swan-gtm Use this when the team's definition of success is undocumented. A playbook is a book of agreed-upon best practices for success — what good looks like (WGLL), written down. It exists for better onboarding, better scaling, and for when the leader isn't there anymore: not in the call, not in the meeting, or gone from the company entirely. The output is the playbook skeleton plus a complete People section drafted with the user.
1. Frame the five P's
Structure the playbook as five sections, in this order: People, Prospect, Problem, Process, Product. Order matters — most playbooks start with product and never get to people, which is backwards: people are the ones who execute the plays. Draft the skeleton first so every later section has a home.
2. Draft the People section
This is the section almost no playbook has. Work through four blocks with the user:
Expectations. Daily, weekly, monthly: activity, call reviews, trainings, team meetings, key targets including ramp. Break every target down into its math — "$100K per quarter" becomes: average deal size $10K, so 10 deals; at a 25% close rate, inbound and SDR support covers it if the rep self-sources 5 opportunities. A rep should be able to re-derive their number. Then map what qualifies for a promotion and what qualifies for a termination — both known from day one.
Standards of excellence. The org's own virtues and vision, separate from the company values on the wall. Virtues are how you behave; values are what you believe. Define each behavior, give a real example of it, and end with a signature page — everyone signs that these are the standards they'll uphold and be held to. That signature is what the first hard conversation points back to.
Goals. New starters set personal goals so the manager can align what they're trying to achieve with how the company helps them get there.
Stories and records. Collect them from the team: the legends who came before, the comeback stories (the top rep who was once in tears at 7am and nearly quit), the last-second deals, the failures, one top tip from every rep, and the records — fastest ramp, biggest deal, most meetings set in a week. New people need to identify with those who came before.
3. Build the remaining P's from reality
For Prospect, Problem, Process, and Product, pull from what actually happens: real calls, real deals, real rep language — not the ideal process nobody runs. Interview reps and managers for each section; their insight is what makes the playbook get adopted instead of shelved.
4. Set the operating rhythm
Assign an owner, a review cadence, and a home everyone can reach. A playbook that is never updated is one of the classic failures — it must change as the team learns.
What good looks like
A great playbook is written, agreed upon, and built with rep and manager insight — reps recognize their actual job in it. The People section sets the tone before a single tactic appears: expectations with the math shown, promotion and termination criteria nobody has to guess, virtues with signatures, stories that make the standard feel reachable. A weak playbook is a product manual with a process diagram: no people, no reality, no owner, read once at onboarding and never again. The test: could a rep who joins after the leader has left succeed from this document alone?
Rules
- MUST be written down. A playbook in someone's head is not a playbook.
- MUST be built with rep and manager input from real calls and deals. NEVER fabricate a process that isn't how the team actually sells.
- NEVER fully outsource it — outside help is fine, but the leader stays heavily involved or it won't be adopted.
- MUST break every target into the math that produces it.
- MUST have an owner and an update cadence before it ships.