How many written rules does a sales team need?

The working minimum is four: CRM, inbound and outbound leads, conversation rules, the working day. Extra ones come later, once the first four are actually followed.

How long should a rule document be?

One page. Every item with a deadline or a number on it.

What should I do if reps ignore the rules?

Once a month, review live conversations against the rules and turn compliance into a number. With no checking, any set of rules stops working in about six weeks.

Which sales rules a team actually needs

Why write rules down when people already know the job

Rules are not there to police an experienced rep. They are there so a new rep reaches results in weeks instead of six months, and so the manager can point at the exact place where somebody stepped off the process.

The second reason is plainer: while the rules live in the owner's head, the team cannot be handed over and cannot be scaled.

Rule set 1. Working in the CRM

what the rep has to record after every contact, and within what time
which fields are required before a deal can move to the next stage
what to do with duplicates and how to mark a repeat enquiry
who closes a deal as lost, when, and with what reason

The loss reason is the most commonly skipped field. Without it you will never know why you lose, and you will treat price where the fault is speed.

Rule set 2. Inbound and outbound leads

who takes an enquiry in each channel, and within what time
what happens if the owner cannot get to it in time
a separate rule for hours outside the working day
the minimum number of touches before a thread may be closed

Rule set 3. Rules for calls and chat

how a conversation opens, and what the rep has to establish before talking about the product
when price gets quoted: on our projects this rule produced the biggest lift
how bank details are sent: straight after agreement, two messages back to back
what the rep never does: a list of five to seven items

Rule set 4. The rep's working day

task priority: new enquiries first, then stalled threads, then the base
when calls happen and when written threads get worked
what the rep does in the first thirty minutes of the day and in the last
the daily report: three or four numbers, no more

How to write them so they get read

One page per document. Nobody reads longer.
Every item carries a deadline or a number. «Reply quickly» is not an item.
An example next to the rule: what right looks like and what wrong looks like.
The rules live in your knowledge base, not in a chat. Every new rep goes through them.
Once a month, take live conversations and check whether the rules are followed. Otherwise they are dead in six weeks.

Which written rules a sales team actually needs