Closing scorecard

For the closing motion — discovery, demo, pricing, close, and champion navigation. Depending on the sales process these happen on one call or across months; give each key conversation its own section or its own card. Score each item 1–5.

Discovery — where deals are won and lost

• Used the proper tone.
• Asked industry-relevant questions and quickly showed they'd done their research.
• Got the prospect to agree they have a problem. The first question to ask a rep about any deal: "what problem did they agree they have?" This is the core of discovery.
• Got the impact of that problem — why do they want to solve it?
• Found out what they've already tried.
• Got agreement to the agenda and the pitch.

Pitch — earned by good discovery

• Educated on each key section of the product.
• Gave benefits that pass the "so what" test.
• Tied every feature back to the prospect's original why.
• Unsold the status quo.
• Used benefit-laden check-ins (BLCs) after each section.

Close — keep selling through the recommendation

• Confirmed they were sold before showing pricing.
• Got them to agree something has to change — that agreement is the first close; only then talk pricing.
• Justified the price with results.
• Made the recommendation ABS-style — always be selling. Not "I'd recommend the premier package: you get all these seats"; instead "you're going to get the API connection that streamlines your security review, and white-glove onboarding that cuts ramp from three months to two." Benefits restated inside the recommendation.
• Tied it all the way back to the why.
• Asked for the money or the concrete next step. Reps routinely end the call waiting for the prospect to decide what happens next — ask instead: "Normally companies pull in their finance team at this point. Julie's the CFO, right? When can we get her on a call?"

Navigation — champion selling

• Confirmed the champion is personally sold.
• Mapped the decision-making process.
• Found out what matters to the decision-maker — what they care about, how they like to be communicated with, what they want to see in a presentation. A scored miss here is an early warning: go back to the champion and get it before the decision call, instead of getting steamrolled on it.

Using the card

Each section localizes coaching: a rep who pitches well but scores low on discovery has a discovery problem, not a demo problem. Prompts inside items ("would it be okay to ask a few questions about your practice?") show one way to earn the check — reps don't have to use those words, the behavior is what's graded. Take the template and rebuild the items from your own top performers' calls.