A playbook is not a document about how selling works. It is a set of plays, each starting from a specific moment.
Six cover most of what an SDR team actually does. Write these before anything else.
1. The trigger play
Fires when: a defined signal appears on a target account. Hiring post, leadership hire, funding, technology change.
The highest-value play because the timing is doing the work. Its quality depends entirely on the signal layer being real, which is covered in trigger based prospecting.
Inspect: can the rep name the signal and its date on any account in sequence?
2. Inbound follow-up
Fires when: someone fills a form, books a demo, or hits a high-intent page.
Speed is most of it. The play is short and its only real requirement is that it runs within minutes rather than the next morning.
Inspect: median time to first touch, not average, which one overnight lead distorts.
3. The referral ask
Fires when: a customer expresses satisfaction, at a QBR, in a support resolution, or in a renewal conversation.
Usually missing entirely, which is why referral rates sit far below what NPS would predict. Most customers were simply never asked. See referral rate.
Inspect: number of asks made, not referrals received. The ask is the part the team controls.
4. The closed-lost revisit
Fires when: a defined period passes after a loss, or when the stated reason for losing has changed.
The second trigger is the strong one: if they chose a competitor and that contract is up, or they lacked a capability you have since shipped, the blocking reason is gone and they already understand the category.
Inspect: loss reasons recorded well enough to trigger on. Usually they are not, which is the real finding.
5. The champion-move play
Fires when: a known champion changes company.
Among the highest-converting plays available and among the least run. They already know the product, they chose it once, and they are in a new environment looking for early wins.
Inspect: is anyone watching for job changes on known champions? Usually nobody owns it.
6. Re-engagement
Fires when: an account went quiet after real engagement.
Distinct from a cadence bump. It acknowledges the gap and gives a reason to restart, usually something that has changed since.
Inspect: that it is not just another sequence step wearing a new name.
What every play needs
- A trigger. Without it the play waits to be remembered and will not be.
- Steps, with tools named.
- Real artefacts. The actual email, not a description of one.
- An inspection point, or it decays inside a quarter.
The format and the workshop that produces it are in running a sales playbook workshop.
Write one, ship it, then write the next
A team that writes all six before checking whether one works has produced a binder. Ship the trigger play, watch it for two weeks, fix what failed, then move on.
Where this sits
Plays are Motion in the Tenbound Pipeline Architecture Standard, and three of the six above depend on Signal being real. The full library is at playbooks.