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L earn the keys to creating and implementing a sales
Donal Daly
CEO and Founder, The TAS Group
Author of the Best-Seller Account Planning in Salesforce
“
T
he implementation of a sales playbook
I
n today’s flattened world, competitive businesses have been turned upside down,
pressures mount, market cycles shorten, and constant change is the new constant.
buyers are more informed, and sales leaders At the same time, tremendous opportunities
and their teams are subject to more scrutiny, have emerged for sales organizations that
stress and anxiety than ever before. In the can nail their go-to-market strategies. Sales
last 5 years the world has experienced eco- playbooks can be the catalyst to remarkable
CHAPTER 2 CHAPTER 9
Customized to the Buying Cycle 7-9 Informs Sales Forecast Visibility 26-28
CHAPTER 3 CHAPTER 10
Sales Tools in Context at Each Stage 10-11 Motivational and Visual 29-31
CHAPTER 4 CHAPTER 11
Industry Sales Process Templates 12-13 Social and Collaborative 32-33
CHAPTER 5 CHAPTER 12
Many Simple and Complex Processes 14-16 Mobile and Cloud 34-36
CHAPTER 6 CHAPTER 13
Process, Benchmarks and Insight 17-19 About The TAS Group 37-38
CHAPTER 7 CHAPTER 14
Team Visibility for the Sales Manager 20-22 About The Author 39-40
sure every sales person knows the buying signs that occur
when you are winning or the activities that will ensure they
succeed.
W
cycle, quicker on-boarding for new sales reps and more wins
hen everyone performs the same
for the sales team overall.
winning behaviors all of the time, the
a few remain with the incumbent supplier trading ‘the devil you
C
In short, they have a detailed project plan, with hurdles and
ustomers buy in lots of different ways;
obstacles you have to scale. Doesn’t it make sense to ensure
some purchases are guided by a single
that your selling activities are fully aligned with your
decision maker, while in other cases there
customer’s buying activities?
can be a large buying committee. Some issue
But salespeople are busy and often don’t know which tool
A B2B sale is not a single event
they need, where to find it or how to use it at the specific
A
point in the micro-sale. Integrating sales tools into the
t each stage of the buying process,
playbook as part of the sales process is the solution.
salespeople need to employ just the
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quickly access the research and knowledge they need to
t is widely accepted that tailoring your sales
bring pertinent insight to the sales, based on proven
process to the specific needs of an industry
industry-specific templates.
will increase your chances for success. It
gently presenting the right steps, and just the right steps, for
O
In short, the sales processes within Playbooks should support
ne playbook or sales process does not
the type of sales process you are executing. This ensures you
fit all. Sometimes you are pursuing
have the right activities and outcomes for the appropriate
a brand new customer or a very large deal
buying process. Sales people are expending the right level of
that demands a complex and sophisticated
effort, commensurate with the return from the sales and the
set of ‘plays’ to win the deal. In other cases,
complexity of the situation. You have the right stage durations
the transaction might be quick, one that
for accurate forecasts and can manage performance
suggests a different rhythm. It is likely that
based on the types of deals your teams are working.
not all sales in your organization travel at the
B
Having achieved a comprehensive assessment of the
enchmarking delivers many advantages
current–state, a company can then develop a foundation for
for companies looking to improve the
sales productivity improvements that are truly transformative.
performance of their sales organization. Your
You know where you are starting from, and you see what you
playbook must capture those benefits, learn
have to change. Now you can easily identify and prioritize
from them, and uncover insights that help you
opportunities for improvement.
to drive your sales velocity. When deploying
the current state; and a vision of the journey upon which the
B
eing a front-line sales manager is one of
If the sales organization is adopting a sales playbook to
the hardest jobs in sales. It is also the
increase sales velocity, then it must provide an easy-to-use
critical link in sales. Unless the sales manag-
tool to enable the sales manager to monitor the team’s
er has all the tools he or she needs to easily
application of the plays, and the consequent impact on
manage the business, the whole performance
revenue performance.
of the sales organization suffers.
are really very busy. You need to provide them with the
‘Easy Button’.
Sales playbooks are often designed just with the sales person
IMPROVE YOUR RETURN
in mind. Remember that the sales manager is the critical
playbook.
T
Salesforce, then the playbook will benefit hugely if it is ‘native’
his one should be a ‘no-brainer’. Let’s
on the Salesforce Platform. Unlike other solutions that are
say you use Salesforce as your CRM. If
linked to Salesforce, or just lightly integrated, this means
that is the case, you are already asking your
that your data resides in the Salesforce Cloud, with the same
sales team to enter their opportunity infor-
security as Saleforce, the same performance as Salesforce,
mation into Salesforce. If that is where your
and all of the data captured within the playbook is inherently
opportunity information is held, then that is
accessible to Salesforce reports, dashboards,
where your playbook should be. It must
and other applications. CRM
integrate tightly with the CRM system so
flexibility on how they view the data in the context of the rest
S
To maximize the impact of your sales playbook on the accuracy
alespeople spend about 2.5 hours each
of your sales forecast, there are two things to consider.
week on sales forecasting, and for most
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Motivates Sales People” shows that, perhaps surprisingly for
here are only two reasons why an indi-
some, compensation is not the primary motivator. ‘Making
vidual does not complete a task. Either
Progress of Winning’ is ranked by sales people as the main
they do not have the skills, knowledge or
reason they get up in the morning. In fact, we can break
competence to complete it, or they are not
down the motivational conundrum into three pieces;
motivated enough to do it. Think about that
Incentive, Indicators of Progress, and Direction.
– these are the only two reasons. Your sales
participation.
A
collaboration in their own sales teams. Leading sales play-
s B2B companies rely more heavily on
books help by letting everyone ‘follow’ the plays, contribute
social collaboration tools, some of the
to the conversation, and collaborate on the deal. They promote
biggest winners are going to be salespeople.
an environment where sales people can lead their own
They know that The Social Universe is a great
community of contributors to their deal in an open and
place to listen and learn. When you follow
collaborative way. The B2B world is constantly becoming
your customers on Twitter, read their blogs,
more social and collaborative and you should
or study their LinkedIn profiles, you can
ensure that your sales playbook accommodates
quickly get a sense of who they are.
this advancement.
playbook.
the advancement of cloud computing
T
As twin engines of growth, the inexorable rise of mobile
ime is precious, and the sales person’s
device ownership, and the advancement of cloud computing
time is incredibly precious, both to
are the most significant changes in the business landscape
them and to the sales organization looking to
that any of us has witnessed in our lifetimes.
maximize the performance of their key
quota-bearers.
In most developed economies in the world, practically
find more deals, increase win rates, grow deal values and
T
he TAS Group helps sales professionals
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Donal’s Blog
D
onal Daly is CEO and Founder of The TAS Group, which is his fifth
The Customer Respect Group, and Select Strategies - all of which were
Donal Daly
CEO and Founder, The TAS Group
Send your comments and feedback to: ddaly@thetasgroup.com