Sales playbook

Sales Playbook

Before you start

Gather the following from the user. If anything is missing, ask before proceeding:

1. What are you selling? (Product, service, platform — include pricing model and deal size)
2. Who is the buyer? (Target persona, title, company size, industry)
3. What is the sales motion? (Inbound-led, outbound, product-led growth, channel, enterprise)
4. What is the current sales cycle? (Average length, typical stages, conversion rates)
5. Who are the main competitors? (Direct competitors the team encounters in deals)
6. What are the top objections? (Price, timing, competition, internal build, status quo)

If the user says "we just need objection handling," clarify: objection handling without qualification criteria means reps spend time overcoming objections on deals that should never have entered the pipeline.

Playbook template

1. Ideal Customer Profile

Firmographic Fit:
- Company size:  [Employee range and/or revenue range]
- Industry:      [Target verticals]
- Tech stack:    [Required tools or platforms in use]

Behavioral Signals:
- [Currently using competitor X or manual process Y]
- [Recently hired for role Z / posted job for...]
- [Visited pricing page, requested demo]

Disqualification Criteria:
- [Below minimum deal size]
- [No budget authority within 90 days]
- [Locked into multi-year competitor contract]

2. Deal Stage Definitions

Stage	Entry Criteria	Rep Actions	Exit Criteria
Prospecting	Matches ICP	Research, personalize outreach	Meeting booked with decision maker
Discovery	Meeting confirmed	Run discovery, identify pain	Pain, timeline, budget known
Qualification	Pain confirmed	Complete MEDDIC	Champion identified, process mapped
Solution Design	Qualified opportunity	Demo, technical validation	Technical win confirmed
Proposal	Technical win	Present pricing, negotiate	Verbal agreement
Closed Won	Signed contract	Handoff to CS	Revenue recognized
Closed Lost	Deal lost at any stage	Document loss reason	Loss reason in CRM

Deals cannot skip stages. If a rep cannot articulate the exit criteria for the current stage, the deal is not at that stage.

3. Qualification Framework

Element (MEDDIC)	Question to Answer	Evidence Required
Metrics	What business outcomes does the buyer measure?	"Reduce onboarding by 50%"
Economic Buyer	Who signs the check?	Title and name confirmed
Decision Criteria	What will they evaluate on?	Security, UX, price
Decision Process	What steps to purchase?	Eval, security, legal
Identify Pain	What is the cost of not solving this?	"$200K/yr in manual work"
Champion	Who is selling internally on our behalf?	Can articulate why you win

A deal without a champion is a deal without an internal advocate.

4. Discovery Question Bank

Reps should use 8-12 questions per call, not all of them.

Pain: "Walk me through what happens today when [problem scenario]." / "How much time does your team spend on this per month?" / "What happens if you do not solve this in the next 6 months?"

Decision Process: "Who else needs to be involved?" / "What does your purchasing process look like for tools at this price point?" / "Is there an event driving this decision?"

Budget: "Is there budget allocated, or would this need approval?" / "Where does this rank against other priorities this quarter?"

Competition: "Are you evaluating other solutions?" / "Have you considered building this internally?"

5. Objection Handling

Use Acknowledge, Reframe, Respond for each objection:

"Your price is too high." Acknowledge pricing matters. Reframe to cost of the problem: "You mentioned [X hours/week] on [process] at [$Y/hour] — that is [$Z/year]." Cite a customer who saw ROI in [N months].

"We can build this ourselves." Acknowledge the team's capability. Reframe to opportunity cost: "Building typically takes [X months] at [$Y fully loaded], plus ongoing maintenance." Cite a customer who switched from internal build.

"We are happy with [Competitor]." Acknowledge the competitor. Reframe to the specific gap: "Teams that switch typically cite [differentiator]." Offer a reference customer who made the same switch.

"Not a priority right now." Acknowledge timing. Ask what would change priority. Quantify cost of waiting. Set a specific reconnect date tied to their trigger event.

6. Competitive Positioning

Dimension	Us	Competitor A	Competitor B
Best for	[Segment/use case]	[Segment/use case]	[Segment/use case]
Pricing	[Model and range]	[Model and range]	[Model and range]
Key strength	[Differentiator]	[Their strength]	[Their strength]
Key weakness	[Honest limitation]	[Their gap]	[Their gap]
Landmine Q	—	[Question exposing gap]	[Question exposing gap]

Landmine questions surface a competitor's weakness without trash-talking.

Quality checklist

• ICP includes firmographic fit, behavioral signals, and disqualification criteria
• Deal stages have entry criteria, required actions, and exit criteria
• Qualification framework uses a named methodology with evidence requirements
• Discovery questions cover pain, process, budget, and competition (15+ total)
• Objection handling follows Acknowledge-Reframe-Respond with real evidence
• Competitive positioning is honest about your own limitations
• A new rep on day 30 could execute from this playbook

Common mistakes

• Writing a playbook nobody reads. A 50-page document is a shelf decoration. Keep it actionable and referenceable during live calls.
• Generic objection handling. "Our product is better" is not a response. Every response needs specific evidence.
• Skipping disqualification. A playbook that only says who to sell to wastes pipeline time on unwinnable deals.
• Stages without exit criteria. "Demo completed" is an activity, not a stage. Stages need verifiable conditions.
• Trash-talking competitors. Disparaging competitors damages credibility. Use landmine questions instead.
• Static playbooks. Competitive positioning shifts quarterly. Build a review cadence.