Discovery Call Scorecard for Managers
The rubric managers use to grade a recorded discovery call on a 1–5 scale across 10 core discovery competencies, with anchor descriptions for every score.
What's inside
- 10 scored competencies: Pre-call research, Opening/agenda-setting, Open-ended questioning, Active listening/silence, Pain quantification, Multi-threading, Objection handling, Next-step commitment, Talk-to-listen ratio, Notes/CRM hygiene
- 1–5 anchor descriptions for every competency (what a 1 sounds like vs. a 5)
- Weighted total and coaching-priority flag for the two lowest scores
- Calibration note for manager-to-manager scoring consistency
- Feedback delivery script for the post-review 1:1
Score each competency 1–5. 1 = absent/harmful, 3 = adequate, 5 = exceptional.
1. Pre-call research — ___/5
1: no visible prep. 3: knew company/role. 5: referenced specific trigger event or prior interaction unprompted.
2. Opening / agenda-setting — ___/5
1: jumped straight to pitch. 3: stated an agenda. 5: agenda was permission-based and confirmed against prospect's own goal for the call.
3. Open-ended questioning — ___/5
1: mostly yes/no questions. 3: mix of open and closed. 5: consistently open, layered follow-ups ('tell me more about...').
4. Active listening / use of silence — ___/5
1: talked over or rushed past answers. 3: acknowledged answers. 5: used silence deliberately, reflected language back accurately.
5. Pain quantification — ___/5
1: pain stayed vague. 3: got a rough cost/impact. 5: got a specific number and who else feels it.
6. Multi-threading — ___/5
1: never asked who else is involved. 3: asked once. 5: mapped the buying committee and secured a path to at least one other stakeholder.
7. Objection handling — ___/5
1: got defensive or folded. 3: answered adequately. 5: reframed the objection into a discovery question.
8. Next-step commitment — ___/5
1: no next step or vague 'I'll follow up.' 3: next step named. 5: next step has a date, named attendees, and mutual action confirmed live on the call.
9. Talk-to-listen ratio — ___/5
1: rep talked 70%+. 3: roughly balanced. 5: prospect talked 60%+ while rep still drove the agenda.
10. CRM / notes hygiene — ___/5
1: no notes logged. 3: basic summary logged. 5: structured notes against your qualification framework fields, logged same day.
TOTAL: ___ / 50
Coaching priority
Circle the two lowest-scoring competencies — those are the only two to coach in the next 1:1. Coaching all ten at once produces no behavior change.
Calibration note
Before using this scorecard across a team, have two managers score the same recorded call independently and compare — anything more than 1 point apart per competency means you need a shared calibration session before scores are used for performance decisions.
Feedback delivery script
Here's what stood out: [one strength, cite the exact moment]. Here's the one thing that would have made this call stronger: [lowest-scoring competency, cite the exact moment]. Want to try that reframed live right now?
How to use it
Score a recorded discovery call against all 10 competencies, total the result, then use only the two lowest scores as the focus of that rep's next coaching conversation.