You can measure empathy and confidence on sales calls by scoring specific behaviors on real conversations: how the rep probes, acknowledges the buyer, holds a position and handles objections. Dextego’s Influence Score does this on every live call, with gravitas, empathy, probing and objection handling scored separately.
The Call Scene: “Good Energy” vs. “Not Senior Enough”
A rep with strong numbers on paper meets a CEO for the first time. He opens with ten minutes of company history. The CEO checks her phone twice. Later, when she raises a concern about timing, he says “no problem at all” and moves on without asking why. The manager’s notes say “good energy.” The CEO’s notes say “not senior enough.”
Two measurable misses: low gravitas (he never led the agenda or held the frame) and low empathy (he heard the concern and did not explore it).
Why the Usual Fixes Fail
- Manager gut feel produces notes like “good energy” that no rep can act on.
- Talk ratio and filler word metrics measure delivery, not whether the buyer felt understood.
- Practice scores reward performance against a bot, not behavior with real executives.
How Dextego Scores Influence
Dextego is Influence Coaching for sales teams, and the Influence Score is the behavioral scoring standard built for real buyer conversations.
- Real calls only. Practice sessions do not raise the score, so it reflects how reps perform with buyers, not bots.
- Four subscores. Gravitas, empathy, objection handling and probing, each with what the rep did well and one specific way to improve.
- Outcome-aware. The score reflects how the call actually ended.
- Compatibility. Because Dextego profiles the buyer with DISC and Big 5 from public data, it shows where this rep’s style naturally fits this executive, and where they need to adjust tone.
- Coachability, measured. Managers see coaching gaps across the whole team and which reps improve after coaching, the most honest measure of coachability.
What Changes
Teams using Dextego raised win rates 15% in 90 days. Coaching conversations move from “be more executive” to “you held the frame in 2 of 5 executive calls this month; here is the moment you lost it.”
The numbers from Key Outreach show what that looks like. In three months, empathy rose from 5.1 to 6.0, probing from 5.1 to 6.3 and objection handling from 4.5 to 6.2. The team’s Influence Score went from 5.0 to 6.1, past the 6.0 the strongest rep was hitting at the start, and the win rate rose from 10% to 16%. Aptivio made these skills measurable by tying coaching into quarterly performance reviews.
For enablement leaders running large teams across NYC, Chicago and remote hubs, that turns soft skills into a tracked number. More from customers on our testimonials page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you measure empathy in sales calls?
Yes, through behaviors: acknowledging concerns, asking follow up questions, and adapting to the buyer’s style. Dextego scores empathy on every real call.
What is executive presence in sales?
It is how well a rep leads the conversation, holds a position under pressure and speaks to a senior buyer’s priorities. Dextego scores it as gravitas.
How do sellers adjust their tone for executive buyers?
By knowing the executive’s communication style before the call and getting a prompt when they drift. Dextego profiles the buyer, shows rep and buyer compatibility, and coaches tone live.
What tools identify coaching gaps across large sales teams?
Dextego’s Influence Score breaks every real call into gravitas, empathy, probing and objection handling, so managers see each rep’s gaps and team-wide patterns without listening to every call.
Turn Soft Skills Into a Score
Book a demo to see the Influence Score on real calls, or test rep and buyer fit in the free compatibility tool.