How do you score a sales call?

What should you score on a sales call?

Score behaviour, not mood. "Was the rep confident?" is hard to agree on. "Did the rep ask at least two open questions before pitching?" is easy to check.

Call Centre Helper makes the same point about turning each behaviour into concrete criteria. Its example is hold etiquette: score whether the agent asks permission before putting a caller on hold and thanks them for holding (Call Centre Helper, 7 Jun 2017).

It also says to build the scorecard around your own team. "Working in a service environment is very different from working in a sales environment, and you therefore have to measure different things" (Call Centre Helper, 6 Mar 2019).

For most sales calls, the items fall into five groups: the opening, discovery, the answer to the customer's need, objections, and the close.

Should you use yes/no answers or a 1–5 scale?

Use yes/no wherever you can, and a short scale only where judgement is unavoidable. Call Centre Helper quotes a QA consultant who says the best method is "likely to be a combination", with yes/no for binary questions and a numerical score for subjective ones (Call Centre Helper, 6 Mar 2019).

Yes/no answers are faster to score and easier for two people to agree on. A middle option such as "Partly" (half points) covers the calls that are neither clearly yes nor clearly no.

Should every item be worth the same?

No. Call Centre Helper says the items on a scorecard should not all carry the same weight, and suggests asking customers what matters most to them. Its example criteria also include checks you must pass on every call, such as "Did the advisor read the compliance statement in the script at the start of the call?" (Call Centre Helper, 6 Mar 2019).

A simple way to start: make the whole card add up to 100, give discovery and the close the most points, and keep must-say items (such as a recording notice) as yes/no.

Call scorecardRep: ______   Call: ______

Done	Item	Question	Points
✓	Greeting and purpose	Gave name, company and the reason for the call?	5 of 5
✓	Open questions	Asked at least two open questions before pitching?	15 of 15
	Listening	Followed up on something the customer said?	5 of 10
	Need confirmed	Repeated the need back and got a yes?	0 of 10
✓	Answer fits the need	Linked the offer to the need described?	10 of 10
	Concern handled	Acknowledged, answered and checked the concern?	5 of 10
✓	Asked for commitment	Asked for the sale, booking or next meeting?	10 of 10
✓	Specific next step	Ended with a dated next step both sides agreed?	10 of 10
	Total		60 of 80

How many items should a scorecard have?

Fewer than you think. Every item adds time to every review, and long cards get skimmed. A Scorebuddy guide published on ICMI suggests cutting repeated and unneeded questions, with about 25 questions per form as an upper guide (ICMI, vendor guidance, 16 Jul 2014). For a sales call, 8 to 12 items usually covers what a manager will coach on.

Our free call scorecard template has 11 items that add up to 100.

Why write down a quote for each score?

Because a score without evidence starts an argument, and a score with evidence starts a coaching conversation. "Need confirmed: No" is easy to dispute. "Need confirmed: No. At 2:58 the customer said the price was a lot for them right now, and the rep moved on to the warranty" is not.

A quote and a time stamp also let a second person check the score in seconds instead of listening to the whole call again.

What is the step-by-step process?

1. 1

   Listen once, all the way through

   Don't score as you go. You need the whole call to judge discovery and the close.

2. 2

   Answer each question

   Yes, Partly, No or N/A. N/A only when the moment never came up, like no objection being raised.

3. 3

   Note the evidence

   The line and time that justify each answer, especially every No.

4. 4

   Add up and convert

   Sum the points. If any item was N/A, take its points out of the total and work out a percentage.

5. 5

   Pick one thing to coach

   Not five. The lowest-scoring item with the most points is usually the right one.

How do you make sure two managers score the same way?

Run calibration. SQM Group describes it as a session where evaluators, supervisors and agents all score the same recorded call on their own first, then compare and discuss their ratings. It recommends doing it at least monthly, preferably weekly, with the goal of keeping scores within a 5% variance of each other (SQM Group, 26 Jan 2023).

When two people disagree, the fix is usually the wording of the question, not the people. Rewrite the item until the answer is obvious from the call.

Can AI score sales calls the same way?

It can score against the same written questions, and it does not get tired by the fiftieth call. The test is whether it agrees with your own managers on your own calls. We explain how to run that check in how to check AI call scores against your managers.