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Reference check questions for sales representatives

Questions for the sales managers, colleagues and customers who saw a rep’s numbers and how they were reached, grouped by what a sales team depends on.

By Never Ending SolutionsPublished October 8, 20265 min read

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Key takeaways

Ask about results over several quarters and against similar territories, not about one strong year.
Ask the candidate’s sales manager how accurate their forecasts were: the answer shows whether the pipeline was real and whether bad news arrived early.
Ask how the candidate’s customers fared after the contract was signed, not only how the deal was won.
Ask about attainment rather than earnings, since commission depends on the plan and the territory as much as on the rep.

Sales looks like the easiest job to judge by its numbers, and the numbers alone can mislead. A strong year can come from a generous territory, an inherited account or one unusually large deal. A weak one can come from a product problem nobody in sales could fix. The sales manager who ran the candidate’s pipeline reviews knows which was which, and so do the colleagues who worked the deals.

References can also tell you what an interview cannot: whether the candidate’s pipeline was real, how they treated customers once the contract was signed and whether colleagues wanted to work with them. Ask for examples tied to specific quarters and accounts, and compare them with what the candidate told you.

Who to ask

The sales manager they reported to, who set their quota, ran their pipeline reviews and saw each forecast against the result.
A sales operations or finance partner who approved their deals or managed territories and commissions, for how cleanly their business was booked.
A colleague who worked their deals, such as a sales engineer, an account manager or whoever took over the customer after the sale.
A customer the candidate offers, for how the candidate behaved after the contract was signed.

Questions to ask, by competency

Choose the competencies that matter most for the position and two or three questions from each. Ask every reference the same set, and when an answer is a rating, ask for the example behind it.

Results against quota

Attainment is the headline, but it means something only next to the territory, the plan and the time behind it.

Compared with reps on similar territories, how would you rate the candidate’s results over the whole time you managed them, from 1 to 5? (rating)
Which of the candidate’s largest deals did they find themselves, and which came from marketing, a predecessor or an existing customer?
Describe a quarter when the candidate was well behind their number. What did they change, and what happened?

Pipeline and forecast honesty

Hiring, inventory and cash plans often rest on the sales forecast, so a manager has to trust that a deal marked likely really is.

How close were the candidate’s commit forecasts to what actually closed, and when they missed, were they usually too hopeful or too cautious?
Tell me about a deal the candidate forecast that slipped or was lost. When did they tell you, and what had they missed?
How current and accurate were the candidate’s records of accounts and opportunities without reminders from you?

Customer relationships

A rep who overpromises wins the deal and leaves the problem to the people who deliver. The colleagues who took over the account know.

How did customers the candidate signed fare after the sale? Did any leave, or complain about what they had been promised?
Tell me about a time the candidate told a customer the product could not do what they wanted. How did it go?
When an existing customer had a problem, what did the candidate do, even with no new deal at stake?

Working with the team

A complex deal needs people the rep does not manage: a sales engineer, a contract reviewer, finance and the team that delivers the product.

How did the candidate share credit on deals that others helped close?
Have you seen the candidate in a dispute over territory, account ownership or commission credit? How did they handle it?
How did the candidate treat the people supporting their deals when the end of the quarter was close?

Close the reference

End every reference the same way: ask whether they would hire or work with the candidate again and why, what support would help the candidate do their best work, and whether there is anything else you should know. The general question bank explains why the first of these matters most.

Checks a reference does not replace

How the candidate sells now. A reference describes past selling. A role-played discovery call or a short presentation to your team shows how the candidate handles your kind of buyer.
Any license the product requires. If your product may be sold only by a licensed person in your state, confirm the license with the agency that issued it.

Warning signs to follow up

The candidate claims top results, but their sales manager speaks only in general terms and cannot recall a specific quarter or deal.
Strong numbers that rest mostly on one inherited account or one unusually large deal.
Customers the candidate signed who left, cut back or complained soon after the contract began.
Disputes over account ownership or commission credit, described by more than one reference.
No sales manager among the references, only peers and customers.

One warning sign is a reason to ask another question, not a verdict. Reference check red flags covers how to check a concern fairly.

Send these questions to every reference

In ReferenceCheck, the candidate records consent and names their references from a secure link, each reference answers your questions on their phone, and you get one scored report. Candidates and references do not need accounts.

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Questions to leave out

Ask only about the work. Before an offer, the EEOC’s guidance says an employer may not ask a third party, such as a former employer, any question it could not ask the candidate directly. Leave out health, medical leave, age, family plans and other protected characteristics. What to leave out has the full list.

Common questions

How do you verify a sales rep’s quota attainment?

Ask the candidate for their attainment by year or quarter, then ask their former sales manager the same question and compare. Ask the manager for the context too: the territory, the quota compared with the rest of the team and any inherited accounts. Do not ask for a former employer’s confidential sales data.

Should you call a sales candidate’s customers?

Only customers the candidate names, and only if the customer is willing to talk. A customer can tell you how the candidate behaved after the sale, which a manager may never see. Keep the call short and ask about the customer’s own experience, not about the former employer’s business.

What is the most useful question for a sales rep’s former manager?

Ask how close the candidate’s forecasts were to what closed. One answer shows whether their pipeline was real, whether they brought bad news early and whether the manager trusted them. Ask for a deal that slipped as the example.

Why ask a sales rep’s references about attainment instead of earnings?

Commission depends on the plan, the territory and timing as much as on the rep, so it tells you less than attainment does. Ask how the candidate did against quota, and against peers with similar territories, and leave pay out of the conversation.

Sources

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Enforcement Guidance: Preemployment Disability-Related Questions and Medical Examinations. Checked October 8, 2026.

About this guide

Written and kept up to date by Never Ending Solutions, the company that builds NES ReferenceCheck. Outside facts are cited with the date we checked them, and the advice works with or without our software. Read our editorial standards.