Sales Playbook

Firmographic Fit:
- Company size:  [Employee range and/or revenue range]
- Industry:      [Target verticals]
- Tech stack:    [Required tools or platforms in use]

Behavioral Signals:
- [Currently using competitor X or manual process Y]
- [Recently hired for role Z / posted job for...]
- [Visited pricing page, requested demo]

Disqualification Criteria:
- [Below minimum deal size]
- [No budget authority within 90 days]
- [Locked into multi-year competitor contract]

2. Deal Stage Definitions

Deals cannot skip stages. If a rep cannot articulate the exit criteria for the current stage, the deal is not at that stage.

3. Qualification Framework

A deal without a champion is a deal without an internal advocate.

4. Discovery Question Bank

Reps should use 8-12 questions per call, not all of them.

Pain: "Walk me through what happens today when [problem scenario]." / "How much time does your team spend on this per month?" / "What happens if you do not solve this in the next 6 months?"

Decision Process: "Who else needs to be involved?" / "What does your purchasing process look like for tools at this price point?" / "Is there an event driving this decision?"

Budget: "Is there budget allocated, or would this need approval?" / "Where does this rank against other priorities this quarter?"

Competition: "Are you evaluating other solutions?" / "Have you considered building this internally?"

5. Objection Handling

Use Acknowledge, Reframe, Respond for each objection:

"Your price is too high." Acknowledge pricing matters. Reframe to cost of the problem: "You mentioned [X hours/week] on [process] at [$Y/hour] — that is [$Z/year]." Cite a customer who saw ROI in [N months].

"We can build this ourselves." Acknowledge the team's capability. Reframe to opportunity cost: "Building typically takes [X months] at [$Y fully loaded], plus ongoing maintenance." Cite a customer who switched from internal build.

"We are happy with [Competitor]." Acknowledge the competitor. Reframe to the specific gap: "Teams that switch typically cite [differentiator]." Offer a reference customer who made the same switch.

"Not a priority right now." Acknowledge timing. Ask what would change priority. Quantify cost of waiting. Set a specific reconnect date tied to their trigger event.

6. Competitive Positioning

Landmine questions surface a competitor's weakness without trash-talking.

Quality checklist

• ICP includes firmographic fit, behavioral signals, and disqualification criteria
• Deal stages have entry criteria, required actions, and exit criteria
• Qualification framework uses a named methodology with evidence requirements
• Discovery questions cover pain, process, budget, and competition (15+ total)
• Objection handling follows Acknowledge-Reframe-Respond with real evidence
• Competitive positioning is honest about your own limitations
• A new rep on day 30 could execute from this playbook

Common mistakes

• Writing a playbook nobody reads. A 50-page document is a shelf decoration. Keep it actionable and referenceable during live calls.
• Generic objection handling. "Our product is better" is not a response. Every response needs specific evidence.
• Skipping disqualification. A playbook that only says who to sell to wastes pipeline time on unwinnable deals.
• Stages without exit criteria. "Demo completed" is an activity, not a stage. Stages need verifiable conditions.
• Trash-talking competitors. Disparaging competitors damages credibility. Use landmine questions instead.
• Static playbooks. Competitive positioning shifts quarterly. Build a review cadence.