You are given a new territory with 500 accounts. How do you plan your first 90 days?
What the interviewer wants to hear
- Segment and tier accounts based on ICP fit and intent signals
- Review existing CRM history and past relationships
- Focus deep outreach on top tier accounts
- Set activity and pipeline goals per month
- Review results and adjust
Model answer
I would not treat all 500 accounts the same. In the first two weeks I would review the CRM for past deals, lost opportunities and existing contacts, and talk to marketing and customer success. Then I would score accounts by ICP fit and signals like hiring, funding, expansion or website visits, and split them into tiers. The top 30 to 50 accounts get deep research and personalised multi-channel outreach. The middle tier gets lighter, semi-personalised sequences, and the rest are nurtured with marketing. I would set clear goals for each month: meetings booked, qualified pipeline created and maybe one or two early wins. Every two weeks I would check what messages and segments are working and move effort there. By day 90 I want a healthy, qualified pipeline.
Can you answer it under time pressure?
Take a timed medium round and get scored on every answer.
More medium Business Development Manager questions
- How do you decide whether an opportunity is worth your time? Which qualification framework do you use?
- How would you identify and launch a new strategic partnership?
- A prospect says a competitor offers the same thing for less. How do you respond?
- What goes into a strong business proposal?
- A prospect on a cold call says, "Just send me some information." How do you respond?
- How do you build a business case or ROI model for a prospect?
- How would you work with marketing on an account-based campaign for 30 target accounts?
- What are the key terms you would negotiate in a reseller or referral agreement?
- How do you make sure your forecast is accurate?