When a sales manager hire goes wrong, the damage shows up fast—in missed quotas, rep churn, and blown forecasts. Field teams see stalled territories and wasted windshield time. Inside teams watch pipeline decay and handoffs break. Hybrid teams get the worst of both: reps working different motions with no clear playbook, and a manager who can’t bridge the gap.
This guide gives you 32 sales manager interview questions, a 15-question shortlist, and practical scoring tips to evaluate candidates like a field-tested VP—not a generic HR checklist. Whether you’re hiring for field-heavy, inside, or hybrid teams, you’ll know exactly what to listen for and what signals separate average managers from leaders who actually move the number.
How to Use This Guide
This article works for any sales motion, but the best answers vary by team structure:
- Field or hybrid managers: Listen for territory planning, coaching reps who work alone most of the week, and using location-verified activity data to diagnose performance gaps—not just call volume.
- Inside managers: Look for high-velocity pipeline management, remote coaching skills, and clear SDR-to-AE handoff processes that prevent deals from falling through the cracks.
- Hybrid managers: Pay attention to rules of engagement between field and inside reps, shared account visibility, and how they prevent stepping on each other’s deals when one team warms leads and another closes in person.
Use the callouts under each question to tailor your evaluation to your team’s reality.
Why Sales Manager Interviews Matter
Sales managers translate strategy into execution—turning targets into territory plans, coaching sessions, and daily activity. A great hire tightens forecasts, extends rep tenure, and makes smarter decisions with performance data. Bad hires create vague coaching, inconsistent territory coverage, and fuzzy pipeline visibility—issues you can catch early if your questions focus on real examples, not theory.
Modern sales leaders also need to manage remote or hybrid reps and use data to diagnose problems fast. Your interview should test whether candidates can lead across locations and leverage tools to coach with evidence, not gut feel.
Core Interview Categories
Sales manager interview questions fall into five buckets: personal, operational, leadership-style, role-based, and behavioral. Each one helps you stress-test a different risk area.
At a glance:
- Personal: culture fit, motivation, self-awareness
- Operational: hiring, training, goal setting, performance management
- Leadership style: motivation, coaching, conflict, recognition
- Role-based: reporting, forecasting, time allocation, business understanding
- Behavioral: how they actually act under pressure—behavioral questions predict performance better than hypothetical ones
A consistent, structured interview process that covers these categories makes it easier to compare candidates fairly and raise your quality of hire.
Personal Interview Questions
Fit and Motivation
1. Can you tell me a little bit about yourself?
You’re testing: How they connect career story and leadership journey in a clear, concise way.
Strong answers include: Key roles, numbers, and team impact in 2–3 minutes, with at least one example of coaching or process improvement.
Field/hybrid signal: They mention territory experience, in-person coaching, or balancing virtual and face-to-face touchpoints.
2. Why do you want to be a sales manager?
You’re testing: Motivation beyond “more money” or “next step.”
Strong answers include: Focus on coaching reps, building teams, and owning a number through others. Red flag if they only talk about getting off the road or avoiding quota pressure.
3. Can you describe a past incentive that motivated you?
You’re testing: What truly drives them and how that translates to managing a team.
Strong answers include: Programs tied to team wins, process improvements, or development—not just SPIFFs and cash contests.
4. What qualities make you good at sales? How about management?
You’re testing: Whether they understand that individual production and leadership require different skills.
Strong answers include: A clear split between prospecting and closing versus coaching, one-on-ones, and running pipeline reviews.
5. What area challenged you most in sales and how did you overcome it?
You’re testing: Resilience, coachability, and whether they’ve built repeatable systems from their own struggles.
Strong answers include: A specific challenge, concrete steps taken, and a lasting change in process or habits—not generic theory.
Operational Interview Questions
Hiring and Onboarding
6. What do you look for in new sales rep hires?
You’re testing: Their hiring scorecard and how it aligns with your go-to-market motion.
Strong answers include: Traits like curiosity, resilience, coachability, and process discipline tied to outcomes like shorter ramp or higher close rates.
Field/hybrid signal: They mention comfort with driving or travel, self-management during solo territory time, or ability to shift between virtual and in-person selling.
Inside signal: They emphasize phone presence, same-day follow-up discipline, and stamina for 30+ conversations a day without burning out.
Red flag: f they only mention ‘hungry’ or ‘competitive’ without discussing coachability or process discipline, they’ll hire cowboys who don’t follow your playbook.
7. What is your training plan for a new sales rep joining your team?
You’re testing: Whether they have a structured onboarding plan with clear milestones—not “ride with top reps for a few weeks.”
Strong answers include: Week-by-week goals, tech stack training, product and territory immersion, and defined time to first deal and full quota.
Field-specific depth: For field reps, they should mention ride-alongs in week one, shadowing how top reps plan their day and handle objections in person—not just watching them close. By week three, the new rep should own a small territory slice with daily debriefs.
8. What method works best for training new salespeople?
You’re testing: How they think about adult learning and reinforcement.
Strong answers include: A mix of classroom, live shadowing, role plays, and field or call coaching, with clear check-ins and assessments.
Goal Setting and Performance Management
9. How do you approach setting goals?
You’re testing: Whether they use data-driven, realistic targets tied to territory and pipeline reality.
Strong answers include: SMART goals, historical performance, territory potential, and clear breakdowns into daily and weekly activity.
Field/hybrid nuance: Strong managers factor in travel time, meeting density, and territory geography—not just contact volume. For inside teams, they focus on calls per day, meetings booked, and conversion rates.
10. How have you addressed a sales rep who is missing quota regularly, and what did you do to resolve it?
You’re testing: Their coaching process and tolerance for underperformance.
Strong answers include: A diagnostic approach—activity levels, skill gaps, or mindset issues—a clear improvement plan, and a decision point if results don’t change.
Field/hybrid diagnostic: They should explain pulling activity data to see if it’s an effort problem (not working the territory), a skills problem (getting meetings but not closing), or a territory problem (working the wrong accounts or burning time on low-potential stops).
Bonus Modern Questions
11. Walk me through your forecast process from pipeline to board-level number.
You’re testing: Whether they forecast with data, not gut feel.
Strong answers include: CRM reports, forecast categories, probability staging, and how they stress-test commit numbers with coverage ratios and historical win rates.
12. How do you use data or tools to diagnose where deals stall or reps get stuck?
You’re testing: Whether they can turn insights into better execution.
Strong answers include: Specific examples of pulling conversion reports, identifying bottleneck stages, and changing behaviors based on what the data shows.
Leadership-Style Interview Questions
Motivation and Recognition
13. What is the best motivator for a sales team?
You’re testing: Whether they understand motivation is individual and evolves over time.
Strong answers include: Tailored incentives, regular one-on-ones, and a mix of money, development, and autonomy—backed by examples of how they’ve put this into practice.
14. How do you recognize performance?
You’re testing: How they reinforce the right behaviors, not just results.
Strong answers include: Public and private recognition, peer shoutouts, and rewards tied to pipeline hygiene, activity quality, and collaboration—not just closed deals.
Coaching and Conflict
15. How would you describe your management style?
You’re testing: Self-awareness and alignment with your culture.
Strong answers include: Clear labels like “hands-on,” “data-driven,” or “coach-first,” backed by tangible examples of one-on-ones, ride-alongs or call reviews, and team meetings.
Red flag: Vague answers like ‘I’m flexible’ or ‘I adapt to each person’ usually mean they don’t have a consistent approach.
16. How do you set goals, track progress, and ensure performance from your team?
You’re testing: How they operationalize expectations week to week.
Strong answers include: Regular pipeline reviews, dashboard usage, and follow-ups on commitments—not just “I check the CRM.”
Hybrid consideration: They should explain how they track both field activity and inside activity in one view so nothing slips through the cracks.
17. What is your approach to conflict management amongst your team?
You’re testing: Their ability to handle territory disputes, personality clashes, and performance complaints.
Strong answers include: Surfacing conflicts early, listening to both sides, reinforcing data and rules, and documenting outcomes.
Hybrid conflict example: Listen for how they resolve disputes when a field rep and inside rep both claim credit for the same deal, or when territory boundaries blur.
Role-Based Interview Questions
Reporting and Forecasting
18. How do you prepare quarterly and annual performance reports and what data do you need?
You’re testing: Comfort with numbers and communication to leadership.
Strong answers include: Win rates, cycle length, coverage ratios, activity metrics, and segment breakdowns, plus how they turn reports into coaching priorities.
19. What do you know about sales forecasting and what tools and software do you use?
You’re testing: Whether they forecast based on data, not gut feel.
Strong answers include: CRM reports, forecast categories, probability staging, and any analytics tools used to improve accuracy.
Strategic Understanding
20. If you had to explain what we do to someone unfamiliar with us, how would you explain it?
You’re testing: Preparation and communication skills.
Strong answers include: Evidence they’ve researched your product, ideal customer profile, and value prop, and can explain it in simple, buyer-friendly language.
21. How will your strengths and weaknesses help and hurt you in this sales manager position?
You’re testing: Self-awareness and risk management.
Strong answers include: Strengths paired with realistic risks and a specific plan to mitigate weaknesses.
22. How do you divide your time each week across your responsibilities?
You’re testing: Time management and priorities.
Strong answers include: Meaningful time for coaching, recruiting, forecast management, and key deals—not just “putting out fires.”
Field/hybrid reality: Strong field managers spend 30–40% of their week on ride-alongs or in-person coaching. Hybrid managers balance virtual one-on-ones with periodic field visits so remote reps don’t feel forgotten.
Modern Change Leadership
23. Tell me about a time you led your team through a significant change in process or tools. What did you do, and what happened?
You’re testing: Change leadership skills as teams adopt new tools and AI.
Strong answers include: A clear story using the STAR format—situation, task, action, result—showing how they built buy-in, trained the team, and measured adoption.
Behavioral Interview Questions
Quota, Performance, and Tough Calls
24. When your team didn’t achieve sales quota, how did you ensure they reached their next quotas?
You’re testing: Ownership of misses and ability to adjust.
Strong answers include: A root-cause analysis, action plan, and measurable improvement in the following period.
25. Can you describe a time when you had to let a salesperson go?
You’re testing: Standards, empathy, and documentation habits.
Strong answers include: Clear expectations, documented coaching, and a decision that protected the team and the number. Clear expectations, documented coaching, and a clean exit that didn’t drag on for months. If they say “I’ve never had to fire anyone,” they either haven’t managed long or they’re avoiding tough calls.
Decision-Making and Analytical Skills
26. What is your process for making decisions?
You’re testing: Whether they blend data, field feedback, and speed.
Strong answers include: Defined steps, inputs, who they involve, and a specific example that shows the process in action.
27. How do you prepare for presentations?
You’re testing: Ability to tailor content for executives, reps, and cross-functional partners.
Strong answers include: Diagnosing audience expectations, building a narrative around data, and rehearsing Q&A.
28. How have you used analytical skills in the past to solve a problem?
You’re testing: Whether they actually use data to change behavior.
Strong answers include: A specific problem like low close rates in one territory, the data they pulled, the change they made, and the result.
29. Tell me about a time you used data or insights to change your team’s sales approach. What did you see, what did you change, and what was the outcome?
You’re testing: Whether they can turn insights into better execution in the field or on calls.
Strong answers include: A concrete example showing they identified a pattern, adjusted the approach, and tracked improvement.
Extra Questions for Hybrid Sales Leaders
If you manage a hybrid team—field reps closing in person, inside reps working remotely, or a mix of both—add these questions to stress-test hybrid leadership skills:
30. How do you prevent inside and field reps from stepping on each other’s deals?
Strong answers include: Clear rules of engagement, shared CRM visibility, and documented hand-off processes so both teams know who owns what at each stage.
31. Walk me through how you’d hand off a deal from an inside rep to a field rep before an on-site meeting.
Strong answers include: A clear process—inside rep briefs the field rep, updates the CRM with notes and next steps, and stays in the loop post-meeting so nothing falls through the cracks.
32. How do you coach reps you only see in person once a month or less?
Strong answers include: Regular virtual one-on-ones, shared dashboards to review activity and pipeline, and periodic field rides to stay connected and spot coaching opportunities.
15 Must-Ask Sales Manager Interview Questions
For busy hiring managers, here’s a concise shortlist of high-impact questions:
- Why do you want to be a sales manager?
- What do you look for in new sales rep hires?
- What is your training plan for a new sales rep joining your team?
- How do you approach setting goals?
- How have you addressed a sales rep who is missing quota regularly?
- How would you describe your management style?
- How do you set goals, track progress, and ensure performance from your team?
- What is the best motivator for a sales team?
- How do you recognize performance?
- How do you prepare quarterly and annual performance reports, and what data do you need?
- What do you know about sales forecasting, and what tools do you use?
- How do you divide your time each week across your responsibilities?
- When your team didn’t achieve quota, what did you do next?
- Can you describe a time when you had to let a salesperson go?
- How have you used analytical skills to solve a problem?
Use a simple scorecard to rate each candidate on these questions across competencies like hiring, coaching, forecasting, and leadership presence. A consistent rubric makes decisions faster and more objective.
Tips for Interviewing Sales Manager Candidates
Prepare a consistent question set and scoring rubric before interviews so each candidate is evaluated on the same criteria.
Mix interview questions with real-world exercises like pipeline reviews, mock coaching sessions, or territory analysis for your market.
Include at least one panel interview with cross-functional partners like marketing or operations to test collaboration and communication.
Dig for specifics on hybrid challenges if you run mixed teams—ask how they’d balance field and inside reps, prevent deal conflicts, and maintain visibility across locations.
Tips for Getting Hired as a Sales Manager
If you’re the candidate, treat these questions as your preparation checklist. Build concise stories that show:
- Times you coached reps, improved a process, or led through change—not just when you crushed quota
- How you use data and tools to forecast accurately, prioritize territories, and manage performance
- Clear self-awareness about your leadership strengths and gaps, with a plan to keep developing
Pull a list of common sales manager interview questions and make sure you can answer them with specific examples instead of generic theory.
FAQs: Sales Manager Interview Questions
Q: What are good interview questions for sales managers?
Good sales manager interview questions probe hiring approach, coaching style, forecasting skills, and how they’ve handled real situations like missed quotas or letting reps go. Aim for a mix of operational, behavioral, and leadership-style questions so you see how they hire, develop, and manage performance.
Q: How do you evaluate a sales manager candidate?
Evaluate sales manager candidates against a clear scorecard that covers hiring, coaching, forecasting, leadership, and culture fit—not just “gut feel.” Listen for specific stories, numbers, and process details rather than generic claims, and compare notes across interviewers to reduce bias.
Q: How many interview rounds should there be for a sales manager?
Many companies use two to three rounds: an initial screen, a deeper skills interview, and a final panel or presentation. At least one round should include a practical exercise like a forecast review, team meeting plan, or coaching scenario.
Q: What should candidates prepare for a sales manager interview?
Candidates should prepare clear examples of coaching reps, improving processes, and owning a number through their team, plus ideas for the company’s territories and pipeline. Reviewing common sales manager interview questions and aligning answers with the company’s market and sales motion also helps.
Q: Should you use behavioral questions when hiring a sales manager?
Yes, behavioral questions are one of the best ways to see how someone will actually operate because they force candidates to describe real actions and outcomes, not theory. Ask for specific situations, tasks, actions, and results across quota misses, conflict, coaching, and change management.
Q: How do you interview for a hybrid sales manager?
For hybrid sales managers, add questions about managing remote and field reps, preventing deal conflicts between inside and field teams, and maintaining visibility across locations. Look for clear handoff processes, shared CRM usage, and experience balancing virtual and in-person coaching.
Where SPOTIO Fits In
Once you hire the right sales manager, they need visibility into what’s actually happening in the field and on calls. SPOTIO helps field, hybrid, and inside sales leaders turn activity data into sharper coaching and more reliable forecasts.
Field managers use SPOTIO software to see where reps work through location-verified activities, plan optimal routes, and understand which approaches win in each territory. Hybrid teams use SPOTIO’s multi-channel communication to keep field and inside reps aligned on the same accounts without stepping on each other’s deals. Leaders across all motions use activity insights to coach with evidence—not guesswork—and forecast with confidence.
