The Kas Group

Account Executive Interview Questions: How to Spot a Real Closer

October 19, 2026 · Chris Stinson, The Kas Group

Short answer: Have the AE walk you through one deal they closed. Listen for where the lead came from and who on their team they worked with to close it. Then ask what hiccups came up and how they resolved them. If a big committee deal went pretty straightforward, that is a red flag. Real deals have hiccups.

How to read this guide: sections labeled "My view" come from my own work placing sales people at The Kas Group. Everything else comes from a named outside source, linked in the text and listed at the end. I label vendor figures as such.

Most lists of AE interview questions are written for candidates. This one is for founders and sales leaders hiring mid-market, senior and enterprise AEs. It is built around one test: did this person actually win the deals on their resume? It covers four stages: a phone screen, a deal walkthrough, a role play and references.

My View: The Red Flags in a Deal Walkthrough

The deal walkthrough tells me more than any other part of the interview. I start with the question from my guide on how to hire an enterprise account executive:

"Tell me about a deal you closed where you started it and finished it. What steps did you take, what challenges did you run into, and since it was probably a cold lead, what did you do to build the relationship with the customer?"

Then I listen for two things. Where did the lead come from? And who on their team did they actually collaborate with to close it? A rep who ran the deal knows both answers without thinking.

Next I ask: were there any hiccups in the deal, and how did you resolve them? On a larger deal with a committee or several people involved, if they say it went pretty straightforward, that is definitely a red flag. In my words: "I've never seen a deal that didn't have any hiccups along the way."

My View: The Follow Up I Ask Most

The follow up I ask most is that same one. What were the hiccups, and how did you resolve them? It is hard to fake. The answer shows who did the work, how they handled pressure and whether they were in the room when the deal nearly fell apart.

Large deals involve a lot of people. Gong, a sales software vendor, analyzed 1.8 million new business deals closed in 2024 and found won large strategic deals averaged 17 buyer contacts. A rep who says a deal that size had no problems is either leaving things out or was not close to it.

Why a Resume and a Good Conversation Are Not Enough

Logos on a resume do not prove the AE brought the deal in. Attainment needs context too. The Bridge Group's 2026 survey of 158 B2B companies found 48% of reps at quota, down from 51% in 2024. A candidate's percentage means little without the quota and the team rate behind it.

Candidates also misstate things. These are outside surveys, and most come from vendors who sell screening:

  • Checkr, a background check vendor, surveyed 3,000 managers in 2025. 60% said they had uncovered a candidate who misrepresented their experience or qualifications. 35% said someone other than the listed applicant took part in a virtual interview.
  • Gartner found 6% of 3,000 job candidates admitted to interview fraud in a 2025 survey. Gartner also predicts that by 2028, one in four candidate profiles worldwide will be fake. That is a prediction, not a measurement.
  • ResumeBuilder surveyed 2,000 US job applicants in January 2025. 24% said they had lied on their resume.

A polished resume or an answer written with AI can look good on paper. A detailed deal story with real hiccups is much harder to fake.

What the Research Says About Interviews

The largest updated review of hiring research is Sackett, Zhang, Berry and Lievens, published in the Journal of Applied Psychology in 2022. Structured interviews, where every candidate gets the same job related questions scored the same way, came out as the top ranked selection procedure. Their validity for predicting job performance was .42. Unstructured interviews came in at .19. Work sample tests, the closest category to a role play, came in at .33.

Google's re:Work guide reports the same pattern from Google's own hiring: structured interviews were more predictive of job performance than unstructured ones across functions and levels. Google also found rejected candidates who had a structured interview were 35% happier with the process.

One caveat. This research covers jobs in general, not AEs alone. The practical rule still holds. Ask every candidate the same questions, take notes and score in writing before you compare opinions.

First, Decide What Kind of AE You Are Hiring

Before the first interview, decide whether the AE will hunt for new business or grow existing accounts. Those are different jobs, and they need different questions. I cover that choice, plus pay, quota and ramp, in How to Hire an Enterprise Account Executive.

Stage 1: The Phone Screen

The phone screen checks that the motion is a match. Use the quota and deal size questions in How to Hire SaaS SDRs and AEs with Zero Ramp-Up Time. Add two more for AEs:

  • What share of your pipeline did you source yourself?
  • Did you mostly win new customers or grow existing ones?

If the answers are percentages with no dollar figure behind them, ask again. For pay questions, see what to pay your first AE.

Stage 2: The Deal Walkthrough

This is the stage from the top of the page. Give it real time. Use the question above, then the follow ups:

  • Where did the lead come from?
  • Who on your team did you work with to close it, and what did each person do?
  • Were there any hiccups, and how did you resolve them?
  • Was this a new customer or an existing one?

Ask about one loss too. A deal they should have won, and what they would change. Score every candidate on the same follow ups.

Stage 3: My View on the Role Play

Yes, a founder should run a role play. Set it up with the hiring manager. Build a scenario around your product or offering, with realistic situations the AE has to walk through. Then add specific questions that show whether the AE did the research and has the skills to handle it.

Run the same scenario for every candidate and score it the same way. A simple rubric:

AreaWhat a strong answer looks like
AgendaOpens by setting a plan for the call and checks it with the buyer.
DiscoveryAsks before pitching and follows up when an answer is vague.
ResearchKnows the buyer, the company and the likely problem before the call starts.
Cost of the problemGets the buyer to put a number or a consequence on the problem.
Other decision makersAsks who else decides and how they buy.
Next stepEnds with a dated next step, not a vague follow up.

The research supports using it with the deal walkthrough, not in place of it. Sackett and colleagues rate work samples at .33, below structured interviews at .42.

Stage 4: References

Reference checks are tricky. Candidates usually give you only their best references. I work with companies to figure out what information they actually need from them.

What a Bad AE Hire Costs

SalesFuel, a vendor that sells hiring assessments, puts the average cost of a bad B2B sales hire at $177,171. It comes from an opt-in survey of 316 US sales managers, reported by Radio Ink, and it covers all sales roles. For the wider picture, read the cost of a bad hire.

How The Kas Group Works

The Kas Group works three ways. Kas Seat is $5,000 a month if the company is hiring only one role. Kas Milestone Search for a senior AE is $10,000 per search. It is quoted per role, and $10,000 is the senior AE figure. Kas Directed Pursuit starts with a conversation to learn what the company wants, so there is no price to list. Details are on the programs page.

Interviewing AEs?

Email me the role, your deal size and whether the AE will hunt or grow existing accounts. I will tell you what I would listen for.

Email [email protected]

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the best interview questions for an account executive?

The best ones make the candidate prove they won the deals on their resume. Ask for one deal from start to finish, then ask where the lead came from, who on their team helped close it, what hiccups came up and how they resolved them. Ask every candidate the same questions and score the answers the same way.

What are the red flags in an account executive interview?

In my view, the biggest red flag is a large deal with a committee or several people involved that the candidate says went pretty straightforward. I have never seen a deal that did not have any hiccups along the way. I also listen for a vague answer on where the lead came from and who on their team they worked with to close it.

How can you tell if an AE actually closed the deals on their resume?

Walk through one deal in detail. Ask where the lead came from, who they collaborated with to close it, and what went wrong along the way. A rep who ran the deal can tell you about the hiccups and what they did about each one. A rep who rode it tends to go vague on those parts.

Should you do a role play when hiring an account executive?

Yes, in my view a founder should run one. Set it up with the hiring manager. Build a scenario around your product with realistic situations, plus specific questions that show whether the AE did the research and can handle the situation. Research by Sackett and colleagues (2022) rates work samples at .33, below structured interviews at .42, so use it alongside the deal walkthrough.

Do structured interviews work better than unstructured ones for sales hires?

Across jobs, yes. A 2022 review by Sackett and colleagues found structured interviews predict job performance at .42, against .19 for unstructured interviews, and ranked them the top selection procedure. The research covers jobs in general, not sales roles alone.

How do you check references for a sales rep?

Carefully. Reference checks are tricky, because candidates usually give you only their best references. I work with companies to figure out what information they actually need from them.

What does a bad AE hire cost?

SalesFuel, a vendor that sells hiring assessments, puts the average cost of a bad B2B sales hire at $177,171. That comes from its 2026 opt-in survey of 316 US sales managers, and it covers all sales roles, not only AEs.

Sources

All are outside sources. None is Kas placement data. Vendor figures are labeled as such.

Further reading: How to Hire an Enterprise Account Executive · Hire SDRs and AEs with Zero Ramp-Up Time · The Cost of a Bad Hire · Programs