# Sales Readiness Self-Assessment

> A 20-question, six-category gut-check that names the exact skill holding back your first close: discovery, qualification, objection handling, closing, product knowledge, or CRM discipline, before your manager has to say it.

Free assessment/quiz for sales reps. Topic: [Onboarding & Ramp](https://www.peerlab.ai/library/topic/onboarding-ramp/). Published by PeerLab in the [Sales Enablement Resource Library](https://www.peerlab.ai/library/). Source: https://www.peerlab.ai/library/sales-readiness-self-assessment/

## How to use it

Complete it alone and score your own six sections privately, then discuss only the lowest-scoring section with your manager or mentor, not the full sheet.

## What's inside

- 20 self-scored statements across 6 skill categories
- 1–5 scoring scale with instructions
- Section-by-section subtotal scoring
- Overall readiness bands (85–100 / 65–84 / 45–64 / below 45)
- Skill-gap interpretation for each of the 6 possible lowest-scoring sections
- A specific fix-it action tied to each named gap
- Monthly retake protocol

**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)

5. I know the prospect's timeline and what's driving it before I propose next steps. ___
6. I ask about budget/decision process directly, even when it feels uncomfortable. ___
7. 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)

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

**Section C subtotal: ___ / 15**

## Section D, Closing (Questions 11–13)

11. I ask for the next step out loud, on the call, instead of saying "I'll follow up." ___
12. I've asked a prospect directly "what would need to be true for you to move forward" in the last month. ___
13. 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)

14. I can explain what makes us different from our top competitor in one sentence, without notes. ___
15. I connect features to the specific business impact the prospect told me about, not a generic pitch. ___
16. 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)

17. I log call notes and next steps in the CRM within an hour of the call, not at the end of the week. ___
18. My pipeline stages reflect reality, I don't leave dead deals sitting in an active stage. ___
19. I know exactly what's due today on my calendar without having to go hunting for it. ___
20. 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.**

| Total score | Overall readiness |
|---|---|
| 85–100 | Strong: ready for full autonomy, deal complexity can increase |
| 65–84 | Solid but uneven: one section is likely dragging the average down (see below) |
| 45–64 | Foundational gaps: pick ONE section and work only on that for 30 days |
| Below 45 | Talk to your manager or mentor this week, not next month |

## 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.