Effective Work Sample Exercises for Hiring Top Mid-Market Account Executives

Mid-Market Account Executives serve as the critical bridge between your company and potential clients in the mid-sized business segment. They're responsible for navigating complex sales cycles, building strategic relationships with key decision-makers, and ultimately driving significant revenue growth. Finding candidates who can excel in this multifaceted role requires more than just reviewing resumes and conducting standard interviews.

Traditional interview methods often fail to reveal a candidate's true capabilities in real-world sales scenarios. A candidate might interview well but struggle when faced with actual sales challenges. Conversely, someone who doesn't shine in a traditional interview setting might be exceptionally skilled at building relationships and closing deals.

Work samples and role plays provide a window into how candidates will actually perform on the job. They reveal crucial skills like consultative selling techniques, objection handling, strategic thinking, and business acumen in action. These exercises allow you to observe candidates demonstrating the exact skills they'll need to succeed in your organization.

For Mid-Market Account Executives specifically, these practical assessments help identify those rare individuals who can balance relationship building with strategic selling, who can understand complex business challenges and articulate compelling solutions, and who can manage a pipeline effectively while consistently meeting revenue targets.

The following four exercises are designed to comprehensively evaluate candidates for a Mid-Market Account Executive role. Each activity targets specific competencies essential for success in mid-market sales, providing you with concrete evidence of a candidate's capabilities rather than relying on self-reported achievements or hypothetical responses.

Activity #1: Discovery Call Role Play

This exercise simulates one of the most critical skills for a Mid-Market Account Executive: conducting an effective discovery call with a potential client. The discovery phase sets the foundation for the entire sales process, revealing client needs, pain points, and opportunities. This role play will demonstrate the candidate's ability to ask insightful questions, actively listen, build rapport, and identify potential business challenges that your solution could address.

Directions for the Company:

• Prepare a detailed persona of a mid-market company executive (e.g., CTO, CFO, or Operations Director) with specific business challenges that your product or service could solve.
• Provide the candidate with basic information about your company's product/service and the prospect's company (size, industry, general business model) 24 hours before the interview.
• Assign an experienced sales leader or manager to play the role of the prospect.
• The role play should last 20-25 minutes, focusing solely on the discovery phase (not pitching solutions).
• Record the session if possible (with candidate's permission) for later review.

Directions for the Candidate:

• Review the provided materials about the company's product/service and the prospect's business.
• Prepare for and conduct a discovery call with the "prospect" to understand their business challenges, goals, and potential needs.
• Focus on asking thoughtful questions rather than pitching solutions.
• Your goal is to uncover the prospect's key pain points, decision-making process, timeline, and potential budget while building rapport and establishing credibility.
• Be prepared to take notes during the call as you would in a real discovery conversation.

Feedback Mechanism:

• After the role play, the interviewer should provide specific feedback on what the candidate did well (e.g., quality of questions, active listening, rapport building) and one area for improvement.
• Give the candidate 5 minutes to reflect on the feedback, then allow them to redo a portion of the discovery call (5-7 minutes) implementing the suggested improvement.
• Observe how receptive the candidate is to feedback and how effectively they incorporate it into their approach.

Activity #2: Solution Presentation

This exercise evaluates the candidate's ability to synthesize information from discovery, craft a compelling value proposition, and communicate solutions effectively. Mid-Market Account Executives must be skilled at translating technical features into business benefits and presenting them in a way that resonates with decision-makers.

Directions for the Company:

• Create a scenario based on the discovery call role play or provide a separate case study with clear business challenges.
• Provide the candidate with detailed information about your product/service features and typical value propositions.
• Allow the candidate 30-45 minutes of preparation time.
• The presentation should be scheduled for 15 minutes, followed by 10 minutes of Q&A where the interviewer plays the role of a skeptical prospect.
• Prepare challenging but realistic questions that a typical prospect might ask.

Directions for the Candidate:

• Review the discovery information or case study provided.
• Prepare a concise, compelling presentation that:
• Summarizes your understanding of the prospect's key challenges
• Presents relevant solutions from the company's offerings
• Articulates clear business value and ROI
• Includes a logical next step or call to action
• Deliver your presentation as if speaking to a mid-market company executive.
• Be prepared to handle questions and objections during the Q&A portion.
• Focus on business outcomes rather than technical features unless specifically relevant.

Feedback Mechanism:

• The interviewer should provide feedback on the presentation structure, value articulation, and handling of questions.
• Highlight one strength and one area for improvement.
• Ask the candidate to revise their approach to one specific portion of the presentation (e.g., the value proposition or handling of a particular objection) based on the feedback.
• Give them 5 minutes to prepare and 3-5 minutes to present the revised section.

Activity #3: Territory and Pipeline Strategy Exercise

This exercise assesses the candidate's strategic thinking, planning abilities, and business acumen. Successful Mid-Market Account Executives must be able to analyze a territory, prioritize opportunities, and develop actionable plans to meet revenue targets.

Directions for the Company:

• Create a fictional territory with 15-20 potential accounts of varying sizes, industries, and potential values.
• Include basic information about each account: company size, industry, current solutions in use, and any previous interactions with your company.
• Provide the candidate with your company's typical sales cycle length, average deal size, and quarterly revenue targets.
• Allow 45-60 minutes for preparation.
• The candidate should present their strategy for 15 minutes, followed by 10 minutes of questions.

Directions for the Candidate:

• Analyze the territory information provided.
• Develop a 90-day plan that includes:
• Account prioritization strategy with clear rationale
• Approach for different account segments
• Realistic pipeline projections
• Key activities and milestones
• Potential challenges and how you would address them
• Prepare a brief presentation explaining your strategy and the thinking behind it.
• Be prepared to discuss how you would adjust your strategy if certain assumptions change.
• Include how you would collaborate with other teams (marketing, product, customer success) to execute your plan.

Feedback Mechanism:

• The interviewer should provide feedback on the strategic thinking, prioritization logic, and feasibility of the plan.
• Highlight one strength in the candidate's approach and one area that could be improved.
• Present the candidate with a new constraint or challenge (e.g., "What if your marketing support was reduced by 50%?" or "What if a new competitor entered the market?").
• Give the candidate 5-7 minutes to explain how they would adapt their strategy given this new information.

Activity #4: Objection Handling and Negotiation Scenario

This exercise evaluates how candidates handle pressure, overcome objections, and navigate complex negotiations. Mid-Market Account Executives frequently encounter resistance and must be able to address concerns while maintaining relationships and moving deals forward.

Directions for the Company:

• Develop a scenario where a deal is at risk due to specific objections (e.g., price concerns, competitive alternatives, implementation timeline, etc.).
• Create a detailed brief including:
• The prospect's business and needs
• The solution proposed and its value
• The specific objections raised
• Any political or organizational dynamics at play
• Assign an experienced sales leader to play the role of the hesitant prospect.
• The role play should last 15-20 minutes.

Directions for the Candidate:

• Review the scenario information provided.
• Prepare your approach to addressing the objections while maintaining a positive relationship.
• During the role play, demonstrate your ability to:
• Listen actively to concerns
• Ask clarifying questions
• Acknowledge valid points
• Provide compelling counterpoints
• Find creative solutions or compromises
• Move the conversation toward a positive resolution
• Your goal is not necessarily to "close the deal" but to effectively address concerns and advance the relationship.

Feedback Mechanism:

• The interviewer should provide feedback on the candidate's listening skills, response quality, and ability to maintain rapport while addressing objections.
• Highlight one effective technique the candidate used and one approach that could be improved.
• Present a follow-up objection or complication and give the candidate 5 minutes to demonstrate how they would handle this new challenge.
• Observe how the candidate incorporates the previous feedback into their approach.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long should we allocate for these exercises during the interview process?

Each exercise requires approximately 45-60 minutes total, including preparation, execution, feedback, and the improvement opportunity. We recommend spreading these across different interview stages rather than attempting all in one day, which would be overwhelming for candidates.

Should we use the same exercises for candidates with different experience levels?

The basic structure can remain the same, but adjust expectations based on experience. For more senior candidates, you might introduce additional complexity or higher expectations for strategic thinking. For less experienced candidates, focus more on core skills and potential.

How should we weight these exercises compared to traditional interviews?

These work samples should account for 50-60% of your evaluation, as they provide direct evidence of capabilities. Traditional interviews are still valuable for assessing cultural fit, motivation, and career trajectory, but actual performance in these exercises is more predictive of on-the-job success.

What if our product is highly technical or complex?

For technical products, provide candidates with a simplified "cheat sheet" of key features and benefits. The focus should be on their sales approach and communication skills rather than technical mastery, which can be developed through training.

How do we ensure these exercises don't favor candidates who are good at "performing" rather than actual selling?

Include multiple touchpoints and different types of exercises. Also, the feedback and improvement component is crucial—great performers might do well initially, but truly skilled salespeople will show thoughtfulness in how they incorporate feedback and adapt their approach.

Should we share these exercise details with candidates in advance?

Provide basic information about the types of exercises they'll encounter, but not specific scenarios. This allows candidates to come prepared while still testing their ability to think on their feet. For the solution presentation, providing materials 24 hours in advance is appropriate.

Mid-Market Account Executives are pivotal to your company's growth and success in the mid-market segment. By implementing these practical work samples, you'll be able to identify candidates who not only talk a good game but can actually deliver results through effective discovery, compelling presentations, strategic planning, and skillful negotiation.

Ready to elevate your hiring process even further? Yardstick offers AI-powered tools to help you create customized job descriptions, interview questions, and comprehensive interview guides. Check out our Mid-Market Account Executive job description for more insights into this critical role.

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