In partnership with
FRIDAY · TEAM PLAYBOOK
Build the playbook before you build the team.
When a company tells me it plans to hire 20 or more people in LATAM, my first question is not about roles.
It is about knowledge. Where does your playbook live today, and who answers questions when your managers are busy?
At that size, the answer cannot be "ask the founder." So we build 2 things before the first cohort starts: a company LLM and a training academy. Here is how we do it, and why our best partnerships start with a visit.
THIS ISSUE AT A GLANCE
6
knowledge sources in the company LLM
4
weeks in the academy path
5
questions in the readiness check
5
days onsite in Medellín
THE SHIFT
The future of staffing is people plus AI.
For years, staffing had a single job. Fill the seat, then step back.
AI changes that. The repeat work moves to the model, and people own the judgment. A partner that only sends profiles leaves you to figure out the rest alone.
US leaders still set the strategy. What they need from a LATAM partner now is the people, the AI layer and the leadership to run both.
Companies tend to come to us at the same stage, with the same problems:
The founder still answers the questions only the founder knows.
AI tools are paid for, but nobody owns them day to day.
Training depends on whoever has time that week.
The hiring plan is ready, but the playbook is not written down.
We build the fix with them. Here is what that looks like.
THE BREAKING POINT
Teams break where knowledge lives in people.
Most growing teams run on knowledge nobody wrote down. The answers sit in Slack threads, old call recordings and the heads of your earliest hires.
That works while the team is small. Somewhere around 20 people, it stops working.
Every new hire pulls a senior person away from their own work. Ramp takes longer, answers start to drift, and each cohort learns a slightly different version of your pitch.
Hiring faster does not fix that. A shared source of truth does.
WHAT CHANGES
Same headcount. Different first month.
Here is what the first month looks like for a team of 20, with and without a shared playbook.
WITHOUT A PLAYBOOK
Questions: wait for a busy manager
Training: shadow whoever is free
Pitch: drifts with every cohort
Managers: stuck on repeat questions
Quality: depends on who trained them
Next cohort: starts from scratch
WITH THE LLM AND ACADEMY
Questions: answered first by the LLM, in your words
Training: a 4 week path with certification
Pitch: the same standard for every cohort
Managers: free to coach
Quality: scored against the same rubric
Next cohort: starts from a tested program
STEP 1 · THE COMPANY LLM
Put your playbook on call for every hire.
A company LLM is an AI assistant built on your own material. Your team asks it questions in plain English and gets answers in your words.
We build it with your leaders from 6 sources. Use this as your intake list, even if you build it yourself:
Product and pricing. What you sell, who it is for and how you quote it.
Owner: product or sales leadBest calls. Recorded discovery calls, demos and saves.
Owner: your top performersObjections. The 10 objections you hear most and the answers that work.
Owner: sales leaderProcess and tools. CRM stages, help desk rules and handoff steps.
Owner: ops or RevOpsCustomer stories. Why customers bought and why they stayed.
Owner: customer success leadEscalations. What a new hire must never answer alone.
Owner: department head
A new hire stuck on a pricing objection asks the LLM before asking a manager. Your leaders review the answers before launch, so the assistant matches how you want the work done.
Managers keep the judgment calls. The LLM takes the repeat questions, so managers spend their time coaching.
Start here: list the 20 questions your managers answer most each week. Those are the first 20 answers your LLM needs.
STEP 2 · THE TRAINING ACADEMY
Train every cohort to the same standard.
The LLM answers questions. The academy builds habits.
We turn your playbook into a program every new hire completes before working live accounts. A typical path looks like this, adapted to the role and how your team works.
Week 1 · Foundations
Your product, your buyer, your tools and the language your team uses.
Week 2 · Practice
Roleplays built from your real calls and tickets, scored against your rubric.
Weeks 3 to 4 · Supervised work
Live work with review, and the LLM on hand for every question.
Certification
A final review with your leader before each hire works on their own.
What every roleplay is scored on:
Accuracy. Product, pricing and policy answers match the playbook.
Questions. The hire learns the real problem before offering a fix.
Tone. Clear, confident and in strong English.
Next step. Every conversation ends with an agreed action.
Notes. The CRM or help desk record is complete enough for anyone to pick up.
On Managed Staffing, our own team runs the training for the professionals we place. Your leaders set the standard, and we update the program with them as the playbook changes.
THE READINESS CHECK
5 questions to answer before you hire 20.
Run this with your leadership team this week. It costs nothing, and it shows where your playbook has gaps.
Can a new hire find your pricing rules without asking a manager?
Do you have recordings that show what a great conversation sounds like?
Is there a written answer for your most common objections?
Does every team hand off work the same way?
Who decides when a new hire is ready to work alone?
If you answered no to 2 or more, fix the playbook before you add the headcount.
THE PATTERN
Knowledge first. Headcount second.
The teams that scale well write the playbook down, train every cohort on it and know the people running it. That last part is where our best partnerships begin.
WHERE IT STARTS
Our best partnerships start with a visit.
A video call shows you a candidate. A week in person shows you the team, the culture and the people who will run your program.
That is why we invite companies building teams of 20 or more to spend a week onsite with us in Medellín. A typical week looks like this:
Monday · Meet the team
Walk through your goals with our recruiting and training team.
Tuesday · Interview in person
Meet candidates face to face and see how they think on their feet.
Wednesday · Build the LLM
Map your 6 knowledge sources and the questions your hires will ask.
Thursday · Shape the academy
Agree on the curriculum, the roleplays and the certification standard.
Friday · Lock the plan
Set the hiring timeline and the start date for your first cohort.
You leave with a hiring plan, a training plan and a team you already know by name.
Come build it with us in Medellín.
Building your own team with a LATAM partner? Come see how we do it. Bring your roles, your timeline and the questions your managers answer most. I will help you scope the team and plan your week onsite.
Happy to help,
Michael Sanchez
VP of Sales, CloudTask
KEEP READING
The Barbell Hiring Model. How US leaders and LATAM teams split strategy and execution as the team grows.
How CloudTask works. The 4 steps to a hire and how we stay involved after the start date.
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