Implementing a B2B “sales playbook” is now a growing priority for many organizations as they head in 2017. The primary goal, of course, is to ensure that all members of a sales team – not just the top performers – are performing at a high level. The goal of having a sales playbook is having a repository of information and resources that any member of the sales team can consult, at any time of the sales process.
So what should be included in a B2B sales playbook?
#1: Updated sales presentations
First and most importantly, any member of the sales team should be able to access the most recent sales presentations. And, since every company and prospect has very specific need, it’s important that all of these presentations can be personalized and customized as needed.
#2: Customer profiles
At a glance, members of the sales team should have information about the specific types of customers that are most likely to buy from them. You can think of these in terms of “buyer personas” or “customer personas” – they are a combination of demographic and psychographic data that can be leveraged to create brief profiles of the prospects who are most likely to buy.
#3: Qualification and scoring guidelines
There’s a big difference between a regular lead and a “qualified lead,” so there needs to be some thought dedicated to how you are going to score each lead. What characteristics or factors are going to make the biggest difference in making someone a qualified lead? Sales members will also need access to scoring guides, that can help them assess recent sales calls and meetings.
#4: Tools to quantify your product’s performance
The most powerful factor limiting an organization’s ability to say “yes” is often inertia. It’s simply easier to do nothing than to embrace a new solution. That’s why you need to find some way to quantify the “cost of inaction,” such as online calculators or worksheets. This helps sales people communicate why inertia may actually have a real cost.
#5: Clear value propositions
Finally, a B2B sales playbook is going to need to offer a clear analysis of the value frameworks and value propositions for each product or offering. In short, what “value” does a company or prospect get from adopting your product or service? Each product is going to have a slightly different value framework, especially when they are offered to businesses in different sectors and verticals.
Getting all the members of a B2B sales team on the same page – literally – is one way to really drive momentum and ensure that every member of your sales team is performing at a high level. You can either create these sales items for the playbook as needed, or use a vendor solution such as SyncForce, which will do much of the heavy lifting for you. One of the key features of SyncForce, for example, is a central source for all brand, product and promotional content.
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Dane
Dane Cobain is a published author, freelance writer, book blogger, poet and (occasional) musician from High Wycombe, UK. Before going freelance, he worked as a social media marker, now specialising in writing about publishing, technology and marketing.