Need A Sales Playbook? Use Ours Instead!
Are you looking for a proven sales playbook to use for consistent, repeatable sales?
In this article, we’ll detail the 10 step sales playbook that works perfectly for Sales Professionals and Business Owners in service based and consultative industries.
Learning, implementing and following a sales process is one of the most important things you can learn in sales.
A sales playbook and sales process will give you consistency and will give you a simple to use framework to guide your potential clients towards the sale.
Read on to learn our 10 step sales playbook and how you can implement it into your sales strategy.
The Benefits Of Using A Sales Playbook
A sales playbook (also known as a sales process or selling process) is key to consistently succeeding in sales.
Some of the benefits of using the 10 step sales playbook outlined in this guide include:
- It creates a system; allowing you to close sales like a road map
- Certainty – for both you and your potential clients
- It allows you to control the process and conversation
By using the 10 step sales playbook outlined in this guide, you’ll feel a lot more confident while talking to potential clients, because you’ll have a clear system in which to operate your sales conversations with.
Our 10 Step Sales Playbook – Broken Down
Below is a detailed breakdown of the 10 step sales playbook:
#1 – Prospecting
The first part of the 10 step sales playbook, is finding out who your ideal prospects are, and then targeting them using prospecting strategies.
Prospecting can generally be two-fold – inbound and outbound.
Inbound prospecting is putting together systems that drive traffic into your business.
Generally, it includes pay per click advertising, print media, SEO, and social media.
Outbound prospecting is proactively reaching out to your potential clients with social media, email, cold calling and networking events.
Related article: The Two Types Of Sales Prospecting
#2 – Building Rapport
The first part of any sales conversation, and next step in the 10 step sales playbook is building rapport with your potential clients.
Rapport us crucial if you wish to hold a consultative sales conversation with your potential clients.
It’s also important because people buy from people they like and trust.
By building rapport, you’ll be able to ask deep diving questions that can ultimately lead to a buying decision.
Related article: A Guide To Building Sales Rapport
#3 – Qualifying Your Potential Clients Early
The third part of the 10 step sales playbook, is qualifying your potential clients early in the consultation or discovery call.
A lot of Sales Professionals and Business Owners make the error of speaking with people they think are potential clients – but end up not being qualified to either afford their product or service or aren’t the decision maker.
Qualifying early saves you time, energy, and money.
The qualifying framework to add to your 10 step sales playbook, is borrowed from an acronym called BANT.
Originally designed by IBM, it’s an easy to remember framework to remember what you need to ask to qualify your potential clients correctly.
BANT stands for:
- Budget
- Authority
- Need
- Time frame
Further reading: BANT In Sales – How Does It Work?
#4 – Pre-Framing The Conversation
The fourth segment of the 10 step sales playbook, is what makes our sales process very different from the others out there.
We teach something called a pre-frame. Also known as an intent statement, you use this sales technique prior to your deep dive sales conversation.
The deep diving sales conversation you will have with your potential client, is called the frame.
You’ll have the opportunity to ask questions, and ‘frame the conversation’ in a way which will ultimately lead to a decision being made – either proceeding with a sale or deciding you may not be the right fit for one another.
The pre-frame is the conversation you have prior to the frame; in this case, it is what’s discussed prior to going into your deep dive sales conversation.
During the pre-frame, you want to cover three important things:
- Ensure all decision makers are present
- Let them know that you’ll be asking a lot of questions, to work out whether you can in fact help and serve them and their needs
- Give them comfort that at the end of the conversation, it is more than OK to say no if they’re not interested. Also let them know that many people use the “I need to think about it” as a way of covering for no. By giving them comfort, they’ll be more transparent.
The reason the pre-frame is key, is for two reasons.
Firstly, you’re removing two core sales objections up front – the I need to think about it objection, and I need to speak to objection.
Secondly – you’re getting permission to ask deep diving questions, which is the next part of our 10 step sales playbook.
Using a pre-frame will be a game changer for your business and overall sales playbook, because you’ll get to the underlying truth faster than using a traditional sales methodology.
#5 – Questions: The Key To A Successful Sales Playbook
The most important part of any sales playbook, as well as your overall ability to close more sales, – is the art of asking the right questions – and then diving deeper when you actively listen to their responses.
At The 5% Institute, we emphasise the importance of asking questions because we believe in using a consultative sales approach.
By asking the right questions – you’ll be able to help guide your potential client toward the sale and help them sell themselves on the need for a solution.
During your sales conversations, we recommend asking the following question examples:
- Finding pain
- Learning about their ideal outcome
- How they make buying decisions
- Why they’re speaking with you
- How long they’ve had their issue
We’ve written numerous articles on questioning and question categories, and recommend you read them to learn more. Check out the linked articles below to find out how.
- Sales Probing Questions
- Open Ended Sales Questions
- 10 x Questions To Ask A Potential Client
- 5 x Closing Questions To Win More Sales
Furthermore; if you’d like to learn about helping people sell themselves using questions, then we recommend learning about tie-down sales techniques.
Tie-down sales techniques are questions you ask that get an ‘agreed’ response.
Also known as trial closes – tie-down sales techniques help your potential clients sell themselves prior to having to ask for the sale.
Further reading: Tie-Down Sales Techniques – Your Ultimate Guide
An important note: finding pain is one of the most important ingredients for your questions and sales playbook.
This is because if you can’t find friction or any issues with their current situation – they won’t need to make a change.
#6 – Finding Pain – Another Key Ingredient For Your Sales Playbook
People buy for two emotional reasons – to escape pain and move towards a desired outcome; or pleasure.
All our buying decisions are subconsciously made by this weighting scale.
Whenever we buy anything, we subconsciously make a quick calculation; will this purchase mean more pain (ie: loss of money verse reward), or will it mean more pleasure (make me feel better than my current state)?
Human beings are meaning making machines; and all our decisions – including buying decisions, are governed between contrasting pain and pleasure.
Pain points are important to find when conversing with your potential clients, because without finding their pain points there is a high likelihood you won’t be able to close the sale.
People buy to escape pain, so it is imperative to discover what those pain points look like.
Further reading: Pain Points & Sales – Your Ultimate Guide
Don’t Assume
Just because your current clients may have purchased your product or service to get rid of a particular set of pain points, doesn’t necessarily mean your potential clients are doing the same.
Assumptions can kill sales – because it positions us in a frame of mind that we know better than our potential clients; which can break rapport and show a lack of empathy.
When creating a sales playbook; ensure that you remove anything that’ll make it appear that you’re assuming something about your potential clients.
You may know the pain points you solve; however, don’t assume that everybody is the same. Not all clients are equal, and everyone has different perceptions of what their personal pain points are.
Instead, follow a systematised questioning process, and go three layers deep (which we’ll cover next).
The Different Levels Of Pain Points
Speaking generally; there are three types of pain points your potential clients will be dealing with on a regular basis. These are:
- Technical issues
- An impact on their business
- Personal impact
#7 – Discussing Money
Discussing money is another important part of the 10 step sales playbook, because you can use the discussion to build monetary value around what a solution for their problem and pain points will mean.
When you’re discussing money, you ultimately want to understand two important things:
- What is it costing them by having these issues? Learn the financial and personal impact of what the pain points mean.
- How much would they pay to fix it, and have a solution?
Discussing this here makes asking for the sale, and your closing questions a breeze.
#8 – Your Solution
Once money has been clearly discussed, the next stage of the 10 step sales playbook is presenting your solution.
Many Sales Professionals handle presenting incorrectly and do something we call ‘premature presentation’.
As per our article in Entrepreneur, premature presentation is when you present your product or service prior to understanding what they need solved and hope that something you say sticks and resonates.
This spray and pray method are outdated and won’t help your closing rate.
Instead – when you’re presenting your product or service, we recommend you do so by prescribing it to their pain points and demonstrate how each of their problems will be solved with specific features and benefits you have.
This is the best way to create value messaging, and will bridge the gap from where they are – to where they want to be.
Using a prescription approach as a specialist would will position you as a trusted adviser, rather than just another salesperson trying to make a quick sale.
#9 – Objection Handling
The second last stage of the 10 step sales playbook is handling their areas of concern, and asking for the sale.
Although many people advocate using word tracks and sales scripts, we recommend not using either.
Instead – we recommend using a simple and easy to remember objections framework.
The framework is:
- Listen carefully
- Repeat back the objection, and ask them to expand
- Validate the area of concern
- Re-frame the concern
- Confirm you’re on the same page
To learn how to do this in detail, read the article here to find out how.
#10 – Asking For The Sale – The Final Stage Of The Sales Playbook
Finally; the last stage of the 10 step sales playbook is asking for the sale.
If you don’t know how to ask for the sale effectively and without breaking rapport, you can easily derail all the hard work you’ve done to get here.
Because this is such an important part of the sales approach – we highly recommend that you read the linked article below; which’ll also give you five recommended questions to ask when closing new clients.
Further reading: How To Ask For A Sale – 5 x Questions To Ask
Final Thoughts On Our Sales Playbook
The 10 step sales playbook is a great framework to use to close more sales, because it gives you consistency, as well as an easy to follow road map.
By following this sales playbook, you’ll lead your potential clients on a journey and positive sales experience, rather than position yourself as just another salesperson or commodity.
The sales playbook is the most fundamental, and important thing to master in sales if you wish to close consistently.
If you’d like to learn about our sales playbook in more detail, you can join the 7 Day Sales Challenge for free here.
Want To Close Sales Easier?
Are you committed to closing sales a lot easier, and consistently?
If so, you should check out our self-paced and affordable online sales training program; The 5% Sales Blueprint.
It’ll give you everything you need to close sales consistently.
To learn more, simply click on the link below for more information.
Our Online Sales Training Program – The 5% Sales Blueprint.
