How to write down how you sell so a new rep can follow it

Why shadowing is not enough

What you know about selling lives in your head and in your calls. A new rep who sits in on those calls sees what happened, not why you did it. The strongest sellers often work by instinct and cannot always explain it, which is why copying them by watching rarely works.

That knowledge has to be put into words on purpose. It is the first big transition from founder-led selling to a team: from what you do by feel to something another person can follow.

The three things to write

1. Who you sell to: the buyer, the problem they have, and what makes them act now.
2. How a deal moves: the stages from first conversation to signature, and what the deal needs at each one.
3. What to check: the points that must be true before you move on, such as who decides, how a decision above a certain amount gets approved, what the problem costs, and who is on your side.

Pick a framework, and use the same words

Qualification frameworks such as MEDDPICC, BANT and SPICED each list the points to check in their own words. You can use one of them or write your own. What matters is that everyone on the team uses the same words for the same things. When two people mean different things by champion or by economic buyer, the status of a deal cannot be compared.

Start small

You do not need a handbook. Talk through a recent win and a recent loss, record it, and write down what you did and why. A page of notes or a few voice memos, cleaned up, is enough to start. You can add to it as new reps ask questions you had not thought of.

Make the stages follow how the buyer buys

Buyers move through understanding the need, comparing options, justifying the decision and putting it in place. Your stages should follow that path, not your own internal steps. For each stage, write down what must be true to leave it: the customer has named a problem, someone with authority has been met, a next step has a date.

Say what counts as a next step

A real next step has a person, a date and the buyer's agreement. “They will get back to us” is not one. Writing this down once saves many weekly arguments about whether a deal is moving.

Test it before you hand it over

Take two deals you are working now and see if your notes tell you what to do next on each. Where they do not, you have found a gap that a new rep would have fallen into. Fix it, then hand the method over.

Mistakes to avoid

• Writing too much. If a rep cannot use it during a call, it is a document, not a method.
• Copying a template from another company. Start from how you actually win.
• Piling on steps and tools until reps are overwhelmed. Aim for one way of selling that everyone follows.
• Writing it once and never using it. Look at each deal against it, so the notes stay true.