core your sales process in 10 minutes. 12 questions across 6 categories reveal your biggest pipeline leak and where to fix it first.
27 Mar 2026
Lio
Your Pipeline Has a Weak Spot. You Are Probably Fixing the Wrong One.
Most sales leaders have a theory about what is broken. "We need more leads." "Our close rate is low." "The team is not following up enough." The theory drives the fix. The fix costs time, money, and attention. And three months later, the numbers have barely moved.
Not because the fix was wrong. Because it was applied to the wrong part of the process.
A sales process audit does not start with a fix. It starts with a score. Before you change anything, you need to know which category is actually dragging your pipeline down. Not the one that feels weakest. The one that measurably is.
This scorecard covers six categories that span the full B2B sales pipeline. Each category has two questions. Each question is scored 1 to 5. The category with the lowest total is your biggest leak and your highest-leverage fix.
It takes ten minutes. The answers will surprise most teams.
For each question, score your team honestly on a 1 to 5 scale:
Score | Meaning |
|---|---|
1 | We do not do this at all |
2 | We do this inconsistently or rarely |
3 | We do this sometimes but with no system behind it |
4 | We do this consistently with a defined process |
5 | This is fully systemised and runs without manual effort |
Be honest. A 3 is not a failure. It means you have the behaviour but not the system. Most teams score between 2 and 3 on the majority of questions. That is normal. The goal is not perfection. The goal is finding which category sits lowest so you know where to focus.
Add the two question scores in each category to get a category total out of 10. The category with the lowest total is your primary leak.
This category measures whether leads entering your pipeline are being captured cleanly and prioritised intelligently.
Score 1 if leads arrive in multiple places (email, form submissions, spreadsheets) and someone has to manually consolidate them. Score 5 if every lead from every source lands in one system instantly with no manual step.
Score 1 if there is no scoring at all and reps prioritise by gut feel or recency. Score 5 if every lead is scored on arrival using defined criteria and reps open a prioritised list, not a flat queue.
Your Score | What It Means |
|---|---|
8 to 10 | Lead capture is a strength. Reps start their day with clean, prioritised data. |
5 to 7 | Leads are arriving but prioritisation is manual. Reps waste time sorting before selling. |
2 to 4 | Leads are leaking before a rep ever sees them. This is your first fix. |
This category measures how quickly your team responds to inbound interest. It is the single highest-leverage metric in most B2B pipelines.
Score 1 if you have no idea what your average response time is or if it is measured in hours. Score 5 if every inbound lead receives a response within 5 minutes and you track this metric weekly.
Score 1 if task creation is manual and depends on someone noticing the lead. Score 5 if the task exists within seconds of the lead arriving, assigned by rules, with the lead's full context included.
Your Score | What It Means |
|---|---|
8 to 10 | Your response speed is a competitive advantage. Protect it. |
5 to 7 | You respond within hours, not minutes. The gap is structural, not motivational. |
2 to 4 | Leads are going cold before anyone reaches them. This is likely your biggest revenue leak. |
This category measures whether your team maintains contact with leads beyond the first or second touch.
Score 1 if most leads get one or two touches before being abandoned. Score 5 if your team consistently delivers five or more touches per lead with a defined cadence.
Score 1 if follow-up is entirely manual and depends on individual discipline. Score 5 if sequences fire automatically based on what happened in the pipeline (proposal sent, demo completed, lead went quiet) with no manual scheduling.
Your Score | What It Means |
|---|---|
8 to 10 | Your follow-up cadence is systemised. Deals die from disqualification, not silence. |
5 to 7 | First and second touches happen. Everything after that is inconsistent. |
2 to 4 | Your pipeline is full of deals that died because nobody followed up, not because the prospect said no. |
This category measures what happens between the demo and the proposal, the single stage where the most B2B deals die.
Score 1 if proposals take 5 or more days after a demo. Score 5 if proposals go out the same day or within 24 hours, supported by pre-built templates that make assembly fast.
Score 1 if nothing happens between the demo ending and the proposal arriving days later. Score 5 if a summary email fires within 2 hours of every demo, confirming what was discussed and when the proposal will arrive.
Your Score | What It Means |
|---|---|
8 to 10 | You are converting demos at a high rate. The post-demo gap is closed. |
5 to 7 | Proposals arrive within a few days but the momentum gap is costing you conversions. |
2 to 4 | Deals are dying between demo and proposal. This is the most common kill zone in B2B sales. |
This category measures whether deals that reach the proposal and agreement stage actually convert to signed contracts.
Score 1 if follow-up after proposal is entirely manual and inconsistent. Score 5 if a defined sequence triggers automatically: check-in at 48 hours, value-add at day 5, binary question at day 8.
Score 1 if contracts take 3 or more days to send after verbal agreement. Score 5 if contracts are generated from templates and sent within hours of verbal confirmation, with automated signature reminders.
Your Score | What It Means |
|---|---|
8 to 10 | Deals that reach proposal stage are closing at a healthy rate. |
5 to 7 | Proposals and contracts are getting out, but delays are costing you near-close deals. |
2 to 4 | You are losing deals after the prospect has already said yes. This is the most painful leak to discover. |
This category measures whether your team can see what is actually happening in the pipeline in real time, or whether the data is always stale.
Score 1 if pipeline data lives in spreadsheets that someone compiles weekly. Score 5 if a live dashboard shows every key metric updated continuously without anyone pulling data.
Score 1 if CRM data depends entirely on rep discipline and is frequently stale or incomplete. Score 5 if interactions log automatically as a byproduct of the work happening, and pipeline stages update based on outcomes.
Your Score | What It Means |
|---|---|
8 to 10 | Your pipeline reflects reality. Decisions are based on current data. |
5 to 7 | Some visibility exists but it depends on reps keeping the CRM current. Data is often a few days old. |
2 to 4 | You are managing the pipeline blind. Forecasts are based on assumptions, not data. |
Here is the full sales process checklist in one table. Fill in your scores and find your weakest category.
# | Category | Q1 Score | Q2 Score | Category Total (/10) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Lead capture and scoring | ___ | ___ | ___ |
2 | Speed to first contact | ___ | ___ | ___ |
3 | Follow-up consistency | ___ | ___ | ___ |
4 | Demo conversion | ___ | ___ | ___ |
5 | Proposal to close | ___ | ___ | ___ |
6 | Pipeline visibility | ___ | ___ | ___ |
Your lowest-scoring category is your primary leak. That is where the highest-leverage fix lives.
Total Score (out of 60) | Pipeline Health |
|---|---|
48 to 60 | Strong. Your process is systemised. Focus on refinement and scaling. |
35 to 47 | Functional but leaky. Two or three categories need attention. |
22 to 34 | Significant gaps. Multiple stages are losing deals that should be converting. |
Below 22 | The pipeline is running on individual effort, not systems. Start with the lowest category immediately. |
The sales process assessment is only useful if it points to a specific action. Here is the first fix for each category when it scores lowest.
Lowest: Lead capture and scoring. Your reps are working from incomplete or unscored data. The fix is not more leads. It is making every lead arrive in one place with a score attached before a rep sees it. This is a systems problem, not a volume problem.
Lowest: Speed to first contact. Your team is losing deals before anyone picks up the phone. The fix is eliminating every manual step between lead capture and follow-up task creation. If a human has to notice, assign, and create a task before a lead gets contacted, the gap will always be too wide.
Lowest: Follow-up consistency. Your deals are dying from silence, not rejection. The fix is building automated follow-up sequences that fire based on pipeline events. Reps should not have to remember what to send and when. The system should handle the cadence.
Lowest: Demo conversion. The gap between demo and proposal is your kill zone. The fix is a 24-hour proposal SLA supported by pre-built templates and a bridge email that fires within 2 hours of every demo. Speed between demo and proposal is the single biggest predictor of Stage 2 survival.
Lowest: Proposal to close. Deals are stalling or dying after the prospect has shown clear intent. The fix is an automated post-proposal follow-up sequence and a same-day contract process. Every day between verbal yes and signed contract is a day the deal can unravel.
Lowest: Pipeline visibility. You are making decisions based on data that is days or weeks old. The fix is removing manual data entry from the pipeline entirely. Interactions should log themselves. Stages should update based on outcomes. The dashboard should reflect today, not last Friday.
The scorecard tells you where the leak is. WorksBuddy's agents close it. Here is what changes in each category when they are running your pipeline.
LIO captures every lead from every source within seconds. No consolidation. No CSV imports. No leads lost in a form submission queue.
LIO enriches every record with company data, role context, and engagement history on arrival, then scores it on fit and intent using rules you define. Reps open a prioritised queue, not a flat list.
LIO creates a follow-up task the moment a lead arrives, assigned to the right rep with full context. TARO surfaces it at the top of the rep's workflow immediately.
If no action is logged within 5 minutes, LIO escalates to a backup automatically. No lead sits untouched.
EVOX fires follow-up sequences based on pipeline events. Proposal sent? Cadence starts. Lead went quiet? Re-engagement triggers. Prospect replies? EVOX stops and TARO hands the conversation to the rep with full context.
Reps do not schedule follow-ups. The system runs the cadence across every deal simultaneously.
LIO triggers a proposal task with a 24-hour deadline the moment a demo is marked complete. TARO surfaces it at the top of the rep's queue immediately.
EVOX fires a bridge email within 2 hours of the demo: summary, key points, and proposal delivery date. The post-demo gap closes before the prospect's attention shifts.
PRAX pre-builds the delivery framework in the background. If the deal closes, the project plan, team assignment, and timeline are ready before anyone sends a kickoff message. This means the proposal can reference a realistic delivery schedule because PRAX has already mapped it.
EVOX runs the post-proposal sequence: 48-hour check-in, Day 5 value-add, Day 8 binary question. No manual scheduling.
LIO tracks proposal opens. Three opens in one day? TARO creates an urgent call task for the rep that same afternoon. The buying signal is acted on within hours.
SIGI generates contracts from templates the moment verbal agreement is reached, with automated signature reminders. The gap between yes and signed shrinks from days to hours.
PRAX triggers project setup the moment the contract is signed, so the transition from close to delivery is immediate. No handoff meetings. No "what did we sell them?" conversations. The deal moves from pipeline to project inside the same system.
LIO logs every interaction automatically. Stages update based on outcomes, not on reps remembering to click a dropdown.
TARO tracks every task across the pipeline, so managers see not just where deals are but what actions are pending, overdue, or completed at each stage.
PRAX feeds delivery data back into the pipeline view. Revenue that has been closed but not yet delivered is visible alongside revenue still being pursued. Forecasts account for the full picture.
Every metric on the scorecard, response time, follow-up rate, stage conversion, deal velocity, proposal turnaround, is visible on the dashboard in real time. The sales pipeline audit that used to take a full afternoon now takes a glance.
The scorecard tells you which category to fix. LIO, TARO, EVOX, and PRAX fix it without adding headcount or depending on anyone remembering.
You now have 12 questions and a scoring system. The sales performance audit takes ten minutes and a pen. Fill it in honestly. Find your lowest category. That is the one conversation worth having with your team this week.
Not a conversation about effort. Not a conversation about targets. A conversation about which part of the system is failing and what specifically changes to fix it.
WorksBuddy's free plan is where the fix becomes operational. No credit card. No expiry. LIO starts capturing, scoring, and routing leads the moment you connect your first source. TARO starts creating tasks. The scorecard stops being a one-time exercise and becomes the baseline you measure improvement against.
Score it today. Fix the lowest number. Score it again in 30 days. That is the entire playbook.