Treat quota attainment as an outcome to investigate. Before comparing sales candidates, understand what their target measured, which opportunities they inherited, and what they personally did to move deals forward. A headline percentage cannot establish whether the work matches your role.
Salesforce defines quota attainment as performance against an assigned sales goal. That comparison is useful within its context. Hiring adds another question: can the candidate perform the work your company needs under your conditions?
Establish what the number describes
Ask the candidate to explain the metric without sharing confidential customer records or compensation documents. Rounded, anonymized descriptions are enough for the initial discussion.
| Question | What it clarifies |
|---|---|
| What counted toward the target? | New revenue, renewals, expansion, bookings, or another measure |
| Which period did the result cover? | A full period, partial year, or time in ramp |
| Did the target or territory change? | Whether comparisons use a stable starting point |
| Where did opportunities originate? | Prospecting, inbound demand, inherited accounts, or partners |
| Which work did you own? | Discovery, qualification, negotiation, closing, or account growth |
| What support was available? | Founder involvement, sales engineering, marketing, and delivery |
Avoid turning the conversation into a request for a former employer's CRM export. The purpose is to reconstruct the candidate's contribution and identify what remains uncertain.
Reconstruct contrasting opportunities
Ask for an anonymized account of an opportunity that progressed and one that did not. Use the same follow-up structure: the starting position, the candidate's decisions, evidence from the buyer, other contributors, and the final result.
The unsuccessful opportunity can reveal whether the person notices weak qualification, understands stakeholder resistance, and changes course. The successful one can reveal whether a polished outcome conceals heavy reliance on others.
Do not assume that success came entirely from skill or entirely from a favorable territory. Record the evidence for each explanation.
Compare the work with your mandate
Fictional comparison: One candidate exceeded a renewal target in an established account base. Another built new opportunities for a product whose buyers were still being defined. Either could be useful. For a first new-business hire, the team must separately assess prospecting and discovery. For an account-growth role, relationship development and expansion judgment may deserve more emphasis.
This comparison does not excuse weak performance or rank one sales motion above another. It identifies which past work is relevant and which skills still need assessment.
Add evidence that is independent of the résumé
Use a discovery role-play, a review of self-generated pipeline, or another bounded exercise tied to the actual job. Do not add every exercise simply because it exists.
Ask candidates the same core questions and score the work against shared criteria. A confident account of prior success is a different signal from demonstrating how to investigate an unfamiliar buyer problem.
Write a conclusion with limits
A useful evaluation might say: “Explained personal ownership of outbound qualification and gave concrete examples of correcting weak opportunities. Renewal experience is limited; expansion responsibilities would need support.”
An unhelpful evaluation says only: “Top performer.” Keep the result, context, observed skills, and unresolved questions separate. If a material claim needs verification, use a consented reference process and job-related questions.
For the compensation you are offering, use the separate sales OTE plan guide. Past attainment helps evaluate experience; it does not establish what a new compensation plan will pay.