Every business owner wants to have high-quality salespeople working for them, implement standardize best practices, decrease ramp-up time, and increase productivity across the company. Being the sales leader of your company, you need to be in good favor with your sales team and deal with budget constraints at the same time. All the while, you want to train your employees to be better at their job.
You may be wondering what is a playbook in sales and how it can help you run your business. A playbook in sales is an affordable, high-return investment you can use in your company. It is a document the outlines your call scripts and agendas, proposal guidelines, negotiation questions, sample emails, demo, qualification, competitive intelligence guidelines, sales process, and buyer personas. Simply put, the sales playbook contains all the information and strategies to help you close a deal.
So, what is a playbook in sales, and what makes it useful? To be successful, remember that your sales playbook must include the following:
- Diagram your buyer engagement experience
- Detail and plan sales play to your sales process and buyer personas
- Package additional sales content properly, making it easy for the team to use it during selling activities
- Identify and describe your buyer personas
- Explain the buyer’s journey through your sales process
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When Do You Use a Playbook in Sales?
New hires
Your playbook is not always a broad-brushed tool for your entire business. You can use it for a specific sales member, buyer persona, or product. A playbook that is specifically designed for new hires will help them drive revenue faster and improve ramp time.
New field initiative
You could use the sales playbook in a unique market opportunity. You may use it after acquiring a new company or after introducing a new channel for sales. Also, You may use the playbook if there is a change in the selling behavior of the company.
New sales process
There are benefits in using a custom sales process. It means you wish not to follow the standard sales processes that were used several years ago. Now is the best time to use a new tool in your sales process. A playbook in sales will support the new process.
New product launch
Use a playbook if you are dealing with a new buyer. Keep in mind that a playbook in sales is a plan to help execute a sales process. A lot of companies use a playbook for every one of their product lines.
Why Do Need a Playbook in Sales?
If you are asking what is a playbook in sales and why your company needs one. The answer is that a playbook is like Google Maps for your sales team. By having a playbook, your team will not be lost. Ideally, the sales team should have the skills and competencies to be effective at their jobs. However, the sales playbook guides them on what strategies to use and when to use them with specific buyer personas.
Your playbook in sales is not permanent. You need to update your playbook depending on a variety of factors. These situations can be the product line shrinking or expanding, sales process improvements, tweaking the sales compensation plan, strategy changes, ideal customer shifts, etc. At the same time, make sure your playbook is accessible to the entire sales team.
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