# The Mock Discovery Call Round, One Role-Play Scored From Brief to Redo

*Turn your own role-play brief into a prospect sheet, question plan, timed agenda and objection list, then score a taped run on the weights panels use.*

- Canonical URL: https://www.refolk.ai/candidates/guides/mock-discovery-call-round
- Pillar: Interviewing
- Format: Teardown
- Published: 2026-10-27
- Last reviewed: 2026-10-27
- Reading time: 23 min
- Keywords: how to prepare for a mock sales call interview, sales role play interview discovery call, mock pitch interview account executive, SDR cold call role play interview tips, what do interviewers score in a sales role play, sales interview role play objection handling

## Key takeaways

- Published sales role-play rubrics agree on five to six dimensions, and next step alone carries 20% of the score in two of them, so a call that runs out of time before the close gives up a fifth of the marks.
- A Gong-style account executive scorecard weights discovery depth at 25%, objection handling 20%, next-step clarity 20%, stakeholder mapping 15%, talk ratio 10% and structure 10%.
- Gong's discovery research, built on 519,291 sales conversations, found top performers ask around 11 to 14 questions and talk about 46% of the time, which comes to about 6.9 minutes of candidate talk in a 15-minute mock.
- A rehearsal only helps if you score it from the recording, with a timestamp for each dimension, and check the timestamp of your first product mention before anything else.
- One published AE loop gives feedback and replays 30 minutes, as long as the call itself, so how you take the feedback and change in the redo is scored too.
- In Refolk's index only 64% of a sample of US Account Executive profiles held that exact title, against 88% for US SDRs, so read the AE brief for the real sales motion before you prepare.

This guide is for candidates with a mock sales call in their interview loop. That could be an account executive (AE) discovery role-play, a sales development representative (SDR) cold call, or a customer success expansion call. It follows one AE candidate's role-play from the exercise brief through prep, a recorded practice run, the live call, panel feedback and a redo. Each pass is scored on the weighted dimensions that published hiring rubrics use, so you can do the same with your own brief.

## What do interviewers score in a sales role play?

Panels score five or six dimensions: discovery quality, listening and adaptability, composure on objections, structure and control of the call, and a clear next step or close. Weights vary, but next step carries 20% in two published rubrics, and discovery is the heaviest single weight in the rubric that lists it.

A discovery call is a first conversation in which the seller learns the buyer's situation, problem and buying process before proposing anything. A rubric is the scoring sheet the panel fills in, with a weight for each dimension and a written description of what each score level looks like.

These are the published weights I could find. They come from vendors and recruiters, not from named employers.

| Source | Discovery | Objections | Next step | Other weights |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gong-style AE scorecard | 25 | 20 | 20 | Stakeholders 15, talk ratio 10, structure 10 |
| SDR cold-call scorecard | 20 | 20 | 15 | Opening 15, value prop 15, delivery 15 |
| Interview role-play template | n/r | n/r | 20 | Composure 10 |
| Six-criterion work-sample rubric | 16.7 + listening 16.7 | 16.7 | 16.7 | Opening 16.7 (equal weights) |

n/r means the weight was not retrieved. The equal weights in the last row are derived from a six-criterion rubric.

Hiring guidance says to build separate scorecards for SDRs, AEs and sales managers, then weight the criteria to match the team's sales motion. Your job is to work out which row is closest to the panel you are facing. For an AE discovery call that is usually the first row. For an SDR loop it is the second.

Some scorecards also carry a knockout concern field: a single flag that can override the total score. That changes how you should think about the score.

#### What the panel's scorecard actually holds

1. **Knockout concern** - One flag, such as defensiveness, that can override any total
2. **Weighted total** - Discovery, objections, next step, stakeholders, talk ratio, structure
3. **Score anchors** - Written descriptions of what a top or zero score looks like per dimension
4. **Observed behaviours** - First product mention, questions asked, next step booked, clarifying question before rebuttal

*A knockout concern overrides the weighted total, and the weighted total is built from timestamped behaviours, so prep should start at the bottom and protect the top.*

### Why the rubric matters more than your charm

A role-play only predicts job performance better than a conversation when someone scores it against a rubric. One hiring guide puts it bluntly: "Without a rubric the roleplay becomes just another interview, where overall impression wins." In the revised meta-analysis by Sackett and colleagues (2022), work sample tests are estimated at .33 and unstructured interviews at .19, about 1.7 times the validity. Structured interviews rank first at .42. The size of that downward revision is still argued over. One later paper (Oh, Le and Roth, 2023) disputes the adjustment, but the relative ranking of methods is not in dispute.

For you, this means the panel is reading behaviours off a sheet rather than forming an overall impression of you. Prepare behaviours they can tick.

> **Note:** No employer has published its real weights
>
> The weights above are proxies. No named employer has made its internal role-play weights public. Ask the recruiter which dimensions the scorecard covers. Most will tell you, because the same brief and rubric go to every candidate.

## How long the mock call runs and when the brief arrives

Expect 10 to 30 minutes of call time. You will usually get the brief 24 to 48 hours ahead and receive feedback straight after the call. Some hiring managers withhold the brief to test improvisation, so build a plan you can adapt on the spot.

| Source | Call length | Feedback or redo time | Brief lead time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30MPC (AE) | 30 min | 30 min | n/r |
| Eubrics | 10 to 20 min | "followed by reflection" | n/r |
| Salescadia | 15 min | n/r | 24 to 48 h |
| JobJourney (AE) | 15 to 20 min | n/r | n/r |
| Dataford: AlphaSense | 20 to 30 min | n/r | n/r |

Three points shape the plan:

- **The feedback block is part of the test.** In the 30 Minutes to President's Club AE loop, the mock call comes in Round 3 of 4: 30 minutes on your own product, plus 30 minutes for feedback, replays and buffer. That is half of a 60-minute slot spent on how you respond to feedback.
- **Some calls are very short.** Interview aggregators report a 10-minute discovery conversation prompt at Appfolio and a strict 20-to-30-minute window at AlphaSense. These are third-party reports, so treat them as low confidence and confirm the length with your recruiter.
- **The brief is usually standardised.** One hiring guide asks for a half-page scenario, with the same brief for every candidate. A half page cannot cover everything, so the gaps are often deliberate. One documented design gives the buyer facts that are "revealed only after a relevant question."

## The procedure, from brief to redo

The work runs in nine steps: five prep steps, a recorded rehearsal, the live call, a two-minute debrief and an optional redo. Prep takes about four to five hours spread across the brief window.

#### Mock discovery call procedure

1. **Read the brief and ask clarifying questions** - Read the brief as soon as it arrives, usually 24 to 48 hours ahead, and send the recruiter your questions about the persona, the product and the call goal. You are done when you can state all three in one sentence each.
2. **Build the prospect sheet** - Spend about 60 to 90 minutes on one page covering the company, the trigger, the persona and a pain hypothesis. You are done when the trigger and the hypothesis are each written as one sentence.
3. **Write the question plan** - Spend about 45 minutes writing roughly 11 to 14 questions, each tagged to pain, impact, decision process or next step. You are done when every question has a tag and they are spread across the call's thirds.
4. **Build a timed agenda** - Split the slot into rapport and agenda, situation, pain, impact, decision and next step, with a protected block for the close. You are done when the timings add up to the slot length with 2 minutes of buffer.
5. **List likely objections and answers** - Spend about 30 minutes preparing at least one price objection and one stall. You are done when each objection has a clarifying question written above the answer.
6. **Record a practice run and score it from the tape** - Run the call with a peer playing the buyer, record it, and score each weighted dimension from the recording with a timestamp. You are done when every dimension has a score and you have rewritten the weakest one.
7. **Run the live call** - Follow the agenda, protect the close block, and hold back any product mention until after the situation questions. You are done when a next step is booked with a date, attendees and an owner.
8. **Debrief in two minutes** - Name one thing that worked and why, then one specific thing you would change and how. You are done when the change is concrete enough to show in a redo.
9. **Redo, if offered or requested** - If the panel offers a redo, or agrees when you ask for one, open with the changed behaviour. You are done when the panel can see the change within the first 2 minutes.

#### Where each prep artifact gets used

1. **Prospect sheet** - Feeds the agenda confirmation and the first situation question
2. **Question plan** - Drives the pain and impact sections, spread across the call
3. **Timed agenda** - Protects the decision and next-step block at the end
4. **Objection list** - Fires a clarifying question before any answer
5. **Taped score** - Shows which dimension to fix before the live call

*Every artifact you build before the call is checked at a specific point in it, so a missing artifact shows up as a missing score.*

## The worked example: brief to prospect sheet, question plan, agenda and objections

This example is a composite. The candidate is an AE with a few years in B2B software sales, interviewing in a loop shaped like 30MPC's: a 30-minute mock discovery call on the hiring company's own product, then 30 minutes of feedback. The half-page brief arrived 48 hours ahead. It named the buyer as a head of operations at a mid-size company, described the product in two lines, and said only: "Run a discovery call."

### Fork 1: assume the goal, or ask

**The wrong turn.** The candidate's first instinct was to read "discovery call" as "get to a demo" and start building slides.

**The decision.** She emailed the recruiter three questions:

- Who plays the buyer, and do they have facts I should uncover?
- Is the goal to qualify, or to book a specific next meeting?
- Should I treat the product as the company's real product or a generic one?

The answers were that a panelist plays the buyer with hidden facts, the goal is to book a next meeting, and the product is the real one. Slides were dropped. A discovery call scorecard counts a next step as "secured" only when it is a calendar invite with stakeholders and a clear objective, and that is what she would need to leave the call with.

### Fork 2: research dump, or one-page sheet

**The wrong turn.** Her first prospect file ran to several pages of company history and product features. None of it could be used in a 30-minute call.

**The decision.** She cut it to one page with four fields, which took about 75 minutes:

- **Company:** size, model and what the operations team owns.
- **Trigger:** the event that would make this buyer take the call now. She wrote one sentence about a growth phase that strains manual processes.
- **Persona:** what a head of operations is measured on.
- **Hypothesis:** one sentence of suspected pain, written as something to test, not something to pitch.

### Fork 3: long checklist, or tagged plan

Gong analysed 519,291 sales conversations and found that top performers ask around 11 to 14 questions in total and dig into 3 to 4 customer problems. Average reps "frontload" their questions at the beginning "as if they're going through a sales call checklist."

**The wrong turn.** Her first draft ran well past 14 questions, and most were scheduled for the opening minutes.

**The decision.** She cut to 12, tagged each one, and moved the impact and process questions into the later thirds of the call.

**One-page prospect sheet and question plan**

```
PROSPECT SHEET
Company: [size, model, what this buyer's team owns]
Trigger: [the event that makes this call worth taking now]
Persona: [what this buyer is measured on]
Hypothesis: [suspected pain, phrased as something to test]

QUESTION PLAN (aim for 11 to 14; tag each one)
First third - situation
1. [SITUATION] Walk me through how your team handles [process] today.
2. [SITUATION] What changed that put this on your list now?
Middle third - pain and impact
3. [PAIN] Where does that process break down?
4. [PAIN] What happens downstream when it does?
5. [IMPACT] How much time does that cost your team each week?
6. [IMPACT] What does it put at risk if nothing changes?
Final third - process and next step
7. [PROCESS] Who else is involved in deciding something like this?
8. [PROCESS] What would they need to see?
9. [PROCESS] What does a realistic timeline look like?
10. [NEXT STEP] Would it make sense to bring [named stakeholder] into a follow-up on [date]?
Budget goes last, and only after impact is quantified.
```

*Fill every field in one sentence. If a question does not take a tag, delete it.*

### Fork 4: the textbook split, or a protected close

One published 30-minute split runs 3 minutes of rapport and agenda confirmation, then 5 minutes of situation, 10 of pain, 5 of impact and 4 of decision. That adds up to 27 minutes and leaves no time set aside for the close. In two rubrics the next step is worth 20%, and it falls at the very end, which is exactly where an overrun lands.

**The decision.** She took a minute from pain to protect the close:

- Rapport and agenda confirmation: 3 minutes
- Situation: 5 minutes
- Pain: 9 minutes
- Impact: 5 minutes
- Decision process: 4 minutes
- Next step, booked on the call: 2 minutes
- Buffer: 2 minutes

That totals 30 minutes. If you get a 15-minute slot, keep the proportions and keep a protected close block. Cut the situation section first, not the close.

### Fork 5: rebuttals, or questions first

Hiring scripts commonly plant one price objection and one stall. She wrote both, putting the clarifying question above each answer:

- **Price:** "This sounds expensive." Clarifying question first: "Expensive compared with what you're spending on it today, or compared with the budget you have set aside?"
- **Stall:** "Send me some information and I'll look at it." Clarifying question first: "Happy to. What would you need to see in it to make a follow-up worth your time?"

> **Watch out:** Do not put an unconfirmed number in the recap
>
> Discovery checklists warn against stating a financial value the buyer did not confirm. If you calculate an impact figure, ask the buyer to confirm it on the call. If they don't, leave it out of your recap.

## Scoring the taped practice run

Record a full run with a peer playing the buyer, then score it from the recording on the rubric that matches your role, with a timestamp for each score. Scoring from memory flatters you. The recording does not.

> **Rule:** Score from the tape, timestamp every score
>
> Each dimension gets a score and the timestamp of the moment that justifies it. If you cannot point to a moment, the score is zero. One calibration method has two managers score the same eight runs, and you can borrow it by having your peer score the tape separately.

### What the candidate's tape showed

She scored each dimension 0, 1 or 2, where 2 meets the top anchor, 1 is partial and 0 is missing or harmful. The weighted percentage is the sum of weight times score, divided by 2. The weights come from the Gong-style AE row above. The scores are illustrative.

| Dimension (weight) | Practice | Live call | What the tape showed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Discovery (25) | 1 | 2 | Practice: first product mention during the situation questions |
| Objections (20) | 0 | 1 | Practice: fluent rebuttal, no clarifying question |
| Next step (20) | 0 | 2 | Practice: "I'll send something over" |
| Stakeholders (15) | 0 | 0 | No other decision-maker named in either run |

Talk ratio (10) scored 1 in practice and 2 live. Structure (10) also went from 1 to 2. Practice total: 22.5%. Live total: 75%.

The first thing she checked was the timestamp of her first product mention. One rubric's top anchor reads "Opened with customer situation questions before any product mention." Her first mention came inside the situation block, phrased as a question: "Would faster reporting help?" That is a pitch dressed up as a question.

### The talk-ratio trap

**46:54 - Top performers' talk-to-listen ratio on discovery calls**

In Gong's discovery research, top performers talked 46% of the time. In a 15-minute mock that is about 6.9 minutes of candidate talk, and in a 30-minute call about 13.8.

A separate analysis puts top performers at 43:57, against an average of 60:40 and 64% rep talk time in lost deals. Her talk share looked healthy, but the tape showed long buyer monologues and very few speaker switches, which meant she was interviewing rather than having a conversation. A low talk share with few switches still underperforms.

#### Reading talk ratio from the tape

Horizontal axis runs from Few speaker switches to Many speaker switches. Vertical axis runs from Candidate talks under half to Candidate talks over half.

| Quadrant | What it means |
| --- | --- |
| Lecturing in bursts | You present in blocks; cut each explanation to one sentence and ask a question |
| Busy but dominant | Lots of back-and-forth but you hold the floor; shorten your turns |
| Interrogation | Low share, few switches; follow up on each answer instead of jumping to the next question |
| Conversation | The target; keep it and protect the close block |

*A healthy talk share only counts if the speakers switch often, so read both numbers together before scoring talk ratio.*

### The wrong turn in her scoring

She fixed the three dimensions the tape flagged, but she had scored the practice run on a generic five-dimension sheet that had no stakeholder mapping line. So the 15% stakeholder weight was never tested before the live call, and it scored zero there too. Score on the row that matches your role.

**Taped run scoring sheet**

```
Run date:            Slot length:        Buyer played by:

First product mention at: [mm:ss]  (must come after situation questions)
Questions asked: [count]  first third [ ]  middle third [ ]  final third [ ]
Speaker switches: [count]   Candidate talk share: [%]

Dimension          Weight  Score(0-2)  Timestamp  Evidence
Discovery            25      [ ]       [mm:ss]    [pain in buyer's words?]
Objections           20      [ ]       [mm:ss]    [question before answer?]
Next step            20      [ ]       [mm:ss]    [date, attendees, invite?]
Stakeholders         15      [ ]       [mm:ss]    [names, titles, date?]
Talk ratio           10      [ ]       [mm:ss]    [share and switches]
Structure            10      [ ]       [mm:ss]    [agenda confirmed, time kept?]

Weighted % = sum(weight x score) / 2 = [ ]
Knockout concern (yes/no): [ ]
One change for the next run: [ ]
```

*Swap in the weights from the rubric row that matches your role. Score 0, 1 or 2 and write the timestamp that justifies it.*

## The live call, the feedback and the redo

The panel scores your response to feedback as well as the call itself. Some interviewers give light feedback during or after the role-play specifically to see whether you adjust or defend yourself.

### The live call

She confirmed the agenda in the first minute and held all product talk until after situation. Her 12 questions were spread across the thirds. The buyer brought out the price objection in the impact section. She asked her clarifying question, learned that the buyer had already compared the cost with a manual workaround, and answered that. She used her protected close block to book a follow-up with a date and an invite sent on the call.

She lost points in two places. On price she conceded a discount nobody had asked for, which scored 1 rather than 2. And she never asked who else was involved in the decision. A scorecard counts the decision process as uncovered when "You have names, titles, and a realistic date." She had a date but no names.

### The feedback and the debrief

The panel asked: "What would you do differently in that exchange?" Coachability guidance describes the split: coachable salespeople adjust quickly without defending their answer, while closed-minded ones get defensive, justify themselves or double down.

She used the two-part debrief format:

1. **One thing that worked, and why:** asking the clarifying question on price showed her the buyer's real comparison point, so her answer addressed it.
2. **One specific thing to change, and how:** in the decision section, ask who else signs off and get their names and titles before proposing the next step.

> The redo is not a second performance. It is proof that one flagged behaviour changed.

### The redo

How often panels offer a redo in the session has not been published. Some candidate guides advise you to ask for permission to try again, and she did. She restarted at the decision section and opened with: "Before we talk about next steps, who else would be involved in a decision like this?" The change was visible within the first 2 minutes. That is the test: the panel should not have to wait for it.

If the stakeholder score moves from 0 to 2 in the redo, the illustrative total rises from 75% to 90%. Some loops give feedback between interview stages rather than during the session. In that case the next round is your redo, and the panel will be looking for the change in it.

## How the mock sales call goes wrong

Most lost points come from eight failure modes. Each one has a version that feels like success during the call, so for each I give the false positive and the check that catches it on tape.

### 1. Pitching before asking

- **The false positive:** a "discovery" question that is really a feature pitch, such as "Would faster reporting help?"
- **The check:** find the timestamp of the first product mention. It must come after the situation questions.

### 2. Vague next step

- **The false positive:** "I'll send something over." SDR panels ask whether the candidate requested a specific meeting time or a vague "sometime next week."
- **The check:** a date, named attendees and an invite sent on the call.

### 3. Defensive on the objection

- **The false positive:** a fluent rebuttal with no clarifying question. Rubrics score objection handling at zero if the candidate "Became defensive or conceded."
- **The check:** a question asked before the answer. Conceding unprompted counts against you too.

### 4. Gaming the question count

- **The false positive:** hitting 11 to 14 questions by packing them into the first five minutes, which reads as a checklist.
- **The check:** count the questions in each third of the call. None of the three should be empty.

### 5. Inventing impact

- **The false positive:** a confident dollar figure in your recap that the buyer never confirmed.
- **The check:** every number in the recap should trace back to something the buyer said, at a timestamp you can find.

### 6. Over-weighting the redo

- **The false positive:** a smoother, more confident redo that does not change the flagged behaviour.
- **The check:** did the specific thing the panel named actually change?

### 7. Misreading talk ratio

- **The false positive:** a low talk share that hides an interrogation with few speaker switches.
- **The check:** count speaker switches, not just your share.

### 8. Preparing the wrong variant

- **The false positive:** pitching an upsell on a customer success call before the customer has succeeded. One CS interview answer warns that this "almost always backfires."
- **The check:** on a CS call, the outcome the customer achieved comes before any expansion ask.

> **Watch out:** Ignoring the assigned persona
>
> How panels score a candidate who ignores the assigned buyer persona has not been published. The closest documented design hides the buyer's facts until you ask a relevant question, so a candidate who pitches to a generic buyer never uncovers them. Treat the persona's hidden facts as what you are there to find.

## How the brief changes for SDR cold calls, AE discovery and CS expansion calls

The same role-play format tests different things depending on the role. SDR cold calls test the first 30 seconds, AE discovery tests pain, impact and process, and CS expansion calls test whether you lead with the customer's outcome.

| Variant | What the panel tests | How the brief changes | Common wrong turn |
|---|---|---|---|
| SDR cold call | Opener, earning 30 more seconds, poise with rejection | Short; pushback after about a minute | "Sometime next week" |
| AE discovery | Pain, impact, decision process, next step | 10 to 30 min, often on your product | Pitching before asking |
| CS expansion (QBR) | Outcome first, the 2 or 3 numbers that matter | Existing account, review format | Upsell before success |

A QBR (quarterly business review) is a scheduled meeting where a customer success manager reviews results with an existing account. Panels check whether you lead with the outcome rather than dumping metrics.

For the SDR version, one panel script reads: "Give them 30 seconds. If they deliver a strong opener, engage for a minute then push back." Sources describe it as the single most common format for SDR and BDR roles. Prepare the opener and the response to rejection before anything else. Your question plan should be three or four questions long, not twelve.

### Why AE briefs vary so much

**64% - Share of sampled US Account Executive profiles holding that exact title**

In Refolk's index of professional profiles, against 88% for US SDRs. The sample is 25 profiles per title, so treat the shares as indicative.

| Title, country | Profiles | Exact-title share of sample | Derived |
|---|---|---|---|
| AE, US | 248,655 | 64% | 13.9x the UK count |
| AE, UK | 17,893 | 80% | 1.0 (base) |
| SDR, US | 22,091 | 88% | 11.3 US AEs per US SDR |

In Refolk's index, "Account Executive" covers 248,655 US profiles, and the 25-profile US sample included a realty firm and an events company alongside software sellers. The title is used across many industries, so two AE role-plays can test very different motions. The SDR title is more consistent from employer to employer. Read the AE brief and the job posting together to work out which motion the team actually runs before you choose a rubric row.

If you are interviewing for several AE roles at once, this is where [Refolk](/candidates) helps. It scores how well your history fits each posting and tailors your resume to it, so you can see which motion each team expects, and which of your deals the panel is likely to ask about, before you build the prospect sheet.

## Before the round, and after it

Run the checklist the evening before the call. After the round, write up what the panel flagged while you still remember it. Formats change, so for each new loop confirm the length and the rubric with the recruiter rather than relying on old notes.

#### Ready for the mock call

- [ ] I can state the persona, the product and the call goal in one sentence each.
- [ ] My prospect sheet fits on one page and has a written trigger and pain hypothesis.
- [ ] My question plan has 11 to 14 tagged questions spread across all three thirds.
- [ ] My agenda adds up to the slot length, with a protected next-step block and 2 minutes of buffer.
- [ ] Each planted objection, at least one price and one stall, has a clarifying question written above the answer.
- [ ] I scored a recorded run on the rubric row that matches my role, with a timestamp for every dimension.
- [ ] In my recording, the first product mention comes after the situation questions.
- [ ] My recap contains no number the buyer did not say.
- [ ] I have a two-part debrief ready and a plan to ask for a redo.

After the loop:

- **Log the panel's feedback word for word** next to your taped scores. If one dimension keeps getting flagged across loops, that is the one to practise.
- **Re-check the format for each new employer.** Ask the recruiter how long the call is, whether you get the brief in advance, and which dimensions are scored. These vary by company and change over time.
- **Keep your prep files.** The prospect sheet, question plan and objection list carry over to the next loop with a new trigger and hypothesis. When you move on to other applications, Refolk drafts the cover letter and tailors the resume to each posting, so you can spend your prep time on the call.

## Frequently asked questions

### How do I prepare for a mock sales call interview in 48 hours?

Split the time into five prep blocks plus one rehearsal. Spend 60 to 90 minutes on a one-page prospect sheet, about 45 minutes on a question plan, a short session on a timed agenda, about 30 minutes on objections, and about an hour on a recorded practice run with a peer, scored from the tape. If the brief is vague, email your clarifying questions on day one so the answers arrive before you rehearse.

### What do interviewers score in a sales role play?

Most published rubrics score discovery quality, listening and adaptability, objection handling composure, structure and control, and a clear next step. One account executive scorecard weights discovery at 25% and objections and next step at 20% each. SDR scorecards add value proposition at 15%. No named employer has published its internal weights, so treat these as proxies and ask the recruiter which dimensions their scorecard covers.

### How should I handle an objection in a sales interview role play?

Ask a clarifying question before you answer. Rubrics score objection handling at zero when a candidate becomes defensive or concedes, and a fluent rebuttal with no question first reads as defensive. Expect at least one price objection and one stall, since hiring scripts often plant both, and write the clarifying question for each above your prepared answer.

### Should I ask for a redo after the mock call feedback?

Yes, if the debrief leaves room for it. Some candidate guides recommend asking permission to try again. How often panels offer a redo has not been published, but panels openly test coachability: whether you adjust without defending yourself. Make one flagged change and show it in the first 2 minutes. A polished redo will not override a knockout concern if the flagged behaviour itself does not change.

### How is an SDR cold call role play different from an AE discovery call?

An SDR cold call is short and front-loaded. It tests your opener, whether you can earn 30 more seconds, and how you handle rejection. One panel script engages for about a minute after a strong opener and then pushes back. Success means a specific meeting time, not sometime next week. An AE discovery call runs 10 to 30 minutes and is scored on pain, impact, decision process and next step.

---

*From the Refolk guide library. I revise these guides rather than replacing them, so the current version is always at https://www.refolk.ai/candidates/guides/mock-discovery-call-round*