Commercial playbook for sales teams

In many sales teams in Spain, the method depends on the person. The most senior salesperson has their own way of opening accounts and their own pitch. The one who joined last year learned from them, or from nobody. When someone leaves, the method leaves with them.

The consequences show up every day:

• There is no shared narrative. Customers hear different versions of the same offer.
• Objections are handled on the fly.
• Leadership doesn't know which sales activities work and which don't.
• Every launch or price change is communicated with a meeting and a PDF nobody opens again.
• Onboarding a new salesperson takes months.

Talent isn't what's missing. What's missing is a system that turns what already works into something the whole team can repeat and measure.

It is the sales team's working document. It isn't a style guide or a slide deck. It is a system with two layers and a dashboard.

Method layer

What is the same for the whole team: priority segments, ideal customer profile, sequence of the sales conversation, qualification criteria and the rules for offer and price.

Local layer

What changes by territory, channel or account type: targets, assigned accounts, priorities and specific actions. In companies with regional offices, for example in Madrid and Barcelona, each one has its own local layer on top of the same method.

Action sheets

Each action in the plan on its own sheet: what gets done, owner, cost, KPI and date. This is what makes it possible to direct and measure.

Dashboard and governance

What is measured, from which source, who reviews it and how often. Without this, the playbook stays a document.

The playbook rests on three pieces from the playbooks and sales enablement practice area:

• Talk tracks and sales narrative. Sales pitch by segment, objections with their answers, competitive battlecards and the sequence of the conversation.
• Demos and sales presentations. Structure, script, proof and close for the demo and the pitch. We design the logic; the visual production is done by whoever does it today.
• Corporate training. Training the sales or account team on the playbook, the messaging and the sales methodology.

If the team has to sell a new product, the playbook comes out of a go-to-market plan. If the underlying problem is price, we start with pricing and packaging.

Your sales team executes the playbook. We design it, present it, train the team and, if phase 3 is contracted, direct how it is applied: periodic review, a steering committee and replanning when the data calls for it.

The client decides. We direct. Third parties execute. We don't replace the sales director: we give them a system to lead with.

If you are an agency and your client is asking for a playbook you don't know how to build, we do it behind you in white label. And if what your company needs is a full strategy function, see strategic marketing consultancy for companies.

Building a playbook is work done with the team, not for the team. These are the usual steps:

1. Interviews and ride-alongs. We talk to leadership, the sales director and several salespeople. Where possible, we listen to recorded sales calls.
2. Reading the data. Accounts, sales history, won and lost opportunities, and what the CRM actually records.
3. Shared method. We write the method layer from what already works in the team and from the strategy set in phase 1.
4. Local layer and action sheets. Each territory, channel or account type gets its local layer and its actions with owner, cost, KPI and date.
5. Validation with the team. The draft is reviewed with the people who will use it. A playbook the team doesn't recognize doesn't get applied.
6. Kickoff and training. Presentation to the team, training on the talk tracks and launch of the dashboard.

The result is a system your team uses every week and leadership can review every period.