You’re responsible for sales at a company that sells to other businesses.
You’ve closed a few customers. You’re starting to see the pattern. Your product solves a clear problem for a specific type of person in a specific kind of company. Some of them have already paid you. That’s a good sign.
Now you’re asking:
How do I find more companies like this? Should I keep doing this myself? Or is it time to bring in a sales rep or build a team?
Whether you’re doing it solo, thinking about your first hire, or already have a sales team, one of the best things you can do right now is build a sales playbook.
Why a Sales Playbook?
A sales playbook gives you (and your team) a clear, structured plan for how to:
- Find the right companies
- Guide them through the buying journey
- Close more deals without guessing every time
It also gives you visibility:
- What's working? Do more of it.
- What's not working? Change it.
But before we dive into how to build your first (or better) playbook, let’s talk about a few common mistakes you’ll want to avoid:
Making the playbook about your product, not the buyer's problem
Too many teams start with product features. But your buyers don’t care about features, they care about solving a priority problem.
Creating a playbook that no one uses
A playbook is only valuable if people actually use it.
That means:
- Someone (ideally in leadership) must own adoption
- It should be regularly updated based on what’s working
- It must be concise, practical, and easy to use
Copying playbooks that don’t fit your reality
Just because a playbook worked at another startup in the U.S. or a SaaS giant doesn’t mean it’ll work for you.
You need to build for your:
- Market
- Value proposition
- Customer journey
- Stage of growth
Your playbook should reflect your own experience, not someone else’s template.
Not making it part of your core operations
The playbook is not a side document. It’s a system to help you win, and you need to measure it.
That means:
- Tracking usage
- Measuring impact
- Updating based on performance
You’ll need a sales CRM to collect this data and turn insights into decisions.
Now that you know what to avoid, let’s walk through the exact steps to build your first B2B sales playbook, one that fits your business, your team, and your reality.
Starting from the next chapter, you’ll get access to a free Google Docs template click that helps you build your own sales playbook as you go, step by step. At the end of each chapter, you’ll see a short task. It’s your chance to apply what you’ve just learned to your own business.
By the time you reach the final chapter, you won’t just understand how to build a sales playbook — you’ll already have one.