Questions to Ask in a Business Development Interview
For candidates interviewing for a business development role, whether a BDR seat, a BD manager job or partnerships, who need questions to ask the interviewer when the conversation turns to them. The list follows the order the conversation usually takes: what the role is, where leads and partners come from, targets and how they are measured, support and promotion, pay, and a few to close on.
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The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
The role
What does business development mean at this company?
Why ask it
The title covers at least three different jobs: booking first meetings for someone else to close, running whole deals in a new market, and signing partners who sell or build alongside the company. A clear answer picks one and describes a week of it. If you hear all three at once, ask where most of the hours went last quarter.
Where does business development stop and sales begin?
Why ask it
Listen for a named handover point, such as a qualified meeting, an accepted opportunity or a signed letter of intent. 'It depends on the deal' often means the line is argued account by account, so follow up by asking who settles it when two people claim the same one.
What is the one thing you most need this hire to open up in the first year?
Why ask it
The reply to hope for is a market, a segment, a channel or a list of accounts. 'More pipeline' on its own is a wish, and you could spend months guessing which kind they meant. When your turn comes to talk about experience, lead with the example closest to what they named.
Is this a new seat, or would I be replacing someone, and where did they go?
Why ask it
Promoted, moved to another team, left for a competitor and let go are four different stories about the same chair. If the person left, how long they lasted tells you more than the reason given. For a new seat, find out who pushed for it, since that person will be watching your first two quarters most closely.
How would a normal week split between prospecting, meetings and internal work?
Why ask it
You are asking for rough proportions, and most interviewers can give them. A week that is mostly cold outreach and a week that is mostly partner calls and planning suit different people, so compare the answer with what you enjoyed in your last job, not with the job title.
How do business development and marketing share the work of finding new accounts?
Why ask it
The healthy version has a shared list of target accounts and an agreed definition of a lead worth calling. Be wary if the interviewer's first instinct is to complain about lead quality, because that argument would become part of your week. Asking what the last campaign handed to this team gets you a concrete example.
Who does this team report to: sales, marketing or the chief executive?
Why ask it
The reporting line hints at what the work is judged on: often pipeline for the closers under sales, lead counts under marketing, and a few larger bets under a founder or strategy lead. None is wrong. Ask how it plays out here and whether the line has moved recently.
How is the team set up: how many business development people, and how many account executives does each one support?
Why ask it
Paired with one closer, you get a working partner whose calendar you fill. Spread across five, you get competing requests and less news of what happened to your meetings. For a partnerships team, change the second half to who looks after a partner once the agreement is signed.
What are the company's growth plans for the next year, and where does this team fit?
Why ask it
This is the question most candidates bring, so make it earn its place by listening for your own team in the answer. New markets and new products mean the function is central. If the plan is mainly about keeping existing customers, ask why the company is hiring for new business now.
How long has the company had a business development function, and what has it produced so far?
Why ask it
Joining an established team means there is a playbook and people to copy. Being the first hire means you write the playbook, which can be the better job if leadership is patient. In that case ask how long they expect to wait before judging whether it worked.
Leads and partners
Where do new opportunities come from today: inbound, outbound, referrals, events or partners?
Why ask it
Ask for a rough share of each instead of a list, since nearly every company can say yes to all five. The biggest source is the one you would be feeding or depending on. A team that cannot say where last quarter's opportunities came from is probably not tracking it.
Would I be handed a list of target accounts, or build my own?
Why ask it
Both can work. With a supplied list, ask who put it together and how recently it was cleaned. If you build your own, find out which data tools you get and how tightly the target customer is defined, because list building can quietly eat half a week.
Who is the ideal customer, and how did you arrive at that?
Why ask it
The answer worth hearing is drawn from deals already won: a size, an industry, a job title that tends to say yes. 'Anyone with a budget' leaves the targeting to you. It also gives you a way to check the pitch later, by asking for a recent customer who fits the description.
Which industries or regions would I cover, and has anyone worked them before?
Why ask it
Ground nobody has touched needs patience from your manager, and ground that was worked hard needs a new angle from you. If someone covered it before, ask what they left behind in the CRM: open conversations, notes, or nothing.
Which outreach channels get replies from your buyers: phone, email, LinkedIn or in person?
Why ask it
Whichever one they name is what your days would sound like. A phone-first team wants someone comfortable being interrupted and turned away out loud, and an email-first team wants a writer. If nobody knows which channel works, you would be running the experiment, so find out how much freedom you get to try things.
What makes a lead qualified enough to pass to an account executive?
Why ask it
Written criteria protect you, because your numbers depend on someone else accepting your work. Find out how often handed-over meetings are rejected and who decides when the two sides disagree. For a pure partnerships role this one can be skipped.
Which competitors come up most in first conversations, and how does the team answer the comparison?
Why ask it
You would be the first person a prospect says 'we already use someone' to, so the stock reply matters more in this seat than in most. The useful version is one honest sentence about where the company wins and where it does not. A team whose only answer is to run the rival down has handed you a line that is hard to say with a straight face.
What do prospects most often say when they turn you down?
Why ask it
Price, timing, a missing feature, a supplier already in place: any specific reason means the team listens to its losses. It is also a preview of your first hundred conversations. Treat 'they just do not know us yet' as half an answer and ask what the people who do know you say.
Which partnerships does the company have now, and which of them bring in revenue?
Why ask it
A partner page can be a wall of logos that have never produced a deal. An interviewer who can name two or three active partners and what each one sends over is describing a program that works. A long list with no numbers suggests the first job is reviving agreements somebody else signed.
How do you decide which partners to pursue, and who has the final say?
Why ask it
You want to hear criteria, such as a shared customer base or a product that fits alongside yours, and a short approval path. If every agreement needs the founder, legal and product to sign off, ask how long the last one took from first call to signature.
What does a partner get out of working with you?
Why ask it
This is the offer you would be carrying into every partner conversation, so it needs to be concrete: a referral fee, a reseller margin, an integration their customers ask for, shared marketing. If the interviewer struggles to say it, recruiting partners will be uphill work whatever your skill.
Which events or trade shows does the team attend, and would I be expected to travel to them?
Why ask it
In some industries the conference floor is where most first conversations happen, and in others it is a line in the budget nobody defends. Ask what last year's best event produced, and how many nights away a normal quarter involves.
Targets
What would my target be, and is it counted in meetings, qualified opportunities, pipeline value or closed revenue?
Why ask it
The unit matters as much as the size. Meetings booked are largely in your hands, while closed revenue depends on a closer, a product and a buyer's timetable. If the target is revenue but you would not run the deal, ask how much say you have after the handover.
Was the target built from what people in this seat have delivered, or divided out of the company's plan for the year?
Why ask it
A number somebody has reached before is a different thing from one worked backwards from a revenue goal, which may never have been tested in a real year. Neither answer rules the job out. With the second, go straight on to how many of the team got there last quarter.
How many people on the team reached their target last quarter?
Why ask it
Ask for a count out of the team size, not an average. Most of the team getting there says the number is fair. One person getting there says something else is deciding the outcome, and it is worth asking what that person has that the others do not.
What separates the people who do well in this seat from the ones who struggle?
Why ask it
Managers who coach answer with things they have watched: who researches before calling, who follows up a fifth time, who asks the closer what became of a meeting. Compare that description with yourself honestly. An answer made of personality words, such as 'hungry' or 'a natural', gives a new hire nothing to copy.
When something I sourced closes months later, how is it traced back to me?
Why ask it
Your part of the work comes first and the paperwork comes last, which makes attribution an easy place to lose credit. Look for a field in the CRM that is set at the start and not edited afterwards. Partner-sourced deals need the same question.
How long does a typical deal or partnership take from first conversation to signature?
Why ask it
Hold the answer up against how often you are measured. A nine-month cycle with a quarterly revenue target leaves a new hire with nothing to show for a long time, so ask what you would be judged on in the meantime. Short cycles raise the opposite question: how many conversations a week the target assumes.
What is a typical deal worth, and how many of them does the target assume?
Why ask it
Turning the target into a count of deals makes it something you can picture. If the interviewer has not done that division, do it together in the room. Their reaction to the result, relaxed or surprised, tells you whether the number was ever checked.
What activity is tracked week to week, such as calls, emails or meetings booked?
Why ask it
Some teams manage by daily activity counts and others only by results, and people tend to thrive under one and chafe under the other. To see which this is, ask what report the manager opens on a Monday morning. Whatever is on it is what gets discussed.
For partnership work, what counts as progress before any revenue arrives?
Why ask it
Partnerships can take a long time to pay, so sensible teams measure steps along the way: agreements signed, partners trained, first joint deals registered, an integration shipped. If revenue is the only yardstick, ask how previous partnership hires were judged in their first year.
How long do new hires get before the full target applies?
Why ask it
The answer should be a schedule: a smaller number in the early months and a date when it becomes the full one. Set it beside the deal length you were given. If the ramp is shorter than the time one deal takes to close, you would be measured on the full number before anything of yours could have signed.
Support and growth
Which CRM and prospecting tools does the team use, and which would I have from the first day?
Why ask it
The names matter less than whether licenses are waiting for you. A new hire sharing a login or waiting on budget approval loses the weeks when the ramp clock is already running. If you know the tools, say so here, since it is an easy point in your favor.
What does onboarding cover, and who teaches the product?
Why ask it
You cannot open conversations about something you only half understand, so product training is the part to press on. Good answers have a named person and a rough timetable. 'You will pick it up from calls' can work on a small team if somebody experienced is actually on those calls with you.
What already exists to work from: case studies, a pitch deck, outreach templates?
Why ask it
Stories from real customers are the hardest material to make yourself and the most useful in a first conversation. If there is little of it, ask whether marketing has time set aside for this team or whether you would be writing your own.
Who joins once a conversation turns technical, legal or commercial?
Why ask it
Partner agreements and larger deals pull in product people, lawyers and finance, none of whom report to you. Ask how you book their time and how long a contract review usually takes. Someone who has to chase every signature personally can carry fewer deals at once.
How often would my manager go through calls or pipeline with me?
Why ask it
Weekly and on the calendar is the answer that shows coaching is part of the manager's job and not a favor. To test it, ask what the last session with someone on the team covered. Reviews that only happen when numbers dip arrive late and feel like a verdict.
What do new hires find hardest in the first six months?
Why ask it
Rejection, a complicated product and slow internal approvals are the usual suspects, and each asks for something different from you. A manager who answers quickly has watched people struggle and probably helped. Follow up by asking what they changed for the most recent hire.
Where did the last few people who were promoted out of this role go?
Why ask it
Names and destinations are evidence, and a described ladder is only a plan. Account executive, partner manager and team lead are common next steps. If nobody has moved yet because the team is young, ask what the first promotion is expected to look like.
What would I need to show to be promoted, and is that written down?
Why ask it
When the bar is written, say a number of quarters at target or an amount of sourced revenue, the decision does not rest on one manager's opinion. Where it is informal, ask how the last promotion was decided and how long that person had been in the seat.
Is business development a step toward a closing role here, or a career with senior titles of its own?
Why ask it
Companies differ on this, and neither design is the better one. What matters is that it matches what you want, so say which that is. Their reaction to hearing it tells you whether the route is open or only described in the posting.
Pay
How is pay split between base salary and variable, and what is the on-target total?
Why ask it
Business development pay ranges from nearly all salary to heavily commission-based, and the title alone will not tell you which. Decide beforehand the lowest base you could live on in a slow stretch. With a recruiter this can come early, and with a hiring manager it sits better after the questions about the work.
What triggers a variable payment: a meeting held, an opportunity accepted or a signed deal?
Why ask it
The closer the trigger is to your own work, the more control you have over your income. Payment on a held meeting rewards volume. Payment on a signature rewards quality but ties your pay to the closer's skill, so ask how those two people are matched.
Do I earn anything on deals that come through a partner I brought in?
Why ask it
Plans differ widely here: a one-off bonus per signed partner, a share of partner revenue for a set period, or nothing beyond the base. If the main purpose of the role is partnerships and the plan pays only on direct deals, the pay is pulling against the job description.
When is variable pay paid out, and how long after the event that earned it?
Why ask it
Monthly, quarterly and on-customer-payment schedules make the same plan feel very different in your bank account. Long deals can mean a wait of many months between the work and the money. Ask for one real example with dates.
Is variable pay capped, and is there anything extra for going past target?
Why ask it
Paying a higher rate above target means the company wants overperformance and has budgeted for it, and a cap means the opposite. Both are common, so the useful follow-up is whether anyone hit the cap or reached the higher rate last year.
What did people in this role earn last year compared with the on-target figure?
Why ask it
On-target earnings describe a plan, and what was paid describes the job. You may get a range, or a careful 'most were close', and either is informative. A flat refusal to discuss it at offer stage is worth weighing alongside the answer about how many reached target.
Could I read the compensation plan before an offer is final?
Why ask it
A summary in conversation leaves out the definitions, and the definitions are where surprises live: what counts as qualified, whether the plan can change partway through a year, what happens to credit if you change teams or leave. Those rules differ by employer and by place, so read how they work here. Save the request for the offer stage, when it is a normal thing to ask for.
Closing
What would you want me to have done by the end of my first 90 days?
Why ask it
For this kind of job the answer should have nouns in it: a target list built, a first set of meetings held, two partner conversations under way. Keep a note of it. Some employers ask finalists to present a 30-60-90 day plan, and this is its outline in the manager's own words.
Is there anything in my background that gives you pause for this role?
Why ask it
It takes some nerve, which suits a job built on asking strangers direct questions. If a doubt comes out, answer it with one example and stop there, because a long defense makes the doubt look bigger. If none comes out, do not dig for one.
What are the next steps, and do they include a mock call, a written exercise or a plan to present?
Why ask it
Business development interviews often end with a practical task, and knowing the format lets you prepare the right thing. Ask who will be in the room and how the exercise is assessed. The question also shows the instinct the job needs: never leave a meeting without the next one agreed.
How to use your questions in a business development interview
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Before the interview
Work out which job the title is hiding
Read the posting for its verbs. 'Book', 'qualify' and 'outreach' point to a development rep feeding the closers. 'Negotiate', 'own' and 'close' point to a manager running deals. 'Alliances', 'channel' and 'ecosystem' point to partnerships. Mark the questions on this page that fit the job you think it is, and open with the first one under The role in case you guessed wrong.
Match the question to the interviewer
A recruiter can usually speak to the pay structure, the process and why the seat is open. The hiring manager owns the target, the territory and how the role splits from sales. A future peer knows what the weeks feel like and whether handed-over leads get accepted. At a small company you may get one interviewer for everything. Lead with The role and Targets, and leave Pay until they raise it or an offer is near.
Take one from each group
Your side of the interview may be five minutes long. Take one question from each of the first five groups and order them by how much the answer would change your decision. Pay goes last unless the interviewer has raised it, and one from Closing ends the conversation every time.
Bring your own numbers
The questions under Targets work best when you can react to the answer. Know your figures from your last role or, if you are new to the field, the lowest base pay you could accept and the kind of week you want. An interviewer's number means little until you hold it against one of yours.
In the room
Ask about last quarter, not the plan
'How do leads come in?' gets the intended design. 'Where did last quarter's opportunities come from?' gets what happened. Almost every question under Leads and partners and Targets draws a truer answer with a time period attached.
Do the sums out loud
Target, deal value and deal length have to agree with one another. Once you have two of them, work out the third in front of the interviewer: 'So that is roughly one signed deal a month, on a cycle of about four months?' It checks the job and shows how you think about a pipeline.
Let your questions be the work sample
Business development is largely the craft of asking a stranger good questions and listening to the reply. The interviewer is watching you do it. Ask one thing at a time, build on what they just said, and do not pitch into the silence before they answer.
Time the pay questions
Asking how the plan works is ordinary in any role with a variable part. Asking it first, before anything about customers or the work, reads badly. What people earned last year and the plan document itself belong in the final round or at the offer.
Reading the answers
Numbers offered freely
An interviewer who gives the target, how many of the team reached it and the usual deal length without being pushed is describing a team that tracks its work. Vague replies are not evidence of a problem, since some interviewers simply do not have the figures to hand. Ask who would, and whether you can speak to them.
One job or three
If the role sounds like outbound prospecting, closing and partner management together, find out which of them the target measures. Whatever is measured is the real job, and the others get whatever time is left.
Two people, one question
Put the handover question, or the one about where opportunities come from, to both the manager and a peer. Matching answers mean the process exists. If the manager describes clean criteria and the peer describes an argument over every meeting, believe the peer: theirs are the meetings that get sent back.
What a brand-new function means
With no predecessor there are no past results, so the target and the pay plan are estimates. That is no reason to walk away. It is a reason to ask how and when the numbers get reviewed, and to ask for that in writing if an offer follows.
Mistakes to avoid
Assuming the title means what it meant at your last company
A business development manager at one firm cold calls all day, and at another negotiates two alliances a year. Candidates who skip the questions under The role sometimes accept a job they would not have applied for under its plainer name.
Reading the on-target figure as a forecast
The figure describes what the plan pays if the target is met. Whether people meet it is a separate fact, and only the questions under Targets and Pay will tell you.
Skipping the handover question
Where your work ends and someone else's begins decides what you are credited with and paid for. It is easy to leave out because it sounds procedural, and unpleasant to learn in month two when a share of your meetings has been turned back.
Asking what the website already says
Who the customers are, what the product does and which partners are listed are usually public. Start from what you found: 'I saw three integration partners on your site. Which of them send you business?' is a better question and a small demonstration of account research.