I was recently sent a 50-page document that someone referred to as a sales playbook. And while the document was very informative, it is not what I would consider to be a playbook. If only for one reason: if you give a 50-page document to a salesperson, it will not be a tool they can incorporate into their daily routine when making calls or working in the field. With that, in this video, I show you how to build a sales playbook that sales reps will use.

 

What is a Sales Playbook?

The first thing we need to do is get on the same page with what a sales playbook is. And to help with this, let’s look at a playbook for a football team. A football playbook is not a thick document full of explanations and details. It is more like a binder of pages that can be flipped through. And the pages have drawings that quickly show the player what to do in different situations.

A sales playbook should be the same. It should be a set of documents and tools that a salesperson can easily and quickly use that tells them what to say and do in the sales situations they find themselves in.

 

What a Sales Playbook Should Include

There are only a few situations a salesperson will be in:

  • Making phone calls
  • Sending emails
  • Leaving voicemails
  • Networking
  • Meeting with prospects
  • Delivering presentations and demonstrations
  • Performing follow-up
  • Providing pricing, quotes, and proposals
  • Closing
  • Responding to objections

That is pretty much it. And with that list, it can be clear to see what type of documents and tools we need to include in a sales playbook:

  • Cold call scripts (outlines)
  • Email templates
  • Voicemail scripts
  • Networking questions
  • Meeting outline
  • Presentation outline
  • Question lists
  • Objection responses

Sales Playbook Best Practices

But the key with all of this is figuring out how to build a sales playbook that sales reps will use. Because if they do not use it, then their reps pero

  • Easy to use: The tools and documents have to be easy and quick to use.
  • No reading: You do not want to create a sales playbook that reps read from.
  • No paragraphs: The playbook should have almost no paragraphs.
  • Bullet points: Instead of paragraphs, use bullet points.
  • Personality flexibility: It needs to allow the salesperson to use their own personality.
  • Situational flexibility: The documents should be flexible, allowing for the different directions situations can take.
  • Outlines, not scripts: In order to create documents and tools that are flexible, the tools and documents should be of an outline structure rather than any type of continuous document or script
  • Rollout as optional: The playbook could be rolled out as an optional resource.

 

How to Organize Your Sales Playbooks

You can use a single sales playbook that contains all your documents. But if you want to get to the next level, you could have multiple sales playbooks. That is because you could have a different sales playbook for each of your main products. Inside each playbook are the scripts, emails, and objection responses for that particular product.

You could also have different sales playbooks for the different target audiences you communicate with and try to sell to. You could certainly use a broad target audience that fits all the different prospects. But if you deal with different industries or buyer personas, you can benefit from having separate playbooks for those audiences. This is because the different audiences might have different interests and pain points, and you can have different playbooks focus on messaging that is targeted for that particular audience.

 

Sales Playbook Formats

There are many different formats to build your sales playbook. The most common would probably be something like MS Word or Google Docs. We have had a lot of clients come to us with their playbook built into a spreadsheet in MS Excel or Google Sheets.

Those are good options because they are usually free. But with free comes some downside in the form of version control, which can be difficult with not knowing whether reps have or are using the latest playbook. Also, these formats are fairly difficult to navigate and access when working on the phone or in the field.

Our product, SalesScripter, solves all of those challenges with a web-based sales playbook, which aligns with all of the recommendations we have suggested in this video. It includes all of the key documents, scripts, and tools. And it is incredibly easy to create multiple playbooks for your different products and target audiences.