10 points · 10% of the score
Cadence & control
Control of the call: talk ratio, structure, energy, and whether you or the prospect was steering.
Cadence is weighted lightest because it is a symptom more often than a cause — but a call that runs away from you drags every other category down with it.
What earns the points
Talk ratio
3 ptsShare of speaking time across the whole call.
Roughly 40/60 in the prospect's favour, tilting further toward them in discovery.
You over 70%, or long stretches where they can't get a word in.
Structure held
3 ptsWhether the call followed an intentional arc.
Frame set at the top, agenda held, transitions signposted.
The call wanders, doubles back, or ends because time ran out.
Energy match
2 ptsTone and tempo relative to the prospect.
Matched then led — you set the tempo without overpowering them.
Flat delivery, or high pressure against a measured prospect.
Use of silence
2 ptsWhether you let space do work.
Silence after key questions and after price.
Every gap filled instantly, usually with a concession.
How it's measured: Measured from the transcript: speaker time split, section transitions, filler-word density, and pauses longer than two seconds at decision moments.
Green flags
- You set the agenda in the first sixty seconds and hold it.
- The prospect interrupts themselves to keep explaining.
- The call ends early because it was finished, not because time expired.
Red flags
- You are still talking at minute 45 with no ask made.
- Filler language spikes right before price.
- The prospect asks 'so what happens now?' before you do.
This week's drills
- 1
Set the frame in your first sixty seconds: what we'll cover, how long, what happens at the end.
- 2
Check your talk ratio on every recording — the number alone changes behaviour.
- 3
Leave three deliberate silences per call and note what fills them.