Key Takeaways
In This Guide
Why Playbooks Matter
Your team members are essentially freestyling their way through customer interactions, each with their own approach, their own questions, and their own way of closing deals. It's chaotic, it's inefficient, and it's costing you serious revenue.
This isn't just a minor operational hiccup; it's a fundamental business problem that's keeping you from scaling. When your success depends on the tribal knowledge locked in your top performers' heads, you're building your business on quicksand.
HubSpot Playbooks offer the structure and consistency that transform this chaos into a repeatable, scalable engine for growth. They're not just another feature in your CRM - they're the difference between a business that plateaus and one that scales.
HubSpot Playbooks are interactive templates that guide your team through customer interactions, ensuring consistency and capturing valuable data along the way. But that's the textbook definition. What they really are is your business playbook, digitised and integrated directly into your workflow.
Think of them as the digital embodiment of your best salesperson's brain, available to everyone on your team, whenever they need it. They're the questions that should be asked, the objections that should be addressed, and the next steps that should be taken—all packaged into an interactive guide that lives right inside your HubSpot CRM.
Playbooks appear as interactive content cards within contact, company, deal, and ticket records in HubSpot. They can include text, images, videos, links, and most importantly, structured questions that guide conversations and capture data. This isn't just another sales script—it's a dynamic tool that evolves with your business.
The hard truth? Your business can't scale if success depends on individual talent rather than repeatable processes. Playbooks solve this fundamental problem by:
Not all playbooks are created equal. The most effective businesses deploy several types to address different stages of the customer journey:
The most successful businesses don't just implement one type of playbook—they build a comprehensive library that covers the entire customer journey.
Let's cut through the complexity and get straight to implementation:
In your HubSpot account, go to CRM > Playbooks. This is where you'll create and manage all your playbooks.
Click the "Create Playbook" button in the upper right corner. You'll have the option to start from scratch or use one of HubSpot's templates.
Give your playbook a clear, descriptive name that reflects its purpose. For example, "New Client Discovery Call" or "Competitor Comparison: Our Product vs. XYZ".
Use the editor to add text, images, videos, and other content that will guide your team. This is where you'll outline the process, provide talking points, and include any reference materials.
Click the question mark icon in the toolbar to add questions. These can be:
Click the Settings tab to specify how the playbook will be logged (as a call, meeting, email, or note) and set up recommendation rules based on record properties.
Once you're satisfied with your playbook, click "Publish" to make it available to your team.
Remember, your first playbook doesn't need to be perfect. Start with a high-impact process, get it into the hands of your team, and refine based on feedback.
To truly leverage the power of HubSpot Playbooks, you need to go beyond the basics:
Don't force one-size-fits-all playbooks across your organisation. Create tailored versions for different teams, products, or customer segments. The more relevant the playbook is to the specific situation, the more likely your team is to use it consistently.
Use HubSpot's analytics to identify which questions lead to the highest close rates or customer satisfaction scores. Then refine your playbooks to emphasise these high-impact questions.
Detailed competitor intelligence is crucial. Create dedicated battle card playbooks for each major competitor, outlining their strengths, weaknesses, and specific talking points to position your solution favourably.
Connect your playbooks with HubSpot's other features like sequences, workflows, and snippets to create a seamless experience. For example, trigger a specific follow-up sequence based on answers recorded in a playbook.
Set up rules that automatically recommend the right playbook based on deal stage, company size, industry, or other properties. This ensures your team always has the most relevant guidance at their fingertips.
If you're not measuring the impact of your playbooks, you're flying blind. Focus on these key metrics:
Track how often your team is actually using playbooks. Low usage indicates either a training issue or playbooks that aren't providing value.
Compare the sales cycle length for deals that used playbooks versus those that didn't. Effective playbooks should significantly shorten the time to close.
Measure the percentage of deals that close when playbooks are used versus when they're not. This is the ultimate measure of playbook effectiveness.
Assess whether records with playbook interactions have more complete, usable data than those without. This indicates whether your playbooks are effectively capturing information.
Look at which team members are using playbooks most effectively and learn from their approach. This can inform both training and playbook refinement.
HubSpot's built-in analytics make tracking these metrics straightforward. Navigate to CRM > Playbooks and click the "Analyze" tab to access comprehensive reporting.
The integration of AI into HubSpot Playbooks is transforming how UK businesses approach customer interactions. Here's what you need to know for 2025:
HubSpot's AI content writer can now generate entire sections of your playbooks. Simply type "/" in the playbook editor, choose an option like "Generate Paragraph," and describe what you need.
AI now analyses your sales data to recommend which playbooks are most effective for specific situations. This ensures your team always has the right guidance at the right time.
The system can identify which questions and talking points lead to the highest success rates and suggest refinements to your playbooks. This continuous improvement happens without manual analysis.
HubSpot's Breeze Copilot now integrates directly with playbooks, offering real-time suggestions during customer interactions. This is like having an AI assistant that coaches your team through conversations.
The businesses that embrace these AI capabilities will have a significant competitive advantage. This isn't just about efficiency - it's about leveraging machine learning to continuously improve your customer interactions.
Different industries have vastly different sales cycles and decision-making processes. Tailor your playbooks to reflect these realities, whether you're selling to financial services, manufacturing, or technology sectors.
Even the best playbook strategy will face obstacles. Here's how to address the most common challenges UK businesses encounter:
Solution: Involve your team in the playbook creation process to ensure buy-in. Show them how playbooks make their jobs easier, not more complicated.
Solution: Implement a regular review schedule, ideally quarterly, to keep playbooks current. Assign specific team members responsibility for maintaining different playbooks.
Solution: Strike the right balance by providing clear guidance while allowing room for personalisation. The best playbooks guide conversations without scripting them word-for-word.
Solution: Fully leverage HubSpot's property mapping features to ensure playbook data flows seamlessly into and out of your CRM. This creates a virtuous cycle of better data leading to better playbooks.
Solution: Build a business case based on concrete metrics like increased close rates, shorter sales cycles, and improved data quality. Executive support follows demonstrated results.
If you're serious about leveraging HubSpot Playbooks to drive growth, you don't have to go it alone. At Forbidden, we're not your typical HubSpot partner - we're the straight-talking, results-obsessed team that transforms how businesses use HubSpot.
Our approach isn't about implementing playbooks for the sake of it. It's about solving real business problems through strategic, thoughtful implementation.
If you’re looking for a trusted, local HubSpot expert to help you grow your business, Forbidden is here to help. As Leeds’ only Diamond HubSpot Solutions Partner, we have the expertise, experience, and resources to help your business scale faster and smarter with HubSpot.
Get in touch to learn how we can help you maximise your HubSpot investment!