# Sales Playbook Foundations > Use this skill when a sales team has no written playbook, when success lives in one leader's head, when onboarding is inconsistent, or when the user says "we need a playbook", "document our sales process", "what should be in our playbook", or "reps ramp too slowly". It produces the playbook skeleton — the five P's in the right order — and a fully drafted People section, the part almost every playbook is missing. - Skill: `swan-gtm/sales-playbook-foundations` (Agent Skill) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add swan-gtm/sales-playbook-foundations` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/swan-gtm/sales-playbook-foundations/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: Coding & Dev Tools - Author: swan-gtm (https://skillmd.com/u/swan-gtm) - Updated: 2026-09-17 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/swan-gtm/sales-playbook-foundations --- 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.