Effective Work Samples for Hiring Top Inside Sales Managers

The Inside Sales Manager role is pivotal to driving revenue growth and building high-performing sales teams. This leadership position requires a unique blend of coaching ability, strategic thinking, analytical skills, and sales expertise. Traditional interviews often fail to reveal whether candidates truly possess these capabilities or merely talk about them convincingly.

Work samples and role plays provide a window into how candidates actually perform in realistic scenarios they'll face daily. By observing candidates in action—coaching a team member, analyzing performance data, or developing sales strategies—hiring managers gain invaluable insights that behavioral questions alone cannot provide.

For Inside Sales Manager candidates, practical exercises reveal their leadership style, coaching approach, analytical thinking, and ability to drive results. These exercises also demonstrate how candidates handle pressure, process feedback, and adapt to new information—all critical skills for sales leadership.

The following four activities are designed to evaluate the essential competencies of successful Inside Sales Managers. Each exercise simulates a real-world challenge the candidate will face in the role, providing both the hiring team and the candidate with a meaningful preview of job fit and potential success.

Activity #1: Sales Rep Coaching Simulation

This role play assesses the candidate's ability to provide effective coaching to sales representatives—a fundamental responsibility of any sales manager. The exercise reveals the candidate's coaching style, communication skills, and ability to deliver constructive feedback while maintaining rapport.

Directions for the Company:

• Select an employee to play the role of a sales representative who is struggling with a specific aspect of their performance (e.g., low conversion rates, poor discovery calls, ineffective objection handling).
• Provide the candidate with a brief performance summary of the "sales rep" 24 hours before the interview, including:
• The rep's sales metrics for the past 3 months
• Areas of strength and weakness
• Previous coaching attempts
• Team average performance for context
• Prepare the employee playing the sales rep with specific responses, objections, and questions that will challenge the candidate's coaching abilities.
• Limit the coaching session to 15-20 minutes.

Directions for the Candidate:

• Review the performance data provided and prepare for a coaching session with the sales representative.
• During the session, demonstrate your coaching approach by:
• Building rapport with the rep
• Discussing performance concerns constructively
• Asking probing questions to understand root causes
• Providing actionable guidance and recommendations
• Setting clear expectations and next steps
• Be prepared to adapt your approach based on the rep's responses and reactions.

Feedback Mechanism:

• After the role play, the interviewer should provide specific feedback on one aspect the candidate handled well and one area for improvement.
• Give the candidate 5 minutes to reflect on the feedback, then ask them to demonstrate how they would handle the improvement area differently in a brief 2-3 minute follow-up.
• Observe how receptive the candidate is to feedback and their ability to implement changes quickly.

Activity #2: Sales Performance Analysis & Strategy Development

This exercise evaluates the candidate's analytical skills and strategic thinking—essential competencies for driving team performance and achieving sales targets. It reveals how the candidate interprets data, identifies trends, and develops actionable plans.

Directions for the Company:

• Create a realistic but anonymized dataset showing 6-12 months of sales team performance, including:
• Individual rep performance metrics (calls, demos, close rates, etc.)
• Team performance against targets
• Pipeline data and conversion rates at each sales stage
• Customer acquisition costs and lifetime value
• Include some obvious and some subtle performance issues in the data.
• Provide the dataset to the candidate 24 hours before the interview.
• Prepare questions to probe the candidate's analysis and recommendations.

Directions for the Candidate:

• Review the sales performance data provided.
• Prepare a 10-minute presentation that includes:
• Your analysis of the team's performance strengths and weaknesses
• 3-5 key insights from the data
• A prioritized action plan to improve team performance
• Specific metrics you would track to measure improvement
• Be prepared to answer questions about your analysis and defend your recommendations.
• Focus on practical, implementable strategies rather than theoretical approaches.

Feedback Mechanism:

• After the presentation, the interviewer should highlight one strong aspect of the candidate's analysis and one area where their thinking could be enhanced or reconsidered.
• Ask the candidate to spend 5 minutes revising one part of their action plan based on this feedback.
• Evaluate both the quality of their initial analysis and their ability to incorporate new perspectives.

Activity #3: Team Meeting Facilitation

This simulation assesses the candidate's leadership presence, communication skills, and ability to run effective team meetings—a regular responsibility for Inside Sales Managers. It reveals how the candidate balances motivation with accountability and handles team dynamics.

Directions for the Company:

• Assemble 3-4 employees to role play as sales team members with different personalities and performance levels.
• Create brief personas for each "team member" (e.g., top performer who dominates conversations, new rep who needs guidance, veteran who resists change).
• Provide the candidate with:
• The team's recent performance summary
• Key announcements or changes to be communicated
• A specific challenge the team is facing (e.g., declining conversion rates, new product launch)
• Brief the role players on their personas and potential questions/reactions.
• Limit the meeting simulation to 20 minutes.

Directions for the Candidate:

• Prepare to facilitate a weekly sales team meeting addressing the information provided.
• Your meeting should include:
• Performance review and recognition
• Communication of key announcements or changes
• Discussion of the team challenge and solicitation of input
• Clear action items and next steps
• Demonstrate your ability to engage all team members, manage different personalities, and maintain a productive meeting flow.
• Be prepared to handle unexpected questions or resistance from team members.

Feedback Mechanism:

• After the simulation, the interviewer should provide feedback on one strength in the candidate's facilitation and one area for improvement.
• Give the candidate an opportunity to reflect on how they would handle one specific moment differently based on the feedback.
• Assess the candidate's self-awareness and receptiveness to coaching.

Activity #4: CRM Strategy and Process Optimization

This exercise evaluates the candidate's technical proficiency with sales tools and their ability to optimize processes for efficiency—key skills for modern sales management. It reveals the candidate's strategic thinking about sales operations and technology utilization.

Directions for the Company:

• Prepare a simplified mock-up or screenshots of your CRM system showing:
• Current sales process stages
• Fields being tracked
• Sample reports currently being used
• Any obvious inefficiencies or gaps
• Create a brief scenario describing challenges the team faces with the current CRM setup (e.g., inconsistent data entry, missing information at critical stages, ineffective reporting).
• If possible, provide access to a sandbox environment of your actual CRM.
• Allow 30 minutes for this exercise.

Directions for the Candidate:

• Review the CRM information and challenges provided.
• Prepare recommendations for optimizing the CRM setup and processes to:
• Improve data quality and consistency
• Enhance visibility into the sales pipeline
• Create more actionable reporting for coaching opportunities
• Increase sales team efficiency and effectiveness
• Document your recommendations in a simple one-page plan.
• Be prepared to explain the business rationale behind each recommendation and how you would implement these changes with the team.

Feedback Mechanism:

• After reviewing the candidate's recommendations, the interviewer should highlight one particularly valuable insight and one area where the approach could be strengthened.
• Ask the candidate to expand on how they would address the improvement area with specific tactics.
• Evaluate the candidate's technical understanding, process thinking, and ability to connect CRM optimization to business outcomes.

Frequently Asked Questions

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

Each activity requires approximately 30-45 minutes including setup, execution, feedback, and candidate response. We recommend selecting 1-2 activities most relevant to your specific needs rather than attempting all four in a single interview process. The coaching simulation and performance analysis exercises are particularly revealing for most Inside Sales Manager roles.

Should we conduct these exercises with all candidates or only finalists?

These work samples are most effective when used with shortlisted candidates who have already passed initial screening. Using them with 2-4 final candidates allows for meaningful comparison while respecting everyone's time. The performance analysis exercise can sometimes be used earlier in the process as it requires less company resource investment.

How should we prepare our team members who participate in the role plays?

Provide them with clear personas and specific talking points, but encourage natural responses to the candidate's approach. Brief them on the importance of consistency across candidates and remind them to avoid giving hints or excessive guidance. After each simulation, gather their observations about the candidate's effectiveness.

What if our CRM system is highly customized or we use proprietary sales tools?

Focus the CRM optimization exercise on process and strategy rather than specific technical features. Provide screenshots with sensitive information removed and ask candidates to focus on workflow, data capture points, and reporting needs rather than platform-specific configurations. The principles of effective CRM utilization apply across systems.

How do we evaluate candidates consistently across these exercises?

Create a simple rubric for each activity that aligns with the key competencies in your job description. Rate candidates on specific observable behaviors rather than general impressions. Have multiple interviewers observe each exercise when possible, and complete evaluations independently before discussing.

Can these exercises be conducted remotely?

Yes, all four activities can be adapted for remote interviews using video conferencing tools. For the CRM exercise, screen sharing works well. For role plays, ensure all participants have stable connections and consider a brief technology check before beginning the formal assessment.

The Inside Sales Manager role directly impacts revenue growth and team development, making the selection process critically important. By incorporating these practical work samples into your hiring process, you'll gain deeper insights into candidates' actual capabilities rather than relying solely on their interview skills or past credentials.

For additional resources to enhance your hiring process, explore Yardstick's suite of AI-powered tools, including our AI Job Description Generator, AI Interview Question Generator, and AI Interview Guide Generator. You can also find more information about Inside Sales Manager roles in our comprehensive job description guide.

Ready to build a complete interview guide for your Inside Sales Manager role? Sign up for a free Yardstick account today!