# Sales playbook development & scaling Human Guide

## What This Is For
When the user wants to build, document, or scale sales playbooks and processes. It gives the agent a clearer input/output frame for go-to-market work: what context to ask for, what decisions to make, and what usable artifact to return.

Use this as a human-readable version of the Sales playbook development & scaling agent skill. It is meant for marketers, operators, founders, and other non-coders who want the workflow without reading agent-specific implementation instructions.

## When To Use This
- Use this when you need a repeatable process for sales playbook development & scaling.
- Use this when the task needs judgment, examples, constraints, or a clear output format rather than a one-off prompt.
- Use this when you want to hand an AI assistant enough context to produce a usable marketing artifact.

## When Not To Use This
- Do not use this when you only need a quick factual answer.
- Do not use this when the work depends on private data you cannot share with the assistant.
- Do not use this as a replacement for legal, compliance, financial, or medical review.

## What You Need Before Starting
- The goal or business outcome you want.
- The audience, customer segment, or market context.
- Any source material the assistant should respect, such as notes, briefs, examples, URLs, or brand guidance.
- Constraints such as tone, length, channel, deadline, region, or approval requirements.
- A clear definition of what a good final answer should look like.

## Step-By-Step Workflow
1. State the job clearly: "Use the Sales playbook development & scaling guide to help me with..."
2. Add context: audience, goal, offer, channel, source material, and constraints.
3. Ask the assistant to identify missing inputs before producing the final output.
4. Have the assistant follow the skill-specific guidance below.
5. Review the result against the final checklist and ask for revisions where needed.

## Skill-Specific Guidance
- What are you selling? (Product, price point, complexity)
- Who buys? (Persona, industry, company size)
- What's the typical sales cycle?
- What's your sales model? (Inbound, outbound, PLG, enterprise)
- What's documented vs. tribal knowledge?
- Where does the team struggle?
- What do top performers do differently?
- How fast is the team growing?
- What new segments or products?
- What consistency problems exist?
- What metrics need improvement?
- What top performers do consistently

## Decision Points And Nuance
The original skill emphasizes: Initial Assessment, Core Principles, Document What Works, Prescriptive, Not Rigid, Continuously Improve, Enable, Don't Constrain, Sales Process Foundation, Defining Your Sales Stages, Exit Criteria Examples, Qualification Framework.

Use these questions to steer the work:
- What is the intended audience or buyer?
- What source material must be preserved?
- What should the assistant optimize for: clarity, persuasion, accuracy, speed, creativity, or conversion?
- What examples represent the desired quality bar?
- What should the assistant avoid?

## Common Mistakes
- 4. Enable, Don't Constrain
- **Required Information**:
- Executive engagement required
- Full qualification required
- What do your top performers do that others don't?

## Copy-And-Paste Prompt
```text
Use the Sales playbook development & scaling human guide.

My goal:
[Describe the business outcome]

Audience:
[Describe who this is for]

Context and source material:
[Paste notes, examples, links, or existing copy]

Constraints:
[Tone, length, channel, timeline, must-include items, must-avoid items]

Before producing the final output, ask me for any missing information that would materially improve the result.
```

## Final Checklist
- [ ] The output matches the original goal.
- [ ] The audience and context are reflected in the answer.
- [ ] Important constraints and source material were preserved.
- [ ] The assistant made the relevant decisions explicit.
- [ ] The final artifact is ready to use, review, or hand to the next person.

## Source
This guide was generated from the louisblythe/sales-skills skill entry for `sales-playbook-scaling`.

## Source Skill Notes
These notes preserve the nuance from the original skill. Use them as supporting reference when the workflow above feels too generic.

# Sales Playbook Development & Scaling

You are an expert in building and scaling sales playbooks. Your goal is to help create systematic, repeatable sales processes that drive consistent results across teams and deal types.

## Initial Assessment

Before building playbooks, understand:

1. **Sales Context**
   - What are you selling? (Product, price point, complexity)
   - Who buys? (Persona, industry, company size)
   - What's the typical sales cycle?
   - What's your sales model? (Inbound, outbound, PLG, enterprise)

2. **Current State**
   - What process exists today?
   - What's documented vs. tribal knowledge?
   - Where does the team struggle?
   - What do top performers do differently?

3. **Scaling Goals**
   - How fast is the team growing?
   - What new segments or products?
   - What consistency problems exist?
   - What metrics need improvement?

---

## Core Principles

### 1. Document What Works

Playbooks capture success patterns:
- What top performers do consistently
- What's been validated by results
- What's repeatable by others
- What addresses real buyer needs

### 2. Prescriptive, Not Rigid

Provide clear guidance with room for judgment:
- Specific enough to follow
- Flexible enough for situations
- Principles behind the tactics
- When to deviate and why

### 3. Continuously Improve

Playbooks are living documents:
- Update based on results
- Incorporate new learnings
- Remove what doesn't work
- Version and communicate changes

### 4. Enable, Don't Constrain

Playbooks help reps succeed, not restrict them:
- Reduce cognitive load
- Accelerate ramp time
- Improve consistency
- Preserve creativity where it matters

---

## Sales Process Foundation

### Defining Your Sales Stages

**Standard B2B Sales Stages**:

| Stage | Definition | Exit Criteria |
|-------|------------|---------------|
| Prospecting | Identifying and reaching target accounts | Conversation scheduled |
| Discovery | Understanding needs and qualification | Qualified opportunity created |
| Solution | Presenting solution and building case | Technical validation complete |
| Proposal | Formal proposal and negotiation | Verbal commitment received |
| Closing | Contract execution | Deal signed |

**Stage Design Principles**:
- Each stage has clear entry/exit criteria