Call playbooks
A playbook is how you run a kind of call, written down: the flow, the lines, what to listen for and how to answer objections. These six are written so a live coach can follow them, and you can copy any of them.
Six starter playbooks
Each one is grounded in a well-known method, named on its page, and shaped into a single call with timings.
SPIN, Gap Selling, MEDDICC
Discovery call
Find their problem, what it costs and who decides, before you pitch.
Read the playbookGreat Demo!
Product demo
Show the result they want first, prove it, and agree the next step.
Read the playbookChris Voss, Getting to Yes
Negotiation
Agree price and terms you can live with, trading rather than conceding.
Read the playbookY Combinator, Sequoia
Investor pitch
Tell a clear story with numbers and earn a second meeting.
Read the playbookThe Mom Test
Customer interview
Learn what they really do and pay for, without pitching your idea.
Read the playbookWho, by Smart and Street
Hiring interview
Test them on the role’s must-haves with real examples.
Read the playbookWhat’s in a playbook
Every playbook is one plain document with the same parts, so it reads well for you and for the coach.
How to coach me
When the coach should step in, and when to stay quiet. For example, tell me if I start pitching on a discovery call.
The flow
The call in numbered steps with timings, the lines to say and when to move on. After the call, any step it went past is listed, with Remind me next call.
Listen for
What a good answer sounds like at each step, such as a number, a date or one specific example.
Objections and replies
What they’re likely to say and a reply for each, in words you can say out loud. After a call, a new objection can go straight into the playbook.
Facts to have ready
Your price, results, metrics or role details, filled in once and there when you need them.
Brackets
[Capitalised brackets] are yours to fill in. [lowercase brackets] are filled from the call.
How Aside uses playbooks
Add one in the app
In the Aside app, New playbook opens a gallery of nine: these six, MEDDICC and SPICED discovery, and a competitor battlecard. Pick one, fill in the [Capitalised brackets] and change anything that isn’t how you run the call. There’s a blank one too.
Name it in a call’s plan
A plan holds a few goals, background and ready answers for one call. When the plan names a playbook, the plan only needs what’s specific to this call; the playbook covers how you run it.
Live guidance follows it
During the call, live guidance reads the whole playbook. The pill under your camera shows your goals as dots that fill in, one line for your next move, and your prepared answer when the topic comes up. Only you see it. Aside guides 2 calls a week on Free and every call on the paid plan, with 14 days of everything for new accounts.
Or write your own with an AI app
Connect Claude, ChatGPT or another AI app and ask it to turn your sales script, demo flow or interview guide into a playbook. It keeps your words. See Connect AI apps.
Questions
What is a call playbook?
A written guide to how you run a kind of call, such as a discovery call or an investor pitch: how you want to be coached, the flow with timings and lines, what to listen for, replies to objections and the facts to have ready.
Are these playbooks free?
Yes. Copy any of them from these pages and use them anywhere. Aside guides 2 calls a week with one on Free, and every call on the paid plan, $48 a month or $456 a year; new accounts get 14 days of it free.
What do the brackets in a playbook mean?
[Capitalised brackets] are for you to fill in before the call, such as your price. [lowercase brackets] are filled from the call itself, such as their problem in their own words.
Can I write my own playbook?
Yes. In Aside, New playbook also offers a blank one. A connected AI app like Claude can turn your sales script or a document into a playbook, keeping your words.
Where does Aside keep my playbooks?
In your Aside account, as text. Connected AI apps can read and write them, and you can edit them in the app.