Creating a sales playbook: what goes in it?

You have decided that you need a sales playbook. Maybe because new people are joining, because every sales rep does it differently, or because your best account manager retires in two years. Then comes the question: what do you put in it? An empty document is a hard place to start.

What a sales playbook is

A sales playbook describes how you sell. Not how selling works in general, but how it works at your company: what you promise, which steps a customer goes through, who does what and what you steer on. It is the method that now mostly sits in the heads of your best sales reps, put on paper so others can take it over.

Handbook, playbook, commercial manual: the words are used interchangeably. It matters little what you call it, as long as it is about your own way of working.

Also think about who you are writing for. A new colleague wants to know what to do in his first weeks. An experienced sales rep wants to look something up quickly. The sales manager wants to be able to steer. A good playbook serves all three, with short sections you can read on their own.

What goes in a sales playbook: seven parts

A good playbook has a fixed order. Each part builds on the previous one. Whoever reverses the order writes activities without knowing what for.

The foundation. The company story, the core values, the promise in one sentence and which customers you are there for.
The sales process. The phases, each with an exit criterion, and the handovers between roles.
The customer journey. The activities per phase and the win points: the moments you do just a little differently.
The rhythm. Contact cadence per customer class, weekly rhythm, prospecting norms and quote follow-up.
The organization. Roles, job profiles and the fixed meetings.
The people. Hiring, onboarding, training, conversations and the core values translated into behavior.
The steering. At most two KPIs per phase, with a norm, a data source and an owner.

What does not need to go in

A playbook gets thick quickly. Much of what ends up in it does not belong there. Leave these things out or refer to them:

General sales theory. What an open question is can be found in any book. Write down which questions you ask.
Product information. It changes too often and already has a place of its own.
Exceptions. Describe how things normally go. An exception that occurs often is not an exception but a second route.

Where do you start with your sales playbook?

The temptation is to start with the phases and activities, because they are the most tangible. Yet it pays to start with the foundation. A promise in one sentence and a clear picture of who your ideal customer is make the rest much easier. Without that foundation, every choice further on becomes a debate.

A workable order for the first three months:

Month 1. The foundation and the phases with their exit criteria. Together with two or three experienced sales reps.
Month 2. The win points and the activities per phase, in a working session with the team.
Month 3. Roles, rhythm and a first set of KPIs.

People and steering follow after that. The playbook does not have to be complete in one go. A part that is right and gets used is worth more than a complete document that nobody reads.

A fictional example: one phase written out

What does that look like in practice? Take a fictional installation company with four phases. This is how the first phase appears in their playbook:

Name. Explore.
Goal. Know whether there is a problem that fits our promise.
Exit criterion. Done when the customer names a concrete problem, we know who decides and there is a date with a reason.
Activities. First conversation on site, walk-through with the technical department, summary by email within a day.
Win point. After the first conversation the customer receives a photo overview of what we saw, with three points of attention.
Role. Account manager, with the work planner for larger projects.
KPI. Percentage of first conversations that move to phase two within three weeks.

That fits on one page. After reading it, a new colleague knows what he does, why, and when he may move on. It does not need to be more than that. Write the other phases in exactly the same structure. Then everyone knows where to look.

Common mistakes with a sales playbook

I come across these often, also at teams that have put a lot of time into it:

One person writes it alone. Then it becomes his playbook, not the team's. Write the core with a few experienced sales reps in the room.
Too much text. A sales rep does not read eighty pages. Short sentences, lists and one page per phase work better.
Describing the ideal instead of the practice. Write down what you really do, or what you are really going to do. Not what is in a book.
Finished and into the drawer. A playbook that is not maintained is wrong after a year. Then everyone stops reading.
No owner. If nobody is responsible, nobody updates it. Appoint one person who confirms changes.

Use what is already there

You rarely start from zero. Old presentations, an onboarding folder, quote templates and the notes of your best sales rep often already contain half of it. Collect them before you start writing. What is in there and is still right is your first version.

A sales playbook that stays current

The hardest part comes after the first version. Markets change, roles shift and a phase turns out to run differently in practice. So plan a fixed moment to go through the playbook. Once a quarter works well. Do not take everything at once, but a few parts per quarter. That keeps the work small and the document right.

Also use what comes up in the sales meeting and in win/loss conversations. If the team says three times that an exit criterion does not work, that is your next change.

Checklist: is your sales playbook usable?

Promise. Is the promise in there in one sentence, and does the team know it?
Phases. Does every phase have an exit criterion you can check?
Length. Does every phase fit on one page?
Use. Does the newest colleague use it in his first week?
Owner. Is there one person who confirms changes?
Date. Has it been updated in the past three months?

If you can answer yes to four of the six, you have a playbook your team can work with.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between a sales playbook and a sales handbook?

In practice, little. Both describe how you sell. Some teams use playbook for the practical part per phase and handbook for the whole. Choose one word and stick to it.

How thick should a sales playbook be?

As thin as possible. For most SMB teams, twenty to thirty pages is enough. One page per phase is a good measure.

How long does it take to create a sales playbook?

A first usable version is possible in three months, if you finish a few parts per month. It is rarely complete, and it does not have to be.

Who writes the sales playbook?

The commercial leader is the owner. Write the content together with two or three experienced sales reps, so that it matches the practice.

Capturing it

In SalesDNA, the seven parts are the seven building layers, from Sales foundation to Steering, with a fixed building block for each part. You can upload existing documents and have a proposal drafted per building block. With the template builder you turn what you confirm into a playbook, onboarding guide or presentation for your team.