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30 account executive
interview questions that actually work.
Pulled from the Neuroworx item bank: nine years of calibration against twelve-month performance outcomes on 14,083 account executives. Sorted by stage (screen, assessment, on-site) and level (IC1 to IC5). Each question comes with what to listen for, what to ignore, and the failure mode it is designed to catch.
30
questions
4
stages
5
levels
14k
hires of validity data
Screen ↓Role-fit ↓On-site ↓Anti-pattern questions ↓
Stage 01 · Screen
Twelve minutes. Ten questions.
The screening conversation. Picked runs this with an AI voice; this is what a human screen would look like with the same rubric. Time-box hard. 60 seconds per answer.
10 questions
01
Walk me through the last deal you closed end-to-end. From first call to signed contract.
scopespecificity
Listen for
Specific account, specific numbers (ACV, cycle length), the moment the deal almost died and what they did.
Ignore
Hero narratives where the rep saved the deal in the eleventh hour with a single phone call.
catches · Reps who cannot name a single deal they ran outside their script.
02
Tell me about an account you disqualified in the first two weeks. Why?
qualification
Listen for
A real account, a clear reason (budget, authority, timeline, pain), the conversation they had to have with their manager.
Ignore
A pipeline-hygiene answer about MEDDIC scoring. The disqualification reason matters, the framework does not.
catches · Reps who never disqualify. Their pipeline is theatre.
03
What did you do the last time a buyer ghosted you for three weeks?
resiliencecraft
Listen for
A specific outreach plan. A pattern interrupt that worked. Knowing when to walk.
Ignore
"Followed up every week" generic. We want the specific outreach.
catches · Reps who panic-discount when the buyer goes quiet.
04
What is the most important question you ask in a discovery call?
discoverytaste
Listen for
A question the rep actually asks. The reason they ask it. The signal they are listening for.
Ignore
A textbook MEDDIC question. We want their question, not the framework's.
catches · Reps who have never built their own discovery muscle.
05
Tell me about a deal you lost that you should have won. What did you do differently the next quarter?
learning
Listen for
A specific loss. A specific change. The data they used to convince themselves the change was working.
Ignore
A blame-the-product or blame-the-pricing story.
catches · Reps without a learning loop.
06
Describe your last manager. What did they do that worked for you?
manager fit
Listen for
Specifics. They name something the manager did that they have adopted themselves.
Ignore
Pure praise or pure criticism. Both are non-answers.
catches · Reps who have never noticed what their manager actually does.
07
What is your current quota and what percentage are you at this quarter?
honesty
Listen for
The actual number. The reason. Honesty about whether the quarter is going well.
Ignore
"I am on track" without a number.
catches · Reps who cannot name their own quota.
08
Tell me about a buyer relationship you carried from one role to the next.
network
Listen for
A specific person. A specific reason the buyer trusts them. A deal that closed because of the carry-over.
Ignore
A name-drop with no relationship behind it.
catches · Reps without lasting buyer trust.
09
What is one thing you stopped doing in the last twelve months?
self-instrumentation
Listen for
A specific habit. A specific reason. They still struggle with the urge to do it.
Ignore
Performative answers. "I stopped working too hard."
catches · Reps without self-instrumentation.
10
Why are you looking for a new role?
stage fit
Listen for
A reason that is about them, not the current employer. A specific kind of patch they are trying to make.
Ignore
Pure complaint about the current employer.
catches · Reps running from, not to.
Stage 02 · Role-fit assessment
A scoped task. A scored rubric.
One scoped exercise. We score the thinking, not the polish. The candidate has the equivalent of 45 minutes.
8 questions
01
Here is a real first-call discovery transcript. Identify the three questions the rep should have asked but did not, and write the follow-up email you would send.
discoverycraft
Listen for
Three real gaps in the call. A follow-up email that does not ask "any questions" but asks one specific question.
Ignore
Five-paragraph follow-up emails. Long emails are a rep tell.
catches · Reps who can perform discovery on the live call but cannot critique it.
02
Here is a real account brief. Build a forty-five-minute discovery call agenda for the buyer's CTO. Write three questions you would ask and the one moment you expect the call to go sideways.
account planning
Listen for
An agenda that is not a feature pitch. Three questions that earn their place. A real prediction of where the call will get stuck.
Ignore
Generic MEDDIC agendas.
catches · Reps who pitch when they should be listening.
03
A buyer says: "we already use [competitor], why should we switch?". You have ninety seconds. Write what you would say.
objection
Listen for
A reframe of the question. They earn the right to ask one of their own. They do not list features.
Ignore
A feature-by-feature comparison. The buyer can read your website.
catches · Reps who default to feature wars.
04
The CRO calls. The biggest deal in the pipeline is stalled. You have forty-five minutes to write a plan. Write it.
playbookoperating
Listen for
A real triage. Named people they would call, named decisions they would push for, named risks.
Ignore
Plans that read like a template. We want a real call sequence.
catches · Reps who default to "more outreach".
05
Here is one of our real product pages. Write three discovery questions for a buyer who has read it.
product judgement
Listen for
Questions that build on what the buyer already knows. They have read the page closely.
Ignore
Questions that confirm what the page already says.
catches · Reps who never close the gap between product and buyer.
06
You inherit an SMB book of fifty accounts, half cold for eighteen months. Write the first week's plan.
triageprioritisation
Listen for
A clear segmentation. A clear decision about which accounts to keep working and which to release.
Ignore
A plan to email all fifty in the first week.
catches · Reps who treat the book as one undifferentiated mass.
07
Pick three of our public customer-shape descriptions. Write a thirty-second voicemail script tailored to one.
craftspecificity
Listen for
A voicemail under thirty seconds. A reason to call back. Specifics about the customer shape.
Ignore
"Hi, this is X from Picked, just calling to see if you would have time for a quick call."
catches · Reps who phone in voicemails.
08
Write the email you would send to a champion the day they tell you their CFO killed the deal.
commsresilience
Listen for
An email that maintains the relationship. A specific ask about what would change the CFO's mind. No defensiveness.
Ignore
Pleading emails. Or emails that ignore the news.
catches · Reps who burn champions when deals die.
Stage 03 · On-site (after Picked)
Twelve questions you will still want to ask in person.
Picked screens, scores, and shortlists. These are the questions worth asking with a human in the room: the calibration questions, the dealbreakers, the chemistry probes.
12 questions
01
Where, in selling, do you want to grow most in the next twelve months?
growth
Listen for
A specific gap. A specific plan. A specific rep or sales leader they would learn from.
Ignore
"I want to close bigger deals." Outcome, not skill.
catches · Reps without a learning agenda.
02
Tell me about a time you disagreed with your sales leader on a forecast.
authority
Listen for
A real disagreement. The mechanics, not the moral. What they did about it.
Ignore
"I always trust my sales leader." Either a lie or a worse problem.
catches · Reps who cannot hold a forecast in the face of pressure.
03
What is the most uncomfortable feedback you have received from a buyer?
self-awareness
Listen for
A specific piece of feedback. The change they made. The thing they still get wrong.
Ignore
"I take feedback well." Means nothing.
catches · Reps who have defended themselves into a corner.
04
Walk me through a deal you wish you had walked away from earlier.
judgement
Listen for
A specific moment they could have called it. What stopped them. The cost of not walking.
Ignore
A pitch for the deal being worth the time.
catches · Sunk-cost sellers.
05
Pick two sellers you admire from your last role. What do they do differently from you?
taste
Listen for
Concrete habits. Habits adopted. Habits not yet adopted.
Ignore
Pure praise.
catches · Reps without taste for other reps.
06
What is one thing you read this year about selling that changed how you work?
curiosity
Listen for
A specific book, talk, or thread. What they did with it.
Ignore
A book they have always meant to read.
catches · Reps who do not study the craft.
07
When are you most productive?
operating model
Listen for
A specific time-of-day, a specific cadence. Self-aware about energy.
Ignore
"I am always on." Noise.
catches · Reps without self-instrumentation.
08
Where would you rather be in three years?
careerretention
Listen for
A direction (enterprise vs SMB, IC vs lead) and a reason. Honesty about uncertainty.
Ignore
"Wherever the company needs me." Suspicious.
catches · Drifting reps.
09
If you join, what would you want to spend your first week doing?
agencyonboarding
Listen for
A specific plan. Often: shadow three calls, read the last ten lost-deal reviews, call two former customers.
Ignore
"Whatever you suggest."
catches · Reps without onboarding instinct.
10
What is the thing that would make you leave us within six months?
dealbreaker
Listen for
A specific irritant. A specific manager pattern. A specific working condition.
Ignore
"As long as the work is good."
catches · Hidden dealbreakers, surfaced post-offer.
11
What would you want to ask our worst-performing rep?
probingcuriosity
Listen for
A real question, usually about a quiet thing. "Why is your discovery shorter than the team's?"
Ignore
A softball.
catches · Reps who do not want to know what is wrong.
12
Run a live discovery call with me. I am a CTO who has just been pitched three competitors. You have ten minutes.
live skillcalibration
Listen for
Real questions, real silences, real follow-ups. They earn the next question with the last one.
Ignore
A demo of their pitch.
catches · Reps whose recorded calls look good and live calls do not.
The anti-pattern set
Eight questions that look smart
but tell you nothing.
"What is your biggest weakness?"
You will get a strength-shaped weakness. We have asked this 47,000 times. It catches no-one. Replace with: "What is the most uncomfortable feedback you have received?".
"Where do you see yourself in five years?"
Either a rehearsed answer or a stalled one. Both useless. Replace with: "Where would you want to be in three years?"
"Tell me about yourself."
Wastes the first three minutes on the CV they already gave you. Replace with: "Walk me through the most recent thing you shipped end-to-end."
"Why this company?"
Generates polished mission-talk. Replace with: "What about this role made you apply that would not have made you apply elsewhere?"
"Are you a team player?"
No-one says no. Replace with: "Tell me about a time a teammate disagreed with you and how you handled it."
"How do you handle stress?"
No-one says badly. Replace with: "Tell me about your last production incident and your precise role."
"How would you reverse a linked list?"
Probes nothing we care about. We removed it from the bank in 2019. Replace with: "Refactor this 200-line file and tell me what you changed and why."
"If you were an animal, which animal would you be?"
You know what we are going to say. Replace with: anything else.
Or, let us ask
We will ask these for you.
By Friday.
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Account executive interview questions · Picked.ai