“Do you have a sales playbook?” This question is typically not answered with resounding confidence. Whether you have a sales playbook gathering dust on the shelf, or you’re the proud owner of a collection of sales collateral blurring the line between your digital and ‘hardcopy’ world, it’s time to make a change. Here’s why:
Consistent Company Branding & Messaging
You’ve allocated a ton of resources into understanding your niche in the marketplace and your marketing team has perfected the messaging, so why are you encouraging your sales team to throw caution to the wind and make up their own pitch as they go? There is a lot of talk around “bridging the gap between sales and marketing”, but this is really where it begins. By creating a place where both sales and marketing go to share and understand relevant content about your brand, you are facilitating a stronger brand story.
Improved Customer Experience
When sales and marketing are on the same page (pun intended), your customers and prospects are taken on an expert-level guided tour through the entire buying experience. If they have a question for your sales rep, they will receive the most accurate answer. If they want to envision use cases or success stories, marketing will have everything readily available. Your customer will feel more comfortable with the brand and thus more likely to refer business.
Higher Revenue
This is a broad point, but by far the most relevant due to the following reasons:
- Sales reps are on-boarded in less time
- Sales cycles are decreased
- More sales reps reach or exceed their quota
Not convinced? Let’s make a simple comparison. You break your sales reps into two groups and give them the same test. The only difference is you give one of the groups a book with all of the answers. This is exactly what you are doing when you equip your team with a playbook.
Okay- this is all great, but what about getting started? When you have mountains of content and endless versions of the same documents, organizing everything into one playbook can seem like a luxury that never gets done. Take a deep breath and tackle this just like you do everything else in life – one step at a time. Start by building an outline or Table of Contents. Next, find a digital platform that will allow for your playbook to come to life. Start with one chapter at a time and, of course, delegate when possible.
Having a rough time implementing a sales playbook? Share them here and we’ll work on them together!