# Sales Competency Self-Rating Scorecard

> Score yourself 1-5 across all 12 core sales competencies using the same Novice-to-Expert rubric language your manager uses, so your next 1:1 is a conversation about evidence, not opinions.

Free scorecard/rubric for sales reps. Topic: [Skills, Competencies & Career Growth](https://www.peerlab.ai/library/topic/skills-competencies-career-growth/). Published by PeerLab in the [Sales Enablement Resource Library](https://www.peerlab.ai/library/). Source: https://www.peerlab.ai/library/sales-competency-self-rating-scorecard/

## How to use it

Score yourself 1-5 with cited evidence across all 12 competencies before your next 1:1, bring the summary tally with the gap column blank for your manager to fill in live, then feed your 2 lowest scores into your next IDP quarter.

## What's inside

- All 12 core competencies with full 1-5 behavioral anchors (Novice → Expert)
- An evidence field per competency (cite the actual call/deal, not a feeling)
- A summary tally table comparing your score to your manager's, with a gap column
- Guidance for using the gap column as your actual 1:1 discussion
- Direct hand-off into the IDP template for your 2 lowest scores

## Scale (same language your manager uses, use it verbatim in your 1:1)
1 = Novice | 2 = Developing | 3 = Competent | 4 = Advanced | 5 = Expert

## 1. Discovery & Needs Analysis
1. Novice: Asks scripted discovery questions, accepts surface-level answers.
2. Developing, Follows up on stated pain but rarely digs further.
3. Competent: Consistently quantifies pain (cost, time, risk) before proposing.
4. Advanced, Surfaces pain the buyer hadn't articulated before the call.
5. Expert, Reframes how the buyer defines their own problem.

**Your score: ___** Evidence: ____________

## 2. Qualification & Deal Strategy
1. Novice, Relies on manager to call a deal dead or alive.
2. Developing, Applies the qualification framework with prompting.
3. Competent, Applies it independently and can defend the call.
4. Advanced: Builds a custom win strategy per deal, not just a framework pass.
5. Expert, Sets the qualification bar other reps get coached against.

**Your score: ___** Evidence: ____________

## 3. Objection Handling
1. Novice, Responds with memorized lines regardless of the real objection.
2. Developing, Sometimes asks a clarifying question first.
3. Competent, Consistently isolates the real objection before responding.
4. Advanced, Handles objections from multiple stakeholders in one motion.
5. Expert, Anticipates and defuses objections before they're raised.

**Your score: ___** Evidence: ____________

## 4. Negotiation
1. Novice, Escalates most terms conversations to a manager.
2. Developing, Trades concessions without a clear value-for-value logic.
3. Competent: Trades value for value deliberately, holds margin.
4. Advanced: Shapes the frame of the negotiation (scope, timeline, process).
5. Expert: Navigates multi-party/committee negotiations, including through 3rd parties.
(Full behavioral detail: see the Negotiation Skill-Level Rubric.)

**Your score: ___** Evidence: ____________

## 5. Active Listening
1. Novice: Talks past pauses, prepares next point while buyer is speaking.
2. Developing: Reflects back what's heard, inconsistently.
3. Competent, Consistently confirms understanding before responding.
4. Advanced, Notices and names what's not being said.
5. Expert: Buyers describe being genuinely heard, unprompted.
(Full checklist: see the Active Listening Skill Checklist.)

**Your score: ___** Evidence: ____________

## 6. Storytelling & Value Narrative
1. Novice, Reads case studies verbatim from material provided.
2. Developing, Picks the closest-matching case study to the buyer.
3. Competent, Adapts case studies to the buyer's specific context.
4. Advanced, Builds a narrative arc that carries across a multi-call deal.
5. Expert, Narrative gets repeated by the buyer internally to sell it upward.

**Your score: ___** Evidence: ____________

## 7. Stakeholder Mapping & Multi-thread Selling
1. Novice, Sells to a single contact only.
2. Developing: Aware other stakeholders exist, doesn't engage them directly.
3. Competent, Identifies and directly engages 2-3 stakeholders.
4. Advanced, Runs a formal map and engagement plan across all threads.
5. Expert: Navigates buying committees of 6+, including hostile stakeholders.

**Your score: ___** Evidence: ____________

## 8. Executive Presence & Communication
1. Novice, Comfortable only with peer-level contacts.
2. Developing: Comfortable with manager-level, scripted.
3. Competent: Comfortable with director-level, semi-scripted.
4. Advanced: Comfortable with VP-level, unscripted.
5. Expert: Comfortable with C-suite, sets the agenda in the room.

**Your score: ___** Evidence: ____________

## 9. Pipeline & Forecast Discipline
1. Novice, Updates CRM only when reminded.
2. Developing, Forecasts inconsistently accurate.
3. Competent, Forecasts own pipeline accurately most months.
4. Advanced, Forecast trusted without manager double-check.
5. Expert, Forecast quality informs leadership planning.

**Your score: ___** Evidence: ____________

## 10. Territory / Account Planning
1. Novice, Works only inbound/assigned leads reactively.
2. Developing: Has a basic account list, no written plan.
3. Competent, Builds a written account plan for top accounts.
4. Advanced, Builds and executes a whitespace/expansion plan with results.
5. Expert, Shapes territory design decisions for others.

**Your score: ___** Evidence: ____________

## 11. Cross-functional Collaboration
1. Novice, Escalates to manager to loop in CS/legal/product.
2. Developing, Loops in the right function when told to.
3. Competent, Loops in the right function independently.
4. Advanced, Pre-empts cross-functional friction before it blocks a deal.
5. Expert, Consulted by product/legal before policy changes.

**Your score: ___** Evidence: ____________

## 12. Coaching & Peer Enablement
1. Novice, Receives coaching only.
2. Developing, Occasionally shares a win informally.
3. Competent, Regularly shares technique in team forums.
4. Advanced, Actively mentors 1-2 newer reps.
5. Expert: Coaching output is formalized (training material, shadowed calls, onboarding curriculum).

**Your score: ___** Evidence: ____________

## Summary tally (bring this into your 1:1)
| Competency | Your score | Manager's score | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Discovery & Needs Analysis | | | |
| Qualification & Deal Strategy | | | |
| Objection Handling | | | |
| Negotiation | | | |
| Active Listening | | | |
| Storytelling & Value Narrative | | | |
| Stakeholder Mapping | | | |
| Executive Presence & Communication | | | |
| Pipeline & Forecast Discipline | | | |
| Territory / Account Planning | | | |
| Cross-functional Collaboration | | | |
| Coaching & Peer Enablement | | | |

## Using this before your next 1:1
1. Score yourself honestly using evidence (a specific call/deal), not general impression.
2. Bring the summary tally, not just the total, the gap column is the actual conversation.
3. Where you and your manager differ by 2+ points on a competency, that's the discussion: not who's "right," but what evidence each of you is using.
4. Your 2 lowest-scoring competencies become the input to your next Individual Development Plan (IDP) quarter.