Ask what you would ask on the call
Write down the five questions you always open with. What are you trying to change? What have you tried? What is it costing you to stay where you are? When do you want movement? What would make this worth the investment? Those five usually cover it, and if a question never changes what you would offer, cut it.
Ask them as a conversation, one at a time, with a short follow-up after each answer so the prospect feels heard rather than processed. Keep the whole thing under ten minutes of their time, and read the answers before you call.
Score answers against your own criteria
Decide in advance what a good answer looks like for each question. A clear goal beats a vague wish. A deadline beats an open horizon. Evidence they have tried something beats no attempt at all. Give each answer a simple mark and set a threshold for taking the call.
The point is not to trap anyone; it is to spend your calendar on prospects who can say yes. Two criteria you can defend are better than ten you have to explain, and writing them down keeps the assessment consistent when volume grows.
Give the prospect something back
An assessment that only takes is a form. End it with a short summary of what they told you, and one observation they can act on whether they hire you or not. That small return is what separates qualification from interrogation, and it is usually the moment a prospect decides you are worth a call.
Keep the summary honest: describe what you heard and what you would look at first, without promising an outcome you cannot guarantee. A single paragraph is enough, and it takes two minutes to write.
Route the qualified, nurture the rest
There are two exits. The qualified get a call in your calendar and a conversation that starts with context. The rest get permission to leave: a useful resource, a slow sequence, or a polite close.
In QwikSol, the assessment runs as a four-phase conversation in chat, as a short quiz, or by voice. It discovers the prospect's KPIs, matches the answers to a library of coaching strategies, and shows the results as projections rather than promises. A completed assessment can create the client's portal account, so a yes turns into a start without another round of emails.
- Ask the five questions you always open with, before the call is booked.
- Score answers against criteria you wrote down, then set a threshold.
- Give every prospect a useful observation, whether they book or not.