prospecting-scorecard.md
For meeting-setting calls — cold calls and inbound follow-ups. A prospecting call is not a qualifying call: calling someone who doesn't know you and opening with qualifying questions (company size, title, stack) kills the meeting rate. Build curiosity first through tone, questions, and insights; qualification gets woven in later. The card mirrors that arc: opener → body → wrap-up. Score each item 1–5.
Opener — tone and permission
- Used the proper tone: calm, caring, assumptive (the "lost in the city" ask-for-help energy) — tone is graded first because it drives everything after it.
- Identified themselves clearly (name and company).
- Justified the call with something relevant and honest ("I was just on your website…", "I work with {peer}…").
- Got permission to continue: "Last thing I want to do is waste your time — okay if I ask a couple of quick questions to see if it's even worth talking further?" Honest and natural. No gimmick openers ("do you have 27 seconds…") — nobody talks that way, so nobody can deliver it naturally.
- Used social proof where it fit.
Body — curiosity and problems
- Applied the value prop to the specific person answering (an office manager hears a different frame than a VP).
- Asked gap and pain questions that expose the problem.
- Asked impact questions off the gaps they found.
- Used leads / illusion-of-choice to guide the conversation ("do you prefer X or Y?").
- Snuck in one extra question with "…and by the way" ("by the way, how many people are on your team?").
- Bonus: inserted a piece of education or insight the prospect didn't have.
Wrap-up — sell the meeting
- Paused before the "might make sense" close.
- Delivered a strong "might make sense" built on the problems just discovered.
- Clearly stated how the offer could solve those problems, with results.
- Asked for the meeting confidently.
- Booked it within three days.
- Asked them to accept the calendar invite on the spot.
- Gave homework with a reason — selling the meeting, not just scheduling it.
Using the card
If reps stall in the opener, drill the opener; if they get past the intro but don't book, the problem lives in the body or the wrap-up — the sections tell you where. Take the template and make it your own: rebuild the items from your own top reps' calls, keep the structure.