and any news, like new locations or funding. I pick one fact I can use in the first line. If I find nothing in five minutes, I use what I know about their industry and move on.”
- Red flag
- Spends 30 minutes per account, or does no research at all.
- Follow-up
- Which of those has given you the best replies?
7. Your email sequence gets replies from 1 percent of people. What do you change first?
- Why ask it
- Tests whether they test one thing at a time and know where the problem might be.
- A strong answer
- “I would first check if the emails are landing in spam. Then I would test a new first line on half the list, changing one thing at a time. I would also check whether the list is the right people at all.”
- Red flag
- Rewrites everything at once, or blames the list without checking.
- Follow-up
- How many emails would you send before deciding a test worked?
Qualifying
Booking meetings that go nowhere wastes AE time and hurts trust between the teams.
8. What has to be true before you book a meeting for an account executive?
- Why ask it
- Meetings that go nowhere waste AE time. The candidate should know the basics of qualifying.
- A strong answer
- “The person should either make the decision or be close to the person who does. The company should fit our size and industry, and they should admit to the problem we solve. I also ask if anything is happening in the next few months that makes it a priority.”
- Red flag
- "If they say yes to a meeting, I book it."
- Follow-up
- What do you write in the notes for the AE?
9. Someone agrees to a meeting, but on the call you learn their company has three employees and you sell to companies with 100 or more. What do you do?
- Why ask it
- A test of honesty. SDRs paid per meeting may be tempted to book anyway.
- A strong answer
- “I would thank them and say our product is built for bigger teams, so the meeting would not be a good use of their time. I would not book it. I would log the reason in the CRM so nobody calls them again next month.”
- Red flag
- Books it anyway to hit the meeting count.
- Follow-up
- What if you were one meeting short of your monthly goal?
10. How do you hand a booked meeting to the account executive?
- Why ask it
- A clean handoff means the prospect does not repeat themselves to the AE.
- A strong answer
- “I write the notes in the CRM the same day: who they are, the problem in their words, timing and who else is involved. I send the calendar invite with a one-line agenda, and I message the AE if there is anything odd, like a competitor already in the deal.”
- Red flag
- Only sends the calendar invite.
- Follow-up
- What do you do if the prospect does not show up?
Resilience and activity
Most calls end in no answer or a no. SDRs who keep their activity up through a bad week hit their number.
11. Tell me about a stretch where you heard no again and again. How did you keep going?
- Why ask it
- Rejection is daily. Look for a habit that kept them working, beyond saying they are tough.
- A strong answer
- “Selling gym memberships, I went a week with no sign-ups. I wrote down every no and the reason, and saw most people said the price before I showed them the class schedule. I changed the order of my tour and signed three people the next week.”
- Red flag
- "Rejection does not bother me," with no example.
- Follow-up
- What do you do after a really rude call?
12. It is 3 pm. You have made 60 calls and booked nothing today. What do you do for the rest of the day?
- Why ask it
- Shows whether they keep going and adjust, or quit early.
- A strong answer
- “I would take five minutes to listen to two of my calls and see where they ended. Then I would switch to a different list, like inbound leads that did not book, and call until five. I would still send my follow-up emails before I log off.”
- Red flag
- Stops calling and does "admin" for the rest of the day.
- Follow-up
- What would you tell your manager at the end of the day?
13. How do you plan your day as an SDR?
- Why ask it
- Activity comes from structure. Good SDRs protect call blocks and do research and admin around them.
- A strong answer
- “I research the next morning’s list the afternoon before. I call from 9 to 11 and again from 3 to 5 in the prospect’s time zone, when people are more likely to answer. I do email steps and CRM notes in between.”
- Red flag
- No plan, or research and email all morning before the first call.
- Follow-up
- How do you track whether your plan is working?
Coachability
SDRs are new to sales. The ones who change after feedback improve in weeks instead of months.
14. Tell me about feedback that was hard to hear. What did you change?
- Why ask it
- Shows whether they can take criticism and act on it.
- A strong answer
- “My shift lead at the restaurant told me I rushed tables and people felt pushed. It stung, but I started asking one question about their night before I took orders. My tips went up within two weeks.”
- Red flag
- Cannot think of any, or the story ends with them proving the feedback wrong.
- Follow-up
- How do you ask for feedback when nobody offers it?
15. Your manager listens to a call recording and says your opener is too long. What do you do?
- Why ask it
- Call coaching is weekly. You want someone who tries the change quickly.
- A strong answer
- “I would ask for an example of a good opener, rewrite mine to two sentences and use it on my next 20 calls. Then I would send my manager a recording of one of them and ask if it is better.”
- Red flag
- Defends the long opener or says it works for them.
- Follow-up
- What if the new opener does worse?
16. Why do you want to be an SDR, and where do you want to be in two years?
- Why ask it
- A clear path, usually to AE, predicts effort. You also learn whether your promotion timeline fits theirs.
- A strong answer
- “I want to learn sales from the first call, and SDR is where you get the most practice. In two years I want to be an AE, ideally here. I have read about your product and I would rather sell something I understand.”
- Red flag
- No idea what an SDR does, or plans to leave sales soon.
- Follow-up
- What do you think an AE does that an SDR does not?
How a Goodfit AI interview asks these
Goodfit can ask these questions for you. It calls each applicant or sends a browser link, asks follow-up questions, and scores each skill out of 10 with the line the score came from. Here is a short scripted example for this role.
Scripted example · Sales Development Representative · phone interview
Goodfit AI interviewerThe prospect picks up and says they are busy and to just send an email. What do you do?
TylerI say sure, no problem. Then I ask if they are the right person for scheduling, so I know the email goes to the right place.
Goodfit AI interviewerAnd after you send it?
TylerI call back in two days and say I am following up on the email. If they still are not interested, I ask if it is a timing thing and when I should check back.
TTyler
Sales Development Representative · AI phone interview, 6:55
7.6 /10
- Cold calling8/10
“I ask if they are the right person for scheduling.”
- Written outreach6/10
“I send a quick email with our main features.”
- Qualifying7/10
“I ask if it is a timing thing and when I should check back.”
- Resilience and activity8/10
“I call back in two days and say I am following up.”
- Coachability9/10
“My lead said I talked too fast, so I started recording myself every night.”
Sales Development Representative interview scorecard
Score each skill from 1 to 5 right after the interview, before you talk to anyone else about the candidate. A 2 or a 4 means the answer sat between the two descriptions next to it.
| Skill | 1: weak | 3: fine | 5: strong |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cold calling | Freezes or reads a long script in the mock call. Gives up at the first "not interested". | Clear and polite with a reason for the call, but folds when pushed. | Opens in one or two sentences, asks a question early, handles the brush-off and asks for a specific time. |
| Written outreach | Writes long, generic emails about the product. | Short and clean, but could be sent to anyone. | Opens with something true about the prospect, makes one point and ends with an easy question. |
| Qualifying | Books anyone who says yes. | Knows a meeting needs a real buyer but cannot list what they check. | Checks role, company fit, the problem and timing, and writes clear notes for the AE. |
| Resilience and activity | Takes rejection personally or talks about avoiding the phone. | Can handle rejection but has no routine for a bad day. | Gives a real example of pushing through rejection and describes how they plan and protect call blocks. |
| Coachability | Gets defensive about feedback or cannot name any they acted on. | Accepts feedback but gives no example of changing. | Names specific feedback, what they changed and how the result moved. |
10-minute SDR phone screen script
| Minutes | Step | What to say or do |
|---|---|---|
| 0 to 1 | Open | "Thanks for applying to our SDR role. This call is ten minutes. I will check a few basics, ask you to do a quick mock cold call, and answer your questions." |
| 1 to 2 | Knockouts | Hours and time zone, comfort with 50 or more calls a day, base plus commission, and a quiet place to call from if remote. |
| 2 to 5 | Mock cold call | "I am the head of operations at a trucking company. Call me. You have 30 seconds." Then say "Just send me an email" and see what happens. A phone screen is the closest thing to the real job. |
| 5 to 7 | Two questions | Ask about a stretch of rejection and about feedback that was hard to hear. |
| 7 to 9 | Share the role | Daily activity goals, how meetings count for commission, the base salary and the usual path to AE. |
| 9 to 10 | Next steps | "Any questions for me? The next round is a 30-minute call with the SDR manager, including a written cold email." |
A mock call and a cold email
Give the candidate a one-paragraph profile of a real type of buyer you sell to. Ask for a two-minute cold call to you, with at least one objection, then 15 minutes to write a cold email of under 100 words to the same person.
Score the call on the opener, handling the objection and asking for a set time. Score the email on the first line and the ask. A sales aptitude test can screen a large group before the mock call.
To test this for every applicant, send the sales aptitude test with the AI interview. The result sits on the same report.
Questions not to ask in a SDR interview
These questions can break federal or state law, and none of them tell you whether someone can do the job. Rules change by state and city, so check yours before you write an interview guide.
| Do not ask | Why | Ask instead |
|---|---|---|
| What year did you graduate from college? | Graduation year points to age. The ADEA protects applicants 40 and over, and career changers often apply for SDR jobs. | Tell me about the work you have done that involved talking to strangers. |
| Where is your accent from? | Questions about accent or birthplace touch national origin, which Title VII protects. An accent alone is not a fair reason to reject someone. | This job is mostly phone calls. Let us do a quick mock call so you can show me how you open. |
| Do you have ADHD or anything that makes it hard to focus on calls all day? | Medical and disability questions before an offer break the ADA. | How do you plan your day so you get through 50 calls? |
| Are you planning to start a family in the next couple of years? | Questions about family plans can lead to pregnancy and sex discrimination claims. | Where do you want to be in your sales career in two years? |
Sales Development Representative pay and jobs in the US
| Measure | Figure |
|---|---|
| Median pay (May 2025) | $69,990 a year, about $33.65 an hour |
| People in this job (2025) | 1,272,700 |
| Openings each year (2025 to 2035) | 115,700 |
| Usual education to start | High school diploma or equivalent |
Source: BLS Employment Projections, table 1.2 and the Occupational Outlook Handbook, read October 16, 2026. BLS has no separate line for SDRs. They are counted with sales representatives of services. Most openings come from people leaving the job, not new jobs, which is why hiring for it never stops.
Tips if you are interviewing for a sales development representative job
- Practice a 30-second cold call out loud for the company you are interviewing with. Many SDR interviews include a mock call, and most candidates have never practiced one.
- Learn who the company sells to. Look at their customer stories and job posts, and bring one idea for a first line of an email to that kind of buyer.
- Have a rejection story ready from any job, like canvassing, serving or fundraising, and say what you changed after it.
- Ask good questions at the end: how meetings are counted, how long SDRs take to become AEs and what the top SDR does differently.
Frequently asked questions
What are the most common SDR interview questions?
Expect a mock cold call, "Why sales?", a time you handled rejection, how you would research a prospect, how you plan your day and how you take feedback. Many companies also ask you to write a short cold email.
Is SDR the hardest sales job?
Many people say it is the hardest to stick with, because most calls end in no answer or a no and the work repeats every day. It is also where most people learn sales fastest, and many AEs started as SDRs.
Are SDR roles hard to get?
Entry-level SDR roles often get many applicants, so you need to stand out. A practiced mock call, a sharp cold email and a story about handling rejection set you apart more than a degree does.
How do I prepare for an SDR interview with no experience?
Study the company’s buyers, practice a 30-second cold call out loud and write a sample cold email. Use stories from service jobs, fundraising or sports that show you handle rejection and take coaching.
What questions should I ask the employer in an SDR interview?
Ask how meetings are counted for commission, what activity is expected each day, how long SDRs usually take to become AEs and what training looks like in the first month.