Creating an effective sales playbook is a crucial step for CEOs of companies generating $5-30 million in revenue who are striving to elevate their sales strategy. A comprehensive sales playbook not only aligns your sales team with the company’s broader objectives but also equips them with the necessary tools, knowledge, and strategies to drive growth. When a company hasn’t spent time to document their playbook and the necessary behaviors in every stage it’s not that they don’t have a way to sell, it’s that they can count the number of salespeople they have and that is the number of different sales processes they have. The goal of a playbook is to figure out the best practices of your team and the ideal process for your buyers and document those things into an easy-to-follow format.
Playbook Creation Tips
At its core, a sales playbook consolidates your company’s sales processes, strategies, and best practices, all derived from past successes, and aims to guide your team through every stage of the sales process. Ideally, this document should be visualized and engaged with in various ways. It’s advantageous to break it down into sections that cover all the critical elements, then compile these into a slide format that’s easy to follow. This approach provides a straightforward guide, with each slide addressing a specific stage, supplemented by in-depth training materials that delve deeper into the behaviors outlined on the slide. A common pitfall in playbook creation is assembling a voluminous document spanning hundreds of pages. Such formats, resembling a manual, can be challenging to navigate. By segmenting the content into slides and documents for each stage, you enhance usability and facilitate easier reference. The playbook is designed to evolve alongside your sales strategy, serving as an invaluable resource that streamlines onboarding and provides a clear framework for what is expected of everyone at any given point in the sales process. This cohesive approach ensures that the entire team moves in a unified direction, rather than scattered in various directions.
Structuring Your Sales Playbook
The sales playbook should be meticulously organized into sections that correspond to each stage of the sales process, ensuring that it provides all necessary knowledge and resources for sales personnel to execute their roles effectively. Here’s a breakdown of what each stage should encompass, based on industry best practices:
Your Sales Playbook during Hunting & Pipeline Generation
In the “Hunting” stage of your sales playbook, defining your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP), buyer personas, and target titles is critical for building lists to hunt effectively. This foundational work helps in crafting tailored messaging for each major outbound channel, optimizing cold call scripts, and preparing for objection handling.
Content:
- Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) and Personas.
- Targeted messaging for various outbound channels.
- Cold call scripts and email templates.
- Strategies for omni-channel prospecting.
- Entrance Criteria: Identifying a lead that matches the ICP.
- Exit Criteria: Lead expresses interest or agrees to a meeting.
Your Sales Playbook During Discovery
To effectively construct the discovery stage of your sales playbook, it’s essential to include tailored discovery questions for each persona you’re engaging with. These questions should aim to uncover needs and construct a compelling argument for change. Throughout this process, carefully consider why a change is necessary and timely, leveraging insights about their business to align with these pivotal messages. Should there be any resistance to recognizing the need for immediate change, advancing beyond this stage might prove difficult.
This phase should also introduce a first meeting deck that provides a broad overview of the issues your solution addresses, the reasons behind customers seeking change, the benefits your solution brings, the alternatives available to them, and why your offering is the superior choice. Additionally, it should detail the subsequent steps in a typical engagement process to align with your buyer’s expectations.
Furthermore, during the discovery phase, ensure to incorporate details about your value proposition, tackle common objections, and provide responses to frequently asked questions. This approach not only prepares your team to address potential concerns but also solidifies your solution’s value in the minds of potential customers.
Content:
- Persona-based discovery questions.
- Techniques for creating the need for your solution.
- First meeting deck that highlights the problems your solution solves.
- Overview of value proposition and differentiation.
- Common objections with rebuttals.
- Entrance Criteria: Lead agrees to discovery meeting.
- Exit Criteria: Lead acknowledges a problem that your solution can solve.
Your Sales Playbook during Solution Presentation
In this segment of your sales playbook, it’s crucial to empower your sellers on how to effectively initiate the meeting. The opening should leverage a well-prepared deck that encapsulates the insights gathered, briefly revisits the primary problems your solution addresses, underscores why these issues are significant, and the benefits customers experience by resolving them. This includes integrating real stories from similar companies that have benefited from your solution, adding a layer of relatability and proof of success.
Next, the presentation of your solution should be meticulously tailored to address these identified problems. It’s important to incorporate strategic pause points and prompt your sellers to ask specific questions designed to confirm alignment and deepen the prospect’s understanding of the solution’s impact.
Including screenshots of talk tracks for each critical section of the solution presentation enriches the playbook, offering concrete examples for sellers to emulate or adapt. This stage should also feature detailed competitive differentiator talk tracks, equipping your team with clear articulations of how your solution stands out from competitors. Additionally, strategies for addressing and overcoming common objections should be outlined, ensuring sellers are well-prepared for potential pushbacks.
This approach not only ensures a structured and impactful solution presentation but also aligns your team on how to communicate the value proposition effectively, facilitating a deeper engagement with potential clients.
Content:
- Structure for opening the meeting.
- Customized presentation decks.
- Real customer success stories.
- Key questions to ensure alignment.
- Competitive differentiator talk tracks.
- Entrance Criteria: Lead has a confirmed interest in a solution.
- Exit Criteria: Lead shows a clear interest in your solution over others.
What to include in your Sales Playbook during Solution & Business Alignment
This stage is often overlooked in the sales playbook, yet it holds significant importance. Many companies mistakenly jump from presenting their solution directly to sending a proposal, overlooking the fact that purchasing decisions often involve multiple stakeholders and additional activities before reaching the proposal stage. In this crucial phase, it’s essential to provide a structured template that allows prospects to compare your solution’s differentiators with other options in the market.
Additionally, include a business case template that showcases the insights gained during the discovery phase and demonstrates why the company should consider making a change. This template should outline the financial impact of implementing your solution, providing a clear justification for the investment.
Integrating the persona-based discovery document and objection handling into this stage is crucial. By including these resources, salespeople can easily reference them when new team members join or when facing objections during discussions with prospects. This ensures consistency and effectiveness in communication, regardless of personnel changes or objections encountered.
By incorporating these elements into your sales playbook, you equip your team with the tools and resources needed to navigate this critical stage of the sales process effectively. This structured approach not only enhances your team’s ability to engage with prospects but also increases the likelihood of successfully advancing them through the sales pipeline.
Content:
- Comparison templates for differentiators.
- Business case templates showing financial impact.
- Discovery document refreshers for new team members.
- Entrance Criteria: Lead is considering your solution seriously.
- Exit Criteria: Lead’s team is aligned with the proposed solution’s benefits.
Sales Playbook proposal & contracting stage best practices
This section ought to contain examples of effective proposal documents alongside “give-to-get” frameworks and negotiation training materials. It’s crucial to also include exemplars of your contracts. Detail the CRM process thoroughly, emphasizing the necessary actions post-agreement signing—these encompass the handover of the sale and the initiation of a superior buyer experience, ensuring a seamless transition from sales to service.
Content:
- Examples of successful proposals.
- Negotiation strategies and “give-to-get” frameworks.
- Standard agreement copies.
- CRM process documentation for this stage.
- Entrance Criteria: Lead requests a proposal.
- Exit Criteria: Agreement on proposal terms and move to contract.
Close Won/Loss
Objective: Finalize the sale or learn from the loss.
Content:
- Best practices for closing and securing the sale.
- Steps for effective follow-up and relationship maintenance post-sale.
- Templates for capturing reasons for lost sales.
- Strategies for turning a loss into a future opportunity.
- Entrance Criteria: Lead is ready to make a final decision.
- Exit Criteria: Sale is either won or lost, with documented reasons and follow-up steps.
For each of these stages, it’s crucial to provide detailed examples, training videos, dos and don’ts, and specific CRM process documentation. This ensures that the sales team has a clear understanding and easy reference to what is expected of them at each stage of the sales cycle, allowing for a standardized yet flexible approach to sales that can adapt to individual customer needs and market changes.
Implementing and Continually Updating Your Playbook
For your playbook to remain effective, it should be treated as a living document, regularly updated based on feedback from your sales team and shifts in the market. This iterative process ensures your playbook remains a relevant and powerful tool for your sales strategy
Bringing It All Together
A meticulously crafted sales playbook can significantly impact your sales team’s efficiency, alignment, and success. By providing detailed product information, a clear value proposition, tailored communication scripts, and comprehensive customer profiles, you equip your sales team to engage more effectively with prospects, personalize their approach, and navigate the sales process with confidence.
Remember, the most successful sales playbooks are those that are embraced and utilized by the sales team. Engage with your team regularly, solicit their feedback, and make the playbook an integral part of your sales culture. By doing so, you’ll not only enhance your sales strategy but also foster a culture of continuous improvement and strategic alignment within your organization.
In essence, your sales playbook is more than just a document; it’s the blueprint for your sales team’s success, guiding them through the complexities of modern sales with confidence and precision.
The Sales Collective builds and designs sales playbooks that work. If your company would benefit from this type of structure and repeatability let us know. We will provide you with a free audit and honest recommendations on what we’d suggest.
