--- title: "SDR Interview Scorecard: Free Template & Role-Play Rubric" description: "Free SDR interview scorecard: behavioral questions by competency, anchored 1 to 4 ratings, a cold call role-play rubric, candidates side by side and a PDF." url: https://skipcall.io/en/tools/sdr-interview-scorecard language: en --- [Free tools](https://skipcall.io/en/tools) # SDR interview scorecard SDR, inside sales, Account Executive, field sales or account manager: behavioral questions by competency, anchored 1 to 4 ratings, a ready-to-run cold call role-play and your candidates compared side by side. Same questions, same yardstick **1Build the scorecard** **2Score 2** **3Compare 2** Your notes stay in this browser: nothing is sent anywhere. ## Role you’re hiring for SDR / BDR Phone prospecting, booking meetings. Inside sales rep Selling remotely, from first call to signature. Account Executive Discovery, demo, negotiation, close. Field sales rep On-site meetings, territory, close. Account manager A book of customers: retain and expand. ## Competencies and weights Weights say what matters most for this role. Agree on them with the hiring manager before the first interview. - ### Resilience to rejection Must-have 12% of the score Taking repeated rejection without losing energy or discipline. 0 ×1 ×2 ×3 **Hide2 / 3** 1. Tell me about a stretch when you heard “no” over and over, at work, in school or on a project. What did you actually do to keep going? **Follow-up:** What did you do differently the following week? 2. Walk me through a goal you missed. How did you handle it, and what did you take from it? **Follow-up:** If you had to do it again tomorrow, what exactly would you change? 3. Describe the most discouraging day you’ve had recently. How did you finish it? **Follow-up:** And the next morning, what did you start with? A strong answer includes - A real situation with many, concrete rejections - A way to keep going: routine, activity goal, support - A lesson they applied afterward, not just a feeling Red flags - No real example, or one with nothing at stake - Rejection framed as unfair or someone else’s fault - “I never get discouraged,” with nothing to back it up Rating guide 1. 1 No example, or quitting framed as normal; blames others. 2. 2 A vague or low-stakes example; pushes through on willpower, no method. 3. 3 A concrete example of repeated rejection, a way to cope and a lesson learned. 4. 4 Several demanding examples, an explicit method and proof it improved their results. - ### Active listening 8% of the score Hearing what the other person says, playing it back and building on it. 0 ×1 ×2 ×3 **Questions and rating guide1 / 3** - ### Curiosity and preparation 8% of the score Being interested in the customer, digging for useful information and preparing calls. 0 ×1 ×2 ×3 **Questions and rating guide1 / 3** - ### Verbal communication 8% of the score Being clear, concise and structured when speaking, including on the phone. 0 ×1 ×2 ×3 **Questions and rating guide1 / 3** - ### Organization and discipline 8% of the score Sustaining steady activity, prioritizing and keeping up with follow-ups. 0 ×1 ×2 ×3 **Questions and rating guide1 / 3** - ### Coachability Must-have 12% of the score Taking criticism without getting defensive and turning it into progress fast. 0 ×1 ×2 ×3 **Questions and rating guide2 / 3** - ### Motivation for the role 8% of the score Understanding the job as it really is, and wanting it for the right reasons. 0 ×1 ×2 ×3 **Questions and rating guide1 / 3** - ### Business acumen 4% of the score Understanding how a customer buys and what creates value for them. 0 ×1 ×2 ×3 **Questions and rating guide1 / 3** - ### Deal progression and closing Moving each step forward, securing commitment and negotiating without caving. 0 ×1 ×2 ×3 - ### Account management and growth Retaining a book of business, spotting risk and expanding accounts. 0 ×1 ×2 ×3 ## Sales call role-play The one moment you see the actual job. Score both calls on five criteria. Cold call Discovery call At-risk customer call Role-play share of the score30% At 0%, the role-play isn’t scored. For: SDR, inside sales, field sales Candidate’s goal: Book a 30-minute meeting with the right person. - **You’re calling** : Claire Morgan, VP of Operations at Coastline Comfort (fictional): HVAC installation and maintenance, 85 employees including 40 technicians, Charlotte, NC. - **You sell** : Field service scheduling software for maintenance companies (fictional). - **Problem you solve** : Schedules rebuilt by hand every morning, wasted drive time, customers told too late. - **What you know** : Coastline has six open technician roles on its careers page: the company is growing. The two objections you play 1. Right after the opener “I really don’t have time right now.” 2. After their first question “Just send me an email.” Only reveal this to a good question “We lost two maintenance contracts this year because our techs kept showing up late.” Only say it if the candidate asks a real question about how jobs get scheduled. Run of show (about 30 min) 1. 1 **Brief** (10 min): Hand the candidate this brief and let them prep alone. Tell them in the invite that there will be a role-play. 2. 2 **First call** (5 min): Play the prospect: neither a pushover nor a caricature. Drop the two objections, always the same ones, at the same moment. 3. 3 **Feedback** (3 min): One specific, actionable point: “You pitched before asking anything; open with a question about their situation.” 4. 4 **Second call** (5 min): Same brief, same objections. Watch what changes. 5. 5 **Debrief** (5 min): “What would you still change?” The self-assessment is often as revealing as the call. Scoring criteria | | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | | - | - | - | - | - | | Opener | Asks “do you have two minutes?” or launches into a monologue. | Introduces themselves, but the reason for calling is vague or long. | Introduces themselves and gives a credible reason to call in one or two sentences. | Opener tailored to the prospect’s situation that makes them want to answer. | | Questions | No questions: stacks arguments. | Closed or generic questions, no follow-up. | At least one open question about their situation, and builds on the answer. | Gets the prospect talking about the problem and its impact; uncovers the hidden fact. | | Objection | Argues, pushes, or gives up immediately. | Acknowledges the objection but answers with a canned line. | Acknowledges, asks a question to understand, proposes a next step. | Turns the objection into a conversation and gets what was missing. | | Next step | Hangs up with nothing, or “I’ll call you back” with no date. | Proposes a vague next step (send an email, call sometime). | Proposes a specific time or a clear next step. | Secures a dated commitment and confirms it: who, when, what. | | Feedback applied (2nd call) | The second call is a carbon copy of the first. | Tries the feedback, then slips back into old habits. | Visibly applies the feedback, even imperfectly. | Applies the feedback and fixes other things on their own. | ## Why use a scorecard instead of gut feel? An unstructured interview mostly measures likability: the candidate who reminds you of yourself, talks smoothly or comes in last scores points that have nothing to do with the job. A structured interview scorecard fixes that with three simple rules: the same questions for every candidate, a rating given right after each answer on a scale defined in advance, and a decision that adds up ratings rather than impressions. This isn’t just about tidiness. The 2022 meta-analysis by Sackett, Zhang, Berry and Lievens in the Journal of Applied Psychology ranks structured interviews first among selection methods for predicting job performance, ahead of job knowledge tests, work samples and cognitive ability tests. Mean operational validity for predicting job performance (correlation) - Structured interview 0.42 - Job knowledge test 0.40 - Work sample test 0.33 - Cognitive ability test 0.31 The closer to 1, the better the method predicts performance. This tool combines two of these methods, the ones that tell you most about a sales hire: a structured interview and a call work sample. [Sackett, Zhang, Berry & Lievens (2022), Journal of Applied Psychology, 107(11), as summarized by SIOP](https://www.siop.org/tip-article/is-cognitive-ability-the-best-predictor-of-job-performance) ## How to run the interview with the scorecard A scorecard only works if you use it the same way with every candidate. Six rules cover it. 1. 1 ### Set the weights before the first interview Pick the role, then adjust the weights with the manager the new hire will report to. A ×3 competency is a must-have: a 1 on it caps the verdict, whatever else happens. 2. 2 ### Tell the candidate what’s coming Say in the invite that there will be a call role-play. A prepared candidate shows you how they prepare, which is part of what you’re hiring for, and it keeps the process fair. 3. 3 ### Same questions, same order Ask every candidate the selected questions, then the planned follow-ups. To get evidence instead of generalities: “Can you give me a specific example?”, “What did you do, personally?”, “And what was the result?” 4. 4 ### Rate right away, on evidence Give the rating right after the answer, using the 1 to 4 guide, and write down the fact behind it. A rating with no evidence won’t survive the debrief. 5. 5 ### Run the call twice The first call shows the starting point; the second shows how fast they learn. For an SDR, that second call often separates two close candidates. 6. 6 ### Score alone, then compare If several people interview the candidate, each one completes their scorecard before any discussion. Debating first pulls everyone toward the most confident voice in the room. ## A 1 to 4 rating scale, and why not 1 to 5 A five-point scale has a middle option, and that’s the one you pick when you’re unsure: three interviews in, every candidate is a 3 out of 5. With four levels, you have to choose between “below the bar” and “meets the bar.” Every level is anchored by a description of what the candidate says or does, specific to each competency. Two interviewers reading the same anchors land closer together than two scoring on gut feel. The score out of 100 is the weighted average mapped onto the scale: all 3s gives 67, all 4s gives 100. 1. 1 ### Well below No example, or one that shows the opposite of what you’re looking for. 2. 2 ### Below the bar Some elements, but vague, one-off or with no result. 3. 3 ### Meets the bar A concrete example, a clear approach and a result. 4. 4 ### Above the bar Several demanding examples, an explicit method, repeated results. Reading the overall score: 75 and up, above the bar; 60 to 74, meets the bar; 45 to 59, mixed; under 45, below the bar. These are the tool’s reading guides, not a hiring rule: the decision stays yours. ## What the scorecard measures for each role Default weights are a starting point to adjust to your context. What changes from one role to the next: | Competency | SDR / BDR | Inside sales rep | Account Executive | Field sales rep | Account manager | | - | - | - | - | - | - | | Resilience to rejection | ×3 | ×2 | · | ×2 | · | | Active listening | ×2 | ×3 | ×3 | ×2 | ×3 | | Curiosity and preparation | ×2 | ×2 | ×2 | ×1 | ×2 | | Verbal communication | ×2 | ×2 | ×1 | ×2 | ×1 | | Organization and discipline | ×2 | ×2 | ×2 | ×3 | ×2 | | Coachability | ×3 | ×2 | ×2 | ×1 | ×1 | | Motivation for the role | ×2 | ×1 | ×1 | ×2 | ×1 | | Business acumen | ×1 | ×2 | ×3 | ×2 | ×2 | | Deal progression and closing | · | ×2 | ×3 | ×3 | ×1 | | Account management and growth | · | · | ×1 | · | ×3 | - ### SDR / BDR Resilience and coachability are must-haves: a new SDR learns the job within weeks if they can absorb the volume and apply feedback. Closing isn’t scored, since SDRs don’t close. - ### Inside sales rep Listening becomes a must-have: an inside sales rep runs the whole sale over the phone, so discovery and closing matter as much as the opener. - ### Account Executive Listening, business acumen and closing are must-haves. The role-play switches to a discovery call: qualify, find the decision maker, secure the next step. - ### Field sales rep Organization becomes a must-have (territory, prep, follow-ups) along with closing. The role-play stays a cold call: a field rep who won’t pick up the phone ends up with an empty calendar. - ### Account manager Account growth and listening are must-haves. The role-play becomes an at-risk customer call: understand the usage drop before defending the price. ## Interview questions you should never ask In the US, federal law bars employment decisions based on race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation and transgender status), national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information. The EEOC states that employers are explicitly prohibited from making pre-offer inquiries about disability, and that questions about race, sex, national origin, age or religion may be used as evidence of intent to discriminate unless a business purpose justifies them. The EEOC adds that questions about marital status, the number or ages of children or childcare arrangements may be seen as evidence of discriminatory intent, even when asked of every candidate, and can wait until an offer has been made and accepted. State and local laws often go further: California, for instance, bars employers from asking about salary history (Labor Code section 432.3). | Don’t ask | What’s at stake | What you can ask instead | | - | - | - | | “Are you married? Do you have kids?” | Marital status, sex | “This role works 9 to 6 Eastern, Monday to Friday. Does that schedule work for you?” | | “Are you planning to start a family?” | Pregnancy, sex | Nothing: it has no bearing on the job. | | “How old are you? When did you graduate?” | Age (40 or older) | “What in your background prepares you for this role?” | | “Do you have any health issues or disabilities?” | Disability (prohibited pre-offer) | “Can you perform the essential functions of this role, with or without reasonable accommodation?” | | “Where are you originally from? Is English your first language?” | National origin | “Are you legally authorized to work in the US?” | | “What church do you go to?” | Religion | Nothing: it has no bearing on the job. | | “What do you make now?” | Salary history (banned in a number of states and cities) | “What are your compensation expectations for this role?” | For verbal communication, score clarity, structure and the ability to hold attention, never accent: the EEOC lists accent among the grounds of national origin discrimination. And if several candidates take the role-play, give them all the same brief and the same objections. Treat interview notes as records that may be read later by the candidate, an auditor or a court: write down what was said and done, never opinions about the person. This tool stores nothing on our servers: notes stay in your browser, and you can clear them in one click. - [EEOC, Prohibited Employment Policies/Practices](https://www.eeoc.gov/prohibited-employment-policiespractices) - [EEOC, Pre-Employment Inquiries and Marital Status or Number of Children](https://www.eeoc.gov/pre-employment-inquiries-and-marital-status-or-number-children) - [EEOC, National Origin Discrimination](https://www.eeoc.gov/national-origin-discrimination) - [California Labor Code section 432.3 (salary history)](https://california.public.law/codes/labor_code_section_432.3) Sources checked November 6, 2026. General information, not legal advice. For a specific situation, talk to an employment lawyer or your HR team, and check the rules in the state and city where the job is based. ## Mistakes that skew a sales interview - ### Hiring the best talker A candidate who shines in person can freeze on the phone, and the phone is the job. That’s exactly what the role-play is for. - ### The halo effect One great early answer colors everything after it. Rate each competency before moving on, without rereading earlier ratings. - ### Similarity bias Same school, same former employer, same way of talking: we rate people like us higher. Written anchors for every level are the guardrail. - ### Scoring at night, from memory After three interviews, memories blur and the last candidate gets the edge. Rate during the interview or within five minutes after. - ### Scoring twelve competencies Past eight or nine competencies, every question gets skimmed and all ratings drift to the middle. Fewer competencies, probed with follow-ups, work better. - ### A different role-play for each candidate Improvised objections make calls impossible to compare. Keep the same brief, the same objections at the same moment and the same hidden fact. ## Before and after the interview The scorecard covers the interview. The tools and guides around it: - [Sales job description generator Before: a posting that’s clear about the daily work, targets and pay filters candidates for you.](https://skipcall.io/en/tools/sales-job-description-generator) - [SDR interview questions The guide: 30 questions with what good answers contain, the role-play and the red flags.](https://skipcall.io/en/blog/sdr-interview-questions) - [30-60-90 day sales onboarding plan After: the new hire’s first thirteen weeks, with ramp benchmarks.](https://skipcall.io/en/tools/30-60-90-day-sales-onboarding-plan) - [Sales call scorecard To coach the first real calls once your hire is on the floor.](https://skipcall.io/en/tools/sales-call-scorecard) - [Sales rep turnover cost calculator What a bad hire costs: the empty seat, the ramp, the lost pipeline.](https://skipcall.io/en/tools/sales-rep-turnover-cost-calculator) - [Objection handling practice To prepare the objections you’ll play during the role-play.](https://skipcall.io/en/tools/objection-handling-practice) - [Should you hire an SDR? The tests to pass before you open the requisition.](https://skipcall.io/en/blog/should-you-hire-an-sdr) - [SDR variable pay simulator To test the comp plan before you make an offer.](https://skipcall.io/en/tools/sdr-variable-pay-simulator) ## After the hire: listen to real calls The role-play gives you a first picture. The first weeks on the job tell you the rest: does the new hire apply feedback with real prospects and real objections? With Skipcall, every call is recorded, transcribed and summarized by AI on the contact record: managers replay the key moments and score the call with the sales call scorecard, without giving up their evening. [Call recording, transcription and summaries](https://skipcall.io/en/features/enregistrement-transcription) ## A calendar full of meetings starts with a call. [Get started now](https://app.skipcall.io/signup) [Book a demo](https://skipcall.io/en/demo) **No commitment** · Number live in 2 minutes ## Frequently asked questions **What is an SDR interview scorecard?** A document that sets, before the interview, the competencies you’ll assess, the questions every candidate gets and a rating scale described level by level. It lets you compare candidates on the same criteria instead of an overall impression, and keeps a record of the evidence behind the decision. **What competencies should you assess when hiring an SDR?** For an SDR, the scorecard puts two competencies at maximum weight by default: resilience to rejection and coachability. Then come listening, curiosity, verbal communication, organization and motivation for the role. Experience matters less than these traits, because the job is learned fast when they’re in place. **How do you score a cold call role-play in an interview?** On five criteria rated 1 to 4: the opener, the questions asked, objection handling, the next step secured and how well the feedback is applied on the second call. Run the same scenario with the same objections for every candidate, or the ratings won’t be comparable. **Why a 1 to 4 scale instead of 1 to 5?** To remove the middle option, the one you pick when you’re unsure. With four described levels, you have to choose between “below the bar” and “meets the bar,” and the evidence you wrote down has to back that choice. **How do you compare several candidates?** Rate each candidate on the same scorecard, then open the Compare tab: ratings by competency sit side by side, with the weighted score, the role-play and the red flags. When fewer than 5 points separate the top two, the tool tells you: reread the evidence on the must-have competencies rather than trusting the gap. **How do you write an interview debrief?** Stick to evidence, competency by competency: the rating, what the candidate said or did to earn it, strengths, areas to dig into and the decision. On the Score tab, Copy interview debrief builds that text from your notes, ready to paste into an email or Slack, and adds unused questions from the bank to ask in a follow-up interview on anything rated 1 or 2. **What questions are you not allowed to ask in an interview?** Anything aimed at a protected characteristic rather than the job: marital status or children, pregnancy plans, age or graduation year, health or disability before an offer, national origin, religion. A number of states and cities also ban salary history questions. The “Interview questions you should never ask” table above gives a job-related alternative for each. General information, not legal advice. **Are my candidate notes sent anywhere?** No. Everything happens in your browser: notes are kept in its local storage so you can come back to them, and the Clear everything button deletes them. The share link only holds the scorecard (role, weights, questions, scenario), never candidates. **Can I print the scorecard or save it as a PDF?** Yes. Print blank scorecard gives you a sheet to fill in by hand during the interview: the selected questions, their follow-ups, the rating guide and the role-play. Print the summary gives you the candidate comparison. Choose Save as PDF in the print dialog.