Ultimate guide to Sales Rules of Engagement (ROE)
A full guide to documenting your sales process and establishing it in a format that helps your sales organization operate in a streamlined fashion
What are ROE?
Let’s set the tone here:
They aren’t some dusty document on a Sharepoint
They also aren’t a super serious and litigious policy document
They aren’t something the leadership does not know intimately
ROE are fundamentally a strategy translation document. ROE take the vision and GTM strategy and break it down into actionable, sales-activity-specific detail. The goal? Ensure every sales rep, from new hire to veteran, knows their task inside out and the entire sales organization runs like a well-oiled machine. It’s about operational effectiveness and excellence. That’s what ROE should deliver.
Why have ROE?
So, why does a sales organization need ROE? Well, it’s simple. Good ROE can lead to higher success in achieving strategy. Period.
Here is why:
Clarity of roles and responsibilities. When sales activities are structured and laid out, teams can follow them and achieve their goals.
Efficiency and productivity. With clear guidelines, teams can work smarter, not harder. This means more output and less time wasted.
Quality improves. Critical to have. Consistency and expectation setting leads to higher quality work.
Rep and customer satisfaction. Clear guidelines lead to fewer internal and external disputes. Smoother and more consistent experience across the board.
How to build out ROE?
In this section we will cover a framework that helps build out ROE for any sales organization. Here is the thing though. Building out ROE is only half the job done. The other, equally important part, is managing the ROE once established. We will cover building out the ROE first and then we’ll dive into ROE maintenance in a separate section.
Building out ROE
Building out ROE can be daunting because you quickly you need to cover every conceivable use case, problem, exception, rule and scenario in your sales organization. May seem like an impossible task, but the factory framework may help.
The factory framework
Simplifying complex processes can be tough, so let’s leverage Andy Grove’s breakfast factory analogy. Imagine your sales organization as a factory, where raw materials (i.e. the software) come in and are transformed into revenue dollars on the other end (i.e. signed contracts). Win!
The factory is a busy place. Inside the factory, a production line of people perform specific tasks, passing objects around and operating machinery. Some machine or objects may be shared, people work together at different stages or in isolation. Step after step though, the input ends up as a finished output.
You get the idea of what’s going on here. So let’s try to describe what’s going on here.
What are the people doing in the factory?
Who even are the people?
Who are the customers that are being sold to?
How does this factory work such that product comes in and dollars come out?
By answering these questions, we essentially create an operating manual that reveals how the factory works. Should work, to be precise. This is also the moment where we can translate the factory back into software sales. More specifically the operating manual. Because the operational manual, in many ways, are the ROE we are trying to get to.
The people in your factory are your roles
The factory is your sales process
The people being sold to are your customers
The objects and machinery are the items of work
These four elements form the core of your ROE.
Ok, so we’re done with the factory. Wait, no. We’re not. How do I know the dollars coming out of the factory are high quality dollars? Right, much more to think about in the factory. What do we want?
The stuff coming in has to be good stuff
The stuff coming out also has to be good stuff
Maximum high quality output
To achieve this, we need to:
Define how to generally handle items
Assign responsibility and ownership and hold people accountable
Set quality standards
Looks good. Have we thought of everything? Well things are probably not going to go to plan. They never do. So let’s make sure we cover that.
Non-standard handling of items
Alright, I think we really have the factory covered at this point. Right? Let’s summarize to check.
Factory, check.
We have stuff coming in, going through stages and coming out. Sales process, check.
We know who does what and where. Roles and responsibilities, check.
We’ve also talked about the main machinery and objects that they’re expected to operate and how to operate it. Items of work, check.
We’ve also set the tone on how we want things done and to what level and what happens if things are not done. Great, how to handle items of work.
We’ve also thought about a bunch of exceptions, probably missed a bunch but we’ll add over time. Not a problem. Check.
Did we miss anything? Looks like we’ve got it all covered. So let’s get out of this factory mindset and put it all together.
Core ROE structure
Leveraging the factory framework, we can distill ROE in the following base structure:
Basics
GTM goals and strategy
Ideal customer profile, buying personas, demographics
Culture, values and principles
Roles and responsibilities
List of roles
Role definitions
Core responsibilities and expectations
Sales process
Stages
Entry/exist criteria
Items of work
Item description and purpose
Types
Related items or sub-items
Items ownership
Assignment and validity
Transitions, changes and handover
New, expiring or temporary ownership
Collaboration
Handling of items of work
Standard handling:
Record keeping and maintenance requirements
Management of item
Operating procedures
Non-standard:
Consequences of mismanagement or insufficient handling
Out of control impacts
Exceptions and approval processes
Conflict resolution and escalation paths
Items of work in SaaS sales
Items of work, what the hell is that? Think of them as objects or intermediate states of an object being manipulated and transformed through the sales process. The items being handled to close a deal in sales might include:
Leads
Accounts
Account hierarchies
Opportunities
Quotes
Bundles/packaging
Pricing/discounts
Contracts/order forms
Quota/credit
Few additional notes on how to think about items of work:
These items can vary by role and organization, so it’s important to pick what is relevant.
Items don’t have to be an object directly handled by a sales rep, it can be something conceptual that still influences their work (e.g. quotas)
By identifying, inventorying, and defining the items of work, you'll establish a foundation for clarifying role responsibilities and expectations, ultimately building a well-defined sales process that outlines who handles each item, what's expected of them, and how they contribute to the organization's overall sales performance.
Managing ROE
To ensure ROE remain a dynamic and valuable resources, I recommend the following best practices:
Accessibility: Make the ROE easily accessible, searchable, bookmark linkable, even consider creating a chatbot for querying.
Up-to-date: Update the document regularly with time stamps, owners and change reasons. Treat it like product release notes.
Leadership reinforcement: Connect strategy and changes to ROE.
Clear formatting: Make the format readable, use Q&A or “How-to” framing, keep the language simple (i.e. KISS) and have comprehensive definitions.
Learn from experiences. Document conflicts and resolutions, mistakes and best practices. The more of that, the more this becomes a successful strategy document.
Enablement: Make ROE part of new-hire and annual onboarding. Systematize rules where possible.
Focus on the 80%: Prioritize mainstream processes, address outliers separately. Have clearly defined escalation/approval processes for the outliers rather than documenting every outlier.
Scenario managment: Some scenarios can impact many roles and items of work at the same time. Best to additioanlly frame out these scenarios in a separate section (e.g. customer M&A).
Encourage feedback: Track questions, concerns and disagreements through case submissions and log decision making.
What’s the right “amount” of ROE?
Determining what to cover and how much to cover in ROE is a valid question, but it's also a tricky one because the answer is - it depends. However, there are a few factors to consider when determining the minimum and maximum “amount.” The term "amount" here refers to the extent, length or scope of the ROE content or document.
Considerations for the minimum amount
What essential knowledge does a new hire need just to get started? Think basic do's and don'ts. For instance, if you frequently remind new hires not to sell into someone else's territory, it's worth including in the ROE.
What high-frequency or high-volume items fill emails and chat messages? Judge based on inbound queries to management and Sales Operations, and consider solving them within a framework and adding them to the ROE.
Considerations for the maximum amount:
Not every use case needs coverage, especially low-volume or low-frequency ones. Instead, focus on establishing exceptions and approval processes for non-standard cases.
Periodically review and remove unnecessary elements from the ROE, like zero-based budgeting. As the business evolves, not everything from a few years ago may still be relevant. Remove anything that's not a definite yes, and bring it back if needed.
Automate where possible. Since ROE outlines strategy, it's often at the forefront of process changes. Implementing ROE documentation into systems, processes, or automation can reduce text and optimize for end-user clarity. Keep documentation of system implementations or automated processes to avoid losing context of ROE and perpetuating unnecessary practices (i.e. "we've always had to do it this way").
Template and content examples
Template
Basics
GTM goals and strategy
Ideal customer profile, buying personas, demographics
Culture, values and principles
R&R
List of roles and definitions
BDRs
Inbound
Outbound
AEs
RMs
Solution Engineers
CSMs
Core responsibilities and expectations by role
Consequences of not meeting expectations
Sales process
Stages
Prospecting
Qualification
MQL
SQL
PQL
Proposal
Needs Analysis
Evaluation
Negotiation
Closed Won
Closed Lost
Entry/exist criteria for each stage
Stages for other roles
Lead stages
Post-sales stages
Items of work
Leads
Type of leads
Request to be contacted, hot, warm, cold, referrals
Lead sources
Accounts
Account types
Active, inactive, verified, etc.
Prospects, existing customers etc.
Special types (Partners, Strategic, etc.)
Account teams
Hierarchy/entities
Holdings, shells, franchises, regional subsidairies, etc.
Books
Opportunities
Opportunity types
Pilots, renewals, new business, add-ons
Opportunity teams
Quotes
Bundles/packaging
Pricing/discounts
Discounting
Volume, multi-year, bundling
Contracts
Contract types
Standard, bridge, extension, pre-order, cancellation
Refunds/credits
Quota/credit
Items ownership
Lead
Assignment and validity
Routing rules
Time to touch
Transitions and handover
Round robin rules (i.e. who to pass lead to)
Accounts
Assignment and validity
Who owns what type of accounts
Definition of ownership (i.e. “working on an account”)
Account team vs. account ownership
Transitions and handover
Operations planned territory changes (e.g. annual planning)
Operations planned territory handovers (e.g. monthly new accounts)
Collaboration
Account Teams
Subsidaries, parent account realtions
Temporary ownership
Coverage (e.g. sickness)
Holdovers
Opportunities:
Assignment and validity
Opportunity ownership depending on stage
Transitions and handover
Handover mapping between AE and RMs
Handover mapping between RMs and CSMs
Handover requirements
Collaboration
Collaboration rules
Opportunity Team
Handling of items of work
Lead
Record keeping and maintenance requirements
Contact details
Operating procedures
Time to touch
Touch requirements
Exceptions
Duplication
Multiple customer engagements
Accounts
Standard handling:
Record keeping and maintenance requirements
Minimum information
Scrubbing
Verification/duplication checks
Management of item
Activity logging
Untouched/unstaffed accounts
Operating procedures
Verification and management of duplicates
Non-standard:
Out of control impacts
M&A
Data cleaning
Exceptions
Banned accounts/regions
Opportunities
Standard handling:
Record keeping and maintenance requirements
Foreacsting
Contact management
Management of item
Stage management
Operating procedures
Disengaging an opportunity
Consolidation of opportunities
Close date rules for existing contracts
Quotes
Standard handling
Record keeping and maintenance requirements
Required informs, approvals (e.g. Deal Desk, Pricing, Services)
Operating procedures
Bundle/packaging rules
Pricing/discount rules
Discount limits, approvals process
Non-standard handling
Pricing/discounting exceptions
Process, approvers, limits
Bundling/packaing excpeitons
Process, approvers
Contracts
Standard/non-standard handling
Record keeping and maintance requirements
Order form requirements
Management of item
Contract terms
MSAs
Operating procedures
Signature process
Contract consolidation process
Contract cancellation process
Refund/crediting process
Quota/credit
Standard
Record keeping and maintenace requirements
Crediting requirements
Management of item
Ramp adjustment
Promotions
Operating procedures
Crediting rules
Split rules for collaboration
Quota changes
Quota relief
Non-standard
Out of control impacts
M&A
Churn
Conflict resolution and escalation paths
Quota disagreement
Quota coverage
Content examples
To help add color the above template structure, providing a few examples of written out ROE elements.
Account Executives role definition: Account Executives (AEs) are responsible for capturing new customers and new business. They prospect into accounts with no existing customer relationship in that specific business line and aim to close the first sale. They typically collaborate with Business Development Representatives (BDRs) and hand over the customer to a Relationship Manager once the sale is closed. AEs are listed on any account that is within their territory as AE.
Account ownership: The Account Executive listed on an account is the exclusive owner of that account, with sole responsibility for prospecting and selling to that customer. This ownership defines their territory, and no other sales representative is allowed to work on this account, including prospecting, selling, or engaging in any sales activities.
Account record keeping: When creating an account in SFDC, the rep must fill out all system required fields. It is essential to fill out these fields with real and accurate data, rather than placeholder or fictional information. This ensures that SFDC remains a reliable and trustworthy source of customer data, enabling effective sales pipeline management, accurate forecasting, and informed business decisions.
Lead assignment: Leads generated through marketing are automatically assigned to Business Development Representatives (BDRs) based on predefined territory rules, which are defined by geographic region, industry, company size, or other relevant criteria. The assigned BDR owns the lead and receives credit for working it, with ownership being exclusive and credit given for the activites leading to the qualificaiton of an opportunity by an AE. If a lead is outside the defined territory rules, it is assigned to a designated an unassigned pool. Unassigned leads can be worked by anyone on a first come, first serve basis and once taken hold off, must be fully worked, as a standard assigned lead.
Temporary account ownership: Temporary ownership occurs when a sales representative covers another rep's account on a short-term basis, without assuming quota responsibility. During this period, the absent rep doesn't receive credit for closed opportunities, while the covering rep receives credit at a fixed rate fee of X% per opportunity, which doesn't count towards their quota.
Quota impact because of M&A: In the event of a merger or acquisition (M&A), a sales representative's quota remains unchanged, but their ability to meet it may be impacted. To address this impact, reps can agree on credit allocation under the new account hierarchy, ensuring fair recognition of their sales efforts. If disagreements arise, they should be escalated through the management chain for prompt resolution. Any final disagreements will be passed to Sales Operations, see Sales Operations escalation process section for details.
Two additional resources that have good examples are at the Sales Enablement Collective and at the RevEngine Substack(although paid).
Common issues
Data quality: Data quality is crucial for effective sales operations. Bad data, such as inaccurate orincomplete information, can lead to errors in account assignments, opportunity tracking, andperformance measurement. This can result in missed sales targets, misallocated resources,and poor decision-making. Ensuring data quality is essential to maintain the integrity of thesales process and accurate measurement of performance against the ROE.
Implementing processes in systems/tools: As an ROE owner or operations expert, it's crucial to align systems and processes to ensure seamless execution and accurate performance measurement. Invest time in setting up your systems to capture necessary data points, such as required fields in your CRM, and establish clear processes for reps to follow, including data entry and management procedures. By doing so, you'll create a solid foundation for your ROE, making it easier to write, execute, and m aintain, and reduce errors, increase efficiency, and provide accurate performance measurement, enabling data-driven decision-making to drive sales success. Regularly review and refine your systems and processes to guarantee alignment and efficiency, and remember that systems should support processes, not the other way around.
Reality and complexity of sales use cases: Deals can be unique and complex, often defying categorization into predefined workflows, making it essential to have a flexible process that accommodates these exceptions. By acknowledging and documenting these use cases, you can refine your ROE over time to incorporate these nuances, ensuring it remains a practical and effective guide for sales operations. This adaptability allows you to address potential misunderstandings, misclassification, and mismeasurement of performance, ultimately maintaining an effective and practical ROE that accurately reflects sales performance in the face of real-world complexities.
Thanks for following through the guide. Let me know on your thoughts through comments and anything that has been missed.
Stay tuned for more!