How to create and use a sales playbook: The ultimate guide
Posted: Wed Dec 04, 2024 9:23 am
We all agree that sales is a challenging game to play. The only way to win this game is by playing it smartly. We are aware of the difficulties in winning a sale, but the question is what are we doing about it.Just yelling at your sales rep for not performing or being disappointed with a new hire who is struggling to understand your sales process won’t help in increasing your sales.Instead, take a wiser step and create a sales playbook? Show your new hires how is the game played and reveal some secret tactics to win the sales to your experienced players.
Sales playbook explained
Sales Playbook is your sales GPS that shows you the way to sales success. Before I go any further, let me briefly explain what sales playbook is, and how can it help sales reps.It is a collection of useful sales Bahamas Phone Numbers materials that clearly define the sales process and methodology, outlines roles and responsibilities, details selling tactics and techniques, and provides a systematic framework for closing deals.A sales playbook-
Keeps the sales team on track
Helps managers to coach efficiently
Highlights the practices that the best sales reps are using to excel at each stage of the sales process
Gives sales reps a better understanding of what they are selling and whom they are selling to
It eliminates ambiguity, confusion, and missteps
Defines a clear structure for improving sales performance
Lays basic step and strategies to complete a sales cycle successfully
Acts as a coaching tool to get the new hires up to speed quickly
The preparation
A sales playbook needs extensive research and efforts. Do your homework well before creating the sales playbook:
1. Establish your vision and mission
A sales playbook cannot begin until you don’t understand the vision and mission of your company. Here, you need to be precise and honest; you cannot just bluff anything.Tap the cabin of the CEO and try to understand what is your company’s objective, core values, and mission. Gain knowledge about where do your company aims to reach in the coming years.Incorporate these mission, vision and core values in your sales playbook, so the sales reps get a clear understanding of the objective of your company and work with unwavering determination to achieve it.Your sales reps should be able to convey your core values while communicating with the clients. This will help in creating a good image of your company.
2. Identify best practices of top sales rep
As thought leader, you need to be aware of your sales team capabilities; this helps in accentuating the positives and mitigating the weaknesses. Spot the best performers and take a closer look at their practices. Understand what are they trying to do to excel.Analyze the buying process to identify the success factors of your best performers. Try to track their outbound activities; a sales CRM can help you in this.With a CRM, you can even get insightful sales reports on the past sales information. This can help you in identifying the most effective steps taken by the best performing sales reps.
3. Assess the current sales scenario
Commence by understanding the present sales scenario and identify the gaps by reviewing current materials, tools and customer research. Analyze the present state of profitability.However, remember that you don’t only need to focus on the best sales practices but also on the customer purchasing model.Try to understand-
How do customers prefer to buy?
What source of information do they rely on?
How long do they take to make a purchasing decision?
What are the factors driving a purchasing decision?
Are the customers satisfied with the product?
Including customers in your research is the best way to find out what they expect and what do you need to do to meet their expectation because ultimately it is all about your ‘customers’.
4. Go through the sales objections
This is the main area of attention where mostly a company loses a deal. So, you need to discuss with your team to discover the objections they face. List the most common ones and try to find a solution to deal with them. See how your best players are dealing with these objections.Conduct a mock calling session with these strong players and record it for the rest of the members of your team. Once your sales team know the tactics, they will be able to handle the objections of the reluctant clients.
5. Identify the process for improvement
Evaluate your sales process and map out the key steps of the sales process. Outline the entire decision path
Sales playbook explained
Sales Playbook is your sales GPS that shows you the way to sales success. Before I go any further, let me briefly explain what sales playbook is, and how can it help sales reps.It is a collection of useful sales Bahamas Phone Numbers materials that clearly define the sales process and methodology, outlines roles and responsibilities, details selling tactics and techniques, and provides a systematic framework for closing deals.A sales playbook-
Keeps the sales team on track
Helps managers to coach efficiently
Highlights the practices that the best sales reps are using to excel at each stage of the sales process
Gives sales reps a better understanding of what they are selling and whom they are selling to
It eliminates ambiguity, confusion, and missteps
Defines a clear structure for improving sales performance
Lays basic step and strategies to complete a sales cycle successfully
Acts as a coaching tool to get the new hires up to speed quickly
The preparation
A sales playbook needs extensive research and efforts. Do your homework well before creating the sales playbook:
1. Establish your vision and mission
A sales playbook cannot begin until you don’t understand the vision and mission of your company. Here, you need to be precise and honest; you cannot just bluff anything.Tap the cabin of the CEO and try to understand what is your company’s objective, core values, and mission. Gain knowledge about where do your company aims to reach in the coming years.Incorporate these mission, vision and core values in your sales playbook, so the sales reps get a clear understanding of the objective of your company and work with unwavering determination to achieve it.Your sales reps should be able to convey your core values while communicating with the clients. This will help in creating a good image of your company.
2. Identify best practices of top sales rep
As thought leader, you need to be aware of your sales team capabilities; this helps in accentuating the positives and mitigating the weaknesses. Spot the best performers and take a closer look at their practices. Understand what are they trying to do to excel.Analyze the buying process to identify the success factors of your best performers. Try to track their outbound activities; a sales CRM can help you in this.With a CRM, you can even get insightful sales reports on the past sales information. This can help you in identifying the most effective steps taken by the best performing sales reps.
3. Assess the current sales scenario
Commence by understanding the present sales scenario and identify the gaps by reviewing current materials, tools and customer research. Analyze the present state of profitability.However, remember that you don’t only need to focus on the best sales practices but also on the customer purchasing model.Try to understand-
How do customers prefer to buy?
What source of information do they rely on?
How long do they take to make a purchasing decision?
What are the factors driving a purchasing decision?
Are the customers satisfied with the product?
Including customers in your research is the best way to find out what they expect and what do you need to do to meet their expectation because ultimately it is all about your ‘customers’.
4. Go through the sales objections
This is the main area of attention where mostly a company loses a deal. So, you need to discuss with your team to discover the objections they face. List the most common ones and try to find a solution to deal with them. See how your best players are dealing with these objections.Conduct a mock calling session with these strong players and record it for the rest of the members of your team. Once your sales team know the tactics, they will be able to handle the objections of the reluctant clients.
5. Identify the process for improvement
Evaluate your sales process and map out the key steps of the sales process. Outline the entire decision path