While a person’s inherent creativity, charisma, and personality can be all it takes to close a sale occasionally, possessing solid sales fundamentals occasionally is what enables someone to perform well. Besides having the right personality, effective selling requires following a process. So, whether you’re busy onboarding new hires or want to provide more support to your current salespeople, a playbook is critical. Here’s how to get started!
What is a sales playbook?
Playbooks are your sales team’s holy grail; they encompass the best sales practices and how to use them in relevant situations. Likewise, sales playbooks’ are an excellent and valuable resource for sales and marketing teams to recall and implement in real time because they’re ideal for gaining insights to aid the sales process’s refinement. This helps teams collaborate and determine the best opportunities, identify any roadblocks before they happen, and agree upon their message to prospects.
In conclusion, an effective sales playbook contains all the strategies, content, and templates your sales reps need to close more deals and excel in their role.
What is the purpose of a sales playbook?
Sure, a person’s inherent creativity, charisma, and personality can be all it takes to close a sale occasionally. However, possessing solid sales fundamentals enables someone to perform well consistently. Besides having the right personality for the job, effective selling requires the ability to follow a proven process- that is what a sales playbook provides.
Also Read:
- Running Effective Sales Team Meetings
- Decoding The Challenger Sale – Effective or Hype?
- Hiring Salespeople: How To Find, Hire & Retain Top Performing Reps
What to Include in a Sales Playbook
A good sales playbook combines many materials into one convenient manual. While the bulk of a playbook contains training and reference material, there is room for other types of information as well. Most sales playbooks have many of the following sections:
1. The Company
It is always a good idea to start a playbook by providing an overview of the company’s background and values. By doing this, you can reinforce your company’s culture while emphasizing what the company expects from all employees. This section is also the ideal place to include a chart of the organizational structure of the sales department as well as an employee list with up-to-date contact information.
2. KPIs and Performance Evaluation Metrics
“How am I doing?” is the question all salespeople want to know, so why not make it easy for them to figure it out? You can include a section highlighting the key metrics sales managers will likely focus on while evaluating their performance and how team members should record and track results. If your company has quotas, you may also want to include that information here to guarantee everyone is on the same page regarding expectations.
3. Typical Customers and What They Need
The better your team understands your ideal target customers, the more effectively they can sell to them. A well-made playbook will look extensively at all the typical buyer personas representing usual customers. Besides the basic customer statistics (age, job title, income/company size, brand engagement level, etc.), think about adding hints for closing the sale for customers represented by each buyer’s persona.
4. Products and Services
While you don’t have to include all the details of everything you sell in your sales playbook, having products, pricing, features and benefits in one place is helpful. Having similar information for your competitors’ products or services is an excellent approach. A set of standardized answers to common prospect questions and a clearly written value proposition are valuable additions to this part of the playbook.
5. Step-by-Step Sales Process
A salesperson may only be actively involved in a few steps of the company’s entire sales process, but everyone must understand the big picture to see how their role fits in with others. In this playbook section, walk through a realistic sale from the beginning to the end, showing who should take responsibility for each step. Make sure to include key goals at each stage.
6. How to Use the CRM
Proper tracking of leads and communication with them in Customer Relationship Management software (CRM) is a standard part of the modern sales professional’s duties. It can be a lot to remember for new hires learning new software, so make it easier by including a guide to the CRM in the Sales Playbook. You can include what information needs to be recorded and when and how to enter it.
7. Summary of the Preferred Sales Methodology
Companies that prefer their sales reps to all use the same approach to sales may find it beneficial to present a brief overview of the approved method in addition to any suggested further reference material in the playbook. If you do decide to include a sales methodology, your team will find it especially useful if you cross-reference it with each stage of the sales process.
8. Company Messaging
Does your company have a standard way of talking about itself and interacting with your clients? If it does, then you need to put it in your playbook. Marketing messaging helps sales representatives maintain a consistent tone, vocabulary, and value proposition throughout the entire sales process, no matter who contacts the prospect. This is an excellent section to include any communication templates you want your staff to use internally or when contacting customers.
9. Company Rules and Employee Compensation
You may finish the playbook with a section discussing company regulations such as code of conduct, communication policies, new hire and separation procedures, and compensation and bonuses.
Also read: How to Onboard New Sales Reps | Training New Hires Fast
How to make writing & using a Sales Playbook easier
Although it will take considerable time and effort to create a useful sales playbook, incorporating these tips will make both the writing process and using the playbook more manageable.
Remember, it’s a collaborative and living document
The more people from different stages of the sales process you can bring in to help create the playbook, the more precise and helpful the manual will be. You should expect to update your playbook regularly. Therefore, consider using a binder or, even better, keep it all digital to make changes more convenient.
Reuse existing content
There is no need to start from scratch. If you already have training or product information you are happy with, use it.
Make it easy to use
Add an index to the front of the book or document, and cross-reference information within the text. Think about using tabs so salespeople can access the information they need.
Introduce to new hires
Incorporate it into orientation and training to familiarize your team with the playbook and make it an essential part of your company’s culture.
Ask for feedback
Use any suggestions you receive to make changes that make your playbook easier to use and as helpful as possible. It may seem daunting, but at the end of the day, a customized sales playbook is a worthwhile investment for your business.
Strengthen Your Sales Team with Strategic Leadership & Management Training
Maintaining motivation is critical for sustained achievement. As a sales rep, you know this: motivation drives hard work, customer connections, and goal attainment.
However, staying motivated despite rejection, setbacks, and intense competition poses significant challenges.
Many sales leaders grapple with the same issue within their teams. The solution lies in Strategic Leadership and Management Training. By honing your skills, you empower your sales team to take ownership, plan strategically, and surpass expectations.
