HubSpot Playbooks 101: Streamline Your Sales and Marketing

When building a winning go-to-market strategy to generate new customers, consistency and efficiency are key. That’s where HubSpot Playbooks come in. 

Imagine having a clear, repeatable process for every sales interaction. Each and every sales rep knows exactly what to do and say. 

HubSpot Playbooks are a dynamic feature within the HubSpot CRM designed to help teams standardize and streamline their processes. Playbooks offer a series of guidelines, templates, and best practices tailored to specific interactions, ensuring that team members have a clear roadmap for success.

Whether you’re a seasoned sales pro or a marketing newbie, playbooks can streamline your efforts and boost your team’s performance.

In this blog, we’ll cover what HubSpot Playbooks are, the benefits of using them, and how to properly set them up for your team.

What Are HubSpot Playbooks?

HubSpot Playbooks are predefined sets of instructions and strategies that guide team members through various processes.

They can be used for sales calls, customer onboarding, marketing campaigns, and more, providing a consistent approach across all interactions.

Importance of Playbooks in CRM

The utility of HubSpot Playbooks extends far beyond just improving sales processes. 

While they are mostly used to help sales teams in various situations and process steps—including guidelines for messaging, next steps, and tasks—their adaptability makes them valuable across different departments.

They can standardize interactions, ensuring consistency and alignment with your organization’s strategic goals.

A consistent sales process also means a better customer experience. Using HubSpot Playbooks can improve engagement with customers and avoid missing details during a sales process.

Using playbooks within a CRM like HubSpot ensures that all team members follow best practices, maintain consistency in messaging, and can efficiently manage their tasks. This leads to better performance, improved customer experiences, and more closed deals.

Benefits of HubSpot Playbooks

There are a handful of benefits to using HubSpot Playbooks, especially if you’re using the rest of the HubSpot suite of features. Here are eight benefits you should know about.

1. Streamline Sales and Marketing Processes

One of the primary benefits of HubSpot Playbooks is their ability to streamline processes. 

Playbooks can help make your sales process more efficient by providing a clear, standardized process for sales interactions. This means less time spent figuring out what to do next and more time focusing on what really matters: closing deals and building relationships with customers.

2. Ensure Consistency Across the Process

Consistency is crucial in sales and marketing. 

HubSpot Playbooks ensure that all sales interactions are consistent, which can improve the overall customer experience and increase the likelihood of making a sale. When every team member follows the same process, you can be confident that your messaging and approach are aligned with your overall strategy.

3. Improve Efficiency and Performance

By providing a clear roadmap for sales interactions, HubSpot Playbooks can help salespeople be more efficient and productive. 

They eliminate the guesswork, allowing reps to focus on executing their tasks effectively. This can lead to improved performance, higher win rates, and ultimately, more closed deals.

4. Onboarding New Salespeople

Onboarding new salespeople can be a time-consuming process. It typically takes around 6-9 months for new sales reps to become fully productive.

HubSpot Playbooks can make it easier by providing a clear set of guidelines for how to approach sales interactions. Sales reps who go through a structured onboarding program achieve their first sales quota 3.4 months sooner than those who do not.

This means new hires can get up to speed quickly and start contributing to your sales efforts sooner.

5. Enhance Customer Experience

Consistent and well-executed sales interactions can significantly enhance the customer experience. 

HubSpot Playbooks ensures that every customer interaction is consistent and relevant, helping to build trust and foster long-term relationships with your clients.

6. Increase Win Rates

HubSpot Playbooks can help increase your conversion rate by helping you track and manage your leads more effectively. 

With a clear process to follow, sales reps can focus on the most critical tasks, leading to more closed deals and happy customers.

7. Better Collaboration and Communication

Playbooks can provide a centralized location for storing resources and information that can be accessed by all team members. 

This can help improve collaboration and communication within your team, ensuring everyone is on the same page and working towards the same goals.

8. Tracking and Analyzing Sales Processes

HubSpot Playbooks allow for detailed tracking and analysis of sales processes. 

This data can be used to identify areas for improvement, optimize strategies, and ensure that the team is always performing at its best.

9. Integration with HubSpot CRM

One of the biggest benefits is that Playbooks are fully integrated with the HubSpot CRM.

This allows easy access to relevant information and resources during customer interactions. It also means that data is captured and logged automatically within your CRM.

How to Create a HubSpot Playbook

Creating a HubSpot Playbook is quite simple. The process involves several steps to ensure that the playbook is tailored to your sales or service processes and provides maximum value to your team. 

Here’s a step-by-step guide:

1. Defining Your Sales Process

Before you even go into HubSpot to create the playbook or playbooks, first look at your entire sales process to determine where playbooks can support your process. Every company has its own process, but defining these steps clearly is the first crucial step.

2. Gathering Input from Your Team

Creating a comprehensive playbook requires input from everyone on your team. This includes managers, veteran reps, and even new hires. You want to get as many different perspectives as possible to create a document that covers all the bases.

3. Organizing Playbook Sections

Once you have all your input, start organizing it into sections that match the stages in your sales process. Common sections include:

• Prospecting: How will you find new leads? What criteria will you use to determine whether a lead is worth pursuing?
• Qualifying: How will you know if a lead is ready to buy? What questions will you ask?
• Presenting: How will you make your pitch? What resources will you use?
• Closing: How will you seal the deal? What objection-handling techniques will you use?

4. Customizing Playbooks to Fit Your Needs

HubSpot Playbooks can be customized to fit the specific needs of your sales team and can be used in conjunction with other sales and marketing tools within the HubSpot CRM.

This integration makes it easier to achieve organizational goals, enhancing both sales performance and customer satisfaction.

Premade Sales Template Examples

To get you started, HubSpot offers premade sales template examples:

• Discovery Call Playbook: Create a script to lead successful and insightful conversations with a prospect or customer.
• Qualification Playbook: Build a playbook to qualify prospects based on budget, authority, needs, and timeline (BANT).
• Support Playbook: Keep your team up-to-date on the latest product changes and features. Build out a playbook with text, images, videos, and links to the product documentation.

Setting Up and Using HubSpot Playbooks

Here’s the step-by-step process for creating a HubSpot playbook. As with any HubSpot product, it’s easy and simple to get started.

Step-by-Step Guide to Creating a Playbook

1. Login to your HubSpot account and navigate to the Sales Hub.
2. Click on the “Playbooks” tab in the left sidebar.
3. Click on the “Create Playbook” button to create a new playbook template.
4. Give your playbook a name and a description, and choose a category for it.
5. Define the steps and tasks that should be included in the playbook. You can add tasks, set deadlines, and assign them to specific team members.
6. Add any relevant documents or resources that salespeople should use when following the playbook.
7. Save your playbook and publish it so that it can be accessed by your sales team.

Adding Questions and Answer Fields

When creating your Question and Answer fields, there are three types of answer types you can choose:

• Open Text: Enter answers in an open text field.
• List of Answer Options: Create a set of answer options the user can select.
• Update a Property: Use properties that will automatically update when a Playbook is saved.

Including Resources and Media

You can add videos, images, links, or any other resources that might help your sales team during their interactions. This ensures they have all the necessary information at their fingertips.

Setting Up Recommendation Settings

When you set up filters to create custom recommendations, the right Playbook will display at the right time on the contact, company, deal, or ticket record. You can use a wide variety of available filters, including contact properties.

Types of Playbooks for Different Sales Scenarios

Here are several examples of HubSpot Playbooks that you can standardize. 

Discovery Calls

Use this playbook as a set of guidelines for your first call with a prospect. The goal of this call is to use questions to reveal the relation between the prospect’s needs, challenges, and goals and your product or service.

Prospecting

Use a playbook to guide your sales team on how to prospect. This can include a review of which HubSpot sequences to use and best practices for cold emails or cold calling.

Qualification Playbooks

Build a playbook to qualify prospects based on BANT, MEDDIC or SPICED. This helps ensure you’re spending time on leads that are most likely to convert.

Proposal Calls

Help reps present proposals to potential clients in a professional and consistent manner. This could include information about the company, product or service offerings, pricing, and next steps.

Follow-ups

Automate follow-up tasks and ensure that leads are not forgotten. This could include scheduling emails or calls to check in on the lead’s interest and move them further down the sales funnel.

Client Feedback (Success Calls)

Guide reps through making “success calls” to gather feedback and testimonials from satisfied customers. This could include questions to ask, as well as tips for handling any concerns that may arise during the call.

Case Study Interviews

Help your team interview customers for case studies. This could include a list of questions to ask, or tips for how to conduct the interview in a way that will gather the most useful information, such as memorable quotes or stories.

Onboarding Calls

Guide new customers through the onboarding process, providing better consistency for customer education. These playbooks could include best practices for using your product, as well as troubleshooting tips. This can help to ensure a smooth transition for the customer and increase the likelihood of their long-term success with the product.

Interactive Features and Advanced Tips

If you’ve gotten the hang of HubSpot Playbooks then here are several tips to improve your current process.

Using Interactive Questions

Use interactive questions to make it easier for your sales team to quickly collect information which will automatically update HubSpot properties. 

When you set up interactive questions, you can input common answers as buttons. This way, when sales reps are on the phone with a prospect, they only have to click a button—instead of typing it into notes or writing it on paper and going back and updating HubSpot properties later.

Saving Playbook Results with Structured Data Types

If you want to save the results of a playbook as a structured data type rather than a free text value, you can use a “Radio Button,” “Dropdown,” or “Checkbox” property type.

These property types allow you to define a set of pre-defined options that salespeople can select from when updating the property value.

Automating Property Updates in HubSpot

To save the results of a playbook using a structured data type, you can use the “Update a property” action within the playbook and select the appropriate option from the dropdown list. 

By using structured data types, you can ensure that your playbooks’ results are consistent and accurate, and you can use this data to track and analyze the performance of your sales team over time.

HubSpot Playbooks for Sales

Discovery Call Playbook

The Discovery Call playbook provides guidelines for conducting initial calls with prospects. It includes questions to ask, information to gather, and steps to take based on the prospects’ responses.

Qualification Playbook

The Qualification playbook helps sales reps determine whether a lead is a good fit for the product or service. It includes criteria such as budget, authority, need, and timeline.

Closing Playbook

The Closing Playbook provides a roadmap for finalizing deals. It includes steps for handling objections, presenting final offers, and securing commitments from prospects.

HubSpot Playbooks for Marketing

Campaign Management Playbook

The Campaign Management Playbook guides marketing teams through the process of planning, executing, and analyzing marketing campaigns. It ensures that all necessary steps are taken for a successful campaign.

Content Creation Playbook

The Content Creation Playbook provides guidelines for creating effective marketing content. It includes tips for writing, designing, and promoting content to attract and engage the target audience.

Lead Nurturing Playbook

The Lead Nurturing Playbook helps marketing teams develop strategies for nurturing leads through the sales funnel. It includes steps for creating personalized content, scheduling follow-ups, and tracking engagement.

HubSpot Playbooks for Customer Service

Sales to Customer Success Handoff

One of the most important periods in a customer’s journey is when the relationship is handed off from sales to customer success. This playbook creates a seamless experience for the customer and ensures that customer success covers all details captured in the sales process.

Onboarding Playbook

The Onboarding Playbook provides a structured approach to onboarding new customers. It includes steps for setting up accounts, providing training, and ensuring a smooth transition to using the product or service.

Support Playbook

The Support Playbook guides customer service teams through handling support requests. It includes steps for troubleshooting issues, providing solutions, and following up with customers.

Retention Playbook

The Retention Playbook helps customer service teams develop strategies for retaining customers. It includes steps for engaging with customers, addressing concerns, and offering additional value.

Integrating Playbooks with Other HubSpot Tools

Using Playbooks with Sales Hub

HubSpot Playbooks integrate seamlessly with the Sales Hub, providing sales teams with the tools they need to succeed and ensuring that all sales processes are streamlined and efficient.

Using Playbooks with Marketing Hub

Marketing teams can use HubSpot Playbooks alongside the Marketing Hub to create and manage campaigns, track performance, and optimize strategies for better results.

Using Playbooks with Service Hub

Customer service teams can use HubSpot Playbooks with the Service Hub to manage support requests, track interactions, and ensure that customers receive consistent and high-quality service.

Best Practices for Effective Playbooks

Before you begin to create a sales playbook, here are several best practices to abide by.

Define Clear Objectives

Define what you want to achieve with the playbook.

For example, standardizing the sales process, improving conversion rates, or onboarding new reps faster. Then align the objectives with your overall sales strategy and company goals.

Regular Updates

Regularly update playbooks to ensure they remain relevant and effective. This includes incorporating feedback from team members and adapting to changes in the market or business strategy.

Collaborate With The Team

Develop playbooks collaboratively with input from all relevant team members. This ensures that the playbooks address the real needs of the team and are more likely to be used effectively.

Continuous Improvement

Playbooks are not meant to be a one-and-done exercise. 

Continuously improve playbooks based on performance data and feedback. This iterative approach ensures that playbooks are always optimized for maximum effectiveness.

Add Feedback 

As team members start sharing how they are using playbooks, they may recommend optimizations. 

It’s important to be flexible as your organization grows and uses the tool more. Regularly update your playbooks based on feedback to ensure they remain relevant and helpful.

3 Common Challenges of Standardizing Sales Playbooks

Getting your team is adhere to a standardized sales playbook is key to ensuring consistency. Before you create everything in HubSpot, be mindful of these common challenges.

1. Overcoming Resistance

Overcoming resistance to using playbooks can be challenging. Address this by involving team members in the development process and clearly communicating the benefits of using playbooks.

2. Ensuring Adoption

Ensuring the adoption of playbooks requires training and support. Provide comprehensive training on how to use playbooks and offer ongoing support to address any issues or questions.

3. Maintaining Relevance

Maintaining the relevance of playbooks is crucial for their effectiveness. Regularly review and update playbooks to ensure they align with current business goals and market conditions.

The Advantage of Using HubSpot Playbooks vs Traditional Methods

Typically sales teams document their playbooks in either Word files, PDFs or spreadsheets. Although it’s a good start, they can be difficult to locate or use. Whereas HubSpot Playbooks are stored within the CRM, which is where most sales reps spend their time.

Highlight the advantages of using HubSpot Playbooks over traditional methods. This can include improved consistency, efficiency, and the ability to track and analyze processes.

Final Thoughts

HubSpot Playbooks are a powerful tool for standardizing and streamlining processes across sales, marketing, and customer service teams.

Playbooks help teams achieve consistent results and deliver a seamless customer experience by providing clear guidelines, improving efficiency and ensuring alignment.

Whether you’re new to HubSpot or looking to optimize your current processes, implementing HubSpot Playbooks can drive significant improvements in performance and success.

If you need help managing your HubSpot or creating playbooks, reach out to us to learn how we can help you get more out of your technology investment.

FAQs about HubSpot Playbooks