How to See Your Own Strengths and Weak Spots Clearly.
Here is a strange thing about getting better at sales. You can practice for years and still miss the mark, simply because you are working on the wrong thing. You think you are great at one part and weak at another, and you are flat-out wrong on both. Seeing your real strengths and weak spots is its own skill. Get it right, and everything else you practice starts to pay off.
The mistake most people make
Most people rate their own skills wrong. Some think they are far better than they are, so they never fix what is hurting them. Others think they are worse than they are, so they hide and play small. Both feel sure they have it right. That is the trap. You cannot watch yourself the way other people watch you. So you fill in the gaps with a guess, and the guess is usually off.
What good self-awareness looks like
Good reps know where they really stand. How they rate themselves lines up with how they actually perform. They do not flatter themselves, and they do not beat themselves up. They have a clear, honest read: "I am strong here, I am shaky there." That read comes from checking their own view against real feedback and real numbers, not from a gut feeling. So when they sit down to practice, they fix the thing that matters.
How to do it
Rate yourself first, in writing
Pick five skills that matter in your job. Score yourself on each, honestly, before anyone else weighs in. Writing it down stops you from quietly changing your mind later.
"Discovery 7, objection handling 5, follow-up 8, closing 6, listening 4. That's my honest read before I ask anyone."
Compare your scores with your manager
Ask your manager to rate you on the same five skills. Then line your scores up next to theirs. The gaps are gold. A gap means you see yourself differently than the people watching you.
"I gave myself an 8 on follow-up. My manager gave me a 4. That gap is the first thing I need to look at."
Ask about a weak spot you cannot see
You have blind spots by definition, you cannot see them. So ask. Get one person you trust to name a habit you may not notice in yourself.
"What's one thing I do on calls that I probably don't realise I'm doing?"
See the difference
"I'm good at discovery. I always ask loads of questions, so that's not where my problem is. My closing is the issue." Meanwhile, every call is full of yes-or-no questions and the buyer never opens up. The real weak spot is hiding in plain sight.
"I gave my discovery a 7, but two people told me I rush my questions and don't dig. So my real score is more like a 4. That's where I'll spend my practice this month, not on closing."
Same rep. Same skills. The strong version checks the gut feeling against real feedback, finds the truth, and aims practice at the thing that will actually move the numbers.
How you'll know it's working
You have got this when your own rating lines up with how you actually perform. Pick a skill, rate yourself, then check it against feedback and your real numbers. If your view matches what other people see and what the data shows, your self-read is sharp. If it does not, that gap is not bad news. It is the most useful thing you will learn all month, because now you know exactly what to work on.
Questions people ask
Why do salespeople rate their own skills wrong?
You cannot watch yourself the way other people watch you. You only see your effort, not how it lands. So you fill the gap with a guess, and the guess is usually too high or too low. The fix is to check your own rating against real feedback from a manager and against your actual numbers, instead of trusting a gut feeling.
How do I find my real strengths and weak spots?
Rate yourself on five key skills in writing first. Then ask your manager to rate you on the same five. Compare the two lists and look for the biggest gap. The gap shows where your view of yourself does not match how you actually perform. That gap, not your gut feeling, is the honest place to start improving.
What if my manager's rating is very different from mine?
That gap is the most useful thing on the page. A big difference means you have a blind spot, something you do that you cannot see in yourself. Do not argue or defend it. Ask one question: "What are you seeing that I'm not?" Then watch for that habit on your next few calls. Seeing it is the first step to fixing it.
Is it better to rate myself too high or too low?
Neither helps. Rating yourself too high means you skip the practice you actually need. Rating yourself too low means you hide and play small when you could be growing. The goal is not to feel good or bad about your skills. The goal is an honest read that matches reality, because that is what tells you the right thing to work on.
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