Document a B2B sales process your team can execute

Document how a small B2B team sells so every opportunity moves on visible criteria, not individual memory or activity counts. This playbook covers stages, account research, discovery, follow-up, deal review, and learning. It is an operating guide, not a marketing campaign or a replacement for a CRM.

Expected result: every opportunity has clear evidence, an owner, and a dated next step with an explicit exit condition.

Stage cards and exit criteria

1. Initial fit
Record segment, use case, and reason for priority. Exit: fit documented and an accountable contact identified.

2. Account researched
Complete the facts and hypotheses sheet. Exit: a problem hypothesis and validation plan exist.

3. Discovery completed
Confirm the problem, impact, current process, decision makers, and timing. Exit: the buyer recognizes the problem and agrees to a next meeting.

4. Solution and proposal
Connect scope, price, risks, and decision criteria to what was learned. Exit: the buyer confirms the proposal addresses a problem and understands the internal process.

5. Decision
Record objections, approvers, and a realistic date. Exit: closed won, closed lost, or an explicit action with a date.

6. Learning
Capture why the deal was won or lost and what should change. Exit: a shared learning is discussed in the weekly review.

Account research sheet

Source and date for each fact: ____________________
Question to validate each hypothesis: ____________________

Discovery canvas

• Problem the buyer names:
• How it works today:
• Frequency and volume:
• Observable cost or impact:
• What happens if nothing changes:
• People affected and decision makers:
• Alternatives considered:
• Technical or security constraints:
• Timing and triggering event:
• Next step, date, and owner:

Instructions

1. Define the segment and use case before outreach. Disqualify accounts without a concrete reason.
2. Research public sources and buyer-provided information. Label each item as fact or hypothesis.
3. Write one short hypothesis and one question that can confirm or refute it.
4. In discovery, ask about the current process and impact before discussing your solution.
5. Summarize what you heard and invite correction. Record the buyer’s words, not convenient interpretations.
6. Do not advance a stage without its exit criterion. Activity, meetings, and proposals are not progress by themselves.
7. Send follow-up with decisions, tasks, owners, and dates.
8. Review every deal weekly: evidence, risk, next action, and reason to win or lose.
9. Share patterns, not anecdotes. Change one question, rule, or proof point at a time.

Discovery prompts

• How do you handle this process today, from start to finish?
• Where does it slow down, and how often?
• What impact does that have on time, revenue, risk, or customer experience?
• Who needs to agree before it can change?
• What alternatives have you tried?
• What would need to be true for a purchase to be approved?
• What date or event makes this a priority?

Follow-up template

Subject: Next steps on [problem]

Hi [name],

Here is what I understood:
- Problem:
- Impact:
- Decision criterion:

We agreed:
- [task] | [owner] | [date]
- [task] | [owner] | [date]

Next meeting: [date, purpose, and participants].
If anything is incorrect, please tell me what to change.

Best,
[name]

Compact B2B example

Account: NexoLog, a logistics operator with three new centers.
Fact: it announced regional expansion.
Hypothesis: incidents are logged in separate tools.
Discovery: Operations confirmed 40 incidents per week, two spreadsheets per center, and four hours spent consolidating them. Finance and Operations approve purchases.
Exit condition: a pilot with one center, two-source import, and weekly review for 30 days.
Next step: Marta sends an anonymized sample Tuesday; Quest returns a process map Thursday.

Deal scorecard

Score each signal 0, 1, or 2:

Interpretation: 9 to 12, advance with evidence; 5 to 8, validate before proposing; 0 to 4, pause or disqualify. The score guides the conversation, it does not replace judgment.

Failure checks and boundaries

Do not invent news, titles, budgets, authority, problems, competitors, or dates. Do not mistake a friendly reply for buying intent. Do not fill a CRM with empty activity or turn this playbook into an automated marketing sequence. When sensitive data is involved, collect only what is necessary and restrict access. An opportunity without evidence, an owner, and a next action should return to discovery or leave the pipeline.

Next step

Use this playbook for the next opportunity and review the scorecard with the team. Consider a business audit when the process recurs, involves several people, carries meaningful volume or spend, handles sensitive data, or creates a clear bottleneck between discovery and close.