Feature Availability

Vtiger Editions: One Growth | One Professional | One Enterprise | One AI

Introduction

Playbooks in Vtiger CRM help standardize the sales process by defining a structured set of activities that sales representatives must complete at each stage of a deal. They ensure that deals follow a consistent path across pipelines, making it easier for sales teams to execute best practices and move deals forward efficiently.
Each deal progresses through multiple sales stages, which together form a deal journey. This journey is represented using sales pipelines that can be customized based on business requirements. Playbooks are associated with these pipelines and guide sales reps by automatically assigning the right activities at the right stage of a deal.
By using Playbooks, organizations can bring clarity, consistency, and accountability to their sales operations.

Usecase

A software services company uses Vtiger CRM to manage its sales Deals through multiple stages, such as Qualification, Demo, Proposal, and Closure. To ensure consistency, the sales manager creates a Playbook for the pipeline that automatically assigns tasks like scheduling a demo, sending follow-up emails, and preparing proposals when a Deal enters each stage. This helps sales reps know exactly what actions to take without relying on manual reminders.
As the deal progresses, task dependencies and delays ensure the correct sequence of actions, such as sending a proposal only after internal approval or following up a day after a demo. Sales managers can track task completion directly within the deal and use reports to identify delays, ensuring deals move forward smoothly and close on time.

Benefits of Using Playbooks

The benefits of using Playbooks are:

• Maintain a consistent sales process across all Deals.
• Guide sales reps with clear, stage-wise activities.
• Ensure critical tasks are not missed during the sales cycle.
• Improve collaboration by defining dependencies between tasks.
• Track deal progress more effectively using activity-based insights.
• Reduce manual effort by automatically attaching tasks to Deals.

In this article, you will learn about: 

• Creating a Playbook  

Creating a Playbook

A Playbook defines the activities that must be completed in each sales stage of a pipeline. You can create and manage Playbook activities from the Playbooks module and add them based on your sales process.

When adding an activity to a Playbook, Vtiger CRM allows you to create either a Task or an Event.

To access Playbooks:

• Go to Main Menu > Sales > Playbooks
• Select a pipeline from the top-left of the page
• Choose the required sales stage

Creating a Playbook Task

Tasks represent actionable items that sales reps must complete, such as sending emails, preparing proposals, or following up with customers. 

Playbook tasks support dependencies and delays, making them suitable for structured and sequential workflows.

Follow these steps to create a Playbook Task:

1. Log in to the CRM.
2. Click the Main Menu.
3. Go to Sales > Playbooks. The Playbooks page opens. 
4. Select a pipeline from the top-left corner.
5. Choose a sales stage and click + Add Activity.
6. Select Add Task and click Add >.
7. Enter the task details, such as title and duration.
8. Configure task dependency or delay.
9. Click Save.

Note: Deleting a Playbook task does not affect existing Deals.

Creating a Playbook Event

Events represent scheduled activities such as meetings or calls that take place on a specific date and time. They help sales reps plan customer interactions directly from the Playbook.

Follow these steps to create a Playbook Event:

1. Log in to the CRM.
2. Go to Sales > Playbooks. The Playbooks page opens. 
3. Select a pipeline from the top-left corner.
4. Choose a sales stage and click + Add Activity. 
5. Select Add Event and click Add >.
6. Enter the Event details such as subject, date, time, and participants.
7. Click Save.

Note:

• Dependencies and delays are not supported for Events.
• Event schedules are aligned with the deal’s stage entry date and time.

Reference

• Deal Management Overview
• Deals Module