Create and manage playbooks

Note: This feature is rolling out in July 2024.

With Gong AI-powered playbooks, your sales methodology processes are right inside your deal boards, so reps can track progress and stay on track, and sales leaders and RevOps can see whether deals are progressing according to company milestones. With your playbook in Gong, you:

• Improve win rates by ensuring that your team follows your sales processes consistently

• Spot execution gaps in your pipeline using AI that automatically tracks whether your sales process is being followed in your forecasted deals

• Boost compliance and increase rep efficiency with AI that automatically suggests evidence from customer interactions

Make following your playbook easier by bringing it into Gong

Sales methodologies put everybody on the same path when it comes to understanding how a deal is progressing. With your methodology inside Gong, you improve compliance because it’s easier for reps to fill in the playbook, and make it easier for managers to see how reps are progressing. You also make it easier for RevOps and sales leaders to use the data.

Getting started

Choose from a ready-made playbook and customize it, or start building a playbook from scratch. Ready-made playbooks are already connected to AI sources, which makes setting them up easier to set up and use.

Start with a ready-made playbook (recommended)

We recommend starting with a ready-made playbook, and adding or removing elements according to your team methodology. Ready-made playbooks are already powered with AI sources, which saves you setup time, and makes filling in elements easier for your reps.

1. Go to Company settings > Playbook and click Create a new playbook.

2. Choose one of the existing playbooks and customize it for your team by removing and adding elements.
   You can have up to 9 elements per playbook.

3. The first letter of each element is displayed in the deal board. The description is used for coaching inside the playbook, and should guide reps on how to fill in the element; for example, by mentioning effective questions and strategies. If you add an AI source to the element (next step), this description is used as part of the prompt.

4. Choose an AI source to suggest notes. In the options, you’ll see Gong smart trackers built specifically for playbooks, as well as trackers created by your company. For guidelines on how to build smart trackers for playbooks, see Create smart trackers.

5. If you want to sync with your CRM, select from CRM opportunity fields that you’re already importing (optional).

   Note: If you’re not ready to sync with your CRM right away, you can start using your playbook without syncing any elements and data will be saved inside the playbook. When you’re ready to sync with your CRM, add the fields to the playbook and publish it. Gong will sync data already saved in the playbook to your CRM that goes back 3 months.

   1. In the Note field, choose from rich text fields.

   2. In the Status field, choose from boolean fields.

6. When you’re ready, click Publish. This makes the playbook available so that it can be added to deal boards.

   Note: You can only have one published playbook right now. If you already have an active playbook, you won’t be able to publish a second one, but you can deactivate the currently live one and publish the new one.

Create a playbook from scratch

1. Go to Company settings > Playbook and click Create a new playbook.

2. Choose Start from scratch.

3. Give the playbook a name and add a description that helps people understand when to use it.

4. Add up to 9 elements to your playbook:

   1. The first letter of each element is displayed in the deal board. The description is used for coaching inside the playbook, and should guide reps on how to fill in the element; for example, by mentioning effective questions and strategies. If you add an AI source to the element (next step), this description is used as part of the prompt.

5. Choose an AI source to suggest notes. In the options, you’ll see Gong smart trackers built specifically for playbooks, as well as trackers created by your company. For guidelines on how to build smart trackers for playbooks, see Create smart trackers.

6. If you want to sync with your CRM, select from CRM opportunity fields that you’re already importing (optional).

   Note: If you’re not ready to sync with your CRM right away, you can start using your playbook without syncing any elements and data will be saved inside the playbook. When you’re ready to sync with your CRM, add the fields to the playbook and publish it. Gong will sync data already saved in the playbook to your CRM that goes back 3 months.

   1. In the Note field, choose from rich text fields.

   2. In the Status field, choose from boolean fields.

7. When you’re ready, click Publish. This makes the playbook available so that it can be added to deal boards.

   Note: You can only have one published playbook right now. If you already have an active playbook, you won’t be able to publish a second one, but you can deactivate the currently live one and publish the new one. goes here

Add a playbook to your dealboard

Once a playbook is published, add it to your deal board to make it available to reps.

1. Edit a deal board or create a new one.

2. In the Columns area, click Add column and search for the name of the playbook. It’s the first option you’ll see in the menu.

3. Drag the playbook to where you want it in the board. In most cases, people like it to be near the left side of the board.

4. Click Save.

For more on creating and editing deal boards, see Create aand manage deal boards.

Deactivate a playbook

1. Go to Company settings > Playbook.

2. Clickbeside the playbook you want to deactivate and click Deactivate.

   If the playbook is being used in deal boards, you’ll have to remove it from the board before it can be deactivated.

Deactivating the playbook doesn’t affect data that’s saved in the playbook, or data that’s been synced with your CRM.

Delete a playbook element

1. Go to Company settings > Playbook.

2. Clickbeside the playbook you want to delete and click Edit.

3. If the left panel, hover the element you want to delete and click Delete.

If the element is synced with your CRM, data that’s already been synced isn’t affected. If the element wasn’t synced, any data that’s been saved in it can’t be restored.

Delete a playbook

1. Go to Company settings > Playbook.

2. Clickbeside the playbook you want to delete and click Delete. If the playbook is being used in deal boards, you’ll have to remove it from the board before it can be deleted.

If the playbook is synced with your CRM, data that’s already been synced isn’t affected. If the playbook isn’t synced, any data that’s been saved in it can’t be restored.