Sales Opportunity Coaching · 15 Jul 2026

Pre-close

8 of 8 dimensions scored

01Business Pain

How well the customer's problem is understood, in their words and their numbers.

No business pain has been articulated; we are describing our product rather than their problem.
A general need is stated by one contact, unquantified and with no date attached.
The pain is described in the customer's own words by more than one contact.
The customer has quantified the pain in money or time and stated the consequence of doing nothing.Ask what the problem costs per month and what happens if it is still unsolved next year.
The customer has a funded, dated internal initiative to fix this pain.Ask to see the initiative's name and its owner — a funded programme has both.Next rung

Evidence

02Economic Buyer

Access to the person who can release the money without asking anyone else.

The economic buyer has not been identified.
The economic buyer is named, but we have had no contact with them.
We have met the economic buyer at least once, introduced by our contact.
The economic buyer has confirmed budget to us directly and stated their own success criteria.Their criteria are rarely the same as the evaluation team's — capture both.
The economic buyer meets us on a recurring cadence and has personally sponsored the initiative internally.Next rung

Evidence

03Decision Process

How a purchase of this size actually gets approved in this organisation.

We do not know how a purchase of this size gets approved here.
The approval steps are assumed from previous deals, not confirmed by this customer.
The customer has walked us through the approval steps and named the bodies involved.
Each step has a date confirmed by the customer, held in writing.
A mutual close plan is signed off by the customer and tracked jointly against its dates.A close plan the customer will not co-sign is a forecast, not a plan.Next rung

Evidence

04Decision Criteria

Whether the yardstick the customer will measure against is known — and whether we shaped it.

No criteria are known; we are presenting our standard capability set.
Criteria are inferred from the RFP or from what our contact personally likes.
The customer has stated their criteria and how they weight them against each other.
We have influenced at least one criterion to reflect our differentiation, confirmed in writing.
The documented criteria map to capabilities where we are demonstrably strongest, and the buyer has verified that mapping.Next rung

Evidence

05Champion

Whether someone inside the account sells for us when we are not in the room.

No one inside the account advocates for us.
We have a friendly contact who shares information but takes no personal risk for us.
A contact actively argues our case in meetings we do not attend.
The champion has been tested: they delivered access or information at some cost to themselves.
The champion has power, is measured on this outcome, and is coordinating their own stakeholders on our behalf.

Evidence

06Competitive Position

Knowledge of the alternatives, including the customer doing nothing.

We do not know who else is in the deal, including whether "do nothing" is the front-runner.
Competitors are named, but we cannot state how the customer sees them.
We know each alternative's position and the customer's perception of its strengths.
A differentiation story exists per competitor, has been delivered, and the buyer has acknowledged it.
The customer's own criteria and process now disadvantage the alternatives.Next rung

Evidence

07Value & Business Case

Whose numbers justify the purchase, and who will defend them internally.

No numbers have been exchanged; the conversation is about features and price.
We have produced a value estimate built on our own assumptions.
The customer has supplied the inputs to the value model.
The customer's finance function has reviewed and accepted the business case.
The business case is the customer's own document, presented internally by them without us present.The strongest signal in the whole framework. Offer to help them build their slide, not ours.

Evidence

08Commercial & Paper Process

The legal, security and procurement path between a verbal yes and a signature.

Commercial and legal steps are unknown.
We know which team owns procurement, but there is no timeline.
Legal, security and procurement reviews are scheduled with named owners.
Redlines and security review are complete; only signature remains.Next rung
Terms are agreed in writing, and the signature path and date are confirmed.

Evidence

Round details

Label

Date assessed

Status

Complete is a signal to readers, not a lock — scores stay editable.

Notes

Pre-close

01Business Pain

02Economic Buyer

03Decision Process

04Decision Criteria

05Champion

06Competitive Position

07Value & Business Case

08Commercial & Paper Process

Round details

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