Writing a Sales Playbook

Building your first playbook? Seems easier than you think. I’m sure you have operated and or seen several playbooks as a rep. But now you find yourself architecting your own GTM engine. Where do you begin?

As someone who has built 4 GTM engines let me lend you some advice. Follow a step by step process and let it build. Here is how I’ve gone about doing it:

Define your Mission Statement 

What is the single source of truth that you want to lead from? What do you want your seller and managers to embrace in their day to day life? Defining this helps focus the entire team underneath you. It also helps them understand what they should prioritize and why. 

NASA’s mission statement is “to explore the unknown in air and space, innovate for the benefit of humanity, and inspire the world through discovery.”

That is crystal clear and focuses everyone in NASA. You need to do the same.

Guiding Principles

I’ve written about this extensively before in this article. But just as a refresher you want to define guiding principles so everyone understands how decisions are made. They also help explain your leadership style and why operate the way you do. Here is an example:

All gas, no brakes

We succeed and fail as a team

Serve in the greater good of the company

Make everyone better

Keep focused

Embrace change

In team missions where everyone is faced with tough decisions on what to do this are very handy. Rep has low activity? All gas, no brakes. Territory conflict arises? Serve in the greater good of the company. Raising quotas? Embrace change.

Define the ICP

Sellers are not marketers nor do they think like them. Help them understand who and why we are selling to a specific company. They will pursue leads that fit this and outbound to companies that fall into this criteria.

Go a step further and define the buyer persona as well. We want to target the right people in the decision making process. No point in outbound to a low level title. Let's get on the same page on who we want to sell to.  

Lead to Opportunity Definition

You need to define what a lead is and how it progresses through the pipeline. What is the difference between a lead and an MQL? Working with Marketing to define that. What criteria is needed to create opportunity and move it along in stages? Define the entry and exit criteria so everyone is on the same page.

I also will define each stage and provide a set of example questions. This helps everyone understand what we are trying to achieve as well as how to achieve it. If someone moves an opp before they have demonstrated to the prospect then I want to know why.

Make sure you have easy bullet points allowing for all teams involved to understand what to do. Keep it simple. You need to have your SDRs, AEs, SEs, MGRs and Directors all rowing in the same direction, at the same time. Clean pipelines mean great forecast clarity and revenue success. Dirty pipelines? Well… best of luck. 

Rules of Engagement

Do you have multiple teams, different selling segments, territory assignment or all of the above? Maybe you are starting from 3 hires and have a blank canvas. Whatever the case may be you need to define the rules of engagement.

Your sellers should be competitive and naturally aggressive. They are driven individuals and they are bound to step on some toes. You need to have rules in place that help define who should own what.

Additionally, you need to draft out a process for leaders to follow if escalations happen. Every once in a while a lead or opp will fall into a “gray area.” If that happens then make sure you have put in some framework for how your leaders can try to solve it on their own.

Define Your Outbound Strategy

I am a HUGE believer in a tiered based approach. Those folks who have worked with me know this. How reps manage sourcing their pipeline, the system you want them to follow and how your leaders can manage it. Outlining a structure drives alignment and accountability down the ranks.

Why do this? Not all months and quarters are created equally. “I don’t have enough leads” is not an excuse for a deficient pipeline. You need a system in place to set the expectations. 

Set a Cadence

Sales folks are fantastic when operating on a defined schedule. Be purposeful in what each day, week and month entails. Have each one build on the other. Reps can follow and easy to digest schedule that helps them close more.

Everyone wants to be good at what they do. Give them the schedule to highlight their skillsets.

Final Thoughts

This framework allows for extreme clarity on what your GTM engine needs to do. As well as the people who will execute it. I’ve also found that this allows my to splinter off into specific functions. For example, how do we want to perform discovery? What is the best process for forecasting?

For me, I personally like easy to follow guidance. If it starts getting too complicated then I lose the message in what we are trying to do. Keeping it easy to digest allows for everyone to get on the same page quickly.  

If you need to have greater detail then not a problem. You can provide links to other enablement material if you need to go into greater detail on a subject. The above “chapters” provide a framework for drafting your first playbook. Try it out!