What a sales playbook is
A sales playbook is how your team sells, written down so a new rep can do it the way your best rep does. It answers the questions reps ask in their first month: who do we go after, what happens on a first call, what do I say when they push back, and how many calls is enough?
The long playbooks you'll find online run to dozens of pages, built for teams with an enablement department to keep them current. A small team needs something a rep can read in twenty minutes and find an answer in during a call. Six parts, about a page each, does it.
A playbook is different from a sales plan. The plan says what you'll sell this year and the numbers to get there. The playbook says how.
The six parts of the template
Copy each part into a shared document and fill it in. The words in brackets are yours to replace.
Part 1: Who we sell to
Our best customers are [type of business or person], with [size, location or situation].
They buy from us when [the moment or problem that makes them look].
The person we talk to first is usually [role]. The person who signs is usually [role].
We don't chase: [who isn't a fit, and why].
Part 2: The steps from first contact to signed
1. First contact: [how leads arrive, and how fast we reply]
2. First call: [what we find out; how long it takes]
3. [Demo, meeting or visit]: [what we show; who should be there]
4. Proposal: [what goes in it; sent within how many days]
5. Follow-up: [how often, by which channel, and when we stop]
6. Signed: [what happens next, and who hands over to whom]
A deal moves to the next step when: [the thing that must be true for each step]
Part 3: What to say
Our one-line reason to talk: [the problem we solve, in the buyer's words]
First-call questions:
- [question about how they do it today]
- [question about what it costs them]
- [question about who else decides]
How we describe what we do in 30 seconds: [three sentences]
Part 4: Objections and answers
"[The objection we hear most]": [what it usually means] / [what we say back]
"[The second]": [what it usually means] / [what we say back]
"[The third]": [what it usually means] / [what we say back]
Common sales objections has eight to start from, with words to say back.
Part 5: The weekly numbers
Each rep, each week:
Calls or conversations: [number]
First meetings booked: [number]
Proposals sent: [number]
We check these on [day], in [the weekly meeting or 1:1].
If a rep is behind by Wednesday, we [what happens: a call block, help from the manager].
Part 6: Tools and where things live
Leads and follow-ups: [the CRM or list]
Logging calls and meetings: [where]
Documents we send: [the folder, with the ten we use most]
Who to ask: [name] for pricing, [name] for product questions
The template filled in for a made-up team
Made-up example: a team of four selling bookkeeping services to small clinics.
Part 1: our best customers are clinics with 3 to 15 staff, usually the month after a messy tax filing. We talk first to the practice manager; the owner signs. We don't chase single-doctor practices, because the fee is more than their books are worth.
Part 2: we reply to new enquiries the same day, the first call is 20 minutes, and the proposal goes out within two working days. We follow up on days 2, 7 and 14, then close the file.
Part 5: each rep makes 40 calls a week, books 6 first meetings and sends 3 proposals. We check on Monday in a 20-minute meeting. Behind by Wednesday means a two-hour call block that afternoon.
The whole thing is five pages. New reps read it on day one and bring questions to their first 1:1.
How to write it without losing a week
- Sit with your best rep for an hour and ask them to walk through their last three deals. Write down what they did, not what they think they should have done.
- Fill in parts 1, 2 and 5 first. They're the ones a new rep needs in week one.
- Collect objections for two weeks: every rep writes down the ones they hear. Then write part 4 from the real list.
- Show the draft to the team and ask one question: "Where is this wrong?" Fix those bits.
- Put the date on the cover, and a name for who keeps it up to date.
Keep it short enough to be used
A playbook nobody opens is the usual ending. A few habits prevent it:
- Keep each part to a page. If a part grows past that, it's two parts or it's become a training manual.
- Use it in the weekly meeting. Pick one part each week and ask whether it's still true.
- Update it when something changes, like a new objection that keeps coming up or a step you've dropped, on the same day.
- Point new reps at it on day one. The sales rep onboarding post covers the first 30 days.
The numbers in part 5 keep it honest. If the playbook says 40 calls and the team is making 20, either the playbook or the week needs to change.
The weekly numbers in part 5 are only useful if reps log them. In ActivityTracker reps log calls in one tap, and you see who's gone quiet and prep each 1:1, for a team of 5 or 30.