What Are Play Templates?
Play Templates in Evergrowth are pre-built (but still customizable) messaging frameworks designed to help salespeople quickly create high-impact cold emails, cold call tracks, and discovery meeting prep notes.
"Team Templates" can be created by any user with the "Admin" permission - they're very useful for system admins to create Plays that fit your company's playbooks, while allowing Sales reps to quickly copy and personalize them to their own tone of voice/format preferences.
"Expert Templates" are those added by us to let you work from the best practice Plays we seen in action...
Benefit from the work of Experts before you
Within the Play Templates menu, you will find a section titled Expert Templates
This is where we make available the best Plays we come across
Many of these are the Plays that we at Evergrowth have used and refined in our own outreach.
Some are taken from the best of what we see our customers using where want to share their success!
So if you want to start from a framework that has been battle-tested and refined by our own Evergrowth experts, this is the best place to start
Within Expert Templates, you can get some more information about a template before selecting & starting your updates:
Expert: Hovering over the name of the expert will tell you about their experience and role, so you can get some context about how well their templates will align with your goals
Instructions: Hovering over the title of the template will show a preview of the instructions which it uses to prompt the Play Agent.
How to create your own Play Templates
These steps are for Evergrowth admins to create easy-to-customize Plays for Sales reps to quick build their own outreach drafting agents
You need the "Admin" user permission to be able to add these
Step 1) Go to Playbook ➡️ Plays
Step 2) Click + Add new, then select Use template
Step 3) Click + Add new
Step 4) Configure your new template, including the settings and Play's Instructions
Step 5) Once finished, click Create
Your new play will now be available for your colleagues to select from the Team Templates tab:
How to use Play Templates
Part 1 - Selecting your Template
Step 1) Go to Playbook ➡️ Plays
Step 2) Click + Add new, then select Use template
Step 3) In the Play Templates menu, click to select the Play you want to use as a starting point
Part 2 - Editing and Saving
After selecting your template by following the above steps, you can make changes to tailor it to fit your requirements:
Settings
Personas / Expertise / Ecosystems / Verticals: By default when you create new Plays, Evergrowth will enable it for all possible Accounts & Contacts. However, you may have a specific buyer, industry or research situation in mind for when this Play can be used. Therefore, you may want to remove
Status: Only the "Ongoing" status allows a Play to be generated for your Contacts. If you want to do more testing before sharing this Play with your users and adding into your GTM motions, you can amend the status (e.g. to "Draft") until it's ready
Tags: The play may come with some pre-loaded tags based on the template, but you can add new tags to help easily categorize, sort & filter it in your lists
Instructions
The Instructions in a Play Template are where the real magic comes from.
Pro Tip: Most templates we upload to our "Expert Templates" section will have Instructions that are a perfect combination of an overarching framework with dynamic prompts.
This means your Agents will cherry pick your Research and Value Proposition which fit best, while following a consistent structure that guarantees a well-drafted Play.
Therefore, you should not need to amend the Instructions in an Expert Play Template (but are still welcome to do so)
Example Types of Play Templates
Cold Emails
Cold email templates help salespeople craft outreach messages that create personalization - combining research with value propositions.
Cold Call Talk Tracks
It is structured to help reps get permission to speak, deliver researched hooks, and guide the conversation through calibrated questions.
Key elements to a successful talk track include:
Permission-based introduction: Opens respectfully, referencing specific prospect-relevant research to establish credibility quickly.
Frustration-based prompts: Frames common challenges faced by similar personas, making it easy for the prospect to identify with the issues.
Calibrated questions: Guides the discussion toward discovery without being pushy.
Close framework: Offers next-step suggestions with concrete times to make scheduling easy.
Discovery Meeting Prep Notes
These templates can be used by sales reps before engaging in discovery calls or meetings
Effective prep notes will pull from all the context and insights your team of Agents will be able to compile and summarize, such as:
Company Overview: A short, structured business summary.
Research Signals: Any intent signals or contextual clues from research that may indicate strong buying intent and easy-to-leverage talking points.
Point of view (POV) Summary: Why the company should consider your rep's solution, framed in terms of cost of inaction and potential benefits.
Talking points: Tailored messaging and calibrated questions to guide the conversation.
Icebreakers: Suggested opening lines to make the interaction more natural.
Suggested selling path: A mutual action plan adapted to the persona.
Relevant customer story: A concrete case study that mirrors the prospect’s industry or challenges, complete with benefits and relevance explanation.
FAQ
Why should I use Play Templates instead of writing from scratch?
For Admins
Crafting a great play can take hours.
Testing it in the field, reviewing and iterating can take weeks - not to mention the sub-optimal conversion rates you're risking while running a new Play that needs refining.
Our Expert Play Templates save you time during both of these stages, ensuring consistency and proven messaging structures that increase conversion rates.
They also help you align all outreach with your company strategy and value proposition.
For Sales Reps
Sales reps should be supported to spend most of their time selling.
This is why Play Templates are one of the best enablement tools a Revenue leader can provide for their colleagues in Evergrowth.
Rather than spending time drafting instructions, testing and troubleshooting, they can create their own personal Play Agents, using a solid framework as the foundation in a matter of seconds.
This means they can get to launching Plays and selling effectively in their own way without the admin headache of customizing Play Agents from scratch.
What are some examples of Sales Reps needing Play Templates?
Regional/Language Tailoring
If they are selling to a new region, they may want to start from a Team/Expert Template and amend the language to fit that country.
Or change the tone and structure to work better with that region's economic environment.
Event-Specific Follow-up
After an Event, your reps may wish to draft follow-ups that include some context about what happened at the Event with the research and value proposition from their Evergrowth Agents.
Having an "Event Follow-up" template means they'd be easily able to create a new Play, weaving in what they find most interesting or relevant for their pitches.
What is a "calibrated question"?
A calibrated question is an open-ended, thought-provoking question that prompts the prospect to share insights or challenges.
Rather than feeling like they're being railroaded down a particular line of questioning, a calibrated question should make prospects feel engaged and encouraged to enter a discussion.
It should also relate directly to your Value Proposition and the prospect’s current situation, allowing you to naturally connect their pains or goals with your solution.
Related Articles
📖 Plays - Get a complete overview of Plays in Evergrowth, including the basics of setup, usage and editing your plays
📖 Research-based playbook (coming soon)
📖 Evergreen playbook (coming soon)