1. What’s Your Game Plan?
Putting a Sales Playbook Program at the Heart of Sales Enablement

2. By recognizing the essential factors of a successful playbook program and then smartly partnering
to execute it, you can strengthen the capabilities of your selling team and reinforce the skills
needed for sustained growth. Read on to learn how top performing sales organizations have
achieved these results.
As a sales leader, you’re challenged to win more
business and produce predictable results – even as you
increase sales efficiency. You have to accelerate ramp
times for new recruits, develop your existing talent, and
retain high performers.
With prospective customers more demanding and
difficult to acquire than ever, companies like yours are
actively investing in sales enablement initiatives. One
asset in the sales enablement mix that’s getting a lot of
attention iiss tthhee ssaalleess ppllaayybbooookk..
But there’s more here than you’d initially imagine. While
some sales organizations have treated the playbook as
a mere tool or document, the most successful ones
recognize its potential as a ttrraannssffoorrmmaattiivvee aanndd
ppeerrffoorrmmaannccee--ddrriivviinngg ffoorrccee..
Intensifying Market Pressures
and the Rise of Sales Enablementnt
of
2

3. Sales Enablement is Now Coming Into Focus
80%
90%
90% ooff ssaalleess ttrraaiinniinngg has no
lasting impact after 120 days.3
ooff mmaarrkkeettiinngg mmaatteerriiaallss
don’t get used by sales.2
ooff ssaalleess ccoonnvveerrssaattiioonnss do not
meet the expectations of executives.1
…and sales leaders may not like what they see.
1 Forrester Research, 2 American Marketing Association, 3 ES Research Group
3

4. Despite the distinctions between different sales organizations, some patterns are
consistent. Here are tthhrreeee ppaaiinn ppooiinnttss that sales leaders like you are struggling to address:
3 Key Barriers to Sales Force Effectiveness
Making your sales
conversations matter.
Making your message
compelling and memorable
while ensuring your team
members speak with a unified
voice.
1
Clarifying and reinforcing
your selling process.
Ensuring your selling
organization fully understands
and is committed to your
selling methodology.
2
Developing and retaining
high performers.
Accelerating time-to-
performance among new team
members while enhancing the
performance of existing
members.
3
4

5. 1
Making your sales
conversations matter
Initial sales conversations often revolve around a
supplier’s solutions and that’s why they fail. To
make your message compelling, your people mmuusstt
ttrruullyy eenntteerr tthhee wwoorrlldd ooff yyoouurr bbuuyyeerrss.. But this
“empathic shift” is difficult for many companies
and sales people to make. It’s much easier to focus
on your own products and offerings. Resist the
temptation.
To support powerful sales conversations, you need
messaging that addresses the specific concerns
and pain points of your targeted buyer. It must
ccrreeaattee aa sseennssee ooff uurrggeennccyy.. You can’t lead with your
products or solutions. Your message has to
revolve around your prospective client and then
lead back to your strengths and differentiators.
Just getting to this point is a huge barrier for
many. You are challenged to pprroodduuccee aa mmeessssaaggee,,
mmaakkee iitt vviivviidd aanndd iinnssiigghhttffuull,, aanndd eennssuurree yyoouurr
ssttaakkeehhoollddeerrss aarree bboouugghhtt iinn.. That last point is
critical. According to the American Marketing
Association, 90% of the materials created by
marketing don’t get used by sales.
5

6. 2
Clarifying and reinforcing
your selling process
You have a sales process you want your people to
consistently execute. You can’t scale or drive new
efficiencies without it.
Your sales process determines how limited
resources are invested and deployed. IItt’’ss ccrriittiiccaall
tthhaatt tthhiiss pprroocceessss bbee cclleeaarrllyy uunnddeerrssttoooodd bbyy yyoouurr
tteeaamm mmeemmbbeerrss.. You can’t clarify the method and
cadence of your sales efforts if you haven’t
documented, presented, and reinforced the
approach in a powerful way.
What’s more, ssaalleess oorrggaanniizzaattiioonnss aarree iinnccrreeaassiinnggllyy
ssppeecciiaalliizzeedd.. You have different processes for
different roles: lead response; sales development;
quota-carrying inside reps; quota-carrying outside
reps; and strategic account managers. As your
selling team grows more specialized, it’s difficult
to drive performance gains unless content and
coaching is fully matched to these roles.
6

7. 3
Developing and retaining
high performers
OOnnee ooff yyoouurr kkeeyy ggrroowwtthh ffaaccttoorrss iiss yyoouurr aabbiilliittyy ttoo
aattttrraacctt,, bbuuiilldd,, aanndd rreettaaiinn aa pprroodduuccttiivvee sseelllliinngg tteeaamm..
But existing training and professional
development approaches may not address the
personal demands of your team members. That
leaves you vulnerable to excessive ramp times,
high turnover, and high sales expenses.
Your training and coaching content may be highly
focused on product knowledge as opposed to
business, selling, and conversational skills. And,
when your solution is conventional sales training,
there’s a tendency to deliver material “just in-
case” it’s useful. When you arrange training
events, tthheerree mmaayy bbee ttoooo mmuucchh ccoonntteenntt oorr ttoooo
lliittttllee tthhaatt’’ss ddeelliivveerreedd ttoooo eeaarrllyy oorr ttoooo llaattee..
That’s not consistent with the way your people
learn – or apply what they’ve learned. TThheeyy nneeeedd
ttoo aabbssoorrbb nneeww iinnffoorrmmaattiioonn aatt tthhee ppooiinntt aanndd
mmoommeenntt ooff nneeeedd.. They want it to be actionable.
Otherwise, much of what is taught is
incomprehensible or merely forgotten. To truly
excel, your people need solid coaching and
constant guidance.
7

8. It’s Time to Take Action
The barriers you face can be surmounted by provisioning your team to perform.
If you could,
you’d drive sales performance to new levels. You’d empower your selling team
to engage more prospects, produce more pipeline, and close more deals.
you could enable your people to
engage in extremely compelling
sales conversations?
What if…?
1
2
3
you could ensure your team was
fully committed to and capable
of executing your sales process?
What if…?
you could bring a superior
approach to coaching,
professional development, and
performance management?
What if…?
8

9. A growing number of companies
are adopting a playbook approach
to sales enablement. The playbook
represents a core source of
modular content that’s designed to
arm and enable your selling team.
You may package the content as
spiral-bound notebooks, digital
guides, and curriculum modules.
You can go print or digital, fixed or
mobile – or all of the above. You
just want the content to be rich,
vivid, visual, and easy to navigate.
Playbook Programs, however, go
beyond playbook production –
important as that is. The approach
is about building an advanced
capability and competency. You
leverage it to strengthen your
selling organization and reinforce
winning behaviors.
Your Playbook Program:
Going Beyond the Book
WWhheenn ttoo CCoonnssiiddeerr aa PPllaayybbooookk PPrrooggrraamm::
New territories or incentive plans6
1 Onboarding new reps
2 Sales kickoffs or other in-person events
3 New product launches or marketing
campaigns
4 New sales process, productivity or
methodology initiatives (e.g. social
selling, new sales skills training)
5 New sales technology rollouts
Targeting new markets7
9

10. To ensure adoption, you need a
flexible approach that’s fully
suited to your environment. You’ll
want mmoodduullaarr ccoonntteenntt designed to
support a diverse and fast-paced
sales force. You’ll want to use your
playbook as foundational
curriculum for a ccoonnttiinnuuoouuss
lleeaarrnniinngg aanndd ccooaacchhiinngg ppllaann.. With
the right support, you also can
ensure proper measures are in
place to enable ppeerrffoorrmmaannccee
aasssseessssmmeenntt aanndd ddrriivvee
ppeerrffoorrmmaannccee iimmpprroovveemmeenntt..
You have to produce content that
arms your team and package it
effectively. TThhee ccoonntteenntt mmuusstt bbee
cclleeaarr aanndd ccoommppeelllliinngg,, iinnssiigghhttffuull
aanndd aaccttiioonnaabbllee.. When it comes to
your message, you must ensure
you are locking on to your buyer’s
world and creating a sense of
urgency. And you nneeeedd ssuuppppoorrttiinngg
aasssseettss that guide your people
through your sales process. Your
playbook must be eeaassyy ttoo nnaavviiggaattee
aanndd aappppllyy,, providing the right
guidance at the right time.
The success of your Playbook Program depends on three key factors:
DDeessiiggnn aanndd
DDeevveellooppmmeenntt
RRoolllloouutt aanndd
RReeiinnffoorrcceemmeenntt
CCoonnsseennssuuss aanndd
CCoommmmiittmmeenntt
Your efforts to build a compelling
message and instill process
discipline will not be successful
unless you hhaavvee yyoouurr kkeeyy
ssttaakkeehhoollddeerrss ffuullllyy eennggaaggeedd iinn tthhee
wwoorrkk ooff ppllaayybbooookk ddeevveellooppmmeenntt
aanndd pprrooggrraamm ssuuppppoorrtt.. With the
involvement of a messaging
specialist and facilitator, you can
ensure you’re driving consensus in
the creation of your content while
securing the support you’ll need
to maximize your impact.
3 Key Factors in Playbook Success
YYoouurr PPllaayybbooookk PPrrooggrraamm wwiillll bbee aann eesssseennttiiaall ffoorrccee iinn yyoouurr eeffffoorrttss ttoo bbuuiilldd aa ttrruullyy hhiigghh ppeerrffoorrmmiinngg ssaalleess tteeaamm..
Whether you are responsible for enabling an inside sales team, a field sales team, or both, such programs ensure
you are producing powerful support tools and building critical skills that propel your organization forward.
10

11. Visually outlining the choreography of a
sales conversation.
Clarifying objectives of your campaign or
initiative to maintain focus.
Leading your conversations with facts, data
points, and other “icebreakers” that grab
attention.
Introducing pain points, costs, and
consequences to create a sense of urgency.
Presenting a business solution that
highlights your impact, value, and
differentiation.
11
Sample Pages
from a
Messaging
Playbook

12. To accelerate and enhance the rollout of your Playbook Program, you’ll want to consider bringing in a partner that can support
your efforts. You want to ensure success. WWhhaatt ccrriitteerriiaa sshhoouulldd yyoouu uussee ttoo ddeetteerrmmiinnee wwhhiicchh ppaarrttnneerr iiss rriigghhtt ffoorr yyoouu?? Here are a few
to consider:
Decision Criteria: What to Look
for in a Playbook Program Partner
Expertise that spans sales,
marketing, and product management.
You’ll want a playbook partner that can span functional
boundaries while driving ccoonnsseennssuuss aanndd ccoommmmiittmmeenntt..
You need to bring your stakeholders together. So you
need someone with the presence and confidence to work
the room – someone with the skill to capture critical
insights and get full buy-in from your stakeholders.
Expertise in conversation
design and coaching.
You need a mmeessssaaggee tthhaatt aarrmmss yyoouurr sseelllliinngg tteeaamm for all
stages of a buyer’s decision process. You have to answer
the buyer’s key questions: Why should I pay attention?
Why should I change? Why now? Why you? You want a
story that cuts through the noise and addresses the core
concerns of your buyer’s various decision team members.
Expertise in playbook
design and navigation.
Your people won’t use your playbooks unless they are
eeaassyy ttoo nnaavviiggaattee aanndd uussee.. That’s why design matters.
While some consultants merely focus on documenting
messages or processes, it’s important that your playbook
be designed to maximize adoption. You want your
playbook to be an actionable tool that your sales team
actively embraces and applies.
Expertise in program rollout, reinforcement,
and performance measurement.
You want a partner to help you mmaaxxiimmiizzee tthhee iimmppaacctt ooff
yyoouurr rroolllloouutt.. That may include participation in, or
leadership of, various forums designed to facilitate,
accelerate, and reinforce skill development. Be sure to
work with a partner that understands performance
measurement and has the same results-focus as your
quota-carrying sales leaders.
1 2
3 4
12

13. Ready to Explore a Playbook Program?
If you are exploring a Playbook Program for
your selling team or organization, you’ll want
to clarify where you stand and examine your
options.
Consider this offer: Visible Impact will provide
a complimentary review and assessment that
addresses your organization’s Playbook
Program Essentials.
AAss ppaarrtt ooff tthhiiss rreevviieeww aanndd aasssseessssmmeenntt,, yyoouu’’llll rreecceeiivvee::
An Executive Summary and Preliminary Outline of your
sales playbook
A Program Plan that clarifies key actions necessary to
execute your Playbook Program
13
YYoouurr VViissiioonn.. VViivviiddllyy EExxpprreesssseedd.. Relying on Visible Impact, you’ll
have the insight-driven positioning and messaging you need to:
• Help your buyers visualize the case for taking action
• Vividly communicate the full value of your solution
• Make your message go viral within a decision team
With Visible Impact, you can bring your selling and marketing
teams together to produce compelling positions, messages and
insights that create a sense of urgency and win more business.
Contact a client strategist with
Visible Impact today to learn more.
Phone: 512-415-7936
Email: playbooks@visibleimpact.com
Website: www.visibleimpact.com