Discovery Call Self-Grading Rubric

Fill this out within 15 minutes of ending the call — before you talk yourself into a better story than what actually happened.

1. Pre-Call Preparation

• 1: Opened cold, no research, generic questions
• 3: Reviewed company/contact basics, had a rough agenda
• 5: Had specific hypotheses about their pain going in, tailored questions to their industry/role, knew who else was likely in the buying process

2. Opening & Agenda-Setting

• 1: Jumped straight into pitching or asked "so tell me about your business"
• 3: Set a basic agenda, got light buy-in
• 5: Set a clear mutual agenda, confirmed time available, got explicit agreement on what a good outcome from this call looks like for them

3. Situation Questions

• 1: Asked surface-level questions already answerable from their website
• 3: Asked reasonable situation questions but mostly closed-ended
• 5: Asked open situation questions that surfaced context I didn't already know, without feeling like an interrogation

4. Pain & Impact Questions

• 1: Accepted the first pain mentioned at face value, didn't quantify
• 3: Dug one layer deeper, got a rough sense of impact
• 5: Quantified the pain in their own numbers/language, connected it to a business consequence they hadn't stated first

5. Qualification (Budget / Authority / Timeline / Process)

• 1: Didn't ask, or asked so bluntly it created friction
• 3: Got partial answers, some "I'll have to check"
• 5: Got clear, specific answers on process and timeline, and a credible read on budget/authority without it feeling transactional

6. Listening & Talk Ratio

• 1: I did most of the talking, pitched features unprompted
• 3: Roughly balanced, some over-explaining
• 5: They talked more than me, I used silence after questions, I referenced something they said earlier in a later question

7. Multi-Threading

• 1: Didn't ask who else is involved
• 3: Asked, got a vague answer, didn't push
• 5: Got specific names/roles of at least 2 other stakeholders and a plan to reach them

8. Next Steps & Commitment

• 1: Ended with "I'll follow up" — no date, no mutual commitment
• 3: Got a next call booked but no specific mutual actions
• 5: Got a dated next step with named owners on both sides, and confirmed what needs to be true for this to keep moving

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Total Score: ___ / 40

Interpretation Bands

• 34-40: Strong discovery call — this deal's qualification data is trustworthy
• 24-33: Solid but incomplete — identify the lowest 1-2 categories and address specifically before the next call
• 14-23: Discovery gaps significant enough that "qualified" is optimistic — plan a deliberate recovery call
• Below 14: Treat this as an information-gathering call only — do not advance the stage in CRM yet

Red-Flag Override (regardless of total score)

Circle any that apply — a single red flag caps your interpretation at "solid but incomplete" even with a high total:

• I never got a name/role for anyone besides the person on the call
• I could not restate their business pain in a single sentence without notes
• There is no dated next step in the calendar
• I talked more than they did

Self-Coaching Prompt

For your single lowest-scoring category, write one sentence:

"Next call, I will specifically ___."

Reread it before your next discovery call of the day.