# Sales playbook

URL: /workflows/sales/playbook · Id: `page:workflows/sales/playbook`

> How the Sales Team sells before the Product exists: ten asks by hand, answers in minutes, Quotes from list Price, and outbound that never spams.

A [Startup](/business/nouns/startup) sells its [Offer](/business/nouns/offer) before it builds the [Product](/business/nouns/product), to named people, at a stated [Price](/business/nouns/price). The [Sales Team](/agents/sales) then answers every [Lead](/business/nouns/lead) in minutes, quotes from list Price, and runs outbound that honors every opt-out.

## Sell before building
A Startup in [Building](/business/lifecycle/states/building) has an Offer and no Product, and that is the time to sell it. The first paid outside [Order](/business/nouns/order) is the entry check for [Live](/business/lifecycle/states/live). A Startup that cannot sell does not launch.

Take a Startup that sells county court filings through an API to litigation-support firms. Before a single filing is fetched, the [Founder](/agents/founding/founder) writes to 20 paralegal managers. Each ask names the Price, $400 a month, and offers a refundable deposit that holds a launch seat.

Seven reply, four take a call, and two pay the deposit. One no carries a reason: a clerk already pulls these filings for $18 an hour. That no is worth more than five compliments, because it names the real alternative and the price to beat.

| What the [Prospect](/business/nouns/prospect) does | [Evidence](/business/nouns/evidence) grade |
| --- | --- |
| Praises the idea | Opinion, which weighs zero |
| Says what they pay for the [Problem](/business/nouns/problem) today | Behavior |
| Books a call, makes an intro, or signs a letter of intent | Commitment |
| Pays a deposit or a pre-order | Commitment, and the first paid Order |

## The first ten, by hand
The Founder sells the first ten [Customers](/business/nouns/customer) personally. The [Sales Lead](/agents/sales/sales-lead) builds the list: 10 to 30 named people from the [ICP](/business/nouns/icp), each with a reason to hear from this Startup. It drafts one ask per person, and no two read alike.

An ask goes out in one of two ways. Sent as the Startup, it comes from the Startup’s own [Mailbox](/business/nouns/mailbox) and says plainly that an [Agent](/business/nouns/agent) wrote it. Sent as the Founder, it comes from the Founder’s own account under a [Mandate](/business/nouns/mandate) scoped by [Channel](/business/nouns/channel), volume, and topic.

Under that Mandate the Founder is the author of record. Their stream shows every [Message](/business/nouns/message) sent in their name, and pause or revoke takes effect at once. [Delegated sending](/systems/legal-and-corporate/floor/delegated-sending) adds the disclosure each jurisdiction requires.

A Startup with no human founder sells the same way. An agent-run bookkeeping catch-up [Service](/business/nouns/service) finds 25 design agencies whose job posts ask for a part-time bookkeeper. It writes to each as itself and offers the first month’s catch-up at $600, paid up front.

[Payment asks](/agents/founding#payment-asks) counts every person asked to pay a stated price. The Founder reads it each week until ten have paid, and every no lands as Evidence on the Startup’s [Hypothesis](/business/nouns/hypothesis).

## Answer at once, on their data
A new Lead starts [Answer inbound](/workflows/processes/inbound-sales/answer-inbound). The [Sales Engineer](/agents/sales/sales-engineer) answers in writing within 5 minutes and shows the Product on the Lead’s own sample before any charge. A Lead comparing three vendors buys from the first one that answers the real question.

A Lead from a 12-person litigation-support firm sends five docket numbers. The reply returns all five filings parsed, with the one sealed record flagged and explained. When the Lead books a [Meeting](/business/nouns/meeting), the call opens a sandbox loaded with those five dockets, not a demo.

## Quotes and discounts
A qualified Lead who wants terms opens a [Deal](/business/nouns/deal) and starts [Send a quote](/workflows/processes/quoting/send-quote). The [Quote](/business/nouns/quote) is priced from list Price inside the discount [Limit](/business/nouns/limit) and goes out with click-to-sign terms. No [Human](/business/nouns/human) signs on the Startup’s side.

The Sales Lead approves discounts inside the Limit. A deeper discount goes to the Founder as a [Decision](/business/nouns/decision), with the reason recorded. Terms outside the standard paper go to the [Contracts Manager](/agents/legal/contracts-manager) before anything is sent.

Security review stalls large Deals. Every Startup inherits its compliance Evidence, so questionnaires answer from the record, and the [Trust pack](/workflows/sales/plays/trust-pack) [Play](/business/nouns/play) attaches the report to each enterprise Quote. The [Paid pilot](/workflows/sales/plays/paid-pilot) Play proves value on the Lead’s sample before a long commitment.

## Outbound without spam
Outbound reaches people who never raised a hand, so it runs under the strictest rules in the Startup. Every day the [Outbound sequence](/workflows/processes/outbound/outbound-sequence) adds Prospects only from sources with a legal basis for contact, and records each origin.

Before every send, the [Prospector](/agents/sales/prospector) reads each [Suppression](/business/nouns/suppression): an opt-out from any sibling Startup binds within the hour. Each [Person](/business/nouns/person) stays under one monthly touch Limit across the whole [Portfolio](/business/nouns/portfolio). Sibling Startups testing the same ICP never pile onto one inbox.

A new [Sequence](/business/nouns/sequence) is a one-way [Action](/business/nouns/action). It waits out its [delay window](/systems/trust-and-governance/controls/one-way-windows) before the first send, and anyone watching can pause it. Every reply goes to the Sales Engineer, who answers it like an inbound Lead.

## Selling to agents
Under the [b2a](/business/motions/b2a) [Motion](/business/nouns/motion), the Customer is an Agent. It reads the Offer, calls the API, gets a reply that names the Price, and pays within its own Mandate. No Meeting, no Quote, and no Sales Engineer stand in the way.

The Sales Team’s work in b2a is the Offer itself: a clear price per call, a free sample response, and Limits an Agent’s principal accepts. [Agent payments](/systems/finance/agent-payments) settles each call, and [Agent-to-agent selling](/workflows/plays/agent-to-agent) brings the Agents to the door.

## Hand off at signature
A won Deal passes to the [Customer Team](/agents/customer) the moment it is signed. Sales returns only when the Customer shows a reason to expand.

| From | To | What passes |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Prospector | Sales Engineer | Every reply |
| Sales Engineer | Sales Lead | Qualified Deals |
| Sales Lead | Founder | Discounts past the Limit |
| Sales Lead | Contracts Manager | Non-standard terms |
| Sales Lead | [Onboarding Specialist](/agents/customer/onboarding-specialist) | Each won Deal, at signature |
| [Partner Manager](/agents/sales/partner-manager) | [Treasurer](/agents/finance/treasurer) | [Partner](/business/nouns/partner) commissions |

## Next
- [Sales Team](/agents/sales): who does what, and what it measures.
- [Customer playbook](/workflows/customer/playbook): what happens after the signature.
- [Selling](/systems/sales/selling): how [SalesBuilder](/code/builders/sales) sells self-serve and assisted.