Sales Playbook
by Terry Stidham
You wouldn't send your football team into a game without a defined play, would you?
The same standard exists for your sales organization. If you are responsible for leading a sales team that is to be skilled in hunting down leads, tracking them, closing deals, and maintaining client satisfaction, you probably know the importance of using a streamlined process and a consistent message for internal and external purposes.
What is a sales playbook and why is it important? Sales playbooks are the synthesis of sales process, best practices, the sales tools used and the tactical steps that should be adhered to as part of an effective sales engagement. Think of it as a blueprint for sales success, which allows for creative tailoring based on situational needs but the core underpinnings should remain consistent. Without a step-by-step process and clearly-defined value propositions/messaging, your team (no matter how skilled) will likely falter, missing crucial steps in the sale and ultimately losing deals that could easily be won if handled correctly.
The same standard exists for your sales organization. If you are responsible for leading a sales team that is to be skilled in hunting down leads, tracking them, closing deals, and maintaining client satisfaction, you probably know the importance of using a streamlined process and a consistent message for internal and external purposes.
What is a sales playbook and why is it important? Sales playbooks are the synthesis of sales process, best practices, the sales tools used and the tactical steps that should be adhered to as part of an effective sales engagement. Think of it as a blueprint for sales success, which allows for creative tailoring based on situational needs but the core underpinnings should remain consistent. Without a step-by-step process and clearly-defined value propositions/messaging, your team (no matter how skilled) will likely falter, missing crucial steps in the sale and ultimately losing deals that could easily be won if handled correctly.
A playbook is an in-depth manual outlining each stage of the sale, and all aspects of:
· WHAT you sell
· WHO you sell to
· HOW you sell it…play-by-play
By interviewing a good cross section of your top performing sales reps as well as your bottom performing sales reps, you can develop a better understanding of what is working well in your sales engagements, what isn’t working well and why. Combining that with general best practices allows you to craft a road map for sales success, also known as a sales playbook.
In many cases, it is just as important to incorporate what you should not do as sales rep in to a sales playbook as what you should do. That could include many things like whom you should be engaged with and selling to as opposed to whom you shouldn’t be selling to or investing time with.
What sales tools should you use and when in the sales process? How do you orchestrate the sales process to build to a crescendo and the optimal outcome? What resources should you leverage and when in the sales process?
Sales playbooks should include properly setting expectations and managing them with the prospective customer, also known as earning the right to the next step in the sales process and ultimately earning their business.
Sales playbooks should always include a go/no go stage at the end of each step in the sales process along with criteria that assist in making informed decisions about whether to continue to invest your company’s resources in the opportunity. Many sales reps fail to walk away from a sales opportunity even though the odds for success are slim or if it’s simply not a good deal to win.
Strategic sales reps always are assessing whether to continue investing their resources or not-qualifying is ongoing not a discrete step at the very beginning of the sales process. The discovery stage of developing a sales playbook is always enlightening in terms of what is really happening in the field; good, bad and indifferent. It also highlights sales tools, process steps and refinements in the sales process that are needed to sell more effectively.
When combined with a strong sales process, your team can use these deliverables to effectively close more sales. Map your sales process and playbook to your CRM system of choice to easily track where each sales person is in their sales and accounts. This gives peace of mind to upper management, and also allows all members of the sales team to be on the same page with their counterparts.
In addition to being a valuable selling resource, a playbook also helps management weed out top sellers from underdogs who aren’t pulling their weight. Here’s how: Once trained on a playbook, each member of your team should be able to articulate your value proposition and business benefits through call scripts, elevator pitches, executive presentations, and more. Those who can’t do this, or those who don’t feel the need to use the playbook, are likely the team members that are keeping you from greater success and revenue. Lastly, it’s something that should be revisited and updated every 6 months as the market evolves and demands improvements in the way that you sell.
Just like any other team, your sales force needs a playbook to understand the game, define best strategies, and develop tactics for greater success. Start outlining the best plays for your team, and best to you on a winning season!
In many cases, it is just as important to incorporate what you should not do as sales rep in to a sales playbook as what you should do. That could include many things like whom you should be engaged with and selling to as opposed to whom you shouldn’t be selling to or investing time with.
What sales tools should you use and when in the sales process? How do you orchestrate the sales process to build to a crescendo and the optimal outcome? What resources should you leverage and when in the sales process?
Sales playbooks should include properly setting expectations and managing them with the prospective customer, also known as earning the right to the next step in the sales process and ultimately earning their business.
Sales playbooks should always include a go/no go stage at the end of each step in the sales process along with criteria that assist in making informed decisions about whether to continue to invest your company’s resources in the opportunity. Many sales reps fail to walk away from a sales opportunity even though the odds for success are slim or if it’s simply not a good deal to win.
Strategic sales reps always are assessing whether to continue investing their resources or not-qualifying is ongoing not a discrete step at the very beginning of the sales process. The discovery stage of developing a sales playbook is always enlightening in terms of what is really happening in the field; good, bad and indifferent. It also highlights sales tools, process steps and refinements in the sales process that are needed to sell more effectively.
When combined with a strong sales process, your team can use these deliverables to effectively close more sales. Map your sales process and playbook to your CRM system of choice to easily track where each sales person is in their sales and accounts. This gives peace of mind to upper management, and also allows all members of the sales team to be on the same page with their counterparts.
In addition to being a valuable selling resource, a playbook also helps management weed out top sellers from underdogs who aren’t pulling their weight. Here’s how: Once trained on a playbook, each member of your team should be able to articulate your value proposition and business benefits through call scripts, elevator pitches, executive presentations, and more. Those who can’t do this, or those who don’t feel the need to use the playbook, are likely the team members that are keeping you from greater success and revenue. Lastly, it’s something that should be revisited and updated every 6 months as the market evolves and demands improvements in the way that you sell.
Just like any other team, your sales force needs a playbook to understand the game, define best strategies, and develop tactics for greater success. Start outlining the best plays for your team, and best to you on a winning season!
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