A Playbook is a living guidance document for a go-to-market motion. It gives reps and agents the strategy, process, messaging, checkpoints, and supporting resources needed to handle that motion consistently.
A Playbook can answer questions such as:
“How should we run this motion, what does good execution look like, and what should happen next?”
What a Playbook is
Playbooks are authored in the Library as rich documents, rather than as fixed forms. Use headings, paragraphs, lists, tables, examples, and any other document content that helps your team execute the motion.
A Playbook can optionally include:
- Stage sections connected to stages imported from your CRM.
- Checklist blocks for preparation, actions, meetings, follow-up, and handoffs.
- Exit criteria and decision guidance that explain when and why to progress.
- Messaging and examples for common situations.
- Reference resources such as ICPs, products, case studies, battlecards, and Frameworks.
What a Playbook is not
- It is not a rigid form that every rep must fill in.
- It is not a meeting evaluation rubric. Use a Scorecard for that.
- It is not the current assessment of a Deal or Account. Use a Framework for that.
- It does not assign or evaluate a referenced Framework.
Reference Frameworks
A Playbook can link to Frameworks as reference material. This helps reps and agents understand which methodology or health model the guidance relates to.
A reference link is guidance, not assignment. It does not create an assessment, make the Framework applicable, or cause it to be evaluated. Deal and Account Frameworks are selected and applied through Framework and pipeline configuration.
How Playbooks are used
- In the Library: team members can read the complete guidance and supporting resources.
- By agents: active Playbooks can be supplied as workspace knowledge so guidance follows your organization’s way of working.
- In a pipeline: a pipeline can select a Default Playbook for the Deals in that view.
The Default Playbook and the pipeline’s Sales framework are separate settings. The Playbook provides guidance; the Sales framework maintains the Deal assessment.
Common Playbook examples
- Enterprise new-logo sales
- Renewal and expansion management
- Customer onboarding and adoption
- Executive business reviews
- Competitive displacement
- Partner-led opportunities
Create and manage a Playbook
- Go to Library → Playbooks.
- Create a Playbook and choose whether it supports an inbound or outbound motion.
- Write the guidance your team should follow. Add Stage and Checklist blocks where structure is useful.
- Add supporting Library resources and Reference Frameworks.
- Activate the Playbook when it is ready to be used by agents.
- Optionally select it as the Default Playbook in pipeline settings.
Best practices
- Write for decisions, not compliance: explain what good judgment looks like, not only which boxes to check.
- Keep the guidance concrete: include examples, evidence expectations, exit criteria, and handoffs.
- Separate guidance from assessment: put the operating guidance in a Playbook and the measurable Deal or Account state in a Framework.
- Review it as the motion changes: a Playbook should remain useful as your market, product, and process evolve.
To understand how Playbooks, Frameworks, Scorecards, and customer evidence connect, see Context Graph concepts.