Building Your First Sales Operations Playbook
Why Most Sales Teams Fail
Without a playbook, every rep reinvents the wheel. They use different messages, follow different processes, and produce wildly different results. A good playbook changes everything.
The Anatomy of a Sales Playbook
1. Foundation Elements
**Ideal Customer Profile (ICP):**
- Industry and vertical
- Company size (employees and revenue)
- Technology indicators
- Growth signals
- Budget indicators
**Buyer Personas:**
- Decision makers
- Influencers
- Champions
- Blockers
- Economic buyers
**Value Propositions:**
- By persona
- By industry
- By use case
- By competitor
- By objection
2. Process Documentation
**Lead Qualification:**
- BANT criteria
- Scoring model
- Routing rules
- SLA definitions
- Handoff processes
**Sales Stages:**
- Discovery
- Qualification
- Demo/Proposal
- Negotiation
- Close
- Handoff
**Activity Requirements:**
- Calls per day
- Emails per day
- Meetings per week
- Pipeline coverage
- Follow-up cadence
3. Execution Templates
**Email Templates:**
- First touch
- Follow-ups
- Objection handling
- Proposal
- Break-up
**Call Scripts:**
- Cold call opening
- Discovery questions
- Objection responses
- Closing techniques
- Voicemail scripts
**Demo Framework:**
- Agenda
- Discovery questions
- Feature mapping
- ROI calculation
- Next steps
4. Measurement Systems
**KPIs to Track:**
- Activity metrics
- Conversion rates
- Cycle length
- Deal size
- Win rate
**Review Cadence:**
- Daily huddles
- Weekly 1:1s
- Monthly reviews
- Quarterly planning
- Annual strategy
Implementation Roadmap
Week 1-2: Research & Documentation
- Interview top performers
- Analyze winning deals
- Document current process
- Identify gaps
Week 3-4: Creation
- Write ICP and personas
- Create templates
- Build scripts
- Design processes
Week 5-6: Testing
- Pilot with one rep
- Gather feedback
- Iterate and improve
- Measure results
Week 7-8: Rollout
- Train team
- Implement tools
- Set expectations
- Monitor adoption
Common Pitfalls
**Too Complex:** 100-page documents nobody reads **Too Simple:** Missing critical details **Not Updated:** Becomes outdated quickly **No Buy-in:** Created in isolation **No Enforcement:** Optional vs. mandatory
Tools You'll Need
**CRM:** Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive **Engagement:** Outreach, SalesLoft, Apollo **Intelligence:** Gong, Chorus, ExecVision **Enablement:** Showpad, Seismic, Highspot **Analytics:** Tableau, Looker, Excel
Measuring Success
**Leading Indicators:**
- Playbook adoption rate
- Template usage
- Process compliance
- Activity levels
**Lagging Indicators:**
- Revenue growth
- Sales cycle reduction
- Win rate improvement
- Rep ramp time
Your Next Steps
1. Start with one process 2. Document what's working 3. Test with willing reps 4. Iterate based on data 5. Scale what works
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