If you read about or speak to business leaders, what’s one thing that many of them have in common?
Probably that they never stop learning.
Whether it’s courses that they greedily devour, or new resources that they read, people who are successful in business are always learning new skills.
There is no such thing as stagnation in the world of business.
Why? Well, because the playbook is always being improved.And if you’re a new salesperson or even a weathered sales manager, you will benefit from ongoing sales training programs, to keep your skills sharp as a tack. Here are some of the best resources and courses that you should check out. (Please Note: The courses, podcasts, and blogs mentioned are based on reviews. There are thousands of resources out there, but the ones listed below seem to have the best reviews. )
1. The Linkedin Learning Platform
Linkedin has a variety of different courses and blogs that are excellent resources to sharpen your sales skills. Besides this, some courses are free, and others you have to pay for, but no matter where you are in your learning journey, you will definitely find something on this platform to suit your needs. What I like about Linkedin Learning is that there are reviews on the courses, so you can decide if buying the course is worth it or not. You can also filter out which courses you would like to view according to your skills set. So if you are a beginner or an advanced sales team manager, there will be a course for you.
Some courses that are available:
Below we will share some b2b sales training programs on the Linkedin Learning platform that had great reviews:
Course 1: Business to Business Sales
Course description
“Business to business (B2B) sales are often more complex than business to consumer (B2C) sales. There is more competition at the B2B level, and more stakeholders. Salespeople are trying to sell to experienced buyers, who want the best product at the best price. However, with the right techniques, B2B can be the place where salespeople shine. Learn exactly what it takes to be successful at business to business sales—whether you’re moving from a B2C role or just starting your career in sales. Join Robbie Baxter, as she reviews over a typical day in B2B sales, from meeting with prospects to closing the deal. She provides insights into the skillset and personality of a successful salesperson, and tips for finding a B2B sales position. For sales managers and leaders, Robbie also provides some tips for building out B2B sales goals, structuring a sales team, and collaborating with the rest of the organization for ongoing success.”
The course consists of 4 chapters and once it has been completed you will receive a certificate of completion.
If you have a Linkedin profile, your certificate will be featured there too.
How much does it cost?
The great thing about Linkedin learning is that you can sign up for a 30-day free trial. Most of the courses are affordable This course is pretty cheap at only $24 for the entire thing.Course 2: B2B Marketing on LinkedIn
Course Description
“While LinkedIn—the world’s largest and most powerful network of professionals—is widely recognized as a top recruiting tool, it also offers features that companies and individuals can leverage for business-to-business (B2B) marketing. In this course, join LinkedIn expert Viveka von Rosen as she shares best practices, tips, and strategies for effectively conducting B2B marketing on the LinkedIn platform. Viveka shares step-by-step actions that individuals on your sales team can take using video, updates, and other features. She also shares how to leverage Company Pages for B2B marketing, including how to use Company Pages as a content hub for employee advocacy.” The course consists of 4 chapters and you will learn everything from determining the right method for your b2b marketing on Linkedin to how to target your exact customer. This course is ideal for intermediate sales professionals, who would like to improve their business development skills using Linkedin marketing and outreach.How much does it cost?
This course is a little more expensive than the one mentioned above but still affordable. You can expect to pay about $30.Course 3: Selling to Companies
Course Details:
“B2B sales require you to determine what your customers need and offer them smart solutions. And there’s a lot that happens between those two things—from exploratory conversations and generating internal enthusiasm to tracking down your economic buyer. In this course, join sales consultants Lisa Earle McLeod and Elizabeth McLeod as they step through how to navigate a large B2B sale. Discover how to leverage compelling industry issues and connect the dots between your solution and your client’s customers. Plus, learn about the kinds of questions to ask B2B buyers, how to establish your value, how to navigate bureaucracy and more.”How much does it cost?
You can expect to pay about $30 for this course. Once you have completed it, you will receive a Linkedin certificate that will also be shared on your profile.2. Udemy
A simple search for “b2b sales training” on Udemy brings up 10 000 results.
With Udemy you are spoilt for choice when it comes to sales training courses. Udemy offers more advanced resources compared to Linkedin learning.
So if you would like something a little more in depth, then you should check it out.
What I also like is that you can also filter out results to find the best sales course for you (whether you are new to sales or a sales manager.)
They also offer different pricing, so you could spend some more money or less depending on your needs.
Have a look at some of the filters below:
Have a look at some of these courses on Udemy:
Course Description
“Why Do You Need To Learn The Keys To Sales Mastery? In today’s sales environments, you are a primary differentiator. The Keys to Sales Mastery comprehensive course outlines the mind-set, skill-set, and tool-set you need to master to become invaluable to your clients and achieve career growth and financial rewards.Who is this course for?
- This course is for B2B salespeople, entrepreneurs, and business people that are open-minded and want to learn how to effectively sell their products, services, and ideas to their target audience.
- This course is geared for B2B Salespeople, Entrepreneurs, Freelancers, startups and business development sales professionals who are not satisfied with their current performance level and income. Whether you sell over the phone or in a face-to-face environment, this course sample concepts will show you the essential skills that, once mastered, can propel your business to greatness and financial prosperity.
- Anyone who deals with customers over the phone or in a face-to-face environment. Enterprise Sales, B2B sales, B2C, H2H, Start-ups and Entrepreneurs.
- This course is the perfect solution for individuals and sales organizations selling to small-medium-businesses (SMB) as well as enterprise sellers within the Fortune 500 companies.
How much does it cost?
Udemy often has great sales. You just need to look around. For example, this course was about $83 but the cost has been reduced by 78%.
Course Description
“This is NOT a mass marketing/advertising course – this is a hands-on active prospecting course for you and your team. I developed The Complete Prospecting Master Course for Sales because something kept coming up in my one-on-one coaching sessions with students. I kept hearing “I can close anyone if I can just get in front of more prospects!” In every business, getting new customers is the key to its success. Therefore, “prospecting” is the MOST important skill that a salesperson/small business owner needs to master. “Prospecting is the tip of the spear – All businesses will fail if they don’t figure out how to prospect and get in front of qualified people.” – Stevenson Brooks In The Complete Prospecting Master Course for Sales You will cover:- Prospecting Concepts – What prospecting is for and the different ways to do it.
- Finding Qualified Prospects – Who to look for and where to find them.
- A Fix for Prospects – Basically, what problems do your products fix?
- Booking Appointments – Avoiding all the no-shows and wishy-washy appointments.
- Prospecting Strategies and Techniques – The good stuff.
- How Much & When Should You Prospect – Blocking and tracking your time.
- Prospecting Example
Who this course is for:
- Business owners who do their own sales.
- Sales professionals who need to build a pipeline of qualified prospects during the sales process
- Tele-marketers and email marketers who need to convert more leads
- Beginner sales reps who want to understand what lead generation all is about.
- Anyone who wants proven real-world modern examples of how to convert a cold lead into a qualified prospect.
What students are saying
How much does it cost?
As mentioned above Udemy offers many affordable courses. This course for example was about $83 but is now about $20.
The course above is one of the fastest-selling courses on Udemy at the moment and has a 4.7-star rating.
It’s definitely worth a view if you would like to improve your b2b sales calls, but also learn how to create the perfect value props to close more deals.
Course Description
“The fastest-growing Sales Training Series on Udemy! Learn directly from an actual Sales Director of Training for a Fortune 500 Company! The material inside is currently being taught at the highest level in the Fortune 500 sales space. You can’t afford to miss this! How do you know if the talk tracks you’re using to set appointments and close clients are good enough? In this part of SALES in 21 DAYS Program, you will learn how to create value propositions that help you in all parts of your sales career. What you say to get clients interested in meeting with you is important and the better your sales skills are, the more effective you will become. At client meetings you have moments to connect what they care about most to what you could offer them. When closing, there is a transfer of excitement and the importance of them remembering why your product or service is special. Get ready to learn sales techniques of how to create and structure value propositions, phone cold calling talk tracks and elevator pitches that will result in higher commissions.”Who is this course for:
- All students who wish to increase their commissions and sell more of their product or service
- This course is for anyone in sales who wants to learn the fundamentals for creating talk tracks, cold calling scripts, and customized elevator pitches
How much does it cost?
This course is currently on special and has a discounted price of 78%. You can expect to pay about $20 for this course.3. Rain Group
Rain Group is a platform that has been created entirely for sales training. Whatever your needs are, you are bound to find it on this informative platform.
Whether you are looking for:
- Sales coaches
- Webinars
- Sales training programs
- Online sales training
- Sales blogs
4. Podcasts
Podcasts are fast becoming a great way to learn from sales leaders in the industry. Whether you are looking to improve your Linkedin lead generation skills or cold email; you can bet that there will be a podcast on the topic.
Interesting fact, more Americans listened to podcasts than went to church in 2020 (This could be due to covid restrictions though, but still interesting.)
Another fact is that 55% of Americans listen to podcasts.
So if you would like to learn more about B2B sales training why not listen to some of the top podcasts?
Podcasts are a popular choice for updating selling skills because you can listen to them while driving, or even before bed.
Here are some of the best podcasting directories :
- ApplePodcasts
- Spotify
- Google Podcasts
- Stitcher
- ListenNotes
Some of the best sales training podcasts to listen to.
- Hosts: Jack Reamer & Jeremey Chatelaine
- Episode Length: 30-60 Minutes
- Where to Listen: iTunes, YouTube, Spotify, Stitcher, Tunein
- Essential B2B Prospecting Tools For Modern Sales Teams
- Greg Mccallum: Building Remote Sales Teams
- Building A Winning Sales Team With James Schramko
Reviews for The Cold Email Outreach Podcast
- Host: John Barrows
- Episode Length: 30-45 minutes
- Where to Listen: Facebook, iTunes, SoundCloud, Spotify.
- Host: Jeb Blount
- Episode Length: 30 Minutes – 60 Minutes
- Where to Listen to: ListenNotes
5. Blog Posts and Article Resources
Great resources about sales performance and sales strategy, doesn’t have to be bought.
Thanks to content marketing, many companies post extremely helpful articles when it comes to sales training.
If you enjoy reading, then there are a few websites that you can check up to improve your b2b selling.
At Salebread we post between 2 and 3 articles a week.
Many of our articles are based around our own experience as outreach specialists with 12 years of experience, but we also include a lot of information from other experts in the field of outreach.
For example, we have interviewed Dan Martell (a saas guru) and James Schramko.
These articles discuss:
- case studies
- cold email outreach
- Linkedin outreach strategies
- And simple tricks and hacks to enhance your sales and outreach skills.
- We also share templates that we use during our campaigns
We also share how we get our clients 1 qualified lead (or booked meeting) per day.So if you are into reading, don’t miss out on these free and helpful resources.
Hubspot is a great resource if you are looking for info on sales training. They offer a host of different articles from various experts in the field.
Articles discuss:
- Strategies
- Playbooks
- Templates to use
- And understanding pain points
Sales Hacker is a platform entirely dedicated to sales. You can read a ton of community articles from different authors.
They discuss everything from strategies, to templates and retention.
Clarity.FM
Clarity.FM is a super resourceful platform.
Why do we say this?
Well, you can hop on a call and speak to sales trainers and experts in their field(or any other field that you need expert advice on, even inbound marketing.)
You will then get a list of experts to choose from. They each charge different rates per minute, so you can choose who will suit your needs and budget.
7. Sales Training E-books
“New Sales Simplified”
Author: Mike Weinberg Looking for a one-stop guide to bringing on new business? Look no further. In this book, Weinberg lays out a proven formula for finding prospects, developing the relationship, and reaching a mutually beneficial agreement. Review excerpt: “I loved the stories, the irreverent tone, and the honesty of this book. But what I appreciated most was that it delivered on its title — this book really does simplify what you have to do successfully acquire new customers.”“The Sales Acceleration Formula”
Author: Mark Roberge Sales leaders aiming to scale their sales team and build a multi-million dollar business should definitely pick up this book, written by former HubSpot CRO Mark Roberge. Review excerpt: “Every company — regardless of its business and sales strategy — will absolutely benefit from reading this book. The stories (Roberge) tells the way his selling initiatives fit together, the combination of selling and technology he describes … even the use cases he lists make the approach he describes applicable to any sales organization — however well-entrenched.”“To Sell Is Human”
Author: Daniel H. Pink If you’re currently working in sales, you’re probably well aware the old playbook doesn’t work. Pink offers fresh yet practical insights into modern selling, including how to move others, make your message clearer and more persuasive, and gain referrals. Review excerpt: “No, this is not ‘another’ book about selling. I’ve read a lot of them, written a few of them, and I can tell you: This book stands alone in a special category.”Last but not least….
Salesbread offers a Cold Email Master Class for all those who would like to better their email outreach and book more sales meetings.
Course Description
“Not only will this course make you a master of cold outreach. It will show you how to automate the entire process so you can focus on closing deals and scaling your company. By now, your “bullshit detector” should be going off at level 10… …Unless you’ve heard one of the 150+ episodes from the Cold Email Outreach Show. Because if you’ve heard Jeremy and I cover prospecting, email copywriting, technical deliverability and sales psychology with guests like — John Carlton, James Schramko or Nathanial Bibby — then you probably think this stuff isn’t teachable. But it is. In fact, after 8 modules on cold email, you’ll be able to turn your campaigns around and get staggering, make-your-colleagues-look-at-you-like-a-sales-god, reply rates from any prospect on your list.”What people are saying about the course:
“I considered myself to be fairly sophisticated in terms of cold email but your course takes things to a completely different level altogether. It was a brilliant course. The week on sales research and the upfront work that can be done there to target prospects more effectively blew my mind.”-Damien Deighan, CEO, Data Science Talent
“I LOVED the course. It was by far the best course on cold outbound I’ve ever taken. There’s been some crappy one’s but this was awesome. We mapped out the entire process in a process map… Now we’re starting to build out the flows to automate the process.”-Chris Brisson, CEO & Co-Founder Salesmessage.com