How to Absolutely CRUSH Your Sales Interview (2025 Update)
If you've interviewed for any Tech Sales role recently you probably noticed that on average hundreds of people apply for every single job opening online… and you need to figure out how to separate yourself from everybody else that applied.
If you can relate, keep reading (watching the YouTube video above or at this won't hurt either). I’ve personally interviewed and hired hundreds of SDRs over the past 13 years and I know everything that hiring managers are looking for and what they're looking to avoid when it comes to hiring sales development representatives.
I’m about to give you an improved update on my top 3 interview tips I covered in the video above a few years ago that have helped tens of thousands of people crush their interview and get hired in Tech Sales.
I still get DMs almost every day from people who watched that video, applied the tips in it, crushed their interview, and received multiple job offers… these tips WORK, and they didn't come out of some interview book. These all came from my own experience interviewing, hiring, and managing prospecting salespeople.
Let's start off with a bonus tip you should do do before the interview that will create the best possible first impression with the hiring manager before you even meet them.
Bonus Tip: The Pre-Interview Email
Step 1 of this tip is to go to the original job posting of the role you have an interview scheduled for. 99 times out of 100 that posting will have some bullet points that go over the job responsibilities, qualifications, and some may even have a list of “nice to haves” that they would like candidates to possess.
What you’re going to do is email whoever you’re scheduled to interview with and use this template:
"Good morning (Hiring Manager’s First Name)!
I'm looking forward to our meeting a little later on this morning. I know we only have 30 minutes scheduled, so I took the liberty of going through the original posting for the role and answering each bullet point under Responsibilities and Qualifications to ensure that you have a better idea of why I believe I am an ideal candidate. Hope you find this helpful!
Responsibilities
When you send out this pre-interview email it shows to the hiring manager that you do your research, you’re proactive, and you’re able to learn a company’s needs and offer them a solution based on a value proposition. All 3 of these things are huge selling points to hiring managers, and you’ll almost definitely be the only person out of those 100s of applicants who does this pre-interview email step.
This step will make sure your interview starts on a positive note that you can then build on by applying the next 3 tips I’m going to cover with you.
Tip 1: Guarantee Your Activity, Not Your Results
no one can actually guarantee their results in sales, especially how quickly you can produce those results. But you can guarantee your effort, and in sales your effort is tracked. Your manager gets reports on how many times you dial the phone, send an email, and more… and because you are fully in control of those activities, you can guarantee them.
The talk track for this guarantee is:
“I know that I don't have a lot of sales experience and I can’t guarantee that I’ll lead the board in booked meetings of total sales on day one, but what I can guarantee is that starting day 1 I will lead the board in every activity metric you keep track of.
I will be the pacesetter for the team and I will never let off the gas for the entire time that I'm here for dials, emails, and any other activity that is important to the team’s success.
I guarantee that I will lead the board on activity day one and will continue to lead the board for the entire time that I'm here. I don’t say that because I want to beat everyone, I say that because I know if someone sets a new pace and it can be a positive influence on the rest of the team’s activity as well, and I love to help teams win.”
That does two things for you.
The first thing is they know that they're going to have a workhorse if they hire you. People don't ever guarantee their activity, and it’s the biggest worry hiring managers have… “yeah this person sounds good, but are they actually willing to put the work in?”
The other thing that you're doing there is you're not saying you want to kick everybody's ass. You want to be the pacesetter.
You don't want to look down on your peers by dominating in a certain statistic, you want to help improve the culture by setting the tone and lifting up your teammates.
If anyone said that to me, I would be ready to hop over my desk, shake their hand, and make an offer immediately because that's really all I'm looking for when it comes to a sales development rep.
I'm looking for someone that's willing to put that work in, and so is every other hiring manager… and that’s why guaranteeing your activity truly separates yourself from everyone else they might interview for the role.
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Tip 2: Offer To Role-Play A Pitch In The Interview
There's been times where I've asked a candidate to roleplay their pitch with me, but I've never had a candidate offer to do a role play without me asking first.
If you offer to do that, it already shows that you're a self-starter who isn’t afraid to put yourself out there. Most people are afraid to cold call strangers, offering to role play your pitch with the interviewer proves that you aren’t afraid to cold call because you’re offering to do it before anyone even asked you to.
Remember, your pitch doesn’t have to be perfect, but you should be prepared. There’s a chance the hiring manager won’t even let you role play once you offer to, but the fact that you came prepared and were willing to pitch immediately will leave a great lasting impression with that hiring manager.
Tip 3: Push To Schedule The Next Interview WHILE You're On The First Interview
I know, it sounds weird being pushy in an interview... right? Why would you do such a thing! It could make for an awkward end to the interview!
Well, you’re interviewing for a role where you book meetings, wouldn’t the ideal candidate try to book the next interview?
You’re interviewing for a role where you’ll need to overcome objections, wouldn't the ideal candidate try to overcome an objection in the interview?
So here’s how to do it. If you think the interview is going well when you're vetting them, obviously you're not going to do this if you don't think that it's a right fit for you if you think that the company is a great fit for you, tell them to say “hey, I'm getting a great first impression from you.
Hopefully you're getting a great first impression from me as well.
What I'd like to do is schedule the next conversation with you guys...
When's the best time for you to get that scheduled, is later this week good for you… or do you think next week would be better for that?”
They're almost definitely going to say, “oh, that's not the way that things work. We have to vet the other candidates before we do that.”
And all that you'll say is “completely understandable, but I’m sure your ideal candidate for this role would work to overcome some objections, so I'm going to take one more run at you.
Is there any time next week where we could at least tentatively schedule that next conversation, just make sure that we've got something on your calendar before you get swamped with other meetings?”
Again, you might not book that meeting. That’s fine, it actually doesn’t matter if you book the next interview on that call… that’s not how most companies do their interview process.
It's just the point that you are willing to overcome an objection and try to book that you're going to be in the back of the head of the person that's interviewing you for the rest of the entire day. You showed that you’re persistent, and that’s an important quality that most candidates never prove that they possess during the interview.
They're going to be interviewing other candidates later that day and the next day and they're gonna constantly be thinking in the back of their head.
“Wait a minute...
These candidates aren't guaranteeing the activity and that they're going to lead the board in every activity metric...
They're not offering to role play a pitch...
They're not willing to put themselves out there and they're definitely not closing on the next interview...
They're not overcoming any objections...
I want that other person! Let's call them up and move forward before somebody else does.”
Again, I receive DMs almost every single day about that original video I did on this topic. I’ve received HUNDREDS of them over the past few years, and not a single one said that they tried the tips and they didn’t work. Not ONE, and bad news travels a lot faster than good news!
That being said, I can confidently tell you that if you apply the tips I covered in this video you will be putting yourself in the best possible position to crush your sales development representative interview.