The Sales Innovators Maturity Assessment

1 - Unaware: I conduct little or no structured research before client meetings. I rely on what I already know or what the client tells me on the day.

2 - Emerging: I occasionally review the client's website and Google them, but I do not use AI tools to accelerate or deepen the research.

3 - Practising: I regularly research prospects using AI tools alongside websites and reports, and I bring this context into client conversations.

4 - Proficient: I use Agentic AI to analyse annual reports, competitor benchmarks, and industry data. This research directly shapes the POV I present to each client.

5 - Innovator: I have built a systematic AI-powered research process that runs before every significant meeting. I coach colleagues on how to use AI for research and treat preparation as a non-negotiable discipline.

1 - Unaware: I do not use AI for POV development. My proposals are based on product features and standard positioning.

2 - Emerging: I have experimented with using AI to draft proposals, but my POVs are not consistently tailored to the individual client's strategy.

3 - Practising: I use AI to help structure and articulate client-specific POVs, drawing on research I have gathered about the client's goals and challenges.

4 - Proficient: I routinely prompt AI tools with client-specific data - annual report findings, competitive gaps, market trends - and use the output to build compelling, tailored strategic propositions.

5 - Innovator: AI-generated POVs are a signature part of how I go to market. Clients remark on the depth and specificity of my preparation, and I actively teach this approach to others. I use the Sales Innovators POV Generator as my starting point.

1 - Unaware: I am not using AI for tender responses. My process is manual and has not changed in response to market expectations of faster turnaround.

2 - Emerging: I am aware that AI can help with tender responses but have not yet integrated it into my process.

3 - Practising: I use AI to accelerate tender response drafting, drawing on previous proposals, frameworks, and company documentation to maintain quality and speed.

4 - Proficient: AI tender support is standard in my process. I maintain a set of trained prompts and reference documents that produce high-quality first drafts in hours rather than days.

5 - Innovator: I have built or contributed to an AI-powered tender library for my team. Our response quality and turnaround time are measurably better than before, and I can demonstrate the commercial impact of this capability.

1 - Unaware: I have no regular energy or state-management practice. My mental state before meetings is determined by whatever happened beforehand.

2 - Emerging: I occasionally use techniques like deep breathing or mindfulness when I notice I am stressed, but there is no daily discipline.

3 - Practising: I have a regular breathwork or meditation practice that I use most days. I notice a difference in my focus and energy when I do it consistently.

4 - Proficient: Daily breathwork or meditation is a non-negotiable part of my routine. I enter client meetings in a deliberately managed state of calm, focus, and enthusiasm.

5 - Innovator: I have practised for multiple years, teach specific techniques to others, and have observed measurable differences in my performance and client outcomes on days when I practise versus when I do not.

1 - Unaware: I find it difficult to maintain composure under pressure. Stress visibly affects my performance in client situations.

2 - Emerging: I manage most pressured situations adequately but feel reactive rather than in control. High-pressure moments sometimes affect my client relationships.

3 - Practising: I generally maintain composure in client situations, though I may need recovery time after particularly difficult interactions.

4 - Proficient: I consistently demonstrate calm and positive energy even in high-pressure situations. Clients and colleagues remark on my steadiness.

5 - Innovator: I thrive under pressure. I use breathwork techniques in real-time - paced breathing in the 90 seconds before a difficult call, alternate nostril before a strategy session - and model this composure for my team.

1 - Unaware: I primarily focus on individual performance and personal recognition. I share information and leads when required but not proactively.

2 - Emerging: I collaborate when it is clearly in my interest to do so, but I have not made collaboration a deliberate operating principle.

3 - Practising: I regularly initiate cross-team collaboration and treat shared wins as equally valuable to individual wins.

4 - Proficient: The 'We over I' principle defines how I work. I proactively connect colleagues with clients and opportunities, and I contribute to a team culture where information flows freely.

5 - Innovator: I actively build a 'We over I' culture in my team and organisation. I design working practices, share resources, and create moments that reinforce collective achievement over individual accumulation.

1 - Unaware: I go directly to solution-sharing in client meetings. My starting point is the product, not the client's problem.

2 - Emerging: I ask discovery questions in meetings but do not conduct pre-engagement observation or experience the client's world as a customer would.

3 - Practising: I regularly research the client's customer journey before key meetings and bring specific observations about gaps or irritants to the conversation.

4 - Proficient: I systematically apply The Serendipity Walk before major client engagements - experiencing the client's product or service firsthand, documenting a Customer Bug List, and building my POV from those direct observations.

5 - Innovator: The Serendipity Walk and Customer Bug List are embedded in my preparation for every meaningful client. I arrive with specific, observed evidence of what the client's customers experience - the hardest thing for a competitor to replicate.

1 - Unaware: I do not build formal SWOT analyses for clients. My view of their situation is based on what they tell me in meetings.

2 - Emerging: I have a general sense of a client's strengths and weaknesses but have not structured this into a formal SWOT.

3 - Practising: I build SWOT analyses for major client opportunities using research from websites, annual reports, and competitive benchmarking.

4 - Proficient: My SWOT analysis is evidence-based and iterative - I refine it through Serendipity Walk observations, competitor analysis, and client conversations. The opportunities quadrant drives my POV.

5 - Innovator: I co-develop SWOT frameworks with clients in discovery workshops, turning their own strategic thinking into the foundation for my proposed solution. The SWOT is a live document that evolves throughout the engagement.

1 - Unaware: I treat all stakeholders similarly and do not build specific profiles for individual decision-makers.

2 - Emerging: I have an intuitive sense of different stakeholder types but have not formalised this into structured persona profiles.

3 - Practising: I build persona profiles for major client engagements, noting each stakeholder's priorities, concerns, and what a successful outcome means to them personally.

4 - Proficient: Persona development is a standard part of my account planning. I use personas to tailor my messaging, anticipate objections, and design the Moments that Matter in each stakeholder's journey.

5 - Innovator: I build multi-stakeholder persona maps for key accounts and update them as I learn. I design differentiated experiences for each persona - from CEO to end user - and use Design Thinking workshops to co-develop these with the client.

1 - Unaware: I sell within the boundaries of my own product portfolio and do not explore partner or ecosystem solutions for clients.

2 - Emerging: I occasionally mention partner solutions when asked, but I do not proactively map the ecosystem for my clients.

3 - Practising: I regularly consider what external partners, technologies, or platforms could complement my offering to create more value for specific clients.

4 - Proficient: Open Innovation is a deliberate part of my account strategy. I identify and facilitate connections between my clients and relevant external partners, generating proposals that go beyond what any single vendor could offer.

5 - Innovator: I consistently create Open Innovation plays that combine my company's offerings with external ecosystem partners to develop unique, hard-to-replicate solutions. These plays become the basis of long-term strategic partnerships.

1 - Unaware: I am not familiar with Platform Strategy as a commercial framework and do not apply it in client engagements.

2 - Emerging: I understand the concept of platform businesses (Keurig, Apple App Store, Salesforce AppExchange) but have not applied platform thinking to my client's specific situation.

3 - Practising: I can identify platform opportunities for clients in specific industries and have raised this as part of a client conversation or proposal.

4 - Proficient: I use Platform Strategy as a standard lens in my account planning - looking specifically for network effects, potential complementors, and opportunities to move clients from linear to platform models.

5 - Innovator: Platform thinking is a signature part of my value proposition. I have developed and proposed specific platform strategies for clients, resulting in engagements that extend well beyond the initial product sale.

1 - Unaware: I pursue all opportunities with equal effort and do not have a structured pre-qualification process.

2 - Emerging: I qualify opportunities informally based on budget and timeframe, but I do not assess strategic fit or capability alignment systematically.

3 - Practising: I use The Pre-Qualification Filter and can answer all three questions before committing to a full POV. I exit opportunities early when the fit is not genuine.

4 - Proficient: The Pre-Qualification Filter is a deliberate part of my process. I can quantify the commercial problem, assess our credible path to being the best answer, and protect my time for the highest-value engagements.

5 - Innovator: I use the Pre-Qualification Filter to manage my portfolio of active opportunities and coach others to do the same. I can demonstrate how this discipline has improved my win rate and reduced time on unwinnable deals.

1 - Unaware: I present product information to clients rather than structured business cases. My proposals describe what we do, not what the client will achieve.

2 - Emerging: I include some business context in my proposals but do not structure them around the client's growth ambition or use a systematic canvas approach.

3 - Practising: I build business cases for major proposals that address the client's problem, the proposed solution, and the expected commercial outcome.

4 - Proficient: I use the Business Plan Canvas for every major opportunity - working through each field systematically, validating assumptions with internal stakeholders and client 'friendlies' before the senior presentation.

5 - Innovator: The Business Plan Canvas is the foundation of every strategic client engagement. I can fill it in, pressure-test it with my team, and present it to a CRO or CEO with confidence that every field is grounded in real data. I have used it to generate senior access that would not have been available with a product pitch.

1 - Unaware: I primarily respond to client-defined requirements. I do not challenge clients or teach them new perspectives.

2 - Emerging: I occasionally share market insights or external perspectives in client conversations but do not do this systematically.

3 - Practising: I regularly use insight-led conversations that challenge client assumptions and teach them something new about their competitive situation or market opportunity.

4 - Proficient: The Challenger approach defines my senior client conversations. I arrive with a commercial insight specifically crafted for this client, teach it clearly, and connect it to a capability that we uniquely possess.

5 - Innovator: I consistently generate the kind of Challenger conversations that earn senior access and change the frame of the client's decision. My win rates in complex, contested opportunities are measurably higher than my peers. I can teach the Challenger approach to others.

1 - Unaware: I present capabilities and features without attaching commercial outcomes or financial value to them.

2 - Emerging: I reference commercial benefits in general terms ('this will improve efficiency') but do not quantify them specifically for this client.

3 - Practising: I estimate and discuss commercial outcomes with clients, referencing industry benchmarks or case study data where client-specific data is not available.

4 - Proficient: Every major proposal includes a quantified business case: cost of inaction, projected outcome value, expected ROI timeline. I use the client's own language and financial data wherever possible.

5 - Innovator: I build financial models with clients collaboratively. They co-own the business case and use it to justify the investment internally. The model is the deal-maker, not the product features.

1 - Unaware: My presentations are primarily structured around product features, demos, or slide decks that describe our capabilities.

2 - Emerging: I include customer examples or case studies in my presentations, but they are not structured as deliberate narratives with a clear arc.

3 - Practising: I structure key presentations as stories, with a recognisable persona facing a real challenge that my solution resolves. Clients tell me my presentations are clear and memorable.

4 - Proficient: Every senior presentation I give is built around a fully constructed narrative: persona → setting → Moment One → Moment Two → ripple effect → call to action. I write the story before I build the slides.

5 - Innovator: Storytelling is my commercial signature. I have a library of customer, employee, and supplier stories that I adapt for each client. Senior stakeholders remember my presentations long after the meeting, and I have won business directly because a story changed a client's frame.

1 - Unaware: I build slides directly without a narrative planning process. My structure is driven by the slide template or the product demo sequence.

2 - Emerging: I plan my presentations loosely before building slides, but I do not use a structured storyboarding process.

3 - Practising: I use storyboarding as a planning tool for key presentations, mapping out the narrative arc and key visual moments before I produce any slides or assets.

4 - Proficient: Storyboarding is a standard part of my presentation process. I sketch the emotional journey of the audience - where I want them to feel tension, where I want relief, where I want resolution - and I build the visual assets to serve that journey.

5 - Innovator: I use AI-powered tools (Kling.ai, LTX-Studio, or equivalent) to produce visual storytelling assets that bring my narratives to life. My presentations include short-form video, imagery, and visual metaphors that create an experience rather than a briefing.

1 - Unaware: I end presentations by summarising key points and saying I will follow up. I do not ask for a specific commitment in the meeting.

2 - Emerging: I ask for a next meeting at the end of presentations but do not specify the purpose, agenda, or decision I am requesting.

3 - Practising: I close presentations with a clear next step, though I sometimes accept vague outcomes ('let us stay in touch') rather than committing to a specific decision.

4 - Proficient: Every presentation closes with one specific, calibrated ask: a defined workshop, a pilot with success criteria, a proposal with a sign-off date. I never leave the room without an agreed and dated next step.

5 - Innovator: My closing technique is deliberate and consistent. I frame the ask as the natural next scene in the story I have just told. My conversion from presentation to committed next step is measurably higher than my peers.

1 - Unaware: I work primarily within my own product or sales lane and rarely involve other teams unless specifically required.

2 - Emerging: I involve other teams when asked by clients or managers, but I do not proactively seek cross-team collaboration.

3 - Practising: I regularly identify opportunities where cross-team collaboration would benefit the client and initiate those connections, even when there is no immediate incentive for me to do so.

4 - Proficient: Cross-team collaboration is a deliberate part of my account strategy. I have generated qualified leads for other teams, participated in joint proposals, and built relationships with colleagues across divisions specifically to serve my clients better.

5 - Innovator: I have been a direct driver of cross-team innovation - as in Innovation Games-style initiatives - that produced new sales plays, new pipeline, and capabilities that neither team could have developed alone.

1 - Unaware: My behaviour is driven entirely by formal KPIs. I do not track any personal behaviours beyond what I am measured on officially.

2 - Emerging: I informally track some personal targets but have no structured system and no accountability partner.

3 - Practising: I have identified one or two specific behaviours to track personally, set a count or streak target, and informally check in with a colleague on progress.

4 - Proficient: I operate a personal gamification system with a named behaviour, a clear unit, an accountability partner, a defined reward, and a monthly review. I can describe what changed as a result.

5 - Innovator: Personal gamification is embedded in how I operate. I iterate my system quarterly - retiring behaviours once they are automatic and replacing them with the next development priority. I have coached others to build their own systems.

1 - Unaware: I focus on hitting my KPIs. Whether those activities align with client outcomes is not something I think about explicitly.

2 - Emerging: I understand that KPIs and client outcomes are not always the same thing, but I do not actively manage the tension between them.

3 - Practising: I consciously invest time in activities that serve client outcomes even when they are not directly measured by my KPIs - because I know this is what builds the trusted advisor relationship.

4 - Proficient: I can clearly articulate the gap between my KPIs and my clients' actual desired outcomes, and I manage my time explicitly to protect customer-outcome activities from being crowded out by activity metrics.

5 - Innovator: I advocate for the evolution of the incentive system. I can make the business case for customer-outcome-aligned metrics to my leadership, and I actively support initiatives (Innovation Games, gamification pilots) that close the gap.

1 - Unaware: We have no formal assessment of our value-selling capabilities. Our view of team performance is based on quota attainment and manager observation.

2 - Emerging: We conduct periodic performance reviews, but not structured capability assessments tied to value-selling methodologies.

3 - Practising: We have conducted at least one structured maturity assessment covering key value-selling behaviours and skills. Self-assessment and manager assessment are both captured.

4 - Proficient: We conduct regular maturity assessments (at least annually) and use the results to design targeted enablement programmes. The gap between self-assessment and manager assessment is actively used in coaching.

5 - Innovator: Maturity assessment is embedded in our transformation rhythm. We run pre- and post-enablement assessments, segment results by team and tenure, and use the data to make quantified investment decisions about where training resources will produce the highest return.

1 - Unaware: Top performers are recognised but their specific behaviours are not documented or analysed.

2 - Emerging: We informally observe what top performers do differently, but this is not systematically captured or shared.

3 - Practising: We have documented the key behaviours of our top performers and use these as benchmarks in coaching conversations.

4 - Proficient: Top-performer behaviours are codified and used as the basis for assessment questions, training programmes, and gamified incentives. The goal is explicit: replicate these behaviours across the rest of the team.

5 - Innovator: We have built a systematic cloning process - assessment, enablement, gamification - designed to accelerate the development of the next generation of top performers. We measure its effectiveness with before/after assessments and track commercial outcomes from each cohort.

1 - Unaware: We invest in training and enablement but do not systematically track the commercial impact of those investments.

2 - Emerging: We observe qualitative improvements after training, but we do not link them to specific commercial outcomes.

3 - Practising: We track one or two commercial metrics before and after major enablement programmes, though the attribution is not rigorous.

4 - Proficient: We have a measurement framework tracking multiple commercial indicators - lead generation, opportunity conversion, deal value, velocity, upsell/cross-sell, closed won - before and after each enablement programme.

5 - Innovator: Our maturity assessment cycle is fully integrated with commercial performance data. We can demonstrate - with specific numbers - the ROI of value-selling transformation for each cohort, and we use this data to make the case for continued investment to the leadership team and CFO.

1 - Unaware: I have a general sense of how I am performing but have not formally assessed my strengths and development gaps.

2 - Emerging: I reflect on my performance informally, but I do not use a structured framework or external input to validate my self-perception.

3 - Practising: I have completed a structured self-assessment (like this one) and can articulate my top two development priorities with specific reasons.

4 - Proficient: I use structured assessment data, manager feedback, and client feedback together to build a clear, honest picture of where I am and where I need to grow. My development plan is specific and time-bound.

5 - Innovator: Self-knowledge is a deliberate practice. I update my self-assessment regularly, triangulate it with manager and client input, and treat the resulting clarity as the foundation for every development decision. I model this discipline for others.

1 - Unaware: I am resistant to new tools and prefer to rely on established methods. I adopt technology when required, not proactively.

2 - Emerging: I adopt new tools when my organisation mandates them, but I do not seek them out independently.

3 - Practising: I proactively experiment with new tools and evaluate their usefulness for my specific work context. I have adopted AI tools before they became standard in my organisation.

4 - Proficient: I am consistently an early adopter of technologies that multiply my productivity. I have specific tools in active use - for research, POV generation, outreach, or presentation - that give me a measurable advantage over peers who do not use them.

5 - Innovator: I am an advocate and teacher of new technology adoption within my team. I identify emerging tools, evaluate them, share best practices, and help colleagues integrate them into their workflows. I can point to specific commercial outcomes that resulted from my team's technology adoption.

1 - Unaware: I communicate primarily through product presentations, feature lists, and data summaries.

2 - Emerging: I include stories and examples in my communication, but they are illustrative rather than the structural backbone of my message.

3 - Practising: I regularly structure key client communications as narratives, and colleagues and clients tell me my presentations are memorable and clear.

4 - Proficient: Storytelling is my default mode for client communication. I choose the story before I choose the slide. My narratives have a consistent structure - persona, Moment One, Moment Two, ripple effect, call to action - and I use them in verbal presentations, written proposals, and follow-up communications alike.

5 - Innovator: I have a library of practised, polished stories for every major client scenario. I update them based on feedback and new evidence. My storytelling is a competitive asset that clients name as a reason for choosing to work with me.