Every sales team wants consistency, but most playbooks end up forgotten in a dusty Google Drive folder. If you’re a sales leader, enablement pro, or a rep tired of winging it, this guide is for you. We’re talking about real-world ways to build and actually use sales playbooks inside Sybill—so your team knows what works (and does more of it).
Let’s get into it.
Why bother with playbooks in the first place?
Here’s the honest truth: playbooks can help, but only if people use them. A sales playbook is just a set of steps and best practices your team agrees to follow in order to move deals forward. The point is to stop reinventing the wheel, and to make sure rookies don’t have to guess what works.
But, when playbooks live in static docs, nobody checks them. The magic happens when you bring them into your actual sales workflow—where reps are already working, and managers can see if things are being followed. That’s where Sybill comes in.
Step 1: Figure out what actually works (before you build anything)
Don’t just copy and paste someone else’s “winning playbook.” Start by figuring out what’s actually working for your team now.
How to do it: - Pull your top 10-20 recent closed/won deals. - Look for patterns: What steps did the reps follow? What questions did they ask? What materials did they share? How many calls/emails, and with whom? - Talk to your reps. They know which steps are necessary and which are just busywork. - Skip the unnecessary fluff (“Send a thank-you note after every call”—do you really need this, or is it just there to sound good?).
Pro tip: Ask your best reps what they don’t do. Sometimes, skipping a step is the secret sauce.
Step 2: Map out your playbook steps (and keep it simple)
Now, lay out the key steps that should happen in each stage of your sales process. Don’t overthink it.
What to include:
- Stage-specific actions: e.g. “Discovery call held,” “Demo scheduled,” “Decision maker looped in”
- Key questions to ask: e.g. “What’s their timeline?” “Do they have budget approval?”
- Materials to send: e.g. “ROI calculator after demo”
What to skip:
- Vague steps like “build rapport” or “impress the prospect”
- Tasks nobody will ever do
- Anything you can’t actually track
Example (for a SaaS sale): - Stage: Discovery - Book intro call - Identify main pain points (ask: “What happens if you don’t solve this?”) - Confirm decision process - Stage: Demo - Invite all stakeholders - Tailor demo to their use case - Share relevant case study - Stage: Proposal - Send proposal doc - Set follow-up call - Confirm legal/procurement steps
Pro tip: Fewer steps = higher adoption. If there are more than 3-5 per stage, trim it down.
Step 3: Build your playbook in Sybill
Here’s how to actually set up your playbook inside Sybill so it’s part of your team’s daily workflow—not lost in a doc somewhere.
How to do it:
- Head to Playbooks in Sybill: Log in, find the playbooks section (usually in the sidebar).
- Create a new playbook: Give it a clear name (e.g. “Mid-Market SaaS Playbook”).
- Add stages and steps: For each sales stage, add the steps you mapped out. Keep names short and actionable.
- Attach templates or resources: If you have must-use slides, templates, or call scripts, link them right in the step.
- Set owners: Decide who can edit, and who’s expected to follow this playbook.
What works:
- Linking to real resources (templates, case studies) in each step.
- Using clear, action-oriented language (“Send case study” not “Research use cases”).
- Keeping the interface clean—don’t add steps just to look busy.
What to ignore:
- Over-customizing for every possible scenario. Start with your most common sales motion.
- Fancy automation that takes more time to set up than it saves.
Step 4: Roll it out to your team (without eye rolls)
If you just announce “Here’s our new playbook—go read it,” nobody will care. Instead, make it easy (and expected) to use.
How to do it:
- Walk through the playbook in a team meeting: Show how it’s built in Sybill, and how it fits into their daily workflow.
- Explain the “why”: Share what you learned from analyzing past deals. Show that this isn’t just busywork.
- Make it part of pipeline reviews: Ask about playbook steps in your 1:1s and team meetings. “Did we loop in the decision maker yet?” is a better question than “How’s the deal going?”
- Ask for feedback: Let reps poke holes in it. If a step is always skipped, maybe it doesn’t belong.
What works:
- Tying playbook steps to real deals in Sybill, so reps can check them off as they go.
- Recognizing reps who actually use the playbook (especially if it helps them close).
What doesn’t:
- Forcing everyone to follow every step, every time. Sometimes you have to adapt. That’s okay—just track exceptions.
Step 5: Track usage and results (actually measure what matters)
The biggest playbook killer? No one knows if it’s being used, or if it even works.
Sybill can help you see who’s following the playbook, and whether it’s making a difference.
How to do it:
- Monitor playbook adoption: Use Sybill’s reporting to see which steps are consistently completed, and where deals get stuck.
- Correlate with outcomes: Are deals where the playbook is followed more likely to close? Are certain steps being skipped in lost deals?
- Spot problem areas: If everyone gets stuck at “Loop in champion,” maybe that step needs clarifying—or isn’t realistic.
- Iterate: Update the playbook based on what the data (and your team) tell you.
What works:
- Looking at playbook completion rates by rep, team, or deal stage.
- Double-clicking into stages with lots of drop-off to see what’s happening.
What to ignore:
- Vanity metrics (“100% of reps checked every box!”) if deals aren’t closing.
- Overreacting to one-off misses. Trends are what matter.
Pro tip: Don’t be afraid to change the playbook. The best teams treat it as a living document, not a sacred text.
Step 6: Keep it updated (and don’t let it rot)
The only thing worse than no playbook is a bad, out-of-date one that confuses everyone. Make reviewing and updating the playbook a regular thing.
How to do it:
- Set a reminder: Review the playbook every quarter. Put it on your calendar.
- Get input from the team: What’s working? What feels like a waste of time?
- Update and announce changes: Keep everyone in the loop—literally.
- Archive unused steps: Don’t be afraid to cut what’s not helping.
What works:
- Short, regular reviews (“What’s broken?” vs. “Let’s rewrite the whole thing”)
- Letting the team own parts of the playbook.
What doesn’t:
- A big annual “playbook refresh” that takes months and gets ignored anyway.
Final thoughts: Keep it simple, keep it real
Sales playbooks can be a game-changer, but only if they’re used—and actually help your team close deals. Make your playbook short, actionable, and easy to follow inside Sybill. Track what matters, ditch what doesn’t, and keep improving as you go.
Most importantly, don’t aim for perfect. Ship something simple, see what sticks, and tweak from there. That’s how you get consistent deal success—without wasting anyone’s time.