Sales Capability Assessment
Northgate Electrical Supply
Morgan Ellis
Sales team readiness · Fall 2026

Rate your team, Morgan

Rate what each person usually does, not what they could do on their best day. Use the descriptions under each scale; 2 and 4 sit between them. Your ratings are confidential to leadership.

Riley Thompson

0 of 18 rated
Create opportunity
Proactive prospecting
Starts conversations the customer did not ask for, aimed at the right accounts, with a reason to talk.
1 Developing. Reaches out when assigned or prompted. Messages are generic, and outreach stops when inbound work picks up.
3 Proficient. Runs a steady weekly outreach rhythm against a prioritised list, opens with a relevant reason and logs every touch.
5 Advanced. Builds their own target lists from buying history and trigger events, keeps outreach going in busy weeks and shares what works.
Discovery
Uses questions and listening to understand the situation, problem, impact and desired outcome before recommending.
1 Developing. Asks mostly closed or product questions and moves straight to a quote.
3 Proficient. Asks layered questions (situation, problem, impact), confirms the need back and records it before proposing.
5 Advanced. Uncovers needs the customer had not stated, puts a number on the gap and brings an insight that reframes the problem.
Account growth
Grows existing customers by finding and acting on whitespace: lines, sites and services they buy elsewhere or not at all.
1 Developing. Fills what the customer asks for and suggests an add-on only when it is obvious.
3 Proficient. Reviews buying history and routinely suggests related items and adjacent categories.
5 Advanced. Keeps a whitespace plan for key accounts, brings in specialists and grows gross profit per account year on year.
Qualifying and follow-through
Judges which opportunities are real and moves them forward with clear next steps, decision process and timing.
1 Developing. Treats every quote as equally likely and follows up only when the customer chases.
3 Proficient. Qualifies on need, decision-maker, timing and competition, and follows up every quote within a set window.
5 Advanced. Disqualifies early, knows the decision process and closes predictably; close dates rarely slip.
Win with value
Adaptive selling and value
Reads the customer, adapts the approach and links the offer to the outcomes they care about, with proof.
1 Developing. Describes features and price, with the same pitch for every customer.
3 Proficient. Tailors the message to the person and their stated need, and uses relevant proof.
5 Advanced. Builds a quantified case (total cost, time saved, risk avoided) and changes approach in the moment when the conversation shifts.
Product and application knowledge
Knows the offer and how it is applied well enough to recommend, substitute and solve problems correctly.
1 Developing. Relies on lookups and colleagues for anything non-standard; specification errors happen.
3 Proficient. Recommends correct products and substitutes for common applications.
5 Advanced. Is the go-to on complex or emerging categories and prevents specification errors for others.
Negotiation and margin
Reaches agreement that keeps the customer and protects profit; trades concessions rather than giving them.
1 Developing. Discounts to win or escalates every price challenge, and rarely knows the margin on the order.
3 Proficient. Knows the margin and the floor before quoting, defends price with value and trades concessions.
5 Advanced. Wins at or above target margin and turns price objections into total-cost conversations.
Buying group engagement
Engages everyone who influences the purchase rather than one contact.
1 Developing. Works through one buyer contact.
3 Proficient. Knows who approves and has contact with at least two roles on active opportunities.
5 Advanced. Deliberately engages users, technical, financial and procurement roles and helps the group reach a decision.
Run the business
Business and financial acumen
Understands how both businesses make money and manages the book to gross profit, not revenue.
1 Developing. Measures success by revenue or order count and cannot explain gross profit on their own book.
3 Proficient. Tracks gross profit dollars and percentage by account and can explain what drives the customer’s costs.
5 Advanced. Manages the book to gross profit growth and talks credibly with finance and procurement.
Territory and account planning
Segments accounts and plans coverage so time goes to the highest potential.
1 Developing. Works on whatever arrives next, with no segmentation.
3 Proficient. Segments the book by potential, plans a weekly contact rhythm and protects time for proactive work.
5 Advanced. Keeps written plans for top accounts and moves effort as signals change.
Data, CRM and AI fluency
Uses CRM, reports and AI tools to find, prepare and act, and checks AI output.
1 Developing. Enters the minimum into the CRM, late, and does not use reports or AI tools.
3 Proficient. Keeps records current, uses reports weekly and uses AI for research and drafting, checking the result.
5 Advanced. Builds their own views and plays from data; others rely on their records and borrow their prompts.
Pipeline and forecast discipline
Keeps an honest, current view of future business and calls the number.
1 Developing. Pipeline is incomplete or optimistic; forecasts are guesses.
3 Proficient. Stages reflect evidence and the forecast lands within an agreed tolerance.
5 Advanced. Forecasts accurately quarter after quarter and raises risk early.
Collaborate and sustain
Team selling
Works as one team with partner reps and specialists: shared plans and clean handoffs.
1 Developing. Works in a silo; handoffs are informal and things fall through.
3 Proficient. Holds a regular rhythm with their partner rep, shares account notes and hands off with full context.
5 Advanced. Co-owns account plans and brings in specialists at the right moment; the partner says the pairing multiplies results.
Customer experience
Accurate orders, proactive updates and problems owned until fixed.
1 Developing. Resolves issues when the customer chases; some order and quote errors.
3 Proficient. Tells customers about delays before they ask, with high accuracy, and owns complaints to resolution.
5 Advanced. Fixes root causes and turns a service moment into a selling moment.
Ownership, resilience and learning
Drives their own results, recovers from rejection and keeps adapting.
1 Developing. Needs prompting and is discouraged by rejection.
3 Proficient. Sets and tracks personal goals, asks for feedback and persists through rejection.
5 Advanced. Experiments with new approaches, coaches peers and models adapting to change.
Foundations
Written communication
Reads what a customer actually asked for and replies clearly, accurately and in a tone that keeps the relationship.
1 Developing. Misses or misreads parts of customer requests; replies are defensive, vague or need correcting.
3 Proficient. Answers every point a customer raises, plainly and politely, and confirms anything ambiguous.
5 Advanced. Writes replies customers act on first time; turns a difficult message into a next step.
Commercial numeracy
Works out margin, price, discount and volume trade-offs quickly and correctly while selling.
1 Developing. Needs a tool or a colleague for margin and discount maths, and mixes up margin with markup.
3 Proficient. Calculates margin, target price and the effect of a discount correctly in the moment.
5 Advanced. Uses the numbers to steer the conversation, for example showing a customer the volume a discount would really need.
Listening and applying
Takes in what a customer says, remembers the facts that matter and uses them in what comes next.
1 Developing. Has to ask customers to repeat themselves; recommendations ignore what was said.
3 Proficient. Captures the key facts of a conversation and reflects them in the quote or follow-up.
5 Advanced. Connects details across conversations and accounts that others miss, and builds the recommendation on them.