Discovery Call Review Rubric

From Recording to 3 Coaching Actions

Use this in 1:1 call reviews. Score while listening (pause the recording as needed), then use the extraction method at the bottom to land on exactly three specific actions — never more, never vaguer than "be better at qualifying."

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Scoring Criteria (score each 1–4)

1. Open & Frame

• 1 — Missing: Jumped straight into pitching or questions with no agenda set
• 2 — Weak: Agenda mentioned but vague, no permission asked
• 3 — Solid: Clear agenda, buyer verbally agreed
• 4 — Excellent: Clear agenda + buyer added to it, establishing two-way engagement immediately

2. Problem Discovery

• 1 — Missing: Accepted the first stated problem at face value, no follow-up
• 2 — Weak: Asked one follow-up but never quantified business impact
• 3 — Solid: Got a specific problem and a rough quantified impact
• 4 — Excellent: Got problem + quantified impact + prospect volunteered impact unprompted

3. Qualification

• 1 — Missing: No budget, authority, timeline, or process questions asked at all
• 2 — Weak: Asked 1 of the 4 (budget/authority/timeline/process)
• 3 — Solid: Asked 3 of the 4 with specific answers captured
• 4 — Excellent: All 4 covered with names, numbers, and dates — not generalities

4. Vision / Mutual Fit Check

• 1 — Missing: No vision painted, jumped straight to next steps
• 2 — Weak: Generic vision/pitch, not tied to what the prospect said
• 3 — Solid: Vision tied directly to the prospect's own words
• 4 — Excellent: Vision tied to their words + rep asked a direct priority/fit question ("scale of 1–10...")

5. Next Steps

• 1 — Missing: Call ended with "I'll follow up" and nothing else
• 2 — Weak: A next step exists but only the rep has an action
• 3 — Solid: Both sides have a dated action
• 4 — Excellent: Both sides have a dated action + rep confirmed in writing within the hour

6. Talk Ratio

• 1 — Missing: Rep talked >60% of the call
• 2 — Weak: Rep talked 45–60%
• 3 — Solid: Rep talked 30–45%
• 4 — Excellent: Rep talked <30%, and used open questions to get there

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Manager Scoring Template

Overall Bands

• 21–24: Strong — reinforce what worked, one stretch action
• 15–20: Developing — solid fundamentals, 1–2 specific gaps
• 9–14: Needs work — pick the lowest 2 scores and drill only those
• 6–8: Reset — go back to the Discovery Call Structure Cheat Sheet basics before adding nuance

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Coaching Action Extraction Method

Do this after scoring, every time — it turns a scorecard into real coaching instead of a grade:

1. Identify the lowest-scoring criterion. This is your #1 action — always.
2. Identify the single highest-leverage moment in the call — the specific point where a different question or move would have changed the outcome. This is your #2 action, tied to a timestamp.
3. Identify one repeatable pattern — something true across this call and the rep's last 2–3 calls (check prior scorecards). This is your #3 action, framed as a skill to build, not a one-off fix.

Output format (say this to the rep):

"Three things for next time: One, [lowest-scoring criterion] — here's what I'd do differently. Two, at [timestamp], [specific alternative move]. Three, I've noticed this pattern across your last few calls: [pattern] — let's work on that over the next two weeks specifically."

Never give more than three actions in one review. More than three doesn't get practiced; it gets forgotten.