25 Sales Resources That’ll Make Your Job (And Life) Easier

 

Let’s address the elephant in the room – there are just too many sales resources available to know what’s good and what isn’t.

The increased interest in personal and professional development has created a cottage industry of experts claiming their book, podcast, or webinar is the only thing standing between you and success in your career.

But finding out which of these tools are the real deal? That’s a lot easier said than done.

We decided to tackle the heavy lifting to create this round-up of our favorite sales resources, tools, and guides. Whether you’re looking for a podcast to listen to on your morning commute, or you need a free tool to help send better cold emails, we have something here for you.

You may not need all of these resources, but you definitely need a few. Here’s the breakdown of what we’re including (or use Ctrl + F) and let us know what you find helpful in the comments at the bottom of this page!

25 Sales Resources to Supercharge Your Revenue Org

Upskilling your sales team shouldn’t have to cost an arm and a leg. Reps need tools that can easily integrate into their everyday schedule and make them better at their jobs. We’ve collected a list of our 25 favorite sales resources your revenue organization can start implementing today.

Sales Outreach Tools and Templates

Sales outreach continues to be one of the biggest pain points for reps today. And with the shift to remote work with no end in sight, your sales strategy needs to change. Here are five of our favorite tools for better sales communication.

1. The Cold Email Grader

The Cold Email Grader is a tool created by Outreach and REGIE to help sales reps write and send better cold emails. Paste your email subject line and body copy into the Cold Email Grader and watch as machine learning scores your email compared against millions of other real business emails. The Cold Email Grader will provide suggestions for improving your email until you’ve got a winner.

  • What is this tool? A free tool for writing better cold email pitches.
  • Why is it important? Inboxes are crowded. The difference between a good email and a great email could decide whether you get a response back.
  • Key insight: The Cold Email Grader can also detect grammar, spelling, sentiment, social proof, personalization, and more.

2. Hubspot: Make My Persona

The Make My Persona tool is an easy and colorful way to create buyer personas. Input things like demographics, business details, and buyer habits, and even download a PDF of your persona and create as many variations as you’d like. For anyone new to creating their own buyer personas, HubSpot also includes a beginner’s guide to understanding how to find your ideal customer.

  • What is this tool? A free tool that helps you visualize your ideal customer persona.
  • Why is it important? Understanding your ideal persona takes the guesswork out of things like sales prospecting and cold outreach.
  • Key insight: This tool includes a walk-through mode that explains how to use the tool as well as the importance of each step.

3. SalesHacker Content Library

Sales comes with a lot of uncertainty and even more figuring it out as you go. But that doesn’t mean you have to do it alone. The SalesHacker Content Library has thousands of free tools and resources for all of your sales needs. With hundreds of webinars, podcasts, eBooks, and tactical guides available for free, SalesHacker has all the answers.

  • What is this tool? A content library of thousands of free sales resources.
  • Why is it important? The Sales Hacker Content Library is a one stop shop for upskilling your sales career and learning how to be a better rep.
  • Key insight: Many of these pieces of content are written by members of the Sales Hacker Community. This community is made up of regular sales professionals just like you!

4. LinkedIn Social Selling Guide

Social selling is a lead-generation technique where salespeople communicate with prospects over social media rather than more traditional channels like email or phone. LinkedIn has quickly become one of the most popular social selling platforms – that’s why their team created this beginners guide to social selling. This comprehensive ebook outlines tips for building a personal brand on LinkedIn, advice on how to avoid common social selling mistakes, and much more.

  • What is this tool? A blog post on how to optimize your LinkedIn profile to sell better on social media.
  • Why is it important? Social selling isn’t a passing fad. Even if it’s not your favorite channel to use, it’s important to have at least a beginner’s understanding of it.
  • Key insight: Once you’re finished with this one, you can head over to the Outreach Sales Resources Hub for more sales best practices to help you engage smarter.

5. ExecVision Call Camp

Are you tired of sales webinars that fail to deliver on actionable insights? Call Camp is offering an alternative to boring webinars. This webinar series from ExecVision is a crash course in real-world cold calling tactics that work. It’s a free sales coaching webinar that goes deeper than the Sales 101 stuff.

  • What is this tool? A webinar series by ExecVision for sales professionals looking to improve their call conversion rates and book more meetings.
  • Why is it important? Cold calling is still a reliable channel for sales. It’s important to brush up on your phone skills as often as you can, and this course lets you do it for free.
  • Key insight: Call Camp is hosted by Steve Richard, a sales leader who was named one of the Top 25 Most Influential People in Inside Sales by the American Association of Inside Sales Professionals (AA-ISP)

Professional Development for Salespeople

Sales requires a perfect balance between hard and soft skills. Things like strong communication are just as important as hard analytical skills. Improving your selling skills is an ongoing process in the world of sales. We’ve gathered five of our favorite sales resources for salespeople looking to focus on their professional development.

1. Sales Hacker Community

Sales Hacker is the world’s largest online B2B sales community bringing together sales professionals from all walks of life. The Sales Hacker discussion boards and community posts provide a wealth of information at every stage of your career. The Sales Hacker Community is a place to seek advice, share insights, uplevel your skills, and succeed.

  • What is this tool? One of the world’s largest online community of sales professionals.
  • Why is it important? Joining a global sales community grants you access to insights and advice from people who have been in your shoes before.
  • Key insight: Sales Hacker allows community posts from active members. This is a great way to build your personal brand in sales.

2. Hubspot Inbound Sales Certification

HubSpots Inbound Sales Certification is a free 3-hour course on learning the ins and outs of inbound sales methodology. If you’re already familiar with most modern sales techniques, this course is perfect for elevating your strategy. The Inbound Sales Certification is packed with tips on how to refine your inbound sales and streamline your revenue organization.

  • What is this tool? A free three-hour inbound sales certification course.
  • Why is it important? This course can help bring new sales hires up to speed on modern sales practices, and provide new tools and tactics for your more seasoned reps.
  • Key insight: Once you’re done with this course, check out the other free sales certifications HubSpot offers for contact management and sales enablement.

3. Professional Sales Training

Professional sales courses are designed for high-performers, which means the quality of the programming often comes with a steep cost. Depending on your industry, there’s a chance your organization will reimburse you for ongoing education. This is a great opportunity to seek out professional sales training from companies like JBSales or Harris Consulting group without having to foot the bill yourself.

  • What is this tool? Professional sales training courses.
  • Why is it important? For salespeople looking to refine their skills from good to great, these courses can provide an advantage.
  • Key insight: Ask your company if they provide a stipend for ongoing education, this can significantly lower the cost out of your pocket.

4. Reddit r/Sales

Another popular online community is r/Sales on Reddit. More than 134,000 sales professionals gather here to talk to each other about new sales technologies, skills development, and more. Reddit also provides a high level of anonymity compared to other online communities that some might find appealing. While this community is strictly an online messaging board, it still provides a ton of practical insights.

  • What is this tool? Reddit r/Sales is an online community of salespeople where anyone can learn the ins and outs of working in sales.
  • Why is it important? r/Sales was created back in 2008, meaning there’s more than a decade of information, advice, and insights available to users.
  • Key insight: If you’re looking to start a new career in sales, r/Sales has a comprehensive guide on getting your first sales job.

5. #GirlsClub

Sales is a male-dominated field, but #GirlsClub is looking to lead a change in the conversation.

#GirlsClub is an online sales community for women in sales with a mission to help more women earn roles in leadership. #GirlsClub provides a space for female sales professionals to talk about the issues facing them, connect with female mentors, and much more.

  • What is this tool? A leading online community and advocacy organization for women in sales.
  • Why is it important? Women are underrepresented in sales leadership roles. #GirlsClub provides both practical guides and an online community to help empower women in their sales careers.
  • Key insight: #GirlsClub also offers scholarships, certification programs, and their own event for the #GirlsClub community.

Remote Sales Resources

The shift to remote work this year had a huge impact on the way we live our lives, and do our jobs. Face to face meetings are being replaced with Zoom calls – your strategy needs to change to keep up. Here are five of our favorite resources designed to get your sales team adjusted to the challenges of remote selling.

1. Outreach: The Essential Guide to Social (Distance) Selling on LinkedIn

With social selling taking the spotlight this year, understanding how to leverage platforms like LinkedIn became hugely important. Outreach’s guide to social selling doesn’t just cover the basics of understanding LinkedIn. It also provides insights into COVID-19’s impact on LinkedIn trends, the need for both buyers and sellers to have a LinkedIn presence, and how to optimize your profile and posting strategy.

  • What is this tool? A complete guide to social selling on LinkedIn in the COVID-19 era.
  • Why is it important? Everyone is using LinkedIn for selling. This crash course will help give you a competitive edge over everyone else in your prospects’ DMs.
  • Key insight: Outreach continues the conversation about social distance selling (and many more topics) over at the Sales Engagement Podcast.

2. Beautiful.ai

With things moving remote, more pitches and presentations are being done over video calls. There’s now an increased need for sleek and creative sales decks that don’t bore your prospects. Beautiful.ai is a presentation software with access to dozens of tools on their free account. Reps can create a free individual account and access hundreds of slide templates, a free image library, and more.

  • What is this tool? A presentation software that allows users to create sleek branded slide decks for any number of sales meetings.
  • Why is it important? This tool allows sales professionals to take their pitch up a notch by creating beautiful pitch decks for free.
  • Key insight: Beautiful.ai has the option to make a free account, which allows users to create up to 100 free slides. The free tier also includes a free image library and 60+ templates users can use to create presentations.

3. Strict Workflow Chrome Extension

Finding your rhythm in sales is hard – remote work has made it even more difficult. Strict Workflow is a Chrome extension that implements The Pomodoro productivity technique into your daily WFH routine. The extension schedules five minute mini-breaks into larger 25 minute focus blocks. This free tool is a must for anyone looking to boost their productivity while working remotely.

  • What is this tool? A Chrome extension for boosting productivity.
  • Why is it important? Building frequent breaks into your working schedule has been proven to increase productivity. This tool makes it easy to get started.
  • Key insight: Strict Workflow allows the option to block distracting websites like Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube during your “focus” time.

4. Owl Labs Future of Work Resource Hub

The “future” of remote work is here faster than most of us expected. With most organizations planning on staying out of the office into 2021, you’ll need to learn how to get the most out of your remote set-up The Future of Work Guide from OwlLabs has practical guides for making your home a place where you can actually get work done, plus original research on where remote work is headed.

  • What is this tool? A complete guide for shifting to a long-term remote work set-up.
  • Why is it important? Remote work is only rising in popularity. Employees and businesses should know how to get the most out of WFH.
  • Key insight: This hub also has resources designed to help leaders with challenges like remote hiring, improving employee engagement, and more.

5. HubSpot: Remote Sales Playbook Hub

HubSpot’s Remote Sales Playbook is a content library full of more than 30+ resources to help your team sell from anywhere. This hub houses tools like their sales metric calculator, as well as online courses, and more. Many of these resources were created in partnership with companies like Zoom and Slack, making this one you should bookmark today.

  • What is this tool? An online content hub of tools for shifting to remote selling.
  • Why is it important? With the permanent return to our offices nowhere in sight, learning how to shift your sales strategy to remote sales is more important than ever.
  • Key insight: HubSpot allows users to download the full playbook in a single PDF for easier distribution and reading.

Best Sales Books

For some people, nothing beats the feeling of cracking open a new book. Sales books are one of the most popular and widely available resources out there. And with how fast the sales landscape is shifting, it never hurts to brush up with a good book. We decided to pick our five favorite books that we think will have the biggest impact on sales moving into next year.

1. Emotional Intelligence for Sales Success: Connect with Customers and Get Results by Colleen Stanley

Behind every purchasing decision is another human. Emotional Intelligence for Sales Success offers a way for salespeople to learn how to approach sales with empathy. Author Colleen Stanley, President and Chief Selling Officer at SalesLeadership, Inc., provides her insights for honing your communication skills, improving impulse control for better questioning and listening, and much more. If you’re looking for a book that can help you improve your soft sales skills, this is one you should pick up.

2. Hacking Sales – The Playbook for Building a High Velocity Sales Machine by Max Altschuler

Technology is opening new doors for sales professionals – Hacking Sales is your guide to transforming your sales process. Author Max Altschuler, Founder and CEO of SalesHacker and current Vice President of Sales Engagement at Outreach, walks you through how to use the next generation of sales tools and strategies to supercharge your revenue organization. You’ll walk through advice for improving each stage of your sales process from start to finish and learn trade secrets from one of the best in the business.

3. Outbound Sales, No Fluff by Rex Biberston and Ryan Reisert

Outbound Sales, No Fluff is a no-nonsense guide to outbound sales written by two millennials who have “actually sold something this decade”. Rex and Ryan waste no time telling readers which outdated sales practices they’re shooting themselves in the foot with. This guide covers a range of topics from cold calling, to sales technology, and everything in between. It’s a fun and functional way to learn the ins and outs of outbound sales.

4. Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss

Chris Voss is a former international hostage negotiator skilled at high-stakes negotiations. Voss brings his experience working with the FBI to teach anyone how to become a better negotiator. This guide outlines nine negotiation principles and strategies you can bring to your sales negotiations. This book is perfect for anyone looking to improve their persuasion skills.

5. Blueprints for a SaaS Sales Organization by Jacco Van Der Kooij and Fernando Pizarro

In the world of sales, SaaS is a beast all its own. This guide was created to help salespeople new to SaaS adapt to the fast-paced sales environment seen in most B2B organizations. Don’t miss your window to make a sale with prospects ever again. Blueprints for a SaaS Sales Organization offers practical advice on building successful sales teams and scaling your sales strategies for long-term revenue growth.

READ THIS: 104 Best Sales Books for Boosting Your Skills & Performance in 2020

Best Sales Podcasts

Podcasts have seen a recent resurgence in the B2B space over the last few years. If you’re a sales professional with a busy schedule (or maybe with a long commute) these sales podcasts are a perfect way to make the most of your downtime. Here are some of our picks:

1. Accelerate! With Andy Paul

Accelerate! With Andy Paul is a no-nonsense take on the modern sales podcast. Andy’s podcast features a stacked line up of leading sales professionals and leaders, all willing to share their insights and hot takes. With topics ranging from the future of sales hiring to practical advice on improving sales processes, you’re sure to find exactly what you need.

2. B2B Growth Show

B2B Growth Show is the perfect podcast for the sales professional on the go. These short and snappy episodes never run longer than half an hour, but are full of incredible insights. Hosts James and Jonathan tackle topics like how to fairly compensate top sales talent, how to keep your sales team motivated, and more.

3. SalesHacker Podcast

The SalesHacker Podcast started in 2018 and has been delivering top sales insights for the last two years. Hosted by Sam Jacobs, Founder of the New York Revenue Collective, Sam dives deep into the sales strategies used by other global revenue leaders from companies like Atlassian, Microsoft, LinkedIn, Slack, and many others.

4. Sell or Die

Sell or Die is a fun and fresh sales podcast hosted by Jeffrey Gitomer, author of The Little Red Book of Selling, and sales trainer Jennifer Gluckow. Sell or Die features several recurring segments where listeners can submit questions and participate in live chats with the hosts. The hosts of Sell or Die aren’t afraid to tackle the tough topics facing today’s sales professionals, making this podcast a must-listen.

5. The Sales Engagement Podcast

The Sales Engagement Podcast, brought to you by the team at Outreach.io, has over 200 episodes packed with the best sales advice out there. Each week the Sales Engagement Podcast breaks down the fundamentals of sales engagement with some of the biggest names in the business. With episodes featuring guests from companies like HootSuite, Forrester, and more, hosts Scott Barker and Mark Kosoglow ensure you walk away learning something new every time.

Sales resources for every stage of your career

The resources listed above are only a sampling of the millions of sales resources available online. It’s up to you to decide where you’re at and what you need to reach the next stage of success. Invest in a few of these tools, whether free or paid, and see how big of an impact they can have on yourself and your team.

Max Altschuler is currently the VP of Sales Engagement at Outreach. He is as passionate about the sales profession as they come. He created the premier B2B Sales media company for all things sales innovation, Sales Hacker, and ramped them up to over 150,000 monthly visitors before joining Outreach through acquisition. At Outreach, he leads all things marketing, along with the continued evolution of the Sales Hacker community. Max is a highly regarded sales thought-leader published by Forbes, Time, Inc, Harvard Business Review, and Quora. He wrote the book on modern sales called Hacking Sales: The Playbook For Building A High Velocity Sales Machine, which was published by Wiley.

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