Effective Work Sample Exercises for Enterprise Account Executive Interviews

Enterprise Account Executives are the driving force behind revenue growth for organizations selling to large, complex clients. These senior sales professionals must possess a unique blend of strategic thinking, relationship-building skills, and business acumen to successfully navigate lengthy sales cycles and close high-value deals.

Traditional interview questions often fail to reveal a candidate's true capabilities in enterprise sales. While a candidate might eloquently describe their sales approach, only through practical demonstration can you assess their actual skills in action. This is where well-designed work samples and role plays become invaluable.

The best Enterprise Account Executives demonstrate excellence in several key areas: conducting effective discovery to uncover client needs, developing strategic account plans, delivering compelling presentations to executive stakeholders, and negotiating complex deals. Each of these skills can be evaluated through carefully crafted exercises.

By implementing the following work samples in your interview process, you'll gain deeper insights into how candidates approach real-world sales scenarios. This allows you to distinguish between those who merely talk a good game and those who can actually execute at the highest level. Additionally, these exercises provide candidates with a realistic preview of the role, helping ensure alignment between their expectations and the actual job requirements.

Activity #1: Strategic Discovery Call Role Play

A discovery call is often the first substantive interaction with a potential client and sets the foundation for the entire sales process. The best Enterprise Account Executives excel at asking insightful questions that uncover business challenges, building rapport, and positioning their solution as a strategic fit.

Directions for the Company:

• Select an internal team member to play the role of a potential client (ideally someone familiar with your typical enterprise buyers)
• Provide the candidate with a brief company profile and persona description 24 hours before the interview
• The profile should include basic information about the fictional company (industry, size, recent challenges) and the persona (title, responsibilities, priorities)
• Prepare the role player with specific pain points and objections relevant to your solution
• Allocate 20-25 minutes for the role play followed by 5-10 minutes for feedback

Directions for the Candidate:

• Review the provided company profile and persona description
• Prepare to conduct a discovery call with the goal of understanding the prospect's business challenges and determining if there's a potential fit for your solution
• During the call, demonstrate your approach to building rapport, asking probing questions, and beginning to position value
• Be prepared to handle any objections that arise naturally during the conversation
• The exercise should feel like a real discovery call, not a scripted presentation

Feedback Mechanism:

• After the role play, the interviewer should provide specific feedback on one aspect the candidate did particularly well (e.g., insightful questioning, effective listening, value positioning)
• The interviewer should also provide one specific area for improvement
• Give the candidate 5 minutes to reflect on the feedback and then ask them to redo a portion of the conversation incorporating the improvement suggestion

Activity #2: Executive Presentation and Value Proposition

Enterprise deals require gaining buy-in from senior executives who are focused on strategic business outcomes rather than product features. This exercise tests the candidate's ability to craft and deliver a compelling, business-focused presentation.

Directions for the Company:

• Create a scenario based on a typical sales situation your team encounters
• Provide the candidate with background information 24 hours in advance, including:
• Brief description of the prospect company and their industry
• Key business challenges they're facing
• Stakeholder information (who will be in the meeting and their concerns)
• Basic information about your solution's capabilities
• Assemble a panel of 2-3 interviewers to play the roles of executives
• Allocate 15 minutes for the presentation and 10 minutes for Q&A

Directions for the Candidate:

• Prepare a 15-minute executive presentation that addresses the business challenges outlined in the scenario
• Focus on communicating business value rather than technical features
• Structure your presentation to be concise, compelling, and tailored to executive-level concerns
• Be prepared to handle challenging questions during the Q&A portion
• You may use slides if you wish (provide instructions for submission if this is allowed)

Feedback Mechanism:

• The panel should provide feedback on the candidate's executive presence, ability to articulate value, and handling of questions
• Identify one specific area where the presentation could be strengthened
• Ask the candidate to rework a specific portion of their presentation (perhaps the value proposition or ROI section) incorporating the feedback
• Allow 5 minutes for the candidate to present the revised section

Activity #3: Strategic Account Planning Exercise

Successful enterprise sales require a methodical approach to targeting and expanding accounts. This exercise evaluates the candidate's ability to develop a strategic plan for penetrating and growing a complex enterprise account.

Directions for the Company:

• Create a fictional account scenario with multiple business units, stakeholders, and potential use cases for your solution
• Include information about the account's organizational structure, business priorities, and current technology landscape
• Provide this information to the candidate 24 hours before the interview
• Prepare questions to probe the candidate's thinking about their approach
• Allocate 30 minutes for this exercise (15 for presentation, 15 for discussion)

Directions for the Candidate:

• Review the account information provided
• Develop a 6-month strategic plan for penetrating and expanding within this account
• Your plan should include:
• Key stakeholders to target and engagement strategies
• Potential entry points and expansion opportunities
• Resources needed from your company to support the plan
• Timeline with major milestones
• Potential obstacles and how you would address them
• Be prepared to present and discuss your plan with the interview panel

Feedback Mechanism:

• Provide feedback on the strategic thinking demonstrated in the plan
• Highlight one particularly strong element of the approach
• Suggest one area where the strategy could be enhanced
• Ask the candidate to revise their approach to that specific area based on the feedback
• Allow 5 minutes for the candidate to explain their revised approach

Activity #4: Negotiation and Objection Handling Scenario

The final stages of enterprise deals often involve complex negotiations and addressing stakeholder concerns. This exercise tests the candidate's ability to navigate these challenges while maintaining deal momentum and value.

Directions for the Company:

• Develop a scenario where a deal is at risk due to pricing concerns, competitive pressure, or implementation timeline issues
• Create a detailed brief including:
• Deal background and history
• Current stakeholders and their positions
• Specific objections or negotiation points
• Any constraints the candidate must work within (e.g., pricing floors, implementation resources)
• Select an interviewer to play the role of a hesitant economic buyer
• Provide the scenario to the candidate 24 hours in advance
• Allocate 20-25 minutes for the role play

Directions for the Candidate:

• Review the negotiation scenario provided
• Prepare your approach to addressing the concerns while preserving the value of the deal
• During the role play, demonstrate your negotiation techniques, objection handling, and ability to find creative solutions
• Focus on understanding the underlying concerns rather than immediately making concessions
• Be prepared to think on your feet as the conversation evolves

Feedback Mechanism:

• After the role play, provide feedback on the candidate's negotiation approach
• Highlight one effective technique they employed
• Suggest one area where their approach could be more effective
• Ask the candidate to retry a specific portion of the negotiation incorporating the feedback
• Allow 5-7 minutes for this follow-up segment

Frequently Asked Questions

How much preparation time should we give candidates for these exercises?

We recommend providing materials 24 hours in advance. This allows candidates to prepare thoughtfully without overthinking. It also mirrors the real-world environment where Enterprise Account Executives need to prepare for important client meetings.

Should we use real company information in these scenarios?

It's best to create fictional scenarios based on typical situations your team encounters, rather than using actual client information. This protects confidentiality while still creating realistic exercises. The scenarios should reflect your industry and typical buyer challenges.

How do we evaluate candidates consistently across these exercises?

Create a structured scorecard for each exercise that aligns with the key competencies for your Enterprise Account Executive role. Rate candidates on specific behaviors (e.g., "Asked probing questions to uncover business needs" rather than "Good at discovery"). Have multiple interviewers evaluate using the same criteria.

What if a candidate has limited experience with our specific industry?

Focus your evaluation on the candidate's sales process, strategic thinking, and communication skills rather than industry-specific knowledge. A strong Enterprise Account Executive can quickly learn industry details, but core sales competencies are harder to develop.

How do we balance making the exercises challenging enough while not overwhelming candidates?

Start with clear instructions and reasonable scope. The exercises should be challenging but achievable. Remember that interview pressure already adds difficulty, so focus on creating scenarios that allow candidates to demonstrate their strengths rather than trying to trip them up.

What if we don't have team members who can effectively play the role of clients?

Train a small group of employees from different departments to serve as role players. Provide them with detailed character briefs and common objections. Sales enablement or product marketing team members often make excellent role players since they understand customer perspectives.

The interview process for Enterprise Account Executives should reflect the complexity and strategic nature of the role itself. By implementing these work samples, you'll gain deeper insights into each candidate's capabilities and approach, leading to better hiring decisions and ultimately stronger sales performance.

Ready to take your Enterprise Account Executive hiring to the next level? Yardstick offers powerful tools to streamline and enhance your entire interview process. Generate customized job descriptions, create targeted interview questions, or develop comprehensive interview guides tailored to your specific needs. For more information about the Enterprise Account Executive role, check out our detailed job description.

Build a complete interview guide for this role by signing up for a free Yardstick account here