Build Your Sales Team’s Playbook

In sports, a playbook is used as a planning tool, outlining a strategy for each player. With a good playbook in place, a team knows exactly where each person should be at each point in the game. Each playbook is unique to the player carrying it around, varying in size and layout while also being filled with useful information.

This same strategy can be applied to business teams. Strategy is especially important for sales professionals, since they’re often working separately toward a shared goal. As sales playbooks have become more popular, teams have striven to make sure they create a playbook that gets results. Here are a few tips to help you as your build your sales team’s playbook.

Involve the Team

As you prepare to create your playbook, pay close attention to your top performers. They set the bar for the rest of the team, consistently bringing in income each month. Monitor how they handle everything from their daily call volume to how they close and consider that a good start to your template. Even some of your mid-level and low performers may have procedures that you feel match your own vision.

Consult with Other Teams

Your sales professionals aren’t the only ones with insight into how your sales team can reach its goals. Sales and marketing frequently work to accomplish similar things but in many businesses, their work is kept separate. While putting your playbook together, bring members from your marketing team into the process and get their thoughts on how the sales team can make their jobs easier. As a result, you’ll likely have a process in place that helps your business grow.

Identify Customer Needs

The more you know about your customers, the more informed your team’s sales pitches will be. As you’re gathering information for your playbook, consider the buying habits of your current customers and apply that to what future customers are most likely to do. If you’ve already conducted market studies and created buyer personas for your business, include that information, as well, so that your employees will always have it on hand. Once your playbook is complete, check each section to ensure the recommendations inside will lead to more sales based on what you know about your customer base.

Set Goals

In addition to equipping your sales team with a guide, your playbook also gives you the opportunity to identify your goals. Once you have those goals, you can begin to outline the steps you’ll need to take to reach them. Have your goal visible in front of your team as they suggest things that should be included in your playbook and help compile it. Once you’ve solidified your business’s goals, you should also break that goal down to how your sales team as a whole works toward that, as well as how each individual salesperson can contribute toward it.

Regularly Review

Your playbook will only be useful if it’s relevant to the work your sales team is doing today. If you update your policies or the nature of the work changes, don’t forget to adjust your playbook to match. You should also review the playbook on an annual basis to catch anything you might have missed. Encourage your sales team members to make edit suggestions and always take those recommendations seriously.

A playbook can help keep your sales team focused on their goals. When a new employee joins the team, you’ll have a document that will help onboard them quickly. You can also point to it when consulting with low performers on your team, using it to demonstrate what an employee can do to improve those numbers and become a more successful part of the team.