If you're in sales, you probably have a playbook — a set of rules and guidelines for success.

 

Via Giphy

 

If you don't have a digital sales playbook, it's time to get one. It will help you get organized and make sure your entire organization is on the same page.

 

Today we're going to look at how to build your killer sales playbook.

 

But, Before That, It Is Imperative to Know What a Sales Playbook Is?...

 

A sales playbook is a set of guidelines, procedures, and best practices to help you achieve your sales goals. It outlines your sales team's actions – and what they should avoid – to increase sales performance and productivity.

 

Sales playbooks are usually created by experienced sales team members, such as managers or senior representatives, who understand what works and what doesn't. Most businesses create a different playbook for each stage of their sales process.

 

What Is the Purpose of a Sales Playbook?

 

Every company is different, but some things are universal: Your team needs consistent messaging, clear direction on how they should spend their time, and structure and routines that will keep them on track.

 

A sales playbook can provide all those things and more. It will give your team everything they need to succeed — from prospecting and lead handling to objection handling and closing techniques. And if you're looking for more advanced guidance, such as strategic planning, value proposition mapping, and pricing strategies for your industry or niche market needs, consult our Sales Playbook Guide – A Step by Step Guide.

 

The Benefits of a Sales Playbook Are Numerous:

 

  • Sales Playbook Help You Reach More Customers, Faster.
  • You Can Easily and Consistently Train New Salespeople Using Your Sales Plays.
  • You Can Keep Track of Which Plays Work Best for Each Type of Customer.
  • A Playbook Helps You Overcome Objections by Showing You How to Handle Them in Advance.

 

Writing a Killer Sales Playbook in 2022- A Step-by-Step Guide 

 

Step 1: Build Your Foundation

 

You'll want to start by determining an organizational structure for your playbook. Most sales playbooks are organized by stage in the sales process. This strategy is great because it makes it easier for sales reps to find the information they need most when they need it and helps you logically organize your content.

 

Step 2: Create Your Buyer Personas

 

Once you have the basic outline of your playbook, you'll want to focus on the content itself. And before you can start writing, you need to understand who you're writing for: your buyer persona(s). A buyer persona is a semi-fictional representation of your ideal customer based on market research and accurate data about your existing customers. When creating your buyer persona(s), consider including customer demographics, behavior patterns, motivations, and goals. The more detailed you are, the better. You should gather as much complex data about a typical customer to write specifically to them.

 

Step 3: Map Your Sales Process

 

Map out each step of your sales process against each stage of your prospect's buying cycle, using the personas you just developed. This shows you how each interaction with a prospect moves them along the sales cycle toward closing. It also shows how to modify your sales process better to serve prospects' needs at different buying cycle stages.

 

Step 4: Define Your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)

 

Another step in creating a sales playbook is to define your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP), which determines who you're selling to and how you'll sell them.

 

To create an ICP, answer these questions:

 

  • What Industry Is Your Prospect In? How Many Employees Do They Have?
  • How Much Revenue Does Their Company Generate?
  • What Are the Demographics of Your Ideal Customer?
  • What Titles Do Decision Makers at Their Company Usually Hold?
  • Where Are These Prospects Physically Located?

 

Step 5: Create Your Content Matrix

 

The last step towards creating your sales playbook is to create a content matrix of the key messages you need to deliver for each stage of the buyer's journey and each type of buyer persona.

 

The content matrix should include a list of all the content needed at each stage of the buyer's journey, organized by the buyer persona. Also, it should be made clear when you would use which content with which persona in which stage. For example, if your company or product name is not well known, then it makes sense to use a brochure in an early stage. Or, if you want to provide additional information on how your product works, then a white paper is what you need. The same goes for case studies and other types of content.

 

Best Sales Playbook Template- What's Slides Included?

 

Communication is the key to success. Good communication allows you to connect and interact with your audience by conveying the message clearly and concisely. Communicating with your team becomes even more critical when it comes to sales. You share the ideas, processes, and strategies you have implemented for sales. However, breaking down the information into small chunks can make it hard for everyone to understand what you are trying to say.

 

This is why we have created a Sales Playbook template that will help you present all of your sales information in one place. If you're wondering what to include in your sales playbook, we've put together a list of slides to give you some ideas:

Slide 1: Product-Services Offered and Major Service Goals 

Salespeople should have a firm grasp of their company's product-service offering, including the different features, benefits, and pricing. However, they also need to be able to talk about how the product addresses the client's needs. This slide should discuss what your company is doing to develop its current offerings further and expand into new areas. A product-services slide can be designed using icons and images representing different product lines. The slides should also include the major service goals of your business. The features, prices, and benefits of each product or service line should be included in this section.

 

How To Build Your Sales Playbook (With Examples)

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Slide 2: Sales Performance Highlights For Products Offered 

Sales playbooks are a great way for sales managers to keep their teams on the same page, and they help set common standards and reinforce best practices. Let's look at what typically gets included in a sales playbook and then discuss some of the content you should focus on as you build your own. The Sales Performance Highlights For Products Offered slide allows you to include past sales numbers so that the prospect can see how well you've done with previous clients. This slide shows that you're a proven vendor and helps build confidence in your brand.

 

How To Build Your Sales Playbook (With Examples)

Download The Best Sales Playbook

Slide 3: Different Products Price Comparison Chart

Sales teams can use this slide to show different product prices for different products to potential customers. The sales manager can create a comparison chart that shows both existing and future products, which can help potential customers understand why one product is priced higher than another. Salespeople can also use this slide as a case study to illustrate their expertise with certain products and how they benefit from their features. This slide comes with a customizable table that allows users to insert data into it easily.

 

The Ultimate Sales Tool

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Slide 4: Various Service Packages Offered to Clients 

The pricing slide is one of the more essential slides in your sales deck. This is where you explain the different service packages and a feature comparison table to ensure the information is easy to understand. 

 

The Ultimate Sales Tool

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Slide 5: Sales Meeting Plan for Team Motivation

A sales meeting is an excellent opportunity for team motivation to share best practices, success stories, and new product information. There's no better way to keep your sales team focused, motivated, and excited about their work than a well-planned and effective sales meeting. This slide lets you present a detailed plan for conducting a successful and productive meeting. You can also customize this slide according to your needs. For example, you can do so quickly if you want to add or remove any point from the list mentioned on the slide.

 

Upgrade Your Sales Playbook Framework

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Slide 6: Buyer Persona For Better Client Understanding 

The buyer persona is a semi-fictional representation of the ideal client. The persona is based on market research and data from your existing clients. It helps you understand your audience and create content, products, and services that appeal to them more. With Buyer Personas, you can learn Customer Goals & Pain Points.

 

Upgrade Your Sales Playbook Framework

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Slide 7: Aligning Buyer's Journey with Sales Process 

In a sales playbook, different slides need to be included. The most important one is the Aligning Buyer's Journey with Sales Process Slide. This slide will serve as the basis for your entire playbook, as it will bring your entire team on the same page about what should be done and when. It can also help you determine if your sales process needs some fine-tuning. It gives visibility to your sales team and helps them understand how their efforts can help customers solve their pain points.

 

Upgrade Your Sales Playbook Framework

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Slide 8: Customer Expectations and Experience Journey Mapping

This slide shows how customer expectations change at different stages of their journey as they progress from one stage. It also shows what to do and how we can create value for customers at each stage. 

 

This slide is a great way to engage your sales team in the strategic importance of understanding the customer experience. It is also a fantastic way to get their input on what they think is vital for the customer experience.

 

Sales Playbook Examples & Template

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Slide 9: Sales Lead Follow Up Planner 

This slide is a tracker of when your sales lead follow-up activity is due. Salespeople can use this slide to track the follow-ups with their sales leads and clients. Start by creating a brief outline of your sales process. This should include every significant stage of selling that requires actions on the part of the sellers. In some cases, these stages will be company standard; in others, they may differ based on the type of prospect or customer you're dealing with. Also, don't forget to include any ancillary processes, such as onboarding procedures.

 

What is a Sales Playbook?

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Slide 10: SNAP Selling Methodology Essential for Representative Process

The SNAP Selling methodology is a robust process that helps sales professionals understand the challenges faced by their customers and develop appropriate solutions.

 

To use this methodology effectively, your sales team needs to be adequately trained on how to do it. The SNAP Selling Methodology Essential for Representative Process Slide comes in. This slide is significant because it sets the tone for the rest of the deck. Your reps need to know what's at stake and have the motivation to follow your process. Give them some motivating data points to think about while going through the rest of the deck.

 

Sales Playbook Guide

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Slide 11: Gap Selling Sales Methodology for Deal Closure 

Any sales playbook is incomplete without a Gap Selling Sales Methodology for Deal Closure slide. This slide is typically the last one in a sales playbook and the most important one to win over the customer. The Gap Selling Sales Methodology lays down the steps that need to be taken by the sales team to identify the gap between where the current state of the client's business is and where they want it to be. The Gap Selling Sales Methodology is employed to close a deal because it helps logically answer your prospect's "What's In It For Me?" (WIIFM) question.

 

Sales Playbook Guide

 

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Slide 12: Roles of Sales Content in Managing Selling Systems

The Roles of Sales Content slide helps ensure that you have content in all the right places, and it highlights the core content activities that are critical for optimizing your sales process.

 

How to Write a Perfect Sales Playbook

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Slide 13: Content Planning Worksheet For Potential Buyer Nurturing 

The Content Planning Worksheet is the critical slide in your Sales Playbook, and it should be a simple one-slide document that helps your sales team plan their content. A content plan isn't a document you create and forget about, and it's an ongoing project that needs to be updated as you learn about your customers' needs and wants. Your plan must also adapt to any new developments in your business, such as new products or services.

 

How to Write a Perfect Sales Playbook

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Slide 14: Monthly Potential Buyer Lead Nurturing Plan

A monthly Potential Buyer Lead Nurturing Plan Slide will help outline to your team what they need to do every month to nurture potential buyers. It's a visual overview of the kinds of content that needs to be produced and published and how it'll be used in lead nurturing campaigns.

 

How to Write a Perfect Sales Playbook

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Slide 15: Checklist To Track Essential Activities For Sales Enhancement 

As the name suggests, this slide is a checklist that sheds light on the most critical activities and how to track them. These activities include sales team training, ask for referrals, etc. The tabular form is apt to represent this checklist and make it memorable. 

 

How to Write a Perfect Sales Playbook

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Slide 16: Sales Management Systems for Productivity Enhancement 

This slide provides all the information regarding the top-ranked sales management systems. Ideally, a table comparing the features of different sales management systems with their monthly subscription fee will speed up deciding on the right sales management system. 

 

Key Components of a Successful Sales Playbook

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Slide 17: Key People Involved in Sales Management 

This slide should focus on the key people involved in the sales process. Here, the goal is to introduce key players who can help convince customers that they're dealing with a reliable organization. You'll want to include information like job titles, how long they've been with the company, and perhaps a brief biography.

 

Steps to creating a Sales Playbook

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Slide 18: Various Metrics to Track Sales Team Performance

One of the most critical responsibilities of a sales manager is to ensure that their team is meeting and exceeding their quotas. However, recruiting and training a sales team isn't enough. Sales leaders must also be able to track the performance of their teams on an ongoing basis to determine how they're performing and identify areas where they may need more support or training. Many different metrics can be used to track sales teams' performance. So, this slide aims to make the sales team's performance more manageable than ever. 

 

Sales Playbook: What is it & How To Create?

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Slide 19: Sales Management Activities Tracking Dashboard

This slide is a management dashboard that tracks the sales pipeline and sales activities (email, calls, appointments, proposals) and calculates the conversion ratio from one to the other. This will give you a feel for the quality of sales activities your team produces and help you determine how to improve their efficiency and effectiveness.

 

Sales Playbook: What is it & How To Create?

 

Download The Best Sales Playbook

Conclusion

 

 

As much as the perception of sales culture is built around closing numbers and moving prospects through different stages of the sales process, we should keep in mind that sales culture is a lifestyle driven by trust, honesty, and respect.

 

Building a killer sales playbook will require a superb foundation and a strong team with deep knowledge of the business and a firm grasp of the language of your industry. And, if you don't have the time and resources for all this, then download the Sales Playbook template drafted by SlideTeam. 100% editable and compatible with Google Slides. Join the membership and have access to top presentations.

 

If you have any queries or concerns, please reach out to the customer support team. You can either give them a call or Inbox your query at - expect a quick response.