Sales Manager Interview Questions for Hiring

Introduction

Hiring the right Sales Manager is critical to driving revenue growth, building high-performing teams, and scaling customer relationships in the Sales industry. A strong hire not only meets targets but also develops talent and improves process efficiency.

This guide provides focused Sales Manager interview questions across basic, intermediate, and advanced levels, plus five pre-screening one-way video interview prompts ideal for ScreeningHive assessments.

Sales Manager Interview Questions

Basic Sales Manager Interview Questions

• Can you summarize your experience managing sales teams and the sectors you've focused on?
• How do you define a healthy sales pipeline, and what metrics do you review regularly?
• Describe your approach to setting individual and team sales targets.
• Which CRM tools have you used, and how do you ensure data quality and adoption?
• How do you prioritize leads and allocate opportunities across your team?
• Explain how you coach a new sales representative during their first 90 days.
• What sales KPIs do you consider most important and why?
• How do you handle objections and rejection at the team level to maintain morale?

Intermediate Sales Manager Interview Questions

• A top-performing rep is underperforming this quarter. How would you diagnose and support improvement?
• Describe a time you closed a large, strategic deal. What role did you and your team play?
• How do you build and present a sales forecast to senior leadership?
• Explain your process for designing or revising territory assignments to balance opportunity.
• Describe a negotiation where you had to protect margin while closing a key account.
• How would you onboard and ramp a remote sales hire while ensuring culture fit?
• Share an example of a cross-functional initiative (e.g., marketing or product) you led to improve conversion.
• How do you measure and reduce customer churn from a sales perspective?
• Tell us about a time you implemented a CRM or sales tool — what change management steps did you take?
• How have you designed incentives or commission plans to align rep behavior with company goals?

Advanced Sales Manager Interview Questions

• Outline your strategy for scaling a sales organization from a startup to a growth-stage company.
• How do you structure sales territories and capacity planning when entering a new region or vertical?
• Describe your approach to sales operations and building processes that reduce friction and increase productivity.
• How do you leverage data and analytics to drive rep performance and coaching cadence?
• Explain how you design compensation models that balance company margin, retention, and aggressive growth targets.
• Discuss a time you led a pricing strategy or packaging change. How did you mitigate customer and internal risks?
• How do you align sales, customer success, and product teams around common KPIs and revenue goals?
• Describe your experience managing international expansion and the sales organizational changes required.
• How have you handled integration of sales teams and processes during an acquisition or merger?
• What leadership practices do you use to develop future sales leaders and succession planning in your team?

Pre-Screening Video Interview Questions for Sales Manager

These five prompts are ideal for one-way video interviews on ScreeningHive. Each question evaluates core competencies quickly and consistently, helping recruiters and hiring managers shortlist the best candidates.

1. Describe a recent sales strategy you developed that improved pipeline quality. What steps did you take and what were the results?

   This evaluates strategic thinking, measurable impact, and the candidate's ability to communicate outcomes succinctly.

2. Give an example of how you coached a struggling sales representative to meet quota. What coaching methods did you use?

   This assesses coaching style, people management skills, and practical methods for performance improvement.

3. How would you approach restructuring territories when growth is concentrated in specific regions?

   This checks analytical skills, prioritization, and change management when redistributing resources.

4. Explain a time you used CRM data to change a sales process. What data did you use and what was the outcome?

   This gauges data-driven decision-making and familiarity with sales technology to influence process change.

5. What is your method for forecasting revenue and ensuring the forecast is accurate and trusted by leadership?

   This evaluates forecasting methodology, communication with stakeholders, and credibility in reporting.

Conclusion

These Sales Manager interview questions help hiring teams evaluate candidates across experience, practical scenarios, and leadership capability. They are also useful for candidates preparing targeted responses that demonstrate impact and strategic thinking.

Using ScreeningHive's one-way video interviews accelerates screening, ensures standardised evaluations, and reduces bias by delivering consistent prompts to every candidate. For hiring managers and recruiters seeking faster, fairer hiring, consider a FREE sign-up to begin streamlining your Sales Manager selection process.