Sales Playbook

Sales Playbook

Complete framework for building scalable, repeatable sales systems that convert prospects to customers.

When to Use

• Building sales process for new product
• Onboarding sales team members
• Improving conversion rates
• Handling objections consistently
• Managing sales pipeline
• Scaling from founder-led to team sales

Sales Process Stages

PROSPECT → QUALIFY → DISCOVER → PRESENT → HANDLE OBJECTIONS → CLOSE → ONBOARD

1. PROSPECT: Find potential customers
2. QUALIFY: Determine fit (BANT/MEDDIC)
3. DISCOVER: Understand their situation
4. PRESENT: Show how you solve their problem
5. HANDLE OBJECTIONS: Address concerns
6. CLOSE: Ask for the business
7. ONBOARD: Ensure success

Workflow

Step 1: Define Your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)

## Ideal Customer Profile

**Demographics:**
- Company size: [Employees/Revenue]
- Industry: [Specific verticals]
- Geography: [Locations]
- Role/Title: [Who you sell to]

**Firmographics:**
- Technology stack: [What they use]
- Growth stage: [Startup/Scale-up/Enterprise]
- Funding: [Bootstrapped/VC-backed]

**Psychographics:**
- Pain points: [Top 3 problems]
- Goals: [What they're trying to achieve]
- Buying triggers: [When they buy]
- Budget: [Price range they can afford]

**Examples of Good Fit:**
- Company A: [Why they're ideal]
- Company B: [Why they're ideal]

**Examples of Bad Fit:**
- Company X: [Why they're not a fit]
- Company Y: [Why they're not a fit]

Step 2: Craft Your Value Proposition

Value Prop Framework:

FOR [target customer]
WHO [has this specific problem]
OUR [product/service]
PROVIDES [key benefit with numbers]
UNLIKE [competitors]
WE [unique differentiator]

Example:

FOR B2B SaaS companies
WHO struggle with customer onboarding (60% churn in first 30 days)
OUR automated onboarding platform
PROVIDES 40% reduction in time-to-value and 25% higher retention
UNLIKE generic customer success tools
WE offer industry-specific playbooks and automated milestone tracking

One-Liner:

"We help [target] achieve [outcome] without [pain]."

Example: "We help SaaS companies reduce churn by 25% without hiring more customer success reps."

Step 3: Qualification (BANT vs MEDDIC)

BANT (Simpler, B2C/SMB):

## BANT Qualification

**Budget:**
- Can they afford it? $[Range]
- What's their budget? $[X]
- Decision authority over budget? [Y/N]

**Authority:**
- Who makes the decision? [Name/Title]
- Who else is involved? [Stakeholders]
- Decision process? [Committee/Individual]

**Need:**
- What problem are they solving? [Pain]
- How urgent is it? [1-10]
- Cost of not solving? $[X]/[Time]

**Timeline:**
- When do they need it? [Date]
- Why that timeline? [Reason]
- What happens if delayed? [Impact]

**Qualified?** [Yes/No]
**Next Steps:** [Schedule demo / Send proposal]

MEDDIC (Complex, Enterprise B2B):

## MEDDIC Qualification

**Metrics:**
- What are their success measures?
- Current state metrics: [Numbers]
- Desired state metrics: [Numbers]
- How do they measure ROI? [Formula]

**Economic Buyer:**
- Who controls the budget? [Name/Title]
- What's their priority? [Business goal]
- What do they care about? [Key metric]

**Decision Criteria:**
- How will they decide? [Must-haves vs nice-to-haves]
- Who evaluates? [Technical team, exec team]
- What's the scoring? [Point system, checklist]

**Decision Process:**
- What's the buying process? [Steps]
- Who's involved at each stage? [Stakeholders]
- Timeline? [Dates for each step]

**Identify Pain:**
- What's the business problem? [Quantified impact]
- Who feels the pain most? [Department/Person]
- Cost of inaction? $[X]/year

**Champion:**
- Who will sell internally for you? [Name]
- Do they have influence? [Y/N]
- Are they coaching you? [Y/N]

**Qualified?** [Yes/No]
**Deal Score:** [X/10]

Step 4: Discovery Questions

The Goal: Understand Their World Deeply

Current State:

- "Walk me through your current process for [X]."
- "What tools are you using today?"
- "How much time does this take per week?"
- "Who's responsible for this?"

Pain Points:

- "What's the biggest challenge with your current approach?"
- "What have you tried to solve this?"
- "Why didn't that work?"
- "What's this costing you? (time/money/opportunity)"

Impact:

- "If you could wave a magic wand, what would change?"
- "What would solving this enable you to do?"
- "How would this impact your team/company?"
- "What's at stake if this doesn't get solved?"

Decision Process:

- "How do decisions like this typically get made here?"
- "Who else needs to be involved?"
- "What would need to happen for you to move forward?"
- "What's your timeline for making a decision?"

Discovery Framework (SPIN Selling):

SITUATION: Understand their current state
- "How many customers do you have?"
- "What's your current process?"

PROBLEM: Identify pain points
- "What challenges are you facing?"
- "How is this impacting the business?"

IMPLICATION: Make pain bigger
- "What happens if this continues?"
- "How does this affect other areas?"

NEED-PAYOFF: Paint the solution
- "How would solving this help?"
- "What would that mean for your team?"

Step 5: Demo/Presentation

Demo Flow (20 minutes max):

## Demo Structure

**1. Recap Pain (2 min)**
- "Based on our conversation, you mentioned [X pain]"
- "Your goal is to [Y outcome]"
- "Today I'll show you exactly how we solve that"

**2. Show Solution (10 min)**
- Focus ONLY on features that solve THEIR pain
- Show, don't tell
- Use their data/examples if possible
- "Here's how you'd [specific task]..."

**3. Prove It (5 min)**
- Case study: "Company like yours saw [result]"
- ROI calculation: "Based on [their numbers], you'd save $[X]"
- Social proof: "[Number] companies use this for [use case]"

**4. Next Steps (3 min)**
- "Does this solve [their pain]?"
- "What questions do you have?"
- "What would you like to see next?"
- Schedule follow-up BEFORE you hang up

Presentation Principles:

✅ DO:
- Tailor to their specific pain
- Use their language/terminology
- Show, don't tell
- Quantify value ($X saved, Y% improvement)
- Leave time for questions

❌ DON'T:
- Feature dump
- Talk more than 60% of the time
- Skip their pain points
- Assume they remember past conversations
- End without clear next steps

Step 6: Objection Handling (LAER Framework)

LAER Method:

LISTEN: Let them fully express the objection
ACKNOWLEDGE: Show you understand
EXPLORE: Ask questions to find root cause
RESPOND: Address the real concern

Common Objections:

"It's too expensive"

LISTEN: "I understand budget is a concern."
ACKNOWLEDGE: "Many customers felt the same way initially."
EXPLORE: "Help me understand - compared to what?" / "What budget did you have in mind?"
RESPOND:
- "Let me show you the ROI..." [Show calculation]
- "What's the cost of not solving this?" [Quantify pain]
- "We have [alternative option] at [lower price]"

"I need to think about it"

LISTEN: "Of course, this is an important decision."
ACKNOWLEDGE: "I'd want time to think too."
EXPLORE: "What specifically would you like to think through?"
RESPOND: [Address the REAL concern they reveal]
- If budget: Show ROI
- If timing: Understand why delay
- If features: Address gaps
- If trust: Provide references

"We're already using [Competitor]"

LISTEN: "I appreciate you sharing that."
ACKNOWLEDGE: "[Competitor] is a good product."
EXPLORE: "How's that going? What made you take this call?"
RESPOND:
- Don't trash competitor
- "Many customers switched from [Competitor] because..."
- "What would make you consider an alternative?"
- Focus on differentiation

"Now isn't a good time"

LISTEN: "I understand timing matters."
ACKNOWLEDGE: "Timing has to be right."
EXPLORE: "When would be better? What's happening now?"
RESPOND:
- "What would change in [timeframe]?"
- "What's the cost of waiting [X months]?"
- "Can we start small now and expand later?"
- Schedule specific future follow-up

"I need to talk to [someone else]"

LISTEN: "Absolutely, it's important they're involved."
ACKNOWLEDGE: "Getting buy-in is critical."
EXPLORE: "What will be most important to them?"
RESPOND:
- "Can we schedule a call with them included?"
- "What do you think their main concerns will be?"
- "I can prepare materials for you to share"
- Offer to present to decision-maker directly

Step 7: Closing Techniques

Assumptive Close:

"Based on what we've discussed, this clearly solves [their pain].
When would you like to get started?"

Alternative Close:

"Would you prefer to start with the annual plan or monthly?"
"Should we begin with 10 licenses or 25?"

Summary Close:

"Let me make sure I understood correctly:
- You need to [solve X]
- We've shown how we do that
- The ROI is [Y]
- Your team is ready to start [timeline]
Does that sound right? What would you like to do next?"

Trial Close (Gauge Interest):

"If we can address [concern], are you ready to move forward?"
"On a scale of 1-10, how likely are you to proceed?"
(If <8: "What would make it a 10?")

Direct Ask:

"I think this is a great fit. Are you ready to get started?"

Step 8: Pipeline Management

Pipeline Stages:

| Stage | Definition | Exit Criteria | Probability | Avg Days |
|-------|------------|---------------|-------------|----------|
| Lead | Initial contact | Responded | 10% | 0-7 |
| Qualified | Fits ICP + BANT | Discovery scheduled | 25% | 7-14 |
| Discovery | Needs understood | Demo scheduled | 40% | 14-21 |
| Demo | Solution shown | Proposal requested | 50% | 21-28 |
| Proposal | Pricing sent | Verbal yes | 60% | 28-35 |
| Negotiation | Terms discussed | Contract sent | 80% | 35-42 |
| Closed Won | Deal signed | -- | 100% | 42 |
| Closed Lost | Deal lost | -- | 0% | -- |

Weekly Pipeline Review:

## Pipeline Review: [Date]

### Summary
- Total pipeline value: $[X]
- Weighted pipeline: $[X] (value × probability)
- Deals in play: [X]
- Expected to close this month: $[X]
- Actual closed this month: $[X]

### By Stage
| Stage | # Deals | Value | Weighted | Avg Age |
|-------|---------|-------|----------|---------|
| Qualified | 5 | $50K | $12.5K | 10 days |
| Discovery | 3 | $30K | $12K | 18 days |
| Proposal | 2 | $40K | $24K | 25 days |

### Top 5 Deals
| Company | Value | Stage | Next Step | Close Date | Risk |
|---------|-------|-------|-----------|------------|------|
| Acme | $20K | Proposal | Send contract | Feb 15 | Low |
| TechCo | $15K | Negotiation | Legal review | Feb 20 | Med |

### Stuck Deals (>14 days in stage)
| Company | Stage | Days Stuck | Blocker | Action |
|---------|-------|------------|---------|--------|
| SlowCo | Discovery | 21 | No response | Call champion |

### Actions This Week
1. Follow up with SlowCo champion
2. Send proposal to Acme
3. Schedule 5 new discovery calls

Sales Email Templates

Cold Outreach:

Subject: [Trigger event or pain point]

Hi [Name],

Saw that [specific observation about their company - shows research].

[One sentence about common pain point in their industry.]

[One sentence about how you help, with specific result.]

Worth a 15-minute call to explore if there's a fit?

Best,
[Name]

P.S. [Relevant case study or proof point]

Follow-Up (No Response):

Subject: Re: [Original subject]

Hi [Name],

Quick follow-up on my note last week about [value prop in different words].

If now isn't the right time, no worries - just let me know and I'll check back in [3/6 months].

Best,
[Name]

Post-Meeting Follow-Up:

Subject: Next steps - [Company name]

Hi [Name],

Great speaking with you today. As discussed:

**Your challenges:**
- [Challenge 1 they mentioned]
- [Challenge 2 they mentioned]

**How we can help:**
- [Solution 1 with specific outcome]
- [Solution 2 with specific outcome]

**Next steps:**
- [Action 1] - [Owner] - [Date]
- [Action 2] - [Owner] - [Date]

Let me know if I missed anything.

Best,
[Name]

Sales Playbook Template

## Sales Playbook: [Product/Service]

### Ideal Customer Profile
[See ICP section above]

### Value Proposition
[One-liner and full framework]

### Discovery Questions
[Top 10 questions to ask]

### Common Objections & Responses
[Top 5 objections with LAER responses]

### Demo Flow
[20-minute structure]

### Pricing Presentation
- Lead with value, not price
- Anchor high: "$X for enterprise, but most start at $Y"
- Show ROI calculation
- Offer options (good, better, best)

### Closing Process
[Preferred closing techniques]

### Success Metrics
- Lead → Qualified: [X]%
- Qualified → Demo: [X]%
- Demo → Proposal: [X]%
- Proposal → Close: [X]%
- Average deal size: $[X]
- Sales cycle: [X] days

Common Mistakes

Tools & Resources

CRM:

• HubSpot (free tier available)
• Salesforce
• Pipedrive
• Close

Outreach:

• Apollo.io (prospecting)
• LinkedIn Sales Navigator
• Hunter.io (email finding)

Resources:

• "SPIN Selling" by Neil Rackham
• "The Challenger Sale" by Dixon & Adamson
• "Predictable Revenue" by Aaron Ross

Related Skills

• /pitch-deck-review - Creating sales presentations
• /pricing-analysis - Setting pricing strategy
• /copywriter - Writing compelling emails

Last Updated: 2026-01-22