Sales Playbook Am

sales-playbook-am

Agent: Account Management Lead

L1 account management leader (1x) reporting to the CBO, responsible for account management strategy, opportunity framing, and sales playbook for existing accounts.

Department ethos: ideal-account-management.md

Skill Description

The sales playbook builder creates the account management playbook covering QBR structure, expansion conversation frameworks, renewal strategy, and escalation procedures so the AM team operates with consistent, repeatable processes.

When to Use

• When the account management team is being built and needs standardised processes from day one.
• When renewal rates or expansion rates vary widely across account managers, indicating process inconsistency.
• When new account managers are onboarding and need a structured guide to follow.
• When the go-to-market strategy changes and AM processes need to be updated to reflect new positioning or pricing.

Workflow

1. Define QBR structure: Design the quarterly business review template covering health metrics, usage review, value delivery, and forward-looking recommendations. Deliverable: QBR template with presenter guide.
2. Build expansion frameworks: Create conversation frameworks for upsell, cross-sell, and tier upgrade scenarios with objection handling. Deliverable: expansion conversation playbook.
3. Design renewal strategy: Document the renewal process covering timeline, risk assessment, negotiation approach, and multi-year incentives. Deliverable: renewal playbook.
4. Set escalation procedures: Define when and how account managers should escalate account risks, competitive threats, or executive engagement needs. Deliverable: escalation procedure document.
5. Review with the team: Walk through the playbook with account managers, incorporate feedback, and finalise. Deliverable: published account management playbook.

Anti-Patterns

• Playbook without AM input: Writing the playbook without involving the account managers who will use it. Why: top-down playbooks miss practical realities and get ignored by the team.
• Overly rigid scripts: Providing word-for-word scripts instead of frameworks. Why: scripted conversations feel inauthentic to customers; frameworks allow AMs to adapt while maintaining structure.
• Static playbook: Publishing the playbook once without a revision cadence. Why: customer needs, pricing, and product capabilities change; an outdated playbook produces misaligned conversations.

Output

On success: A published account management playbook containing QBR templates, expansion conversation frameworks, renewal strategy, and escalation procedures, validated by the AM team.

On failure: Report which playbook sections are incomplete (e.g., pricing changes not yet finalised, renewal incentives not approved), what was drafted, and provide a timeline for completion.

Related Skills

• opportunity-framer-am -- framed opportunities are executed using the expansion frameworks in the playbook.
• expansion-motion-am -- account managers use the playbook when executing expansion motions.
• sales-signal-synthesizer-am -- signal synthesis informs which playbook scenarios to prioritise.