sales-playbook
SKILL.md
Sales Playbook
Complete framework for building scalable, repeatable sales systems that convert prospects to customers.
When to Use
- Building sales process for new product
- Onboarding sales team members
- Improving conversion rates
- Handling objections consistently
- Managing sales pipeline
- Scaling from founder-led to team sales
Sales Process Stages
PROSPECT → QUALIFY → DISCOVER → PRESENT → HANDLE OBJECTIONS → CLOSE → ONBOARD
1. PROSPECT: Find potential customers
2. QUALIFY: Determine fit (BANT/MEDDIC)
3. DISCOVER: Understand their situation
4. PRESENT: Show how you solve their problem
5. HANDLE OBJECTIONS: Address concerns
6. CLOSE: Ask for the business
7. ONBOARD: Ensure success
Workflow
Step 1: Define Your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)
## Ideal Customer Profile
**Demographics:**
- Company size: [Employees/Revenue]
- Industry: [Specific verticals]
- Geography: [Locations]
- Role/Title: [Who you sell to]
**Firmographics:**
- Technology stack: [What they use]
- Growth stage: [Startup/Scale-up/Enterprise]
- Funding: [Bootstrapped/VC-backed]
**Psychographics:**
- Pain points: [Top 3 problems]
- Goals: [What they're trying to achieve]
- Buying triggers: [When they buy]
- Budget: [Price range they can afford]
**Examples of Good Fit:**
- Company A: [Why they're ideal]
- Company B: [Why they're ideal]
**Examples of Bad Fit:**
- Company X: [Why they're not a fit]
- Company Y: [Why they're not a fit]
Step 2: Craft Your Value Proposition
Value Prop Framework:
FOR [target customer]
WHO [has this specific problem]
OUR [product/service]
PROVIDES [key benefit with numbers]
UNLIKE [competitors]
WE [unique differentiator]
Example:
FOR B2B SaaS companies
WHO struggle with customer onboarding (60% churn in first 30 days)
OUR automated onboarding platform
PROVIDES 40% reduction in time-to-value and 25% higher retention
UNLIKE generic customer success tools
WE offer industry-specific playbooks and automated milestone tracking
One-Liner:
"We help [target] achieve [outcome] without [pain]."
Example: "We help SaaS companies reduce churn by 25% without hiring more customer success reps."
Step 3: Qualification (BANT vs MEDDIC)
BANT (Simpler, B2C/SMB):
## BANT Qualification
**Budget:**
- Can they afford it? $[Range]
- What's their budget? $[X]
- Decision authority over budget? [Y/N]
**Authority:**
- Who makes the decision? [Name/Title]
- Who else is involved? [Stakeholders]
- Decision process? [Committee/Individual]
**Need:**
- What problem are they solving? [Pain]
- How urgent is it? [1-10]
- Cost of not solving? $[X]/[Time]
**Timeline:**
- When do they need it? [Date]
- Why that timeline? [Reason]
- What happens if delayed? [Impact]
**Qualified?** [Yes/No]
**Next Steps:** [Schedule demo / Send proposal]
MEDDIC (Complex, Enterprise B2B):
## MEDDIC Qualification
**Metrics:**
- What are their success measures?
- Current state metrics: [Numbers]
- Desired state metrics: [Numbers]
- How do they measure ROI? [Formula]
**Economic Buyer:**
- Who controls the budget? [Name/Title]
- What's their priority? [Business goal]
- What do they care about? [Key metric]
**Decision Criteria:**
- How will they decide? [Must-haves vs nice-to-haves]
- Who evaluates? [Technical team, exec team]
- What's the scoring? [Point system, checklist]
**Decision Process:**
- What's the buying process? [Steps]
- Who's involved at each stage? [Stakeholders]
- Timeline? [Dates for each step]
**Identify Pain:**
- What's the business problem? [Quantified impact]
- Who feels the pain most? [Department/Person]
- Cost of inaction? $[X]/year
**Champion:**
- Who will sell internally for you? [Name]
- Do they have influence? [Y/N]
- Are they coaching you? [Y/N]
**Qualified?** [Yes/No]
**Deal Score:** [X/10]
Step 4: Discovery Questions
The Goal: Understand Their World Deeply
Current State:
- "Walk me through your current process for [X]."
- "What tools are you using today?"
- "How much time does this take per week?"
- "Who's responsible for this?"
Pain Points:
- "What's the biggest challenge with your current approach?"
- "What have you tried to solve this?"
- "Why didn't that work?"
- "What's this costing you? (time/money/opportunity)"
Impact:
- "If you could wave a magic wand, what would change?"
- "What would solving this enable you to do?"
- "How would this impact your team/company?"
- "What's at stake if this doesn't get solved?"
Decision Process:
- "How do decisions like this typically get made here?"
- "Who else needs to be involved?"
- "What would need to happen for you to move forward?"
- "What's your timeline for making a decision?"
Discovery Framework (SPIN Selling):
SITUATION: Understand their current state
- "How many customers do you have?"
- "What's your current process?"
PROBLEM: Identify pain points
- "What challenges are you facing?"
- "How is this impacting the business?"
IMPLICATION: Make pain bigger
- "What happens if this continues?"
- "How does this affect other areas?"
NEED-PAYOFF: Paint the solution
- "How would solving this help?"
- "What would that mean for your team?"
Step 5: Demo/Presentation
Demo Flow (20 minutes max):
## Demo Structure
**1. Recap Pain (2 min)**
- "Based on our conversation, you mentioned [X pain]"
- "Your goal is to [Y outcome]"
- "Today I'll show you exactly how we solve that"
**2. Show Solution (10 min)**
- Focus ONLY on features that solve THEIR pain
- Show, don't tell
- Use their data/examples if possible
- "Here's how you'd [specific task]..."
**3. Prove It (5 min)**
- Case study: "Company like yours saw [result]"
- ROI calculation: "Based on [their numbers], you'd save $[X]"
- Social proof: "[Number] companies use this for [use case]"
**4. Next Steps (3 min)**
- "Does this solve [their pain]?"
- "What questions do you have?"
- "What would you like to see next?"
- Schedule follow-up BEFORE you hang up
Presentation Principles:
✅ DO:
- Tailor to their specific pain
- Use their language/terminology
- Show, don't tell
- Quantify value ($X saved, Y% improvement)
- Leave time for questions
❌ DON'T:
- Feature dump
- Talk more than 60% of the time
- Skip their pain points
- Assume they remember past conversations
- End without clear next steps
Step 6: Objection Handling (LAER Framework)
LAER Method:
LISTEN: Let them fully express the objection
ACKNOWLEDGE: Show you understand
EXPLORE: Ask questions to find root cause
RESPOND: Address the real concern
Common Objections:
"It's too expensive"
LISTEN: "I understand budget is a concern."
ACKNOWLEDGE: "Many customers felt the same way initially."
EXPLORE: "Help me understand - compared to what?" / "What budget did you have in mind?"
RESPOND:
- "Let me show you the ROI..." [Show calculation]
- "What's the cost of not solving this?" [Quantify pain]
- "We have [alternative option] at [lower price]"
"I need to think about it"
LISTEN: "Of course, this is an important decision."
ACKNOWLEDGE: "I'd want time to think too."
EXPLORE: "What specifically would you like to think through?"
RESPOND: [Address the REAL concern they reveal]
- If budget: Show ROI
- If timing: Understand why delay
- If features: Address gaps
- If trust: Provide references
"We're already using [Competitor]"
LISTEN: "I appreciate you sharing that."
ACKNOWLEDGE: "[Competitor] is a good product."
EXPLORE: "How's that going? What made you take this call?"
RESPOND:
- Don't trash competitor
- "Many customers switched from [Competitor] because..."
- "What would make you consider an alternative?"
- Focus on differentiation
"Now isn't a good time"
LISTEN: "I understand timing matters."
ACKNOWLEDGE: "Timing has to be right."
EXPLORE: "When would be better? What's happening now?"
RESPOND:
- "What would change in [timeframe]?"
- "What's the cost of waiting [X months]?"
- "Can we start small now and expand later?"
- Schedule specific future follow-up
"I need to talk to [someone else]"
LISTEN: "Absolutely, it's important they're involved."
ACKNOWLEDGE: "Getting buy-in is critical."
EXPLORE: "What will be most important to them?"
RESPOND:
- "Can we schedule a call with them included?"
- "What do you think their main concerns will be?"
- "I can prepare materials for you to share"
- Offer to present to decision-maker directly
Step 7: Closing Techniques
Assumptive Close:
"Based on what we've discussed, this clearly solves [their pain].
When would you like to get started?"
Alternative Close:
"Would you prefer to start with the annual plan or monthly?"
"Should we begin with 10 licenses or 25?"
Summary Close:
"Let me make sure I understood correctly:
- You need to [solve X]
- We've shown how we do that
- The ROI is [Y]
- Your team is ready to start [timeline]
Does that sound right? What would you like to do next?"
Trial Close (Gauge Interest):
"If we can address [concern], are you ready to move forward?"
"On a scale of 1-10, how likely are you to proceed?"
(If <8: "What would make it a 10?")
Direct Ask:
"I think this is a great fit. Are you ready to get started?"
Step 8: Pipeline Management
Pipeline Stages:
| Stage | Definition | Exit Criteria | Probability | Avg Days |
|-------|------------|---------------|-------------|----------|
| Lead | Initial contact | Responded | 10% | 0-7 |
| Qualified | Fits ICP + BANT | Discovery scheduled | 25% | 7-14 |
| Discovery | Needs understood | Demo scheduled | 40% | 14-21 |
| Demo | Solution shown | Proposal requested | 50% | 21-28 |
| Proposal | Pricing sent | Verbal yes | 60% | 28-35 |
| Negotiation | Terms discussed | Contract sent | 80% | 35-42 |
| Closed Won | Deal signed | -- | 100% | 42 |
| Closed Lost | Deal lost | -- | 0% | -- |
Weekly Pipeline Review:
## Pipeline Review: [Date]
### Summary
- Total pipeline value: $[X]
- Weighted pipeline: $[X] (value × probability)
- Deals in play: [X]
- Expected to close this month: $[X]
- Actual closed this month: $[X]
### By Stage
| Stage | # Deals | Value | Weighted | Avg Age |
|-------|---------|-------|----------|---------|
| Qualified | 5 | $50K | $12.5K | 10 days |
| Discovery | 3 | $30K | $12K | 18 days |
| Proposal | 2 | $40K | $24K | 25 days |
### Top 5 Deals
| Company | Value | Stage | Next Step | Close Date | Risk |
|---------|-------|-------|-----------|------------|------|
| Acme | $20K | Proposal | Send contract | Feb 15 | Low |
| TechCo | $15K | Negotiation | Legal review | Feb 20 | Med |
### Stuck Deals (>14 days in stage)
| Company | Stage | Days Stuck | Blocker | Action |
|---------|-------|------------|---------|--------|
| SlowCo | Discovery | 21 | No response | Call champion |
### Actions This Week
1. Follow up with SlowCo champion
2. Send proposal to Acme
3. Schedule 5 new discovery calls
Sales Email Templates
Cold Outreach:
Subject: [Trigger event or pain point]
Hi [Name],
Saw that [specific observation about their company - shows research].
[One sentence about common pain point in their industry.]
[One sentence about how you help, with specific result.]
Worth a 15-minute call to explore if there's a fit?
Best,
[Name]
P.S. [Relevant case study or proof point]
Follow-Up (No Response):
Subject: Re: [Original subject]
Hi [Name],
Quick follow-up on my note last week about [value prop in different words].
If now isn't the right time, no worries - just let me know and I'll check back in [3/6 months].
Best,
[Name]
Post-Meeting Follow-Up:
Subject: Next steps - [Company name]
Hi [Name],
Great speaking with you today. As discussed:
**Your challenges:**
- [Challenge 1 they mentioned]
- [Challenge 2 they mentioned]
**How we can help:**
- [Solution 1 with specific outcome]
- [Solution 2 with specific outcome]
**Next steps:**
- [Action 1] - [Owner] - [Date]
- [Action 2] - [Owner] - [Date]
Let me know if I missed anything.
Best,
[Name]
Sales Playbook Template
## Sales Playbook: [Product/Service]
### Ideal Customer Profile
[See ICP section above]
### Value Proposition
[One-liner and full framework]
### Discovery Questions
[Top 10 questions to ask]
### Common Objections & Responses
[Top 5 objections with LAER responses]
### Demo Flow
[20-minute structure]
### Pricing Presentation
- Lead with value, not price
- Anchor high: "$X for enterprise, but most start at $Y"
- Show ROI calculation
- Offer options (good, better, best)
### Closing Process
[Preferred closing techniques]
### Success Metrics
- Lead → Qualified: [X]%
- Qualified → Demo: [X]%
- Demo → Proposal: [X]%
- Proposal → Close: [X]%
- Average deal size: $[X]
- Sales cycle: [X] days
Common Mistakes
| Don't | Do |
|---|---|
| Talk more than listen | Listen 60%, talk 40% |
| Lead with features | Lead with their pain |
| Skip discovery | Thorough discovery every time |
| Give up after one objection | Use LAER framework |
| Forget to ask for the sale | Always ask for next step |
| Wing it | Follow the playbook |
| Ignore pipeline metrics | Review weekly |
| Compete on price | Compete on value |
Tools & Resources
CRM:
- HubSpot (free tier available)
- Salesforce
- Pipedrive
- Close
Outreach:
- Apollo.io (prospecting)
- LinkedIn Sales Navigator
- Hunter.io (email finding)
Resources:
- "SPIN Selling" by Neil Rackham
- "The Challenger Sale" by Dixon & Adamson
- "Predictable Revenue" by Aaron Ross
Related Skills
/pitch-deck-review- Creating sales presentations/pricing-analysis- Setting pricing strategy/copywriter- Writing compelling emails
Last Updated: 2026-01-22