The sales landscape is changing everyday. One of the biggest changes outside of the way buyers are buying, is the need for a playbook. Sales playbooks have evolved over the last 5 years and are now considered to be an integral part of sales enablement strategies that are designed to make sellers more efficient and effective. According to Aberdeen Research, this is why 42% of best-in-class companies use sales playbooks, resulting in higher customer retention rates, higher conversion rates, more sales teams achieving their quota, efficient and consistent on-boarding of new sales reps, and an accelerated sales process.

Although crafting a sales playbook takes a lot of time, you’ll start seeing the results almost instantly.

First, training new salespeople is far quicker and easier when you have clear, explicit explanations of who your customers are, how they buy your products or services, what their pain points typically look like, what you should say to them, and more. Without a sales playbook, your reps are forced to learn this information ad hoc. Sadly, this is usually done by shadowing other reps, who may be making mistakes.

Second, a playbook frees up time for selling. According to multiple different studies, salespeople spend roughly one-third of their day creating content; while only spending one-third of their day selling!

Rather than having each rep develop their own messaging, questions, and resources to use with prospects, give them ready-made content. This lets them focus on selling.

Third, a playbook helps you disseminate the most effective techniques to your team. If you notice one rep having success with a specific outreach method, you can share it easily with the entire team by putting it in the playbook!