11 free templates, checklists, and worksheets to plan your sales year, run better calls and demos, and hire and onboard your team. Use them right here, or download the whole kit.
Prefer to keep everything offline? The complete kit is a single ZIP file of about 3.7 MB with 15 files:
An introduction with the recommended order below
Fillable PDFs of the Sales Strategy Template, Product Demo Checklist, Sales Hiring Checklist, and Sales Interview Matrix
Printable PDFs of the Objection Management worksheet, Sales Call Review Checklist, Sales Call Script, and Sales Interview Matrix, plus a standard Sales Call Script PDF
The Follow-up Email Templates and Sales Referral Email Template PDFs
The 4-Week Onboarding Schedule as PowerPoint and Keynote files
A link file that opens the Yearly Sales Goal Calculator in Google Sheets
The kit was first published in 2020, and a few templates mention the product by its earlier name, Close.io.
This free kit gives you 11 action-oriented templates, checklists, worksheets, and guides, so you can plan your year, run better calls and demos, and hire and onboard the right people.
Everything below is free to use. Where a template already has a web version or its own download on close.com, the link takes you straight there. A few templates are also built into this page, so you can use them without downloading anything. The rest are in the complete kit download at the end.
Not sure where to start?
We recommend working through the kit in this order:
Yearly Sales Goal Calculator: A calculator for determining MRR, planning yearly sales goals, analyzing monthly sales trends, and more.
Sales Strategy Template: A checklist designed to help you develop a winning sales strategy and streamline your team’s activities.
Objection Management: A worksheet featuring a series of the most common objections, along with space to create your own.
Product Demo Checklist: A checklist for creating top-tier product demos. Includes qualifying, scheduling, preparing, and presenting.
Sales Call Script: A simple script that will serve as a foundation for your sales call routine. Includes opening, qualifying, and test-closing.
Follow-up Email Templates: A series of 12 follow-up email templates using a variety of strategies and tactics. Formatted for CRM.
Sales Referral Email Template: A referral email template designed to get the attention of amazing sales candidates. Formatted for CRM.
Sales Call Review Checklist: A checklist for reviewing a rep’s sales call against seven attributes, from the goal of the call to listening skills.
Sales Hiring Checklist: A checklist that will guide you through every stage of hiring, from early startup to established company.
Sales Interview Questions: A matrix featuring some of the most important sales interview questions. Compare and score multiple candidates.
4-Week Onboarding Schedule: An onboarding schedule with a day-by-day breakdown of activities to get new sales reps up and running in just 28 days.
Plan your sales year
Start with the numbers, then decide how your team will hit them.
The Yearly Sales Goal Calculator is a Google Sheet. At the start of the year, enter last year’s sales for each month and the increase you intend to hit. The sheet turns that into a monthly new revenue goal, the number of new leads you need to reach it, and the average new revenue each rep needs per month. Each month, add your actual leads, actual sales, and any lost or churned revenue to track net new revenue, MRR, and ARR against the goal.
The Sales Strategy Template walks you through setting S.M.A.R.T. goals and turning company goals into your team’s day-to-day sales activities.
These four templates cover the core of a sales conversation: what to say, how to handle pushback, how to demo, and how to follow up.
Objection Management lists the most common objections, like "I don’t have time" and "I’m not interested," with space to write and test your answers.
Sales Call Script is the simple script Close’s founders used to win their first seven customers in 14 days: an opening, qualifying questions, a test close, and next steps.
Product Demo Checklist takes you from qualifying attendees to asking for the sale. You can use it right here on this page.
Follow-up Email Templates gives you 12 follow-up emails for different situations, from "Your questions from yesterday?" to a final goodbye. They are formatted to paste into your CRM and are included in the complete kit download.
You’re busy. We get it. That’s why we’ve organized the product demo process so you can crush your product demos.
Qualifying product demo attendees
There’s qualifying, and then there’s qualifying for a demo. Here’s what you should be asking:
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Schedule a product demo
You have a demo, but no audience. Here’s how to ensure prospects attend.
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Prepare for giving the demo
What three things can you do to make the most of your time before the demo? Prepare, prepare, and if you’re still not sure, prepare some more.
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What to do during the demo
You put in the work, and now it’s time to make magic happen. Make the most of this opportunity by customizing your product demo to your prospect’s desired results.
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Coach and hire your team
The last five templates help you find great salespeople, bring them up to speed, and coach them on real calls.
Sales Referral Email Template helps you reach great candidates through the people you just hired. Copy it below.
Sales Call Review Checklist scores a rep’s call on seven attributes: the goal, the pitch, the facts, the confidence, the energy, the connection, and the listening skills. Each section has questions, a score or yes/no answers, and space for feedback. It ends by choosing one thing the rep should improve before the next review.
Sales Hiring Checklist tells you what to have in place before each stage of growing a sales team. Use it on this page.
Sales Interview Questions gives you 12 questions to score and compare candidates. Use it on this page.
4-Week Onboarding Schedule is a sample hour-by-hour plan for a new sales team: an orientation day followed by four weekly schedules that mix training sessions, mock calls, live selling, and team reviews. Personalize it and share it with your new hires.
Simply copy and paste this email template into your CRM and start connecting with amazing sales candidates.
● ● ● Message
Subject: [referrer’s name] recommended you
Hey {{contact.first_name}},
We just hired your friend [referrer’s name] at {{organization.name}}. I asked her who the most amazing person she knows is, and [referrer’s name] thought of you first!
She also made it clear that you’re probably not interested in joining our team, but I’d love to get to know you anyway. You can never know enough amazing people in life :)
Would you like to hop on a quick call today or tomorrow at noon? What’s a good number to reach you at?
{{user.first_name}}
The placeholders in double curly braces are Close template variables. Replace them with your own fields if you use a different tool.
Sales hiring checklist
This checklist will guide you through every stage of hiring: from you and your co-founders being the only sales reps to finding a VP of Sales. Start with founder-led sales, and only after you have completed each stage should you move on to the next one.
Founder-led sales
Gain first-hand insights about your customers and market by doing sales yourself. Even if you hate sales or don’t have sales skills yet, this stage is too crucial to skip. Focus on early stage sales exploration and tap into your network of friends, co-workers, past employers, alumni, and more to get started.
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Founder-led sales (2 to 3 sales reps)
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Junior sales leader (3 to 15 sales reps): when hiring a sales manager, look for someone who has
You’ve established an effective and predictable sales funnel, and you’re generating consistent growth. It’s now time to switch from sales exploration to sales execution. To make that transition, bring in an experienced sales manager or director. Hire 2 to 3 young and hungry salespeople at the same time: they’ll create friendly competition, make you less dependent on individual performance, and provide more firepower. While you’re leading your new sales team, you should still be doing sales.
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Junior sales leader: once hired, your sales manager should
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Senior sales leader (25 or more sales reps)
Once you have 25 or more sales reps, you’ll need a VP of Sales who can manage a few sales managers or directors. Look for someone with a proven track record of scaling things big, who is a VP of Sales at a company that already is where you want to be three years from now.
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Sales interview questions
Conduct more effective sales interviews and assess whether a candidate is a good fit for your organization with this sales matrix.
The first 10 interview questions test candidates’ ability and motivation to sell. Score each candidate’s answer from 1 to 10 and add up the total score. The printable matrix in the kit has columns for comparing three candidates side by side.
Interview questions
Questions 11 and 12 measure the candidate’s cultural fit and are answered with "yes" or "no." If a candidate receives "no" for either question, avoid hiring them.
Cover four stages: qualifying attendees (why they are interested, what they want to solve, who is involved), scheduling (booking the demo on the call and inviting decision makers), preparing (tools, realistic data, an agenda), and presenting (value over features, a maximum of 15 minutes, and ending by asking for the sale).
After founder-led sales has produced an effective and predictable sales funnel with consistent growth. That is the point to move from sales exploration to execution and bring in a manager who has grown a small team before, ideally at a company slightly ahead of where you are.
Ask questions that test ability and motivation to sell, such as why they want to sell this product, what they know about your customers and competitors, and when they last won and lost a deal. Score each answer from 1 to 10, then ask yourself whether you like the person and whether you would buy from them.
Score the call on seven attributes: whether it had a clear goal, how well the rep delivered the pitch, whether they stuck to the facts, their confidence, their energy, their connection with the prospect, and their listening. Then pick one thing for the rep to improve before the next review.