Effective Work Samples and Role Plays for Hiring a Director of Sales Development

The Director of Sales Development role is pivotal in driving revenue growth and building a high-performing sales development team. This leadership position requires a unique blend of strategic thinking, coaching ability, analytical skills, and cross-functional collaboration. Traditional interviews often fail to reveal whether candidates truly possess these critical competencies.

Work samples and role plays provide a window into how candidates will actually perform on the job, not just how well they interview. For a Director of Sales Development, these exercises should evaluate their ability to develop strategies, coach team members, analyze performance data, and collaborate with other departments—all essential functions of the role.

By implementing the work samples outlined below, you'll be able to observe candidates in action, assessing their real-world capabilities rather than relying solely on their self-reported accomplishments. This approach significantly reduces hiring risk and increases the likelihood of selecting a candidate who will drive meaningful results.

The exercises that follow are designed to simulate the key challenges and responsibilities a Director of Sales Development will face. They provide a structured way to compare candidates objectively while giving candidates themselves a realistic preview of the role, ensuring better alignment of expectations on both sides.

Activity #1: Sales Development Team Coaching Role Play

This role play assesses the candidate's ability to provide effective coaching and feedback to sales development representatives—a critical skill for anyone leading an SDR team. The exercise reveals the candidate's leadership style, communication skills, and approach to performance improvement.

Directions for the Company:

• Select an employee to play the role of an SDR who is struggling with specific aspects of their performance (e.g., low conversion rates, poor qualification, or ineffective outreach messaging).
• Provide the candidate with a mock performance dashboard showing the SDR's metrics compared to team averages 24 hours before the interview.
• Include a sample of the SDR's outreach emails or call recordings that demonstrate areas for improvement.
• The role play should last 15-20 minutes, simulating a coaching session between the Director and the SDR.
• After the role play, allow 5-10 minutes for the candidate to reflect on the session and share their observations.

Directions for the Candidate:

• Review the performance data and sample communications provided before the interview.
• Prepare to conduct a coaching session with the SDR, focusing on constructive feedback and actionable improvement strategies.
• Begin the session by establishing rapport and setting clear objectives for the conversation.
• Identify specific areas for improvement and provide concrete guidance on how to address them.
• Ask questions to understand the SDR's perspective and challenges.
• Conclude with a clear action plan and follow-up timeline.

Feedback Mechanism:

• After the role play, the interviewer should provide feedback on one aspect the candidate handled well and one area for improvement.
• Give the candidate 5 minutes to explain how they would adjust their approach based on this feedback.
• Observe how receptive the candidate is to feedback, which indicates their own coachability—an essential trait for continuous improvement as a leader.

Activity #2: Sales Development Strategy Presentation

This exercise evaluates the candidate's strategic thinking abilities and their approach to planning and executing sales development initiatives. It reveals how they analyze business challenges, develop solutions, and communicate their vision.

Directions for the Company:

• Create a realistic business scenario with specific challenges for a sales development team (e.g., entering a new market, declining conversion rates, or scaling the team).
• Provide relevant context including company background, product information, target market data, current team structure, and key performance metrics.
• Send these materials to the candidate 48 hours before the interview.
• Allow 15 minutes for presentation and 10 minutes for Q&A.
• Prepare specific questions that probe the candidate's reasoning and ability to adapt the strategy to different scenarios.

Directions for the Candidate:

• Develop a comprehensive 90-day sales development strategy addressing the challenges outlined in the scenario.
• Your strategy should include:
• Analysis of current situation and key challenges
• Specific goals and KPIs
• Team structure and resource allocation
• Outreach strategies and messaging approach
• Training and enablement initiatives
• Timeline for implementation
• Methods for measuring success
• Prepare a concise presentation (10-12 slides) outlining your strategy.
• Be prepared to explain your rationale and answer questions about your approach.

Feedback Mechanism:

• Provide feedback on the strengths of the candidate's strategic approach and one area where the strategy could be enhanced.
• Ask the candidate to elaborate on how they would modify their strategy to address the feedback.
• Evaluate their ability to think on their feet and refine their approach based on new information.

Activity #3: Sales Performance Data Analysis Exercise

This exercise assesses the candidate's analytical skills and ability to derive actionable insights from sales data—essential for optimizing team performance and making data-driven decisions.

Directions for the Company:

• Prepare a mock dataset showing 3-6 months of sales development team performance metrics (e.g., activities, conversion rates, pipeline generation by rep, by channel, etc.).
• Include some anomalies or concerning trends that require investigation.
• Provide the data in a spreadsheet format that allows for manipulation and analysis.
• Give the candidate 30 minutes to analyze the data and prepare their findings.
• After their presentation, ask specific questions about their methodology and recommendations.

Directions for the Candidate:

• Review the provided sales performance data to identify key trends, strengths, and areas for improvement.
• Analyze the data to determine:
• Which team members are performing well/poorly and why
• Which outreach channels or methods are most/least effective
• Any concerning trends that require immediate attention
• Opportunities to improve overall team performance
• Prepare a brief presentation (5-7 minutes) of your findings and recommendations.
• Be prepared to explain your analytical approach and how you would implement your recommendations.
• Focus on actionable insights rather than just observations.

Feedback Mechanism:

• Provide feedback on the quality of the candidate's analysis and one aspect they may have overlooked.
• Ask the candidate to explain how they would address this overlooked aspect and incorporate it into their recommendations.
• Evaluate their ability to quickly incorporate new perspectives into their thinking.

Activity #4: Cross-Functional Collaboration Scenario

This role play evaluates the candidate's ability to collaborate effectively with other departments—particularly marketing—which is crucial for aligning sales development efforts with broader company initiatives.

Directions for the Company:

• Select an employee to play the role of a Marketing Director who has different priorities and perspectives than the sales team.
• Create a scenario involving a point of friction (e.g., lead quality issues, campaign messaging disagreements, or resource allocation disputes).
• Provide context about the history of the relationship between the departments and specific points of contention.
• The role play should last 15-20 minutes, simulating a meeting to resolve these issues.
• Instruct the person playing the Marketing Director to initially resist some of the candidate's suggestions to test their negotiation skills.

Directions for the Candidate:

• Review the scenario information provided about the relationship between Sales Development and Marketing.
• Prepare to lead a collaborative discussion aimed at resolving the points of friction while maintaining a positive working relationship.
• Your objectives are to:
• Establish common ground and shared goals
• Clearly articulate the sales development team's needs and challenges
• Understand marketing's perspective and constraints
• Develop mutually beneficial solutions
• Create a framework for ongoing collaboration
• Focus on building bridges rather than winning arguments.

Feedback Mechanism:

• Provide feedback on the candidate's collaborative approach, highlighting one strength and one area for improvement.
• Ask the candidate to reflect on how they might adjust their approach to better address the concerns of the marketing team.
• Observe how they balance advocacy for their team with the need for cross-functional alignment.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long should we allocate for these work samples in our interview process?

Each exercise requires approximately 30-45 minutes, including setup, execution, and feedback. We recommend spreading them across different interview stages rather than attempting all in one day, which would be overwhelming for candidates.

Should we use the same scenarios for all candidates to ensure fair comparison?

Yes, using consistent scenarios allows for more objective comparison between candidates. However, you can customize the specific details to match your company's industry and challenges while keeping the core structure the same.

What if we don't have team members available to participate in the role plays?

You can engage external recruiters or consultants to play these roles, or have hiring managers step in. The key is ensuring the role player is well-briefed and consistent across candidates.

How should we weight these exercises compared to traditional interviews?

These work samples should account for at least 50% of your evaluation, as they provide much more predictive information about on-the-job performance than traditional experience-based interviews.

What if a candidate performs well in some exercises but poorly in others?

This actually provides valuable information about their strengths and development areas. Consider which exercises most closely align with your critical needs. A candidate who excels at coaching but struggles with data analysis might be perfect for a team with strong analysts but weak leadership.

Should we compensate candidates for the time spent preparing for these exercises?

While not required, offering a nominal stipend for extensive preparation (particularly for the strategy presentation) can demonstrate respect for candidates' time and improve your employer brand.

The Director of Sales Development role is too critical to rely on traditional interviews alone. By implementing these work samples, you'll gain deeper insights into candidates' actual capabilities and significantly improve your hiring outcomes. Remember that the quality of your hiring process reflects your company's commitment to excellence—top candidates will be evaluating you just as carefully as you're evaluating them.

For more resources to enhance your hiring process, check out Yardstick's AI Job Description Generator, AI Interview Question Generator, and AI Interview Guide Generator. These tools can help you create comprehensive hiring materials tailored to your specific needs, ensuring you identify and attract the best Director of Sales Development for your organization.

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