Call Guides

For many growing sales teams, one of the biggest challenges isn’t just hiring new reps—it’s making sure they actually succeed. Maybe you scaled too fast and skipped a few foundational steps. Maybe you’re trying to sell to your entire Serviceable Available Market (SAM) instead of focusing on your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP). Or perhaps you assumed that simply adding more sales reps would magically generate more pipeline (spoiler alert: it won’t in most GTM motions).

But let’s say the issue isn’t your strategy—it’s your reps struggling on the phone.

There are about a million ways to help them improve, but one of the simplest and most effective tools I’ve found is Call Guides. They provide structure without turning reps into robots. Once you’ve got those in place, you can focus on making conversations more natural and refining basic sales mechanics (mirroring, choice close, and all the other tricks of the trade). Of course, every great sales leader has their own secret sauce—but if your team is floundering on calls, this is a solid place to start.

Building Out Sales Guides

Building a great sales guide isn’t painting the Mona Lisa, it’s about making a paint by numbers book. Here’s an eight-step process to create call guides that will help your new hires ramp up faster and give your underperformers a much needed boost.

But let’s be clear, your top-converting sales reps have already cracked the code. Don’t force them into a rigid framework they don’t need. This is about giving structure to those who need it, not slowing down the people already closing deals.

Step 1 - Layout the Types of Calls Relevant for Your Organization

Every company’s customer journey is a little different, so don’t just Google "sales call types" and copy paste something that doesn’t fit. Your goal isn’t to force fit a generic template but to build a guide that actually aligns with how your buyers make decisions.

And don’t go overboard trying to map out every possible call type. Focus on the five call types that cover 80% of your use cases, that’s where the real impact is.

Here are examples of calls types but again make it specific to your customer journey:

• Cold Outbound Prospecting
• Discovery
• Demo
• Objection and Clarification?
• Technical Requirements?
• Pricing and Terms Negotiation?

Step 2 - Create a Template for Each Call Type

Then for each type of call create a 1 pager with these 5 categories:

• Objective of the Call: This is super important.? For each call before the rep starts they should know what they are trying to achieve.? For instance on a demo call it is not to vomit features.? It is to understand the customer's pain points and show how the product can help solve them and demonstrate the value of the product.

• Agenda: Call control is super important but a rep can’t control a call if they don’t have a map.? A few bullets such as the ones below really can help a struggling rep:

• Call Opening: You can’t script a whole call out because if you did it means you aren’t having an organic conversation with the customer.? But you can script out the opening particularly for a prospecting call.? It’s the hardest part of the cold call and the easiest way to give a new rep some confidence.

• Common Objection and Rebuttals:? Building an objections and rebuttals guide is its own article but I would try to put the top 2 or 3 into the call guide.? Again this is to speed up the development of a new sales rep.

• Call Ending:? So much focus goes into a great call opening but the end of a call is just as important.? Try to write out how you would ideally like a sales rep to end the call and set up the next steps.? You might have to map out 2 or 3 options (e.g. buy now, buy later, not interested…)
• ProTip - Do the above in as few lines and as big as font as possible.? Needs to fit on a page just like a battle card.

Step 3 - For Sales by Sales

We’ve all been there, executives come up with a "brilliant" idea and then push it downhill like the boulder in Indiana Jones crushing everything in its path. But here’s the thing: sales reps and managers are way more likely to adopt tools built by a peer than by someone from a completely different team. Especially when it comes to anything that involves talking to customers.

In my last company, one of our VPs coined the term "For Sales, By Sales," and the adoption rates went through the roof. Here’s how you can do it:

• Build a project team making sure to include sales enablement, a sales manager, someone from post sales - remember the people that spend the most time with your customers:) - and a front line rep that is looking to become a manager.? These are your champions so choose wisely.? Bonus points if you have built a good relationship with marketing and you bring them into the fold.
• Next source ideas from a few areas including:

Step 4 - Build Your Sales Guide 1.0

Have enablement build 1.0 of the sales guide and then review it with your project team and do the first round of edits.? Everyone on the project team won’t get their way. That is OK.? Greatness is rarely built by consensus.? The key is to make them feel part of the process.

Step 5 - Test Drive and Revise

Despite your best intentions, whatever you built in 1.0 won’t work as well as you think it will.? So test it out and refine it as needed.

• Try it in role plays on the project team
• Give it to a high will low skilled middle performer or 2 for a day to play with and pull the calls to see how it goes?
• Then edit where needed

Step 6 - Build the Training Plan

First rule of training, make it engaging and fun!? I hate to break it to you but almost none of your sales reps will internalize it after reading a pdf 1 pager. Here are a few ideas of how to make it come alive:

• Create a role play competition voting for best call
• Build out a quiz show with prizes for the best answers
• Get the CRO to play the customers and use costumes or accents to make it fun
• Break the reps into teams and have them complete a series of tasks (including role plays with the managers) and give a prize to who finishes first
• Create a call library for managers to leverage and for self study with all those calls you tagged.? Try to use snippets so reps can focus on the beginning, an objection, or the end so they don’t have to listen to a 45 min call.

Step 7 - Roll It Out To the Team

This needs a two level roll out.? First level, broad based messaging to everyone including why you are doing it, how you are doing it, and what’s in it for the Sales Reps.? The presentation should be made by the project team, not an executive. Pro Tip - Pre enlist the managers so they are prepared and excited to help.? Second level is focused training for reps that are struggling with a specific call type.? The area of focus should be identified by the manager and then coaching is provided by the manager and enablement if resources are available.? Every sales rep is different so one might struggle with cold calls and another might struggle with negotiations.

Step 8 - Rinse, Wash, Repeat

Your sale will evolve as you create new features, build new products, and add new customers.? These guides should be revisited every 6 months as the sale changes.

Remember Call Guides are a tool for new hires and seasoned sales reps that are struggling on the phone .? Try not to make every problem a nail just because you are holding a hammer.? Sales reps that are struggling with activity levels or product knowledge will need a different tool.