Business Developer interview questions: what to ask and what the answers reveal

To hire a high-performing Business Developer, get candidates to describe what they actually did, with figures, then check in a role-play what they claim they can do. What matters is how you read the answers: knowing what they reveal, probing, asking everyone the same questions and scoring against a grid. Below are sixteen questions by competency, a scoring guide, a role-play and the questions to avoid under Belgian law. The interview is the decisive stage of our approach to Business Developer recruitment.

Before the questions: define what “high-performing” means for your role

A Business Developer opening industrial accounts on nine-month cycles is not hired with the same questions as one booking back-to-back SME meetings for a software product. First write down, on one page, the target customers, the share of cold prospecting, cycle length, deal size, languages and what you expect after twelve months. This scorecard tells you where to spend interview time.

Two confusions distort interviews: assessing a Business Developer like a salesperson who manages a portfolio, when the job is to open new business (see the differences between a Business Developer and a sales representative), and looking for a hunter when the role mainly calls for farming (see hunting vs farming according to your sales cycle). In a start-up, the Business Developer profile to hire shifts again. If the responsibilities are not settled, start from the Business Developer job description.

How to structure the interview so you can compare candidates

A structured interview rests on three rules: the same questions in the same order for every candidate, a rating scale described in advance, and two interviewers who score separately before comparing notes.

A four-point scale is enough. 1: general statement, no example. 2: vague example, often in the plural (“we”). 3: precise example, with the candidate’s own actions. 4: precise example with figures, plus a critical view of what could have gone better. No evidence, no top mark, however good the talker.

For a first interview of 75 to 90 minutes, we recommend this format:

1. ten minutes to present the company, the market and what you expect from the role;
2. forty-five minutes of competency questions, with probing;
3. fifteen minutes for the candidate’s questions, which say a lot about their preparation;
4. five minutes on next steps and timing.

The role-play and the meeting with the future manager belong in the second round. Favour behavioural questions: “What would you do if a prospect didn’t call back?” invites the textbook answer, while “Tell me about the last prospect who didn’t call you back” forces a real episode.

Sixteen interview questions by competency, and what the answers reveal

Two questions per competency: the first opens the topic, the second checks it.

Prospecting and opening new accounts

1. “Walk me through how you won your most recent new customer, from first contact to signature.”
2. “In a normal week, how many new conversations do you start, through which channels, and how many turn into a first meeting?”

A strong answer follows a clear thread: why that account, what first message, how many follow-ups, which people had to be convinced. The candidate knows their volumes and conversion rates. Be wary of the customer who “came in” through a trade fair or the managing director’s network: it may be a good sale, but it says nothing about hunting ability. See also how to assess the hunting skills of a Business Developer candidate.

Qualification and pipeline management

3. “Tell me about an opportunity you decided to drop. What made you stop?”
4. “Describe your current pipeline: how many deals, at which stages, and which ones will close this quarter?”

The right candidate quotes explicit criteria (budget, decision-maker, need, timing) and admits to walking away from deals. Someone who has “never dropped an opportunity” is probably inflating their pipeline. A vague answer to question 4 points to deals they do not track, or a responsibility they never had.

Results and personal contribution

5. “What was your target last year, how was it calculated, and where did you finish?”
6. “In your best deal, how much was down to you, and how much to the team or to circumstances?”

A high-performing Business Developer knows their target, their attainment and why they missed in bad years, and gives credit where it is due: the pre-sales engineer who built the demo, the price set by management. Warning signs: a constant “we”, a forgotten target.

Negotiation and closing

7. “Tell me about a negotiation where the customer demanded a discount you could not give.”
8. “What was the last deal you lost late in the cycle, and what did you learn from it?”

Listen for trading rather than conceding: a discount in exchange for a longer commitment, a volume, a reference. On the lost deal, a good answer contains some self-criticism (“I found out too late that another decision-maker carried weight”); a poor one blames price or the competitor. A candidate who always wins “thanks to a commercial gesture” will give away your margins.

Expert view

Our principle of transparency is one of our core values: saying what needs to be said, even when it’s uncomfortable. In practice, that means we’ll tell you if your salary range is misaligned with the market. We’ll tell you if the candidate you’re set on raises a red flag on a critical point. We’ll tell you if the training you’re asking for won’t solve the problem you’re describing. Everyone says they value transparency; few accept its relational cost. We do.

Resilience in the face of rejection

9. “What was your toughest period in sales, and how did you get out of it?”
10. “How do you organise a day when all you have to do is make prospecting calls?”

Prospecting is mostly hearing no. The strong candidate describes a method: call blocks in the diary, lists prepared the evening before, a set number of attempts. They admit to slumps. Someone who claims never to have had one lacks candour or experience; someone who talks only about energy, with no routine, will last as long as their mood does.

Business understanding and curiosity

11. “What have you understood about our market, and which type of customer would you go after first?”
12. “Explain how one of your customers makes money, and how your offer helped them do it.”

A good Business Developer arrives with hypotheses and asks questions to test them. They talk about their customers’ business model and margins rather than their product’s features. A candidate who cannot explain how their customer makes money will sell on price.

Motivation and variable pay

13. “What is making you consider leaving your current role?”
14. “What kind of variable pay structure motivates you, and why?”

Wanting to open a market or join a growing business is a good sign; a grudge against the former employer much less so. On variable pay, look for someone who understands the mechanics (thresholds, caps, what is commissionable) and wants to be paid on results. A candidate who negotiates base salary and the company car first is telling you about their appetite for risk. Talk about expectations rather than current salary, using our benchmarks on Business Developer salaries in Belgium.

Organisation and working with other teams

15. “How does the handover work with marketing upstream, then with the account manager or customer service once the contract is signed?”
16. “Which tools do you use every day, and what do you record after a meeting?”

The Business Developer opens the account; others make it grow. A good candidate describes an organised handover (context, promises, key contacts) and keeps the CRM up to date to run their own prospecting. One who keeps everything “in their head” will leave accounts nobody can pick up.

Scoring guide: positive signals and red flags

What to listen for, competency by competency:

Competency	Key question	Positive signal	Red flag
Prospecting	Most recent new customer, from first contact to signature	Targeting explained, volumes and rates known	Customer came via a trade fair or someone else’s network
Qualification	An opportunity they dropped	Explicit criteria, willing to walk away	Has never dropped anything
Results	Last year’s target and attainment	Precise figures, explains missed years	Constant “we”, target forgotten
Negotiation	A discount they refused	Trades for something in return	Always wins with a commercial gesture
Resilience	Toughest period	Describes a routine, admits slumps	Never had a dip
Business sense	How their customer makes money	Talks customer margins and constraints	Talks only about their product
Motivation	Reason for leaving, preferred variable pay	A project, wants pay linked to results	Grudges, focus on base salary and perks
Organisation	Handover and tools	Structured handover, CRM kept up to date	“I keep it all in my head”

The follow-up questions that separate facts from rehearsed stories

Many candidates prepare their answers with the STAR method (situation, task, action, result). The first answer therefore tells you little; probing makes the difference:

• “What did you do yourself, specifically?”
• “What was the contract value, and how long from first contact to signature?”
• “Who else was involved, on the customer side and internally?”
• “What would you do differently today?”
• “Who could confirm this for me?”

A true story gains detail with every question; a polished one gets vaguer. With the candidate’s agreement, reference checks with a former manager can then focus on the same deals.

The role-play: a prospecting call rather than “sell me this pen”

The famous pen exercise tests improvisation. A Business Developer, though, spends their days winning meetings with decision-makers who asked for nothing: test that. One or two days beforehand, send the candidate a brief on a fictitious but credible prospect (sector, size, contact, context). On the day, an interviewer plays this busy decision-maker and raises prepared objections: “we already have a supplier”, “just send me a brochure”, “no budget this year”.

Twenty minutes of conversation, then ten minutes in which the candidate reviews their own performance. Score the opening, the questions, listening, objection handling and above all whether they secure a concrete next step. The self-review shows whether they learn from mistakes.

Two legal limits apply. Under collective agreement no. 38 of the National Labour Council (text in French and Dutch), a test involving productive work may not last longer than needed to assess the candidate’s abilities (article 16): no calls to your real prospects, no account plan drafted for free. The cost of any tests you require is borne by you (article 3).

For a key role, an outside view reduces bias. Our assessments for recruitment last one to three hours: in-depth interview, role-plays and the KOAN test, the tool we have used for 30 years, whose sales model covers dimensions such as perseverance and results orientation.

Questions to avoid in a job interview under Belgian law

Collective agreement no. 38 sets the principle: questions about private life are only justified if they are relevant to the nature and conditions of the job (article 11). Anti-discrimination law also prohibits rejecting a candidate on a protected characteristic. Unia lists them: age, civil status, health, disability, religious, philosophical, political or trade union beliefs, nationality, skin colour, origin, sexual orientation, wealth, birth, social origin, physical characteristics, language and gender-related criteria, including pregnancy and family responsibilities.

Most of these questions start from a legitimate concern: rephrase them around what the job requires.

Question to avoid	What it touches on	Job-focused wording
“Do you have children? How do you manage childcare?”	Civil status, family responsibilities	“The role involves two to three days on the road each week. Does that work with your arrangements?”
“How old are you? Isn’t this role too junior for you?”	Age	“What attracts you to a prospecting-focused role at this stage of your career?”
“What is your mother tongue? Where are you from?”	Origin, nationality, language	“Half of your prospects will be in Flanders. Let’s do ten minutes of this interview in Dutch.”
“Have you often been off sick?”	Health	Describe the job conditions (travel, driving licence required) and ask whether they raise any questions.
“Are you a union member? Do you practise a religion?”	Trade union, religious beliefs	None: it has no relevance to the job.

These rules apply to everyone involved in the selection, including over coffee, when conversation turns personal. If in doubt, ask your payroll provider or legal adviser.

The mistakes that distort the hiring decision

The most common is hiring for fluency: a candidate who sells themselves brilliantly for an hour will not necessarily make forty prospecting calls a week for two years.

Then come the decision made in the first five minutes, questions that change from one candidate to the next, and figures never checked, even though persuading is the candidate’s job.

The last mistake: skipping verification for fear of losing the candidate. A failed hire costs far more than a few extra days of process.

Our recommendation

Write the scorecard before you meet anyone. Ask every finalist the same behavioural questions, probe until you reach figures, score in pairs, test in a role-play, and stick to questions relevant to the job. For 33 years we have recruited and assessed sales profiles in French, Dutch and English; our candidate presentations include the scorecard, interview transcripts and the KOAN test. If you are hiring, let’s talk about your Business Developer recruitment in Belgium.

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