Interview scorecardReviewed by Adroit Staffing editorial reviewPractice guidance, no data claims6 min read
The short answer
Score Account Executives on evidence, discovery, commercial reasoning and modern GTM judgement, each tested by a specific question or exercise rather than a general conversation. Written scores submitted before the debrief prevent the most confident candidate winning on presence.
Key facts
- Criteria
- Evidence, discovery, commercial reasoning, GTM judgement
- Core exercise
- 15-minute live discovery with a briefed internal buyer
- Written follow-up
- Requested within 24 hours and scored
- Debrief rule
- Scores submitted before discussion
Account Executive scorecard
Use one dimension per block of the interview and score as you go. The live discovery call carries the most weight — book a briefed internal buyer before you open the search, not after the first candidate arrives.
Scores and notes stay in this tab. Copy, print or download the sheet — nothing is uploaded.
Account Executive — interview scorecard
Adroit Staffing — adroitstaffing.co.uk
Dimension 1
Evidence of performance
Tests: Whether the numbers are theirs, in context, including a bad period.
“Walk me through your last four quarters in the same format: quota, attainment, average deal size, cycle.”
Strong answers show
- Consistent figures given in the same shape each quarter
- Volunteers the weak quarter and what caused it
- Knows where their pipeline came from
Weak answers sound like
- Percentages with no absolute numbers behind them
- Team results described in the first person
- Every quarter above target with no explanation of how
Follow-up prompts
- “How much of that pipeline did you create yourself?”
- “What was the largest deal you lost in that period?”
Dimension 2
Discovery
Tests: Whether they can open a problem rather than present a product.
“Run a 15-minute live discovery call with a briefed buyer from our team.”
Strong answers show
- Questions widen the problem before narrowing it
- Follows the thread when the buyer gives a partial answer
- Closing summary matches what the buyer actually said
Weak answers sound like
- Runs a checklist of qualification questions
- Pitches features into a problem not yet understood
- Proposes a next step nobody agreed to
Follow-up prompts
- “What did you decide not to ask about, and why?”
- “What would you need to know before quoting?”
Dimension 3
Commercial reasoning
Tests: Whether they understand the buyer's economics and their own error.
“Take the last deal you should have won and lost. What did you misread?”
Strong answers show
- Explains the buyer's business case in the buyer's terms
- Names their own misread specifically
- Knows when to walk away from a deal
Weak answers sound like
- Blames pricing, product or procurement only
- Discount is the only lever they describe
- No view of who signs and why
Follow-up prompts
- “Who else could you have reached, and what stopped you?”
- “What would you have done at week two instead?”
Dimension 4
Modern GTM judgement
Tests: Whether they use tooling for leverage while keeping the human parts human.
“What part of your process would you never automate, and why?”
Strong answers show
- Automates preparation and admin, not judgement
- Edits everything that leaves their name
- Can explain how their CRM hygiene helps forecasting
Weak answers sound like
- Cannot name a single tool they use daily
- Or: outsources thinking to the tool entirely
- Treats CRM as an imposition
Follow-up prompts
- “Where has a tool cost you a deal?”
- “What does your manager see in the CRM on a Monday?”
Average score: not scored yet
Weight discovery highest. A candidate who scores 4 on evidence and 2 on discovery is a decline for a full-cycle seat, not a maybe. Scores are submitted before the debrief opens.
The 1–5 scoring language
Agree the wording with the panel before the first interview. Most disagreement in a debrief is two people using the same number to mean different things.
- 1 — No evidence
- Could not give a real example, or the example contradicted the claim.
- 2 — Weak evidence
- General answer, or evidence that belonged to someone else on the team.
- 3 — Meets the bar
- Specific example, owned by them, holds up under one follow-up.
- 4 — Strong
- Specific and measured, plus a clear account of what they would change.
- 5 — Exceptional
- Evidence you could hand to the board, and they taught you something.
Where this scorecard sits in the process
Structured screen
Verify the evidence in a consistent format.
30 minutes, same questions, written scores.
Live discovery
Test the skill the job actually needs.
15-minute call with a briefed internal buyer, plus written follow-up within 24 hours.
Commercial deep dive
Test reasoning on a real lost deal.
45 minutes with the hiring leader.
How this maps to the Adroit Five Stage Screening Process
Adroit runs the structured evidence conversation and the practical exercise as stages two and three of the Five Stage Screening Process. We score against dimensions you agree first — Adroit does not sit in your final interview or make your decision, and no candidate notes from this page reach us.
The scorecard
| Criterion | How it is tested | Strong looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Evidence | Quota, attainment, deal size, cycle, pipeline source | Consistent numbers with context, including a bad period |
| Discovery | Live 15-minute call with a briefed buyer | Questions open the problem; summary is accurate |
| Commercial reasoning | Business case walkthrough for a deal they lost | Explains buyer economics and their own error |
| GTM judgement | What they automate and refuse to automate | Uses tooling for leverage, edits everything sent |
Questions behind each criterion
- Walk me through your last four quarters in the same format: quota, attainment, average deal size, cycle.
- Take the last deal you lost that you should have won. What did you misread?
- How do you decide a deal is not worth more of your time?
- Which stakeholder do you always try to reach, and what do you do when you cannot?
- What part of your follow-up would you never automate, and why?
Scoring the live exercise
- Ratio of listening to talking across the fifteen minutes.
- Whether they followed the thread when the buyer gave a partial answer.
- Whether the closing summary matched what the buyer actually said.
- Whether the next step they proposed was specific and mutually agreed.
Common questions
- Should candidates prepare a presentation instead?
- A pitch presentation tests preparation and polish. A live discovery call tests the skill the job actually needs. If you run both, weight the discovery call higher.
- How do we compare candidates from very different businesses?
- By scoring behaviour rather than logos. The scorecard criteria are deliberately independent of company brand, sector and deal size.
Sources and review
- Written by
- Adroit Staffing
- Reviewed by
- Adroit Staffing editorial review
- First published
- Last reviewed
This page is practice guidance from our own Sales and GTM recruitment work. It makes no claims about current market data, so it cites no external figures.