Unifying a Sales Team with a Sales PlayBook

Unsurprisingly, unifying a sales team that is disjointed can be a difficult task.

We are talking completely dismantling a negative, corrosive culture and replacing it with something fresh and new. Things will have to change, including how you manage your team.

So where do you start? It’s all about understanding where your team is and figuring out where they need to go.

Ask yourself these questions:

1. Do my sales reps celebrate one another’s successes?
2. Does my team share success stories?
3. Are sales reps working together or separately?

While these questions are pretty generalized, they will help you unearth the culture of your team. Typically, if sales reps aren’t celebrating each others’ successes, it’s because the culture isn’t supportive. It could also be because sales reps are pitted against each other. This is the opposite of working together. It’s the opposite of a unified sales team.

So, how does a sales playbook come into play?

Unifying a Sales Team with a Sales PlayBook

Collaboration and the goal of unifying a sales team is exactly why we created Collavia. The true purpose of a Sales PlayBook is to enable selling organizations to function as one united whole.

Ownership

The biggest proponent of the success of the Sales PlayBook is that each sales rep and employee has ownership. Since it is a team effort to create the Sales PlayBook, everyone involved has equity in it. Now, I’m not talking about actual equity – more so intellectual equity.

Imagine being told you’re now required to use a platform by management – you don’t know if it actually is helpful or just a huge waste of time. Now, imagine if you’re told to use a platform that is build out by you and your team members through real, live trainings and meetings. Which one would you be more likely to use on a day-to-day basis?

Organization

When unifying a sales team, it’s important to equalize senior and junior sales reps. This means, making sure the ins and outs of your sales process are outlines in the Sales PlayBook. Not only do your senior reps have tricks that they’ve figured out over the years, junior sales reps bring a fresh perspective.

Together, these two groups can create a great sales process. This process should be laid out in the Sales PlayBook. Everything from your prospecting duties to email templates and common problems should be available.

On the same note, the PlayBook brings together the different departments of your organization. Marketing, Operations, Finance, and Human Resources all have a place in the Sales PlayBook. Let’s be honest, without the support of these departments, your sales team wouldn’t be able to function successfully.

Evolution

The great thing about the Collavia Sales PlayBook is that it’s always evolving. With every new product, new training, or new hire, the PlayBook should be updated.

Success stories go stale, so it’s important you incorporate adding new ones to your sales meetings. On the same note, email templates get burnt out. Keep those up-to-date in the PlayBook as well.

With a constantly evolving PlayBook built out by your very own team, everyone wins. Your team will be used to working together and helping each other succeed. And, along with unifying your team, you’ll have a great resource for new hires!

Do you have any other ideas for unifying a sales team? Let us know in the comments!