What is a commercial Playbook and why do you need one?

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A Sales Playbook serves as a reference guide for your company's sales strategy.

Imagine the scene: you're about to begin a 1,000-piece LEGO construction. It's complex, precise and leaves nothing to chance. Could you do it without building instructions to guide you step by step? Maybe, but it would be a lot harder, wouldn't it? The same goes for a company. Every company, whether a start-up or a seasoned veteran, needs a detailed plan that clarifies the company's vision and the path to get there. This is precisely the purpose of the Business Playbook. A meticulously designed roadmap that contains all the essential elements for your sales force. From processes to differentiating practices, it keeps your company running like a well-oiled machine. Think of it as your company's encyclopedia.

What is a commercial Playbook?

Main objective: to establish a uniform trajectory and a standardized reference point, enabling each member of the sales team to align their efforts with common objectives. The Sales Playbook is a valuable learning tool, fostering a culture of continuous improvement, transparency and unified vision. And the icing on the cake: the Sales Playbook is an ideal training and onboarding tool. While the complexity and length of a playbook vary from company to company, the sales playbook is a dynamic document. You'll need to update it regularly.

Why do you need a commercial Playbook?

Most companies don't have a commercial Playbook because they don't know how important it is. And yet, there are many advantages:

• Save time for your teams
• Increase efficiency and productivity
• Improving communication and collaboration
• Ensuring compliance with regulations
• Fostering a corporate culture
• Help integrate and train new recruits
• Producing quality work

As a sales manager, it's in your interest to develop a tool that will support your sales team, helping them to overcome the obstacles that stand in their way.

But where to start? Follow the guide!

Step one: ask yourself the right questions

• What do your salespeople need to know?
• What tasks do your salespeople have to perform?
• What are the characteristics of the offers your salespeople need to communicate?
• What proof do your salespeople need to show?

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Key elements of a commercial Playbook

Sales process overview

What are your goals, and what's your strategy for getting there? It's essential to start by defining what you want to achieve. Your playbook should provide an overview of the company's processes and practices. Each sales stage should be detailed, and the objectives displayed. What aspects of the buying process create the most difficulty for sales reps? What message should they be sending? It will help your sales team understand the big picture and the steps needed to close deals successfully. Case studies, data sheets, white papers, presentations and, more broadly, any other document providing detailed information on the product or service. Beyond that, it should also include clear sales pitches, e-mail frames, call scripts, demonstrations...

Buyer persona

Who are your targets? Who are your customers? A sales playbook should include detailed information on the typical profiles of the buyers with whom the sales team will be interacting: issues, objectives, needs, purchasing habits, decision-making criteria... The closer your personas are to reality, the more your sales teams will be able to adapt their approach and their discourse to the specificities of their interlocutor. All the more so if your teams are called upon to manage complex B2B sales involving several interlocutors and relatively long sales cycles.

Sales pitch

The sales pitch is the BA-BA of the salesperson's toolbox. It must list the characteristics, advantages and benefits (CAB) of your product or service. Integrated into the Playbook, it is based on the expectations and needs of prospects. To be effective, a good sales pitch must be adapted to the different needs of your prospects and be personalized: it must take into account the prospect's context and expectations, and clearly express the value proposition of your offer to meet his or her needs. What is our value proposition? This is the main source of information to prepare a salesperson for a sales meeting with a customer.

A good sales pitch should highlight your USP - Unique Selling Proposition. The USP should tell your prospects and customers why they should choose your brand over those of your competitors. This unique selling proposition is an essential element of your prospecting and, beyond that, it's the cornerstone of your communication and marketing strategy. Your USP sets you apart from the competition.

Competitor analysis

Knowing your competitors helps you strengthen your competitive edge. Knowing their value proposition, their customers, their innovations, but also their recent deals are all key information that will enable your teams to position themselves in the market. Knowing your competitors helps you stand out from the crowd and reinvent yourself. That's why you need to keep a regular watch on the competition.

Overcoming objections

If objections are part of a salesperson's routine, they can demotivate teams if they're badly managed. The ability to overcome them without being destabilized, and to bypass points of resistance and friction, are essential skills for salespeople. It is therefore crucial to identify the main objections your teams may encounter, and the best practices for dealing with them (understanding the source of resistance, demonstrating the value proposition, etc.). The aim: to anticipate them so you can respond effectively and convincingly, and move prospects forward in your conversion funnel.

Performance monitoring

KPIs are the indicators that enable sales forces to measure their performance and, more broadly, sales activity in relation to the objectives to be achieved. Beyond that, KPIs also enable performance to be compared and sales targets to be fine-tuned. KPIs include pipeline growth, conversion rates, average deal size and any other metrics relevant to the sales process.

Inbound marketing resources

Centralize all the resources available to your sales force: case studies, blog articles, demonstration videos, FAQs... These are all elements that will enable your team to justify and explain the usefulness of your product or service. A well-constructed playbook should match each issue to the right resources, enabling your sales force to remove pain points and propose relevant solutions.

Sales tools

Your sales bible should also list the tools and technology your teams need to effectively manage their sales pipeline. This includes customer relationship management (CRM) software, sales engagement platforms and any other technology/processes that can help streamline the sales process.

Update information regularly

A playbook needs to be updated regularly. As the market and your company continue to evolve, it's crucial toadapt and refine your approach to stay competitive. Field feedback from sales staff, analysis of performance indicators, customer feedback, monitoring of industry trends... all help you identify areas for improvement and update your sales strategies.

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