Discovery Excellence Playbook
Evaluates the quality and completeness of sales discovery conversations against a defined methodology. Measures depth of pain exploration, clarity of next steps, questioning quality, and alignment to internal discovery standards to improve rep execution and coaching outcomes.
Start building
Deploy this kit stack into your workspace. Customize bricks, scoring, and outputs to match your team.
Without this playbook
Most teams handle discovery excellence through scattered call reviews, manager opinion, and isolated examples. Without a shared operational definition, the signals stay inconsistent and difficult to act on across volume.
With this playbook
A shared, repeatable lens for discovery excellence - with structured outputs you can route into coaching, reporting, and workflow automation. Every conversation produces evidence, not just opinions.
Built for
Sales managers, enablement leads, and frontline coaches
When teams use it
- Coaching sessions and 1:1 reviews
- Rep skill development tracking
- QBR preparation and team benchmarking
The operational stack
2 kits behind this playbook
Great discovery is not one skill - it is four working together. This stack separates the structural discipline of following a framework from the conversational craft of asking strong questions, the operational habit of locking in next steps, and the listening quality that makes the whole thing land. Coaching against just one of these misses the picture. Together, they give you a complete view of whether a rep is running discovery or just going through the motions.
Engagement Depth & Listening Kit
4 bricks
Assesses interruptions rep talk ratio and listening behaviours.
Included bricks
Customize this kitTalk Ratio Score
ScoreMeasures how much each speaker talks rep versus customer
Open Vs Closed Question Present
BooleanScores the ratio of open versus closed questions asked
Listening Signal Present
BooleanDetects signals of active listening acknowledgements and recaps
Interruption Present
BooleanDetects interruptions as a negative engagement signal
Next Step Clarity Kit
4 bricks
Detects explicit next steps, timeline commitment, and action ownership.
Included bricks
Customize this kitNext Step Phrase Present
BooleanDetects explicit next step language
Owner Assignment Present
BooleanExtracts who is assigned the next step or action
Timeline Commitment Present
BooleanDetects explicit timeline commitments in closing
Next Step Quality Score
ScoreScores clarity and completeness of next step definitions
Knowledge base
Supporting materials
The kits in this playbook work best when backed by reference materials that ground the evaluation. Upload these into your workspace knowledge base to improve accuracy and relevance.
Learn more about Knowledge BasesYour internal discovery methodology or framework documentation (e.g. MEDDIC, SPIN, or custom)
Ideal customer profiles and target persona definitions
Example transcripts of strong discovery calls annotated with what good looks like
Internal pain-point taxonomy or value driver mapping
Onboarding materials that define what a good first call looks like
Structured output
What you get back
Every conversation processed through this stack produces a structured JSON object. Each brick contributes a typed field - booleans, scores, categories, or string lists - that you can route, aggregate, and report on.
Example output shape
{
"talk_ratio_score": 7,
"open_vs_closed_question_present": true,
"listening_signal_present": true,
"interruption_present": true,
"next_step_phrase_present": true,
"owner_assignment_present": true,
"timeline_commitment_present": true,
"next_step_quality_score": 7
}In practice
How teams use these outputs
The structured outputs from this stack integrate into your existing workflows. Use them wherever you need repeatable, evidence-based signal from conversations.
Coaching sessions and 1:1 reviews
Rep skill development tracking
QBR preparation and team benchmarking
Enablement program measurement
Get started
Deploy this playbook in your workspace
Customizing creates a workspace-owned draft with this playbook's full kit stack. Adjust bricks, scoring, and outputs to fit your team, then publish when ready.