Sales competency assessment · Sales
You cannot train your team well until you know what each person can and cannot do.
The usual way to find a weak rep is to look at targets. One rep misses every month, so the owner sends the whole team to a workshop. Later it turns out that rep qualified enquiries well and never asked for the order, while two others had the opposite problem.
Scope, fee, reporting and term are agreed in writing after we have read your brief and spoken to you.
In one paragraph
Sales competency assessment checks each salesperson against the skills their role needs, using role plays, reviewed calls, manager observation and a self-assessment. GullySales writes the competency list, runs or trains your managers to run the exercises, and gives you a gap sheet for every person.
We start with a short list of what your role demands, written from your own enquiries, quotations and lost deals. A dealer-facing rep in a manufacturing firm and a front-desk executive in a clinic need different lists. Each person is then observed in a fixed role play, on real calls and in a manager's notes.
The result is one gap sheet per person, in plain words, tied to examples. It does not rank your people against outside figures.
Who it is for
This is written for you if these sound familiar.
- Owners about to book training who cannot say who needs what
- Sales heads whose reps hit similar numbers for very different reasons
- Manufacturers and distributors whose reps handle dealers, quotations and credit talks
- Hospitals, clinics, banks and showrooms with front-line staff who meet walk-in buyers
- Teams choosing a sales manager on targets alone
Not for
It is not the right fit if.
- Hiring decisions about outside candidates, which belong to recruitment and candidate assessment
- Owners who want a score to justify letting someone go, as this is a development tool
- A team of one or two where the owner already hears every call
The problem
Does this sound like your business?
Common situations this work addresses.
“Everyone gets the same training and nothing changes”
A rep who cannot open a conversation and a rep who cannot handle a price objection sit in one room. Neither practises their own gap.
“I rate my reps by gut feel”
The manager remembers the loud deals and forgets the quiet ones. Two managers describe one rep in opposite ways because nobody wrote down what good looks like.
“The best closer cannot say what they do differently”
The habits are never written down, so the team copies the style, not the behaviour.
“Reps say they are fine, and the calls say otherwise”
Until a self-rating and a reviewed call sit on one sheet, development becomes a debate about confidence.
What we do
The work we can include.
Each deliverable and the purpose it serves. Your written scope confirms what is included, who is responsible, and what it costs.
Role competency list
The skills your role needs, each written as something a person does on a call or visit. You approve it against your best performers' work before anyone is assessed.
Rating guide
For each competency, a plain description of weak, acceptable and strong work, with a sample from your own sales situations.
Role play scripts
Fixed buyer scenarios with agreed objections, such as a dealer asking for longer credit or a patient's family comparing two hospitals. Every rep gets the same one.
Call and chat review sheet
A form for reviewing recordings, WhatsApp threads or quotation follow-ups. Each rating points to a line in the conversation.
Manager observation form
A short sheet completed after sitting in on visits or calls. It records what was seen, kept apart from what the manager assumes.
Self-assessment questionnaire
The rep rates themselves on the same list before seeing any other result. The difference from the observed rating is recorded.
Gap sheet per person
One page showing strengths, gaps, the evidence for each and the two or three gaps to work on first. It feeds a coaching or training plan.
How the result is measured
- Competencies rated with supporting evidence per rep
- Agreement between independent assessors
- Gap between self-rating and observed rating
- Gaps shared across the team against gaps held by one person
- Gap sheets turned into a coaching or training action
Recorded as a baseline before work starts, so every later report has an honest comparison.
Marketing and sales together
Your sales head gets a gap sheet for every rep to attach a plan to.
Each sheet names the competency, the call or role play behind the rating and what better looks like. Where a gap is really a pricing or product problem, it is marked for you rather than blamed on the rep.
Decisions to make before the work starts
Access to real conversations
The review is only as good as the calls, chats and quotations you share. You approve what is used.
Team size and roles
The number of reps, distinct roles and who scores the exercises change the work. These are agreed in the written scope.
Separate services
Coaching, a training programme, hiring assessment and pay design are separate work. This service ends with the gap sheets.
How it works
How the sales competency assessment work runs
The work itself, in order. How an engagement starts, from your brief to a written scope, is set out on our method page.
- 1
Role evidence review
We read your quotations, lost-deal notes and a sample of calls with your sales head, and you approve the competency list.
- 2
Rating guide sign-off
The descriptions are tested on one known rep. Disagreements between your managers are settled here, before anyone is scored.
- 3
Evidence collection
Each rep does the role play, supplies calls or threads, and fills in the self-assessment. Reps are told in advance what is assessed and why.
- 4
Scoring and comparison
Two people score the role play independently, then compare. Where role play, call review and self-rating disagree, we mark the gap rather than averaging it away.
- 5
Feedback conversation
Each rep sees their own sheet with a manager present. A rating can be challenged with evidence, and the sheet is corrected if the rep is right.
- 6
Handoff to a plan
The sheets go to whoever runs coaching or training. Which gaps come first is your decision.
Before you hire anyone
Do this first yourself.
Before anyone is assessed, write down what good looks like for the role in your own words.
- List the five things your best rep does on a call or visit that a weaker rep does not.
- Pick one real buyer situation, such as a price objection or a stalled quotation, and write what a weak, acceptable and strong reply sounds like.
- Ask two managers to rate the same rep separately on those five things, then compare the answers.
- Ask each rep to rate themselves on the same five things before they see anything else.
- Tell the team in plain words what the exercise is for and that it is not a layoff list.
Judge any provider
What to ask any provider of this service.
Useful whoever you choose, including us.
- How will the competency list be built from our own sales work and not from a generic template?
- What written descriptions will assessors score against, and who signs them off?
- How many people score each role play, and what happens when they disagree?
- Will our reps see their own results first, and can they challenge a rating with evidence?
- What happens to the gap sheets afterwards, and who decides which gaps are worked on?
Where this fits
Three pieces of sales work, in this order.
This work sits inside sales management. A target, a review routine and someone who owns the number.
Step 1
Sales audit
Find where deals are being lost and what to fix first.
Start here if you cannot say where orders are lost.
Step 2
Sales process design
One written way to sell, from first enquiry to repeat order.
Start here if every salesperson sells differently.
Step 3 · you are here
Sales management
A target, a review routine and someone who owns the number.
Start here if the team has targets and no routine.
FAQ
Questions owners ask before they call.
Not here? More answers, or ask on WhatsApp.
How is this different from a training needs assessment?
Will my reps think this is a layoff list?
Do you give each person a score out of ten?
Can we run the role plays and reviews ourselves?
Do you record our calls?
What does it cost and how do we begin?
How long is the contract?
How soon will we see results?
Who will actually do the work?
What do you need from us?
By industry
Sales competency assessment, written for your industry.
Related services
Often bought with this, or instead of it.
Your next practical step
Tell us what you are trying to grow, and we will read it before we call.
Eight short steps, mostly taps. Skip anything you would rather answer on the call.