Learn why an effective sales playbook is crucial to your B2B business
A salesperson cannot convert prospects into clients without an effective and efficient strategy. The strategy may vary for every business, but unfortunately, many business owners don’t understand it. They think that the sales team can work according to their skills, knowledge, experience, and expertise and deliver desired results. With this attitude, you might get expected results once or twice, but it will not benefit you in the longer run. It is the reason that even after investing in sales training, there is a performance gap between top salespeople and the rest.
The B2B sales playbook can help cover this gap. It introduces your salesperson to your business objective, winning techniques, and helps the sales team achieve their goals.
When you don’t have clear guidelines, every salesperson uses their own methods, which may affect the unity of the team. A playbook can eliminate this problem because it assists the sales team in developing sales processes and methods. But, even after so many benefits, it’s shocking to know that almost 50% of the sales teams don’t have a playbook. However, leading companies have this secret weapon called a business playbook, which increases the chance of winning each deal. So, read this blog post to learn more about the B2B sales playbook, its key elements, and to understand how it can contribute to the growth of your B2B business.
What is a B2B Sales Playbook?
A B2B sales playbook can be defined as the collection of resources and a framework for the sales team. It is not a simple sales sheet. Rather it includes essential information about the sales process, methodology, sales target, and more. It is the ultimate guide for a new salesperson and the roadmap for the B2B sales strategy of your business.
When you have a sales playbook for your business, it puts effective strategies and tools at the fingertips of your sales team. Earlier B2B sales playbooks used to be a collection of documents kept on a shelf of the training room. But, now, this is the digital era where millennials are entering the workforce. So, businesses need to enhance their playbooks by having them hosted on the cloud and handled internally.
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Essential Elements of a Successful B2B Sales Playbook
Though the sales playbook may vary for every business, it should have some necessary key elements. Having a sales playbook is crucial, but you should have a good sales playbook if you want to achieve your business objective. Here we have listed the objective of a sales playbook.
- It should define the sale process methodology and explain how to execute them.
- Identify the process maps to the customer’s buying process.
- It must tell how to engage with prospective customers.
- A good sales playbook helps accelerate sales effectiveness and accuracy.
Now, let’s have a look at the essential elements that you must integrate into your sales playbook.
- Buying Process – It should include adequate information about the buying process and the behavior of qualified leads. In addition, it must help the salesperson identify the conditions or events that trigger consideration, evaluation, and purchase.
- Customer Analysis – Understanding the pain points of the customers is helpful to the salesperson. A sales playbook must help understand the market, key trends, buyers, and the preferences of the customers. It should include the profile of an ideal customer.
- Company Offer and Value Proposition – A salesperson must have enough knowledge about the company, its offers, and how it addresses the business issues. So include all these things in the playbook and explain how your services and products can make a difference to customers and in the market.
- Competitive Analysis – Another important thing that playbooks should include is competitive analysis. Explain how your competitors position themselves, what strategies they are using, and how you can counter them.
Sales Methodology – One of the most important things of the sales playbook is sales methodology. Outline your sales process and the standard set of critical steps in the sale cycle. It should also explain how to analyze customers in the buying process, and anticipate what they might do next.
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- Buyer Persona – This section explains an ideal prospect. It helps the salesperson understand who is a good fit for your product or service.
- Best Practices – The sale playbook must include proven tips and techniques that a salesperson can use. Along with it, also mention when and how to use them.
- Countering Objections – There are some common objections that sales might encounter. So, guide how to address and counter such objections.
How Can a B2B Sales Playbook Help Your Business?
If you want your sales team to take the right action at the right time with the right people, a sales playbook can make it possible. A B2B business should not hesitate to invest in a sales playbook because it can result in more leads becoming the customers. Let’s find out why every professional services firm should have a B2B sales playbook.
- Successful Selling Techniques
Identifying the right sales techniques is a crucial task. There is no golden rule because a strategy that is working for others might not deliver the same results for your business. But, there is a way to outline effective strategies. You can closely analyze the sales techniques of your salesperson and note the effective and successful strategies. After that, you can include them in the business playbook and make them part of your business standard of operation. In this way, a B2B sales playbook can help your sales team with effective selling techniques.
- Help Save Time to Make Sales
Most salespeople waste their time awaiting the consent of the sales manager, searching for proper material, and creating resources. Rather than making sales, they have to spend their most time on other tasks. You can eliminate this problem with the help of a playbook that includes ready-made questions, messages, and resources. So, you can use a playbook to save the time of your sales team so that they can perform better and faster.
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- Quick and Easy Training for New Team Members
Your business might have to invest a lot of time and money in the training of the new salespersons. It is important because you can’t afford any mistakes in the sales process because they have to deal with the clients directly. Often businesses fail to provide proper training, and the new members learn from the others and grab incorrect techniques. The B2B sales playbook streamlines the onboarding process and provides quick and easy training for new sales members.
- Allow Sales And Marketing Teams to Work Collaboratively
Unity is strength, and you can make it possible in your firm by bringing the sales and marketing team together. Now, you must be wondering how it is possible. Most organizations struggle to find common ground between both departments. But, when you clearly mention the roles and responsibilities of both the team in the playbook, the problem gets solved. Both departments will work collaboratively towards a common objective which ultimately helps in the growth of the business.
According to a study, 50% of high-performance sales firms have highly monitored sales playbooks. Your B2B business should also have a playbook so that your sales team can perform its best.
The Bottom Line
Now you understand the importance of the B2B sales playbook for the performance of your sales team. A sales playbook guides your team to handle the various sales situations with ease and deliver expected results. It has a plethora of benefits, so it is worth it to invest in an effective playbook and let your sales team access it. Building a sales playbook is a time-consuming and complex task, so you can seek expert assistance for developing an effective sales playbook for your business.
You can also rely on the playbook products of Company Expert to accelerate the sales of your business. We can help you develop and execute an effective sales plan, sales model, and sales channel strategies. So, partner with us to transform your sales processes, talent, and tools for immediate and sustainable sales growth.