SDR Role Play Interview: 6 Mock Cold Calls and a Scorecard

TL;DR

• An SDR role play interview is a mock cold call: the interviewer plays a prospect, often a busy or skeptical one, and you have a few minutes to earn a meeting.
• Interviewers usually score a few things: a clear reason for the call, questions before the pitch, a calm response to the first objection, a specific ask for a meeting and how well you take feedback on a second try.
• The six scenarios below are the ones candidates meet most: the gatekeeper, "send me an email," "we already use a vendor," the wrong person, a hiring manager playing a skeptical VP and a voicemail.
• Hiring managers can copy the scorecard in this post and use it for every candidate, so the role play is scored the same way each time.
• Candidates: prepare a two-sentence reason for the call, five questions and one meeting ask, then rehearse out loud with someone who pushes back.

SDR role play interview scenarios at a glance

What an SDR role play interview looks like

Formats vary by company, but most SDR role play interviews follow a similar pattern:

1. You get a brief. Some companies ask you to sell their own product. Others hand you a one-page product card or let you pick something you know. Ask the recruiter which it is, and how long you'll have to prepare.
2. The interviewer plays the prospect. Often this is the hiring manager or a senior SDR. They pick up, give you a few seconds and raise one or two objections.
3. The call runs a few minutes. A mock cold call is usually short, because real ones are.
4. They ask how you think it went. Many interviewers care as much about your self-assessment as about the call.
5. Sometimes they run it again. The interviewer gives one piece of feedback and asks you to try again. The second attempt shows whether you can take coaching, and SDR managers coach every week.

A mock call is not a test of whether you can book a meeting with a stranger playing a part. It's a test of whether your habits are good enough to coach. The cold calling roleplay guide covers the first 30 seconds of a real cold call in more depth.

What interviewers score

Most SDR managers look for the same small set of behaviors:

• Preparation. You know what the company sells and who buys it, and you use one fact about the prospect.
• The opener. You say who you are and why you're calling in one or two sentences, without a long introduction.
• Questions before the pitch. You ask at least one question about the prospect's situation before describing the product.
• The first objection. You stay calm, acknowledge it and ask a question. You don't argue, and you don't give up at the first no.
• The ask. You ask for a meeting with a specific time and length, such as "15 minutes on Thursday at 10."
• Accuracy. You don't invent customers, numbers or a relationship with someone at the company.
• Coachability. On a second attempt, you change what the interviewer asked you to change.

6 SDR role play interview scenarios

Each scenario has a candidate brief, private instructions for the interviewer, likely branches, pass criteria and a debrief question. Hiring managers can hand the candidate brief over and keep the rest. Candidates can ask a friend to play the interviewer using the private instructions. The companies and names are invented; replace the bracketed placeholders with your own product.

1. The gatekeeper

Candidate brief: You're calling [Harbor Freightways], a 300-person logistics company, to reach the VP Sales about [your product]. You don't have a direct line, only the main number.

Private interviewer instructions:

• Opening line: "Thanks for calling Harbor Freightways. How can I direct your call?"
• Hidden facts: You're the front-desk receptionist. You never transfer sales calls to the VP Sales, but you'll give the name of the sales operations manager to a caller who is polite and asks who handles [the problem your product solves].
• Pressure: Ask, "Is she expecting your call?" If the candidate says yes, ask for the meeting reference.
• Reveal rules: Give the sales operations manager's name only if the candidate asks who handles the topic, or whom they should speak to.

Likely branches:

• If the candidate claims the VP is expecting the call, ask for details and then decline the transfer.
• If the candidate pitches the product to you, say you'll pass a message on and end the call.
• If the candidate gives a short, plain reason and asks who handles it, share the name and offer a transfer.

Pass criteria:

• Say truthfully whether the VP is expecting the call. Claiming a relationship that doesn't exist fails the call.
• Give the reason for the call in one sentence.
• Leave with a name, a department or a better time to call.

Debrief: Did the candidate make the receptionist's decision easier? The gatekeeper scenario in the Quotain library covers the harder version, an executive assistant to a revenue leader.

2. "Send me an email"

Candidate brief: You're calling [Dana Reyes], VP Sales at [Northline], a software company that has posted [six SDR openings] this month. Your product helps new reps ramp faster. Goal: book a 15-minute meeting.

Private interviewer instructions:

• Opening line: (after the candidate's opener) "I'm about to walk into a meeting. Just send me an email."
• Hidden facts: New hires on your team take [five months] to book their first meetings, and your CRO asked about it last week. You'll give the candidate one more minute if they ask a question about ramp time or hiring.
• Pressure: Repeat "Just send me an email" once.
• Reveal rules: Mention the CRO's question only if the candidate asks how long new reps take to ramp or what the hiring push means for the team.

Likely branches:

• If the candidate says "Sure, what's your email?" and ends the call, the call ends with no next step.
• If the candidate pitches harder, say "Email" and hang up.
• If the candidate acknowledges the timing and asks one question tied to the hiring news, answer it, then accept a specific meeting time.

Pass criteria:

• Acknowledge the prospect's time in one line.
• Ask one question that makes the email worth reading.
• Book a specific time, or agree to the email with a dated follow-up call.

Debrief: What would the email have said, and would the VP have opened it? The library's send me some information scenario is a longer version of this brush-off.

3. "We already use a vendor"

Candidate brief: You're calling the Head of Sales Operations at [Brightpath], a 150-person SaaS company. You know they use [a competitor] for the same job.

Private interviewer instructions:

• Opening line: "We already use [competitor] for that, and we're happy with it."
• Hidden facts: The contract renews in [five months]. Your managers like it, but reps complain that [its reports take too long to build].
• Pressure: If the candidate criticizes the competitor, defend it.
• Reveal rules: Mention the renewal only if asked when the contract is up or how you'll decide on renewal. Mention the reporting complaint only if asked what you'd change.

Likely branches:

• If the candidate says the competitor is worse, defend it and end the call.
• If the candidate asks what's working and what you'd change, share the reporting complaint.
• If the candidate asks to talk before the renewal, agree to a short call in [three months].

Pass criteria:

• Say nothing negative about the competitor.
• Ask what's working and what they'd change.
• Leave with the renewal timing and a reason to talk before it.

Debrief: What did the candidate learn that a rep could use in three months? The library's existing vendor scenario runs the same objection on a regular cold call.

4. The wrong person

Candidate brief: Your research says [Sam Ortiz], marketing operations manager at [Calder Health], owns sales tools. You're calling to book a meeting.

Private interviewer instructions:

• Opening line: "I'm in marketing ops. That isn't really my area."
• Hidden facts: The Director of Sales Enablement, [Priya Shah], owns sales training and tools. You'll share her name and say it's fine to mention you if the candidate is brief and asks for help.
• Pressure: Sound busy. Start to end the call after 30 seconds.
• Reveal rules: Share Priya's name only if the candidate asks who owns this, and permission to mention you only if they ask for it.

Likely branches:

• If the candidate keeps pitching you, say you're not the right person and hang up.
• If the candidate apologizes and asks who owns it, give Priya's name.
• If the candidate asks whether they can say you suggested the call, agree.

Pass criteria:

• Stop pitching once the prospect says they're the wrong person.
• Ask who owns the topic, by name or role.
• Ask permission before using the referral, and thank the prospect.

Debrief: How would the candidate open the call to Priya? The library's wrong person scenario has a version where the right owner sits in another team.

5. The hiring manager as a skeptical VP

Candidate brief: You're calling [Alex Morgan], VP Sales at [Relay Logistics], which [opened a new region last quarter]. You're selling [the company's own product]. Goal: book a meeting.

Private interviewer instructions:

• Opening line: "I've had four of these calls this week. What makes yours any different?"
• Hidden facts: The new region's team is behind on pipeline, and you'd take a meeting about it. You'll ask for proof the candidate can't have, such as customer names or results, to see whether they make something up.
• Pressure: Ask, "Who else uses it?" and "What results do they get?" Interrupt any answer that runs past 20 seconds.
• Reveal rules: Mention the new region's pipeline only if the candidate refers to the expansion or asks what changed this quarter.

Likely branches:

• If the candidate invents a customer or a number, ask for details. The call fails on accuracy.
• If the candidate says "I don't know that yet, and I'd bring it to the meeting," respect it.
• If the candidate ties the call to the new region and asks one question, answer it and accept a meeting.

Pass criteria:

• Stay calm and keep each answer short.
• Use the research fact (the new region) to give a reason for the call.
• Say "I don't know" when you don't, and never invent customers or results.

Debrief: At what point did the candidate stop answering and start asking? Hiring managers can use this scenario to see how a candidate handles pressure from someone senior.

6. The voicemail

Candidate brief: You call [Jordan Lee], Director of Revenue Operations at [Fieldstone], and get voicemail. Leave a message. You'll send an email right after.

Private interviewer instructions:

• Opening line: "You've reached Jordan Lee. Leave a message after the tone." Then stay silent.
• Hidden facts: You never return voicemails that sound like a pitch, but you do read emails that a voicemail mentioned by subject.
• Pressure: None on the call. After the message, ask, "What would the email say?"
• Reveal rules: None.

Likely branches:

• If the message runs past 30 seconds, stop the candidate and ask for a shorter version.
• If the candidate pitches features, ask them to retry without the pitch.
• If the message gives a name, a reason and the email subject line, ask the follow-up question.

Pass criteria:

• Keep it under 30 seconds.
• Say your name, company and one specific reason for the call.
• Tell the prospect what to look for in their inbox, and say the phone number slowly.

Debrief: Would Jordan know what the email is about before opening it?

A scorecard hiring managers can reuse

Use the same scorecard for every candidate and every scenario, and mark a row N/A when the call doesn't test it. Accuracy is pass or fail. The other rows score 0, 1 or 2.

How to use it:

• Pick the scenario and the pass mark before the first interview, for example [8 out of 12] with no accuracy miss.
• Write down a quote for every score. "Good energy" is not evidence. "Asked about ramp time after 'send me an email'" is.
• Run the call, give one piece of feedback, then run it again and score coachability on the second attempt.
• Ask a second interviewer to score one recorded mock call before the hiring round starts, then compare row by row. Rewrite any row you scored differently.

The sales call scorecard guide covers how to write criteria two reviewers score the same way.

How hiring managers can run a fair mock call

• Give every candidate the same brief and the same buyer. Play the same opening line, hidden facts and pressure for each candidate.
• Give a product card. One page with what the product does, who buys it and one customer problem. Candidates can't know your pitch yet.
• Give prep time. Ten to 15 minutes, or the night before. You're scoring habits, not memory.
• Make the call hard, not impossible. Every scenario above has a path to a pass. If no candidate finds it, the scenario is the problem.
• Ask for the self-assessment first. "How do you think that went?" before your feedback shows whether the candidate can see their own call.

A short prep plan for SDR candidates

Two days before:

1. Learn what the company sells, who buys it and one problem it solves. Read the product pages and any customer stories.
2. Write a two-sentence reason for the call: who you are, and why this prospect should care this week.
3. Write five questions about the prospect's situation, and one meeting ask with a time and a length. The B2B sales discovery questions guide is a good source for the questions.

The day before:

1. Run all six scenarios above out loud with a friend playing the interviewer. Record yourself and listen to the first 15 seconds of each call.
2. Practice the three hardest lines until your answer is short: "Send me an email," "We already use a vendor" and "Who else uses it?"
3. Run a free practice call with an AI buyer. It's a live voice call of about five minutes: pick a cold call and a tough buyer, and you're scored right after on criteria such as finding the real problem and agreeing a next step. You can describe the product out loud to set up the buyer.

On the day:

1. Keep your two sentences, five questions and meeting ask on one page in front of you.
2. Breathe before you start. A slow first sentence sounds more confident than a fast one.
3. When they ask how it went, name one thing that worked and one thing you'd change.

For more practice, the 12 sales roleplay scenarios guide covers calls from the first opener to the final negotiation, the sales roleplay script guide shows how to write a buyer for a friend to play, and the Quotain scenario library has eight cold call scenarios with printable scorecards.

After the hire: practice on the team

Once you're in the seat, many SDR teams keep practicing these calls after onboarding. With Quotain for sales reps, reps practice with AI buyers their team sets up:

• Every score points to a line you said, and on a graded call you can choose Continue call from here on any line to work on that answer without replaying the opening.
• Drills let you repeat a single objection or question.
• Each new attempt is scored on the same criteria, and Quotain shows what changed since your last try.

Hiring managers can use the same approach to ramp a new SDR class: the mock call from the interview becomes the first practice scenario.

Frequently asked questions

What is an SDR role play interview?

An SDR role play interview is a mock cold call that's part of the hiring process for sales development reps. The interviewer plays a prospect, often a busy or skeptical one, and the candidate has a few minutes to give a reason for the call, ask questions, handle an objection and ask for a meeting. Many interviewers then give feedback and ask the candidate to try again.

How do I prepare for an SDR role play interview?

Learn what the company sells and who buys it, write a two-sentence reason for the call, five questions and one meeting ask with a specific time. Then rehearse out loud with someone who pushes back with common objections such as "send me an email" and "we already use a vendor." Record yourself and fix the first 15 seconds.

What do interviewers look for in an SDR mock call?

Interviewers look for a clear opener, at least one question before the pitch, a calm response to the first objection, a specific ask for a meeting and no invented claims. Many also score coachability by giving one piece of feedback and running the call again to see whether the candidate changes what they were asked to change.

How long is an SDR mock cold call?

Most SDR mock cold calls are short, often a few minutes, because real cold calls are short. Some interviews add a few minutes of feedback and a second attempt. Ask the recruiter how long the call will be and how much prep time you'll have, so you can plan your opener and questions to fit.

What if I don't know the product in a sales role play interview?

Ask the recruiter whether you'll sell the company's product or something else, and request a product card if one exists. If you're selling their product, read the product pages and customer stories and focus on one problem it solves. On the call, it's fine to say you don't know an answer and offer to bring it to the meeting. Inventing an answer is worse than saying you don't know.

What should I do if the role play goes badly?

Keep going to the end and still ask for the meeting. When the interviewer asks how it went, name what you'd change and why. If they let you try again, change that one thing. Interviewers hiring SDRs often care more about how you respond to a bad call than about a perfect one.

Should I use a script in an SDR role play?

Use a short structure, not a word-for-word script: a two-sentence opener, a few questions and a meeting ask. Reading a script sounds stiff, and it breaks as soon as the interviewer raises an objection. Practice the structure until you can say it in your own words.

Rehearse the mock call before the interview

If you're a candidate, run scenario 2 and scenario 5 out loud tonight, then try the same opener on a free practice call with a tough AI buyer. If you're a hiring manager, copy the scorecard above into your interview kit and run the same scenario for every candidate. To give your SDR team AI buyers built from your own calls once they're hired, see Quotain for sales reps and book a demo.