Hiring an experienced SDR or BDR can be useful, but a familiar title does not show how someone will listen, learn or handle your buyers. A practical sales scorecard helps you compare demonstrated ability alongside past results.
Start with the result the role must deliver
Do you need qualified first meetings, complex deal progression, account retention or coaching for an existing team? Avoid giving every sales candidate the same pitch exercise. The work of an SDR, account executive and sales manager overlaps, but the decisions and level of responsibility differ.
Define the essential competencies and the parts you can teach. Product knowledge may be trainable. Habitual misrepresentation of a product capability is a different concern.
Use a scorecard with observable evidence
| Competency | Evidence to look for | Concern to explore |
|---|---|---|
| Curiosity | Asks about the buyer’s process and priorities. | Moves straight into a generic pitch. |
| Listening | Uses the answer to shape the next question. | Repeats questions already answered. |
| Communication | Explains relevant value clearly in both languages. | Changes facts or relies on jargon. |
| Judgment | Stays within the brief and proposes a suitable next step. | Invents capabilities, discounts or urgency. |
| Coachability | Applies one specific piece of feedback. | Agrees verbally but repeats the same behaviour. |
| Follow-through | Writes a useful CRM note and action. | Leaves the next step or owner unclear. |
Use a simple scale: 1 means important evidence is missing; 3 means the behaviour meets your stated role requirement; 5 means the candidate handles added complexity well. Write role-specific anchors before use. These are suggested categories, not a validated selection instrument or universal pass mark.
Run a short conversation, then a coached replay
Provide a fictional product brief, a buyer context and clear limits on what can be promised. Ask the candidate to open a French discovery call. Let the buyer raise one realistic concern. Then ask for an English internal summary.
Give one concrete suggestion, such as exploring the cost of the current problem before proposing a demonstration. Replay a short part of the conversation and observe whether the candidate changes their approach. Keep the core conditions consistent across applicants.
Examine experience without letting it replace evidence
For past sales results, clarify the target, period, territory, product and the candidate’s contribution. Someone’s achievement in a mature inbound territory is not automatically comparable with building outbound demand from scratch. Avoid treating a single quota percentage as a full explanation.
For career changers, examine transferable behaviour: questioning, persistence, organisation and response to feedback. Be honest about the ramp required. A promising candidate may still be unsuitable when the role needs an established capability immediately.
Compare candidates against the work, not each other’s style
Record scores independently before the hiring discussion. Bring examples from the exercise, then discuss gaps. Structured interviews use consistent questions and standards to make evidence more comparable. Read OPM’s structured-interview overview.
A charismatic conversation can be enjoyable without answering your hiring question. A quieter candidate may demonstrate stronger discovery and follow-through. Use the scorecard to keep the discussion connected to the outcomes you need.
Find the sales talent a résumé can miss
MS2’s sales screening includes curiosity, listening, coachability and role-specific commercial skills. Its value is helping you look beyond familiar titles and interview polish before investing your managers’ time in a shortlist.
Published · 3 min read
