Sales Playbook Template

What is a sales playbook?

A sales playbook is a structured document that captures the proven strategies, messaging, and processes a sales team uses to win deals. It defines the ideal customer profile, outlines each stage of the sales process, provides ready-to-use talk tracks, and documents how to handle the most common objections.

Sales playbooks turn top-performer knowledge into a shared team asset. Without one, every rep develops their own approach — some effective, most inconsistent. New hires take months to reach productivity because they learn by trial and error rather than following a documented path. A structured playbook codifies what works so the entire team benefits from collective experience, not just individual talent.

Who should use this template?

This template is for teams responsible for sales performance and enablement:

• Sales Directors — define the standard selling approach and ensure every rep follows the same methodology
• Sales Enablement Managers — create and maintain playbooks that accelerate onboarding and support ongoing coaching
• Account Executives — reference objection handling, competitive positioning, and close strategies during live deals
• Business Development Representatives — follow outreach sequences and qualification criteria to fill the pipeline consistently

What’s included in this template?

The template has two parts: structured metadata fields and the playbook body.

Metadata fields classify each playbook:

• Playbook name and version
• Product or solution area
• Target market segment
• Playbook owner — the person accountable for keeping it current
• Last updated date

Playbook body covers the full selling approach:

• Ideal customer profile — firmographics, pain points, and buying triggers that define your target
• Sales process stages — each stage with entry criteria, key activities, and exit criteria
• Messaging and talk tracks — value proposition, elevator pitch, and discovery questions by persona
• Objection handling — common objections with recommended responses and supporting proof points
• Competitive positioning — key differentiators and how to position against named competitors
• Close strategies — techniques for advancing deals and securing commitment

How to create and customise this template in Elium

1. Open the Template Builder — Go to your profile menu and select the Template Builder tab, or click “+ Create” and choose “Create a new template”.
2. Set the scope — Choose an icon, enable the template, and decide whether it applies platform-wide or to specific spaces (e.g. Sales only).
3. Add structured fields — Click “Field” to add metadata: text fields for playbook name and version, a tag field for product or solution area, a tag field for target segment, a user field for playbook owner, and a date field for last updated. Mark playbook name and product area as mandatory.
4. Build the playbook structure — Use the “+” button to add content blocks: text blocks for ideal customer profile and messaging, a table block for the sales process (columns: stage, entry criteria, activities, exit criteria), text blocks for objection handling and competitive positioning, and a text block for close strategies.
5. Preview and save — Review the template layout, then save. Sales leaders can now select it when creating new playbooks, and you can apply it to existing content in bulk.

How AI helps you create and use this template

Capture faster. Feed Elium’s AI your CRM win/loss data, call recordings summaries, or competitive notes. It identifies patterns — common objections, effective responses, winning messaging — and drafts playbook sections that your sales leader reviews and refines.

Retrieve smarter. A rep preparing for a discovery call asks Elium’s AI: “What are the top objections from CFOs in the manufacturing sector?” The AI returns the specific objections and recommended responses from your playbook — proven answers, not improvisation.

Why teams use Elium for sales enablement

Sales playbooks are only effective when reps actually use them — and that means they must be findable, current, and specific to the deal at hand. When playbooks live in slide decks on a shared drive, reps default to their own approach. Elium makes sales knowledge actionable: structured templates keep playbooks consistent, search lets reps find the right messaging or objection response mid-deal, and version control ensures everyone works from the latest strategy.

Organisations that centralise sales knowledge in Elium give every rep access to the collective intelligence of the team — reducing ramp time for new hires and ensuring experienced reps stay aligned with the current go-to-market approach.