If you manage a B2B sales team, you know the pain of “playbooks” that never get used—those bloated PDFs or slide decks collecting dust somewhere in Google Drive. You want something your reps actually open, use, and update in real life. This guide is for anyone ready to ditch the fluff and build a sales playbook in Beautiful that’s actually useful.
Let’s cut through the hype and get practical. Here’s how to build a sales playbook in Beautiful that helps your team close deals—not just tick boxes.
Step 1: Get Honest About What Your Team Actually Needs
Before you touch any software, talk to your team. Seriously. Most playbooks fail because they’re written for some idealized process, not the messy reality of selling.
Ask your reps:
- Where do they get stuck most often?
- What questions do prospects always ask?
- Which steps in your current process are ignored or skipped?
- Where do they waste time searching for info (templates, pricing, etc.)?
Jot down the answers. Don’t overthink it. The goal is to figure out what actually helps your reps—not what looks good in a playbook template.
Pro Tip:
Skip the “mission statement” page. Nobody reads it, and it just adds noise.
Step 2: Decide What Actually Belongs in the Playbook
More pages ≠ better playbook. The best playbooks are concise and easy to use in the middle of a live sales call.
What to include:
- Step-by-step sales process: Keep it high-level. If your process has 12 steps, it’s probably too many.
- Messaging: Short, copy-pasteable email/LinkedIn templates, objection handlers, call scripts.
- Qualification checklists: The real ones, not what’s in your CRM by default.
- Key resources: Links to decks, one-pagers, pricing calculators, etc.
- FAQ: Actual questions your team gets from real prospects.
- “What to do when…” guides: For common curveballs (e.g., “Prospect ghosts after demo”).
What to skip:
- Corporate jargon.
- Pages of theory or “mindset.”
- Anything you wouldn’t want to open while on a call.
Step 3: Set Up Your Playbook in Beautiful
Now, open up Beautiful. The nice thing about Beautiful is that it forces you to keep things clean and organized—no endless nested folders or ugly docs.
Recommended structure:
- Home: Quick intro, links to the main sections.
- Sales Process: Visual overview, then step-by-step.
- Templates: Easy-to-copy blocks for emails, DMs, call openers.
- Objections & Answers: Table format works great here.
- Resources: Links out to your best stuff.
How to do it:
- Create a new playbook. Don’t fuss over colors or fonts—default is fine.
- Use sections, not walls of text. Each section should answer a specific question or solve a problem.
- Add real examples. Paste in actual winning emails or call scripts that closed deals.
- Link out, don’t duplicate. If you’ve already got a good resource elsewhere, just link to it.
- Keep navigation dead simple. One click to anything important.
Pro Tip:
Don’t try to build everything at once. Start with the basics—sales process, top templates, most common objections. You can always add more later.
Step 4: Make It Collaborative and Keep It Fresh
A static playbook is just another digital graveyard. Beautiful makes it easy for your team to comment, suggest edits, or add their own templates—use that.
Tips:
- Assign owners: For each section, pick someone to keep it up to date. If everyone owns everything, nobody owns anything.
- Encourage feedback: Ask your reps what’s missing or outdated, and actually update the playbook.
- Monthly review: Set a recurring time to check the playbook for stale info or broken links.
What doesn’t work:
Dictating the “official” playbook from on high. If reps can’t tweak or update it, they’ll go back to using their own docs or Slack threads.
Step 5: Roll It Out (Without the Drama)
Most playbooks flop because teams get a 60-minute training session and then never hear about it again.
Here’s a better way:
- Show, don’t tell: Use the playbook live during team meetings and actual sales calls.
- Incentivize use: Shout out reps who contribute good stuff or actually use the playbook to win deals.
- Keep it in their workflow: Pin the playbook in Slack, add it to browser bookmarks, or set it as a homepage in your sales tools.
Pro Tip:
Don’t make it about compliance (“Did you read the playbook?”). Make it about making their lives easier. If the playbook isn’t useful, be brutally honest and fix it.
Step 6: Iterate Based on What Works—And Toss What Doesn’t
Sales is messy. Your playbook will never be “done.” That’s fine—just treat it like a living document.
- Track what gets used: Beautiful gives you simple analytics. See which sections get clicked and which ones are ignored.
- Ask for stories: When a rep closes a deal using something from the playbook, document it. Add their tips right into the guide.
- Trim the fat: If a section never gets used, delete it. If something’s always out of date, simplify or move it somewhere else.
What to ignore:
Endless debates about “best practice.” If your team isn’t using it, it’s not best practice for you.
Quick Checklist: What Makes a Playbook Useful?
- Short, scannable sections (not walls of text)
- Real examples from your team, not generic templates
- One-click access to resources and templates
- Easy to update and edit
- Built for live use, not just onboarding
Wrapping Up: Keep It Simple, Keep It Alive
The best sales playbooks aren’t pretty PDFs—they’re practical, living docs your team actually uses. Start small, focus on what your reps need on the front lines, and don’t be afraid to delete what isn’t working. With Beautiful, you’ve got the tools to make that happen—just don’t let the tech distract you from the basics.
Remember: a messy, useful playbook beats a polished, unused one every time. Build, test, and keep it real. That’s how you win more deals.