CUSTOMER SUPPORT PLAYBOOK - BLANK WORKSHEET
Suggested small-business template by Santa Barbara Support
https://santabarbarasupport.com/insights/support-playbook/
Updated October 16, 2026

TEAM OVERVIEW - complete once
Purpose / customer outcome:
Channels and request categories covered:
Work excluded from this scope:
Coverage window / time zone / holidays:
Queue-checking and follow-up responsibilities:
Internal response targets and how business hours are counted:
Customer-facing commitments approved by the business (if any):
Approved offline message and published urgent contact route:
Tools: purpose, sign-in link, required role, access owner, recovery route:
Policy owner / approval process:
Decision owner / contact channel / backup:
Where responders ask first-week or missing-information questions:
Where internal notes and public replies belong:
Access-removal owner / retention policy:

REQUEST ENTRY - duplicate for each request type
ENTRY TITLE / CATEGORY: [What request does this cover?]
PURPOSE: [What useful outcome should this entry enable?]
TRIGGER / ELIGIBILITY: [What starts it? When does it apply?]
CHANNEL / COVERAGE: [Channel, time zone, agreed window and offline route]
CONVERSATION OWNER: [Role or person responsible through the handoff]
SOURCE OF TRUTH: [Policy or article link, version/date, policy owner]
CONTEXT TO CHECK: [Minimum authorized details that affect the answer]
APPROVED REPLY: [Customer wording, placeholders and relevant help link]
PERMITTED ACTIONS: [Exact actions and required permissions]
DO NOT PROMISE / DO: [Exceptions, commitments and actions outside scope]
ESCALATION TRIGGER: [Specific condition that requires a decision]
DECISION OWNER / ROUTE: [Named contact or role and approved channel]
HANDOFF PACKAGE: [Request link, facts, action taken, decision needed]
FOLLOW-UP / BACKUP: [Owner, internal check time and unavailable-contact route]
CLOSURE CONDITION: [What establishes completion? Who confirms it?]
CONTENT OWNER / STATUS: [Maintainer; draft, approved or withdrawn]
REVIEW TRIGGER / DATE: [Policy or tool change; next planned review]

BEFORE USE
Replace every placeholder; obtain policy-owner approval; verify permissions.
Test a routine request, missing policy, exception, urgent matter and unavailable contact.
Record what confused the responder and revise the entry before customer-facing work.
Keep passwords, recovery codes, guest access codes, full payment details and customer
records out of this worksheet. Link to authorized systems and follow the business's
retention and access rules. Template wording does not itself grant permission.