Sales Readiness Self-Assessment

20 questions. 10 minutes. Answer honestly — this is diagnostic, not a test you can fail. Nobody sees your score unless you show them.

How to Take It

For each statement, score yourself 1–5:

• 1 = Never true for me
• 2 = Rarely true
• 3 = Sometimes true
• 4 = Usually true
• 5 = Almost always true

Answer based on your last 10 real calls, not your best call ever.

Section A — Discovery (Questions 1–4)

1. I ask at least 3 follow-up "why/how" questions before I explain what my product does. ___
2. I can name the prospect's business impact (not just their surface complaint) by the end of the call. ___
3. On multi-person calls, I get every stakeholder to speak, not just the loudest one. ___
4. I recap what I heard back to the prospect before moving to next steps. ___

Section A subtotal: ___ / 20

Section B — Qualification (Questions 5–7)

1. I know the prospect's timeline and what's driving it before I propose next steps. ___
2. I ask about budget/decision process directly, even when it feels uncomfortable. ___
3. I can name who else, besides the person I'm talking to, needs to say yes. ___

Section B subtotal: ___ / 15

Section C — Objection Handling (Questions 8–10)

1. When I hear an objection, I ask a clarifying question before I respond to it. ___
2. I don't go quiet or start over-explaining when a prospect pushes back. ___
3. I can handle "we're happy with our current vendor" without getting defensive. ___

Section C subtotal: ___ / 15

Section D — Closing (Questions 11–13)

1. I ask for the next step out loud, on the call, instead of saying "I'll follow up." ___
2. I've asked a prospect directly "what would need to be true for you to move forward" in the last month. ___
3. I don't let a deal go quiet for more than a week without a direct check-in. ___

Section D subtotal: ___ / 15

Section E — Product & Value Knowledge (Questions 14–16)

1. I can explain what makes us different from our top competitor in one sentence, without notes. ___
2. I connect features to the specific business impact the prospect told me about, not a generic pitch. ___
3. I know which two or three case studies/proof points to use for my most common deal type. ___

Section E subtotal: ___ / 15

Section F — Process & CRM Discipline (Questions 17–20)

1. I log call notes and next steps in the CRM within an hour of the call, not at the end of the week. ___
2. My pipeline stages reflect reality — I don't leave dead deals sitting in an active stage. ___
3. I know exactly what's due today on my calendar without having to go hunting for it. ___
4. I could hand my top 5 deals to a colleague right now and they'd understand where things stand from my notes alone. ___

Section F subtotal: ___ / 20

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Scoring

Add your six subtotals. Maximum possible score: 100.

Find Your Lowest Section — That's Your Actual Answer

Don't look at your total score first. Look at which of the six sections scored lowest relative to its maximum. That section is the specific skill holding back your first close — not "I'm bad at sales," but something exact and fixable.

• Lowest in Discovery (A) → You're pitching before you understand the problem. Fix: run every call from the Discovery Call Script Library and don't deviate for 2 weeks.
• Lowest in Qualification (B) → You're spending time on deals that were never going to close. Fix: ask budget/timeline/decision-process questions on every single call this week, even when it's awkward.
• Lowest in Objection Handling (C) → You freeze or over-explain under pushback. Fix: drill the Objection Handling Cheat Sheet out loud, with a peer, until the responses are reflexive.
• Lowest in Closing (D) → You know what to do but you're avoiding the ask. Fix: for your next 5 calls, force yourself to literally say the words "can we put time on the calendar for X" before you hang up, every time.
• Lowest in Product & Value Knowledge (E) → You don't yet trust what you know. Fix: shadow 3 more calls specifically to steal language on differentiation and proof points; write your own one-sentence positioning statement and say it out loud 10 times.
• Lowest in Process & CRM Discipline (F) → Your good calls are invisible to anyone else, including future-you. Fix: use the CRM Hygiene Cheat Sheet on your very next call, no exceptions.

Retake Monthly

Retake this exact assessment every 30 days during your first 6 months. Track your six subtotals over time — the goal isn't a perfect score, it's a rising floor on your weakest section.