4 Big Ideas to Maximize Your Sales Playbook
So, you have a ridiculously good sales playbook; now what? The investment of time, money, and energy to get this far shouldn’t be a one-and-done.
Let’s tap into four ideas to maximize your playbook while keeping it a living, breathing resource.
1. Manager Reinforcement and Coaching
Since the sales manager is the lynchpin for implementing growth across a sales organization, the sales playbook is a managerial asset and should be used to successfully:
- Drive coaching and training while providing staff with constructive feedback on what is working and what isn’t.
- Utilize as a guide during one-on-one meetings and sales team calls.
- Provide ample topics and group discussion content for training meetings.
- Play a critical part in individual manager-to-rep meeting cadence.
- Encourage staff interaction with the subject matter. By doing this, each team member will be able to successfully:
- Better prepare for meetings.
- Review how concepts or content has propelled real deals forward.
- Contribute their own experience and insight into the playbook.
- Report to their manager how they effectively applied a playbook section during a recent sale.
Related Article: Five Traits of a Ridiculously Good Sales Playbook
2. Integration into New Hire Training
Our clients (who have high-yielding/ innovative sales teams) often ask us:
“How do we get our new sellers to adopt the skills and activities of our superstars as quickly as possible”? Of course, the most important (but most overlooked) solution is integrating the sales playbook into your new hire training and onboarding program. And by integrating, we don’t mean simply handing out the playbook.
Interactive employee training exercises and companion videos will efficiently introduce concepts and reinforce sections of the playbook. This crucial step will position your new sales reps for immediate success!
3. Online + Digital CRM Training Modules
A powerful way to add value to your playbook is by incorporating it into your online training modules. Having a sales enablement function and LMS at the corporate level is helpful but not required. So, what is the best way to accomplish this? We encourage taking segments of the playbook and breaking them down into bite-sized chunks for frequent coaching sessions.
For example:
- Take your ideal client profile (or a particular buyer persona) and build a training module that showcases your playbook.
- Then, implement ongoing in-person training (or a 30–45-minute webinar) every two weeks for the entire sales team to discuss a playbook topic and focused skills.
- A quick tip: have clear “sales challenges” for your reps to apply before the next team or one-on-one call.
- And finally, save the webinar and distribute it to the team; it’s a great way to apply the playbook in segments and reinforce training in the field.
4. Continually Update and Refresh
Decide who will “own” the playbook; they will be responsible for updating and refreshing it. Ideally, the sales team should do this- it requires the most planning and impacts the prior three of the four steps.
When should your playbook be updated? A few (of many) instances are:
- A disruption caused by new competition
- Launching a new product with clear differentiation
- New or recent market trends that are influencing buyer decisions
We encourage our clients to frequently evaluate each part of the playbook’s relevance and effectiveness. Again, this requires ownership but is well worth the investment.
If you have questions regarding the value of creating a sales playbook or increasing your return on the playbook, engage with us.
Related Article: Five Traits of a Ridiculously Good Sales Playbook
