How to Run a Sales Test Assignment Before You Hire

An interview shows you how a candidate talks about selling. A test assignment shows you how they sell. Before you make an offer for a sales role, a short exercise built from the real job lets you watch a candidate run a discovery call, handle an objection or write the email that gets a reply, and compare finalists on the same task.

This guide is for the sales leader or head of talent making that hire. It explains which exercise suits which sales role, how to run and score it, how to keep it fair to candidates, and what the off-the-shelf sales assessments measure. It includes a candidate brief and a scoring rubric you can copy.

DisclosureJake Jorgovan co-founded Alpha Apex Group, which is mentioned in this article.

Why test sales candidates at all

Interviews still matter; the research points to how they are run. A 2022 review of personnel selection research (opens in a new tab) by Paul Sackett and colleagues found that earlier meta-analyses had overestimated how well many selection methods predict job performance. In its revised estimates, structured interviews, where every candidate answers the same questions and is scored the same way, ranked first among the methods compared.

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Selected mean validity estimates from the 2022 reanalysis, reproduced in Sackett and colleagues’ 2023 follow-up: structured interviews 0.42, work samples 0.33, and unstructured interviews 0.19. These are corrected correlations with job performance, not percentages of candidates a method predicts correctly. Validity varies across settings.doi.org (opens in a new tab)

So a test assignment adds evidence to a structured interview. A sales exercise gives you something an interview cannot: the candidate doing a piece of the job in front of you, against the same scenario as everyone else. Martin Coover, a partner at the Chicago recruiting firm Jobplex, quoted by SHRM (opens in a new tab), called an assessment result "just one data point", and that is the right weight for it: one strong source of evidence, read beside the interview and references.

The benchmark matters as much as the exercise. When we hired virtual assistants at Content Allies, every applicant did the same small test project, which gave us a benchmark for judging each one; I wrote about it in 2019, crediting the idea to Russ Perry. At Lead Cookie, the application asked a scenario question taken from the real work: what would you do if you sent the wrong message from a client's account? Sales roles are different, but the principle carries over. If every finalist gets the same task and the same buyer, you are comparing candidates on the work itself.

Choose an exercise that copies the job

Start from the moment in the job that separates good performers from average ones, then build the exercise around it. An SDR's job turns on getting a reply; an enterprise account executive's on running a long deal with several buyers. A test that suits one will tell you little about the other.

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The approach described in this article, shown as a visual guide.

A live role play lets you see how a candidate responds to questions and objections in the moment. A take-home shows planning and writing, but you cannot be sure who did the work: SHRM's article notes that with take-home assessments it is "hard to tell" whether candidates completed them alone. Where a take-home matters, follow it with a live conversation in which the candidate presents it and takes questions.

For senior sales leaders, choose an exercise that tests leadership judgment, such as a pipeline review, a coaching discussion or a presentation of how they would approach your first 90 days, and weigh it with references on their record. For a candidate with a long performance record in the same sales role, ask what an off-the-shelf test would add to the evidence you already have. One assessment provider, SalesGenomix (opens in a new tab), raises the same point on its own homepage. Where a candidate has a long history of sales performance in a given role, it advises, a sales assessment is "unlikely to offer much value add" and may "spook a senior-level candidate" if it looks as though you cannot decide on the merits. The VP of Sales guide covers that hire.

How to run a sales test assignment, step by step

1. 1

   Define the job and what success looks like

   Write down what the person must achieve in their first 90 days, and which part of the sales process they will run. You cannot design a fair test for a job that only exists in your head. My first attempt to hand off sales at Lead Cookie failed, as I described in 2020. Probably the biggest mistake I made was that the sales process was "far too ambiguous and in my head". The second time, I had documented the process in a sales playbook and set a written 90-day goal for the new salesperson, and it worked. A test assignment needs the same clarity before the first candidate sees it.

2. 2

   Build one scenario and write the rubric first

   Choose the exercise from the table above, then write the scenario: the buyer, their company, their problem, what they know and the objection they will raise. If the role sells into a regulated market such as financial services or healthcare, add a short check of the compliance knowledge it needs; if the job depends on a particular CRM or technical product, include a short task that uses it. Write the scoring rubric at the same time, before anyone takes the test, so the standard cannot drift toward whoever impressed you most.

3. 3

   Send candidates a clear brief

   Tell candidates what the exercise is, how long it takes, what you will provide, who will be on the call and what you will assess, including every scored part such as a follow-up email or a short retry after feedback. Ask whether they need any accommodation to take part. A good brief reduces guesswork about preparation and helps candidates focus on the skills you intend to assess.

4. 4

   Run it the same way for every finalist

   Use the same scenario, the same buyer script and the same standard time limit for everyone, with any agreed accommodations. If a colleague plays the buyer, brief them to raise the same objections at the same points. Record the session if the candidate agrees, or take notes against the rubric as you go.

5. 5

   Debrief with the candidate

   Ask the candidate what they would do differently and give them one piece of feedback, the same kind for every finalist. Then ask them to rerun a short part of the exercise, so you can see how they apply it. How someone responds to coaching in the room is a useful signal for a sales role, and the feedback leaves every finalist with something for their time.

6. 6

   Score independently, then compare

   Once the debrief and any written follow-up are in, each assessor scores alone, against the rubric, before any discussion. Then compare scores and talk through the differences. Discussing first lets the most senior or most confident person in the room set everyone's view.

7. 7

   Decide with all the evidence

   Put the exercise score beside the structured interview, references and any assessment result, and decide. Keep the scores and how many candidates from each group advance at each round, so you can check for adverse impact. To learn whether the exercise predicts success, compare scores with how the people you hire perform over their first year; pass rates alone cannot show that.

A scoring rubric you can copy

The weights below are a starting point for a new-business account executive role play. Change them to match the job: an SDR rubric would weight research and written outreach more heavily, an account manager's would weight retention and expansion. Score each criterion from 1 (not shown) to 5 (strong evidence in the exercise), multiply by the weight as a decimal and add up: a score of 4 on a 20% line contributes 0.8, and the total is out of 5.

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The article’s account-executive scorecard weights sum to 100%. A score of 4 out of 5 on a criterion weighted 20% contributes 0.8 to the five-point total. Adjust the criteria to the actual job.

Agree in advance what separates a 3 from a 5 for each line, with an example. That is what makes two assessors' scores comparable.

Keep the test fair to candidates

In the United States, a role play or take-home counts as a selection procedure just as a written test does. The EEOC's guidance on employment tests (opens in a new tab) lists "simulations, work samples, and realistic job previews" among them. Four rules apply directly to a sales exercise. This summarizes US federal guidance; it is not legal advice, and rules differ elsewhere.

• Keep it tied to the job. Under Title VII, a selection procedure that disproportionately excludes people by race, color, religion, sex or national origin must be "job-related and consistent with business necessity". The EEOC also says employers should look for an equally effective alternative with less adverse impact. An exercise built from the real job is easier to defend than a general test of personality or charisma.
• Offer accommodations. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, employers must make reasonable accommodations, including in how tests are given, for the known limitations of a qualified candidate with a disability, unless that would cause undue hardship.
• Keep the records. Under the federal Uniform Guidelines (opens in a new tab), a selection rate for any race, sex or ethnic group below four-fifths (80%) of the rate for the group with the highest rate is generally regarded as evidence of adverse impact. Smaller differences can also count, and small numbers need careful reading. The Guidelines expect employers to keep records of each procedure's impact by race, sex and ethnic group, so keep applicant and advancement counts for every round.
• A vendor's validation is not yours. The EEOC says a vendor's documentation "may be helpful", but the employer "is still responsible" for ensuring its tests are valid.

Fairness is also about the candidate's time. SHRM's article points out that the best candidates are likely to have a job and other demands on their time, and that some worry an employer will use their work, such as a detailed marketing plan, without hiring them. Keep the exercise short, use an invented or historical scenario, and pay for anything that asks for more than a few hours of work.

What sales assessment tools measure

Off-the-shelf pre-employment sales tests are a different thing from a test assignment. Each of the seven providers below describes a pre-hire assessment for sales candidates on its own site. Several measure traits, motivations or sales competencies and compare the candidate with a sales job model; TestGorilla and HireVue also offer scored simulations. Use one where it answers a defined hiring question and the provider can show evidence for roles like yours. At volume it can help with screening; for an experienced leader, ask what it would add to their record and references.

Read every accuracy or validity claim on these pages as the provider's own. The EEOC point above applies whichever you choose. If you use one, use it as an early screen or an extra data point, and keep the exercise and the structured interview for the finalists.

Common mistakes

• Testing a job you have not defined. If the sales process lives in one person's head, the exercise will test how well candidates guess it.
• One test for every sales role. A cold-email task tells you little about an account manager, and a renewal role play little about an SDR.
• Exercises that are too long or too vague. Good candidates may drop out, or everyone interprets the task differently and you cannot compare the results.
• Scoring style over substance. A confident, likable candidate can skip discovery entirely. The rubric is there to catch it.
• Deciding as a group before scoring alone. The first opinion voiced tends to become the panel's.
• Asking for real work for free. A plan for a live account looks like consulting, not assessment, and puts good candidates off.

Common questions

What is a sales assessment test?

A structured way to evaluate a sales candidate before hiring. It can be a work exercise built from the job, such as a role play or a written outreach task, or an off-the-shelf questionnaire that measures sales-related traits, motivations, knowledge or reasoning against a job model.

What are sales psychometric tests?

Assessments that measure characteristics such as personality, motivation or reasoning; depending on the tool, results may be compared with a sales job model. The Caliper Profile, Mettl's Sales Profiler and MTD's sales personality test are examples. They describe tendencies; they do not show the candidate selling.

What exercises can you use in a sales interview?

A discovery or cold-call role play, an objection-handling scenario, a short product presentation and a written outreach task are the common ones. The table of exercises by role matches each to the job it suits.

How long should a sales test assignment take?

Long enough to see the skill that matters and no longer. A live role play of 20 to 30 minutes, with preparation the candidate can do in an hour or two, is a reasonable starting point for most individual contributor roles. Anything longer should be for the final stage, and paid if it amounts to real work.

What is the one moment in your sales process that, if a new hire handled it well, would tell you they will succeed?