Category: Sales manuals

100 Sales Team Training Programs, Workshops, Courses, and Blogs

Posted on by irc

Even the best sales teams need training from time to time to improve and expand their skills. Luckily, there are tons of high-quality resources out there that leverave a variety of sales training techniques for both individuals and teams of any skill level.

We’ve collected a list of 100 of the best sales training programs, courses, certifications, blog posts, and podcasts that will help any sales professional improve their knowledge, work more efficiently, and close more sales.

Top 100 Sales Team Training Resources

These resources will help improve sales processes and meet sales team training objectives.

1. IRC Sales Team Starter

Pricing: $490

The IRC Sales Starter is a ground-up sales training workshop built and optimized for individual sales professionals, startups, and freelancers alike. It covers all areas of business sales, including building a sales team, creating a winning sales process, and incorporating valuable sales tools.

Regardless of where you are in your sales career, this course can help you scale and reach your sales goals and beyond.

2. Sandler Sales Training Certification

Pricing: $1,000 to $3,000 (via independent sources, pricing not available on the website)

The Sandler Sales Training Certification program offers fundamental sales training for teams looking to improve their overall sales acumen and face modern sales challenges in a complex market. 

The certification learning path covers all vital aspects of sales, from building better outreach habits and healthy negotiating, to developing sales strategies for unique business goals. 

3. Effective Sales Training by Dale Carnegie 

Best sales training resource: Winning With Relationship Selling

Pricing: Prices vary among different U.S. cities

Dale Carnegie is a well-known corporate sales trainer specializing in teaching businesses how to build customer relationships and provide a high-quality sales experience. 

The program is one of many that focus on identifying customer’s needs and pain points, crafting a sales strategy around them, and offering real solutions for the pain points on sales calls. 

4. Sales Training by Brian Tracy

Best sales training resource: 21st Century Sales Training for Elite Performance

Pricing: $997

Created for salespeople looking to upgrade their sales skills to compete in saturated markets, this program addresses the typical drawbacks of legacy sales strategies in seven key areas, including the prospecting funnel, closing the sale, and repeat business. Prospecting is engaging potential customers or “leads.”

5. Action Selling Sales Training

Pricing: On demand via quote

Sales training by Action Selling consists of classes and workshops designed with long-term sales success in mind. Each module is taught by certified experts and includes training videos, workbooks, group exercises, custom scenarios, and role-play practice, all using a sales team’s existing selling environment and tools. 

6. Steli Efti Training

Best sales training resource: Steli’s Essential Guide to Negotiation

Pricing: Free with a Udemy subscription

This free course helps teams build more confidence and negotiation skills while learning some valuable sales hacks for high-level selling. If you’re looking to build better relationships with clients while transforming how you approach and negotiate with a prospect, this course is for you. 

7. IMPACT Selling by The Brooks Group

Best sales training resource: IMPACT Selling® Professional Sales Training Program

Pricing: On demand via quote

An award-winning sales training system, IMPACT Selling helps teams create a straightforward and effective sales process that helps close more sales in a shorter time through tried and tested techniques. Ideal for B2B sales professionals and teams looking to make their approach more buyer-focused. 

8. Sales Training by Iannarino

Best sales training resource: Sales Accelerator Cohorts 2024

Pricing: $1,497 at the time of publication, normally $2,497

This three-month program helps develop executive briefings for clients and consists of bi-weekly live online training sessions with industry experts. Also included is a full year of access to all the resources on the Sales Accelerator training platform. 

9. Turpin Communication Sales Training

Best sales training resource: Presentation Training for Sales Professionals

Pricing: On demand via quote

This B2B sales course is crafted around high-stakes sales scenarios and teaches sales representatives how to communicate product strengths and value to clients. The program itself is a mix of in-person, virtual, and on-demand modalities and expands across two or more days of training and workshops. 

10. Sales Training by ValueBased

Best sales training resource: SaaS/Software Sales Training Course

Pricing: On demand via quote

This course by ValueBased focuses on the B2B SaaS market and is taught by leading professionals in this space. A fully customizable program, it introduces the value based selling methodology over the course of three 60-minute coaching sessions, as well as other exercises and resources.

A sales methodology is the framework or set of principles that guide your sales approach.

11. Sales Training by Vengreso 

Best sales training resource: FlyMSG Sales Pro for Teams

Pricing: $5,000 per year for SMBs (30-user license), $35,000 per year for enterprises (100-user license), and $132 per year for individuals

The FlyMSG Sales Pro course trains teams to master selling on a variety of platforms while creating better messaging to convert more prospects into qualified sales. The subscription provides access to the entire library of FlyLearning training courses and offers a customized group onboarding experience for new hires. 

12. Braun Sales Academy

Best sales training resource: The Badass B2B Growth Guide

Pricing: $197

This B2B sales training guide covers multiple sales mediums and teaches teams to instill a growth-centric mindset with strategies for maximizing the potential of each sales call. This is a self-paced online course that your teams can take in progressive learning stages. 

13. Sales Training by Hoffeld Group

Best sales training resource: Virtual Sales Training

Pricing: On demand via quote

This program consists of 20 courses and takes a science-based sales approach for both teams and individuals. It uses videos, simulations, and quizzes, and it offers a certification at the end. In addition, it covers the entire sales fundamental spectrum, from the basic sales mindset to neutralizing competitors. 

14. Sales Training by JB Sales

Best sales training resource: Signature programs

Pricing: $419 per user per year

JB Barrows is a well-known sales guru with several valuable training programs for individuals and teams. The two signature programs, Filling the Funnel and Driving to Close, have all the fundamentals plus innovative sales techniques that a modern sales professional requires. Both offer certifications upon completion.

15. Sales Training by RAIN Group

Best sales training resource: Insight Selling: Advanced Consultative Selling

Pricing: $199 per month

The Insight Selling course by RAIN Group is based on the consultative selling methodology and is a self-paced online course with more than 45 lessons across 12 modules. It covers the end-to-end sales process, from program basics to understanding buyer personas, and telling convincing stories. It offers a certification at the end.

16. Sales Training by Kevin Dorsey

Best sales training resource: B2B Sales Masterclass: People-Focused Selling

Pricing: $13.99 at the time of publication, normally $74.99 per user

The B2B sales masterclass by Kevin Dorsey is a compilation of his best sales techniques focused on centering the potential client throughout the process. The course consists of three hours of on-demand video, three articles, and certification at course completion. 

17. Sales Training by Richardson Sales Performance

Best sales training resource: Solution Selling® Training

Pricing: On demand via quote

This program offers a unique acceleration approach designed to shorten the time taken to complete a sale. The course includes virtual instructor-led workshops meant for sales professionals and managers looking to better manage their pipelines. 

18. Sales Training by ASLAN

Best sales training resource: Virtual Selling Skills

Pricing: $5,000-$7,500 for a half-day workshop, $9,000-$12,500 for a one-day workshop, or $14,000-$19,500 for a two-day workshop

This multi-format training program improves teams’ virtual sales performance by unpacking the unique challenges of virtual-only sales, looking at how to bring in clients and drive better engagement and connections. 

19. Sales Training by Sales Readiness Group

Pricing: On demand via quote

The customized sales training programs by Sales Readiness Group are developed with the intent of transforming sales behaviors. Each course is tailored to the unique requirements of a sales team and include both on-site and virtual instructor-led training. 

20. Sales Training by Whole Brain Selling

Pricing: On demand via quote

The Secrets of Whole Brain Selling seminar is an all-encompassing sales training program that covers all the fundamentals of effective sales. Each seminar is spread over two days. However, the duration can be customized according to a company’s time requirements. 

21. Sales Training by Asher

Best sales training resource: Close Deals Faster

Pricing: $395

A comprehensive program created to enable teams to compete in tough sales markets, Close Deals Faster consists of several modules, each covering a vital sales element that modern teams struggle with. 

22. Sales Training by Revenue Storm

Best sales training resource: Strategic Selling Done Virtually™ Workshop

Pricing: On demand via quote

This virtual instructor-led training program includes workshops on compelling call plans, breakout groups, interactive exercises, and strategic conversations. Conversions are any specific marketing or sales call. It’s a beneficial sales training course for everyone involved in your company’s sales framework.

23. Training a Sales Team by Winning By Design

Best sales training resource: Training a Sales Team

Pricing: $1,500 for sales, prospecting, and customer success courses; $2,500 for the sales management training

This four-week sales training course is designed for account executives and other high-ranking sales officials. It helps with late-stage sales techniques and improving communications.

24. Sales Training by Pareto Law

Best sales training resource: Sales Excellence Course

Pricing: On demand via quote

This program is for advanced sales professionals and is based on moving from consultative to transformational selling. It’s ideal for keeping your teams competitive in a dynamic sales landscape, improving existing sales skills, and building new ones. 

25. Zoho CRM

Best sales training resource: Training for Sales Reps

Pricing: On demand via quote

This hands-on training course by Zoho is tailored to a sales team’s needs with respect to learning and selling on the Zoho One CRM platform. CRM is an abbreviation of “customer relationship management.” The training helps maximize day-to-day sales performance and streamline sales tasks.

26. Sales Training by HubSpot Academy

Best sales training resource: Techniques for a Human-Centric Sales Process

Pricing: Free with a Coursera membership

This training module by HubSpot Academy is part of their sales training for high-performing teams. It offers the chance to build subject matter expertise, upskill entire sales teams, and reach higher profile prospects.

27. Pipedrive Masterclass: Turbocharge Sales and Retain Clients

Best sales training resource: Turbocharge Sales and Retain Clients

Pricing: Normally $44.99 but they sometimes offer discounts

This sales performance enhancement course comes courtesy of Pipedrive and is centered on streamlining the sales pipeline and understanding the capabilities of Pipedrive toward sales success.

28. ActiveCampaign & Interest Driven Sales Funnels

Best sales training resource: ActiveCampaign & Interest Driven Sales Funnels

Pricing: Normally $79.99 but they sometimes offer discounts

This course by ActiveCampaign CRM teaches sales reps how to use the platform to create automations that gauge the interest level of your subscribers, enabling you to sell more at the right times. It’s ideal for teams looking to create interest-driven sales funnels. 

29. Sales Training by Factor 8

Best sales training resource: Lead Your Sales Team | Manager 6-Pack

Pricing: $397

Developed with sales management in mind, this program offers insight into what makes a successful sales team manager. The certification program includes six individual online sales training courses, quizzes, and lots of downloadable tools and resources. 

30. Master Digital Selling by Corporate Visions

Best sales training resource: Master Digital Selling

Pricing: On demand via quote

This course is designed to aid in digital-first selling mediums with extensive insights into selling without being face to face with your leads. It’s designed to help your sales team connect with buyers, close communication gaps, and align sales goals.

31. Sales Training by GoSkills 

Best sales training resource: Introduction to Sales

Pricing: $29 per month if billed monthly; $17 per month if billed annually; seven-day free trial

This introductory course is perfect for newly recruited sales professionals with minimal experience. Created to upskill new professionals, the course covers the fundamentals of modern sales.

32. Sales Training by Keap Academy

Best sales training resource: Intro to Sales & Marketing Automation

Pricing: Free with a Keap account

Delving into the concept of sales process automation as it exists today, this course looks to introduce sales teams to automation principles while offering insights and strategy examples. It helps streamline sales for smaller teams.

33. Salesforce Sales Training

Best sales training resource: Salesforce Sales Operations Professional Certificate

Pricing: Free with a Coursera membership

This foundational sales certification by Salesforce seeks to introduce experienced sales professionals and new recruits alike to running sales in Salesforce while upskilling them with winning strategies that help scale operations in the long term.

34. Vasco Patricio Executive Coaching 

Best sales training resource: Ultimate Persuasion Psychology – Persuasion and Influence

Pricing: Normally $69.99 but they sometimes offer discounts

This course delivers elite-level influence and persuasion techniques that are based on the newest cognitive psychology principles. It’s designed to help you better communicate with clients and convert faster.

35. Sales Training by University of Michigan

Best sales training resource: Successful Negotiation: Essential Strategies and Skills

Pricing: Free with an edX membership

This negotiation and persuasion-based course teaches you how to negotiate more lucrative sales and create opportunities for repeat business as well as better deals on ongoing calls.

36. Sales Training by Queen’s University

Best sales training resource: Professional Certificate in Enterprise Sales

Pricing: $510

This Queen’s University sales certification program consists of three skill development courses over the course of five months, at five to six hours per week. It will teach you to analyze current trends and sales methodologies for consistent performance improvement.

37. Sales Training by Smith School of Business

Best sales training resource: Sales Enablement & Analytics

Pricing: Free with an optional $189 certification

This sales training course by the Smith School of Business is designed to enable sales professionals to deliver customized guidance, consulting, and insights to clients. It runs over six weeks, with four to six hours per week of on-demand training.

38. National Association of Sales Professionals

Best sales training resource: Online Sales Training Program & Certification – CPSP®

Pricing: $795

Created for anyone looking to gain an edge in sales, this high-level certification program provides knowledge and insight into the habits of some of the highest performing professionals within the space.

39. Cold Email Guide by Hunter

Pricing: Free

The Cold Email Guide by Hunter.io offers an extensive look into the secrets of a winning cold email, including the structure, contents, and outreach strategy that get consistent responses. Readers can expect to optimize their outbound setup and create effective campaigns time and time again.

WEBINARS

40. Apollo.io

Webinar: The Ultimate Inbound Sales Process

This shared webinar looks at inbound sales management within the Apollo sales engine, including lead flow fundamentals and lead sequencing. Inbound sales focus on leads who come to you through marketing and other tactics.

41. Selling Power

Webinar: Revenue Enablement 2.0: How to Sell More Using Sales-First Tech and Automation

This webinar is available on demand from May 8, 2024. It is designed to enable sales leaders across a vast array of industries to revolutionize their sales strategy by improving team efficiency, streamlining tedious processes, and building a responsive sales approach. The webinar is upcoming but a copy will be available on demand once it airs.

42. RAIN Group

Webinar: 24 Sales Tips for 2024

This on-demand webinar is designed for sales professionals to update their sales approach according to today’s standards. It will teach your team to do an honest analysis of their current sales capabilities and learning skills that have already proven successful. 

43. RocketReach

Webinar: B2B Intent Data

This on-demand webinar by RocketReach delves into intent data and its potential for driving higher sales revenue. Sales reps will learn how to search for and target higher value accounts, identify and attain potential customers, and reach key decision-makers among their target market. 

44. Gartner

Webinar: The Tech-Forward Tactics of Sales Leaders Shaping the Future

Gartner’s on-demand webinar explains the sales habits of leading sales performers, focusing on how they leverage tech to improve their sales numbers.

Some of the important touch points the webinar discusses include implementing the right technology into the sales workflow and measuring the impact of sales enablement, which is the process of providing resources to sales reps to help them win.

45. HRDQ

Webinar: Customers for Life: 5 Easy Steps for Turning a Goal Into Reality

Sales expert Bruce Matza conducts this on-demand webinar on customer retention basics, including how to identify individual opportunities to retain existing customers, and build longer lasting relationships with prospects.

46. Leadfeeder

Webinar: Call Coaching: 16 Actions To Take Today

This free webinar looks at some easy techniques to enhance sales performance and make more engaging calls with prospects. The discussion includes some of the common call coaching mistakes and how to resolve them. 

47. Selling Power

Webinar: The Moves Sales Execs Need to Make to Convert the Unreceptive Buyer

Selling Power’s on-demand webinar for executives examines how sales managers can come to terms with buyer resistance, lack of engagement in reps, and ineffective sales coaching. This is a joint session by ASLAN Training and Selling Power, number 18 on our list, the webinar identifies two key changes that will help improve lackluster sales.

EBOOKS

48. Pipedrive 

Ebook: Sales Pipeline Course

This free ebook offers an in-depth guide to optimizing a sales pipeline and making efficiency adjustments over time. Designed for sales reps, it helps them work smarter, manage time better, and boost revenue as a result. 

49. eLearning Industry

Ebook: The Sales Enablement Guide: Sales Training Strategies To Hit Your Targets

This free ebook by eLearning Industry highlights the importance of sales reps staying up to date with evolving sales techniques and shifts in current methodologies. It enables teams to make the most of training and teaches how to build an effective sales team. 

50. Writer

Ebook: Full-Stack Generative AI for the Enterprise

This ebook explains the need for implementing generative AI into the enterprise framework to meet modern content generation needs. Sales teams can use this to learn how full-stack generative AI applies to sales conversations, as well as the process streamlining potential this represents. 

51. TalentLMS

Ebook: The Power Of Persuasion: Developing A Strong Sales Team

Highlighting how persuasive sales delivery can be a game-changer for sales teams, this ebook goes over the fundamentals of an effective sales team and the inherent qualities of its members. 

52. Baker Communications

Ebook: 7 Steps to Creating a Culture of Customer Obsession

Based on the popular buzzword “customer obsession,” this ebook goes into why it’s important to center the entire process around the customer, as well as the necessity of creating the ideal customer experience. 

53. Proven Sales Training

Ebook: Motivators and Connectors

Made for sales professionals who find it tough to motivate potential buyers to move with them to the close, this ebook helps address various sales objections that reps may face, and teaches them how to add some persuasive professionalism to their delivery when talking with clients. 

PODCASTS

54. PandaDoc Podcast

Best episode: Selling to a CTO Who Ignores Every Sales Email

Much like most of their episodes, this one featuring the co-founder of PandaDoc talks about how the sales role will evolve, how to sell to tough prospects, and the vital aspects of product-led growth that many companies ignore. 

55. Proposify Podcast

Best episode: Stress Less and Sell More With Jeff Risely

The Proposify podcast has tons of informative episodes that talk about excelling in sales, and this episode in particular is valuable for sales professionals who struggle with achieving their targets. 

56. Daily Sales Tips 

Best episode: Sales Tip 864: The Outbound Cheat Code – Jason Bay

This episode on the Daily Sales Tips podcast talks about getting responses to cold calls and sales emails while providing some actionable insights on how to make your outbound sales efforts more effective. Outbound sales focus on contacting targeted leads via phone, email, social media, or other communication channels.

57. Sales Gravy 

Best episode: Networking Tips and Tactics for Introverts

Meant specifically for introverted folks who believe they need to have the gift of the gab in order to succeed at sales, this episode talks about how introverts can actually be more effective at prospect outreach than their extroverted colleagues. 

58. The Sales Evangelist 

Best episode: Tim Kintz | Knowing the Right Time to Ask for the Sale

The Sales Evangelist podcast has over 1,000 episodes, and this one in particular is important listening for sales reps looking to determine the right time to pitch, close, and ask for the sale. It also covers how to build more meaningful relationships with clients.

59. The Sales Engagement Podcast

Best episode: Becoming a Better Salesperson: Making It to the Top 10

If you’re looking to learn how to engage with prospects and get the most out of every sales call, this is the podcast for you. It features important insights from the daily workings of sales leaders and has tons of educational tidbits you can use in your sales interactions.

60. The Sales Hacker Podcast

Best episode: How to Turn Relationships Into Revenue With Gauri Chawla

From the brilliant folks over at The Sales Hacker, this podcast provides tips and tricks from thought leaders in sales and goes into how sales teams can drive better revenue, as well as strategic thinking that transforms how you sell. 

61. 30 Minutes to Presidents Club 

Best episode: Booking 80% of Your Calls From Instagram DMs (Tara Horstmeyer)

This podcast offers unique perspectives from several key sales figures in the industry. Topics include how to use solely social media outreach to book calls and leverage existing sales platforms for better results.

62. The Inside Selling Podcast

Best episode: Kyle Coleman on Cold Emailing

Created by Josh Braun, this podcast explores the secrets of effective outreach. This episode focuses on how to write cold emails that get positive responses from prospects.

63. Make It Happen Mondays 

Best episode: The JB Sales Team On Email Effectiveness

This podcast has top sales trainers, reps, managers, and CEOs explaining sales essentials and talking about things that every sales professional should know before making their first outreach attempt.

64. Selling the Sandler Way 

This data and research-backed podcast offers real-world insights into sales effectiveness as well as discussions with sales leadership across a wide variety of industries. 

65. The Modern Selling Podcast

Best episode: How to Go From Rep to Sales Manager with Scott Leese

This podcast looks at the bigger picture of sales and explores what goes on in the minds of the best performers. Experts such as Josh Braun and Chris Walker provide insights for every level within the sales organization.

66. Close Call: The Revenue Acceleration Show 

Best episode: How to Boost Your Sales Confidence & Improve Cold Outreach

This podcast is all about practical pointers on improving outreach and implementing tried and true techniques into outreach for better responses.

67. Sell Or Die

Best episode: Bring Your Sales Back to Life With Chet Lovegren

Based on using sales as the primary revenue driver at a company, this podcast features discussions between successful sellers who use a tactical approach to sales.

68. The Advanced Selling Podcast

Best Episode: Removing the Guesswork From Sales

Hosting well-known figures in the sales space, this podcast offers a wealth of advanced sales knowledge that benefits both buyers and sellers.

69. Conversations With Women in Sales

Best Episode: Learn How to Really Sell and Become Too Good to Be Ignored

Run by some of the most successful female sales leaders, this podcast looks at how to become a top sales rep by using fundamental sales techniques in new and unique ways to boost sales. 

BLOGS

70. IRC Insights Blog

Best blog post: Sales Automation: How to Automate Your Sales Process

The IRC Insights blog is filled with unique information on how to take your sales to the next level. It offers actionable advice that has been used to improve revenue, create a more streamlined sales process, and assemble a winning sales team.

71. Copper Blog

Best blog post: 4 Sales Training Strategies to Create Confident Reps

The Copper blog touches upon several key areas of sales that most reps struggle with, including building confidence for outreach and being more informative. This post in particular goes over how to become a better sales communicator. 

72. Growbots Blog

Best blog post: 10 Highly Effective Practices for Sales Reps

On this blog, the Growbots team expands on what sales reps can do to reach the level of top performers in their space and benefit the entire sales foundation at their companies. 

73. Sales Hacker Blog

Best blog post: Entrepreneurial Selling: The Simple Mindset Shift That Wins More Deals

A high-value offering by the people at The Sales Hacker, this blog offers a wide variety of best practices for selling, deep dives on what makes a great sales leader, and how to think like an industry leader.

74. Aircall Blog

Best blog post: How Sales and Support Teams Can Adapt to the AI-Powered Customer Journey

This blog from Aircall offers tech-focused advice on how to streamline sales, speed up the sales process, and implement technology such as AI to make the customer journey more rewarding.

75. HubSpot Sales Blog

Best blog post: 7 Habits of Highly Successful Prospectors, According to Sales Leaders

The HubSpot Sales Blog offers sales advice for individuals and teams at any level. It features insights into how to become more effective prospectors, regardless of where you are in your sales career.

76. Kixie Blog

Best blog post: Everything You Need to Know About Google’s Bulk Email Crackdown

The Kixie blog has up-to-date information and features important trends in the world of sales, all of which are relevant to the modern sales professional competing in a dynamic environment.

77. RAIN Group Blog

Best blog post: 7 Ways to Build Rapport in Sales and Connect With People

Building good relationships with your customers is a universal factor in sales, and the RAIN Group blog offers tons of tips and tricks on how to do just that, on top of building a strong sales framework.

78. LeadFuze Blog

Best blog post: How to Find Someone’s Phone Number [In 5 Easy Ways]

The LeadFuze blog covers the lesser discussed topics in the world of sales, such as how to boost sales using a winning content marketing strategy or how to find someone’s phone number for prospectors.

79. The Sales Blog

Best blog post: 34 Lessons We’ve Learned About Building Consensus 

The Sales Blog comes from sales expert Anthony Iannarino and offers unique sales approaches and game-changing strategies that will improve the performance of all of your sales team members. 

80. Qwilr Blog

Best blog post: Mastering Sales Excellence: Strategies, Culture, and Tools

This blog touches upon what sales excellence means, the ideal sales technology for modern teams, and how to increase the productivity of the sales team overall, among other important topics. 

81. SaaStr Sales Blog

Best blog post: 7 Things the Best Sales Reps Get Right

The SaaStr Sales blog contains lots of valuable content from the global SaaS sales and marketing community, with both fundamental information and high-level strategies that build revenue.

82. JustCall Blog

Best blog post: Secret to Sales Success in 2024: Create a Smart Workflow (A How-to Guide)

The JustCall blog has tips on delivering the optimal customer service during sales and techniques to drive better sales numbers, as well as creating better workflows. 

83. LinkedIn Sales Solutions Blog

Best blog post: 6 Resources to Sharpen Virtual Selling Skills 

Containing top-tier advice from the biggest business community in the world, the LinkedIn Sales Solutions blog has everything today’s sales professional needs to know about success in the space.

84. Clockify Blog

Best blog post: Overcoming Planning Fallacy and Its Negative Effects

The Clockify blog is ideal for anyone looking to better manage their time and make more sales calls in the allocated time.

85. Cerebral Selling Blog

Best blog post: Stop Selling and Start Telling: The Power of Prescription

If you’re looking for advice on becoming a more persuasive seller and improving your sales psychology, this is the blog post for you. 

86. Zopto Blog

Best blog post: Automating Your LinkedIn Campaigns Safely

LinkedIn campaigns are of high importance, and automating them in a healthy way is vital for a modern sales strategy. This Zopto blog post contains advice on that and more. 

87. Gong.io Blog

Best blog post: What Is Value Selling?

This blog provides basic information regarding several key sales elements, all backed by the latest data.

Value selling is hearing customer pain points or buying criteria and matching them to features, capabilities, and end-benefit of your product.

88. Entrepreneur – Sales Blog

Best blog post: 5 Tips for Having Better Sales Conversations

The Entrepreneur blog has a wealth of sales and business knowledge for any professional at any stage of their sales ladder, with in-depth advice on practical sales excellence. 

89. Close Blog

Best blog post: How to Create a Sales Pitch (Ultimate Guide) for Sales Reps in 2024

The Close blog has multiple valuable posts on subjects such as improving the sales process, writing better cold emails, and new AI-driven sales tools.

90. Wilson Learning Blog

Best blog post: Sales Methodology as the Force Multiplier

This blog contains high-level advice meant to build better sales professionals, boost sales via more effective methodology implementation, and maximize account management. 

Sales team training resources for the top sales methodologies

91. NetHunt

Methodology: The Ultimate Guide to the Challenger Sales Model

This methodology challenges the traditional sales model and discusses the inherent qualities of powerhouse sales reps. 

92. HubSpot

Methodology: SPIN Selling

This methodology talks about abandoning legacy sales techniques in favor of becoming value providers and trusted advisors to clients.

93. HubSpot

Methodology: SNAP Selling

HubSpot’s summary of Jill Konrath’s book defines what SNAP selling is, expands upon what makes this type of sales methodology successful, and talks about how to adopt it within a current framework.

94. Pipedrive

Methodology: Consultative Selling

Consultative selling is based on building deep relationships with clients by listening to their needs and providing real value – instead of just pitching a product. This resource defines how it works in detail.

95. The Investor’s Podcast

Methodology: Straight Line Selling

From the mind of the legendary Jordan Belfort, this methodology offers a tested method that guarantees better sales performance.

96. HubSpot

Methodology: Sandler Selling System

The Sandler system emphasizes qualifying sales instead of closing them, by building mutual trust with prospects and addressing their concerns. Qualifying is the process of prioritizing efforts on the best sales opportunities.

97. HubSpot

Methodology: Inbound Sales

A common methodology used by sales professionals worldwide, inbound sales is based on creating value that brings customers to you, instead of you reaching out to them. 

98. Qwilr

Methodology: Gap Selling

This methodology is about identifying the gap between a prospect’s current state and their desired future state in terms of product necessity, and providing value to fill that gap.

99. Scaling With Systems

Methodology: Cold Calling 2.0

Another tried and tested methodology that’s popular around the world, this version is a unique look at traditional cold calling that prioritizes using data and insights to identify promising prospects.

100. Walnut

Methodology: Conceptual Selling

A solution-based methodology, conceptual selling focuses on pitching the ideal outcome of using a product or service, instead of the product itself, and leveraging product knowledge to inform customers about how it can solve their pain points.

Build Better Teams with IRC’s Sales Team Starter 

If you’re ready to build and improve your sales team, our Sales Team Starter is a framework to build leads, conduct calls and sales follow-ups, close deals, and create other sales processes. Click here to learn more.

The Definitive Guide to Creating a Sales Manual in 2023

Posted on by irc

Before we jump into a step-by-step outline on how to create a sales manual, let’s answer a few questions you might be asking.

What size of company or sales team needs a sales manual?

The short answer is that all teams need a sales manual. Even if you only have one rep with a few simple processes, you need a written handbook documenting those steps. For growing businesses and those with larger sales teams or more complex sales cycles, having a detailed sales training document is even more vital.

Yes, gathering information and documenting your processes can be time-consuming. But by equipping your sales team with the tools they need, you’re setting your business up for success.

What essentials should I include in my sales training materials?

Your sales manual should be a one-stop-shop collecting every detail a sales rep needs to know, from their team structure and responsibilities, to how commissions are calculated and when they can expect to get paid.

We go into much more detail in the next section, but every sales manual should include:

  • Information about your business, structure, and key people to know.
  • Product information and your competition.
  • A detailed description of your targeting, prospecting, and sales processes.
  • Rep responsibilities, behavior expectations, and legal requirements.
  • How account ownership and dispute resolution is managed.
  • Training resources: scripts, playbooks, and tech platform use (VOIP, CRM).

What are the benefits of having a sales manual?

A great sales manual will fill three key functions:

  1. Sales knowledge — A sales rep’s knowledge is a key indicator of sales team success. A sales manual is the primary reference and training for all four types of sales knowledge: product, industry, customer, and sales process knowledge.
  2. Management efficiency — Without a single source of information and training, reps are forced to constantly ask management for information. This is inefficient for both sales managers and sales reps. Instead of answering the same questions over and over in a single-use format like emails or Slack, you can direct reps to your sales manual as the single source of truth.
  3. Enforcement — If reps can’t find (or remember) your rules and policies, they won’t follow them. By clearly defining their responsibilities and expected activities, you can hold them accountable.

As you can see, a well-written sales manual plays an essential role in your sales team. Now that you know why you need one, let’s walk step by step through everything you need to know about creating your own sales manual.

The Only Sales Manual Outline You’ll Ever Need

When writing your own sales manual it can be difficult to know where to start.

The good news is that you don’t need to reinvent the wheel. By filling out each of the sections listed below, you’ll end up with a working document that’s detailed, holds exactly the information your reps need, and is already organized and ready to share with your team.

Let’s get started.

Intro: The Basics

This introductory section of your sales manual should include the “how” and “why” of your business. At minimum this should include a brief company overview and history, and your product overview and pricing.

You may already have this information elsewhere. If it’s easy to read and nicely formatted you may be able to include the image files or document links directly in your sales manual. If this info is detailed in a business plan or a company website, you may be able to copy and paste. Just remember to edit so that the information you include is clear, concise, and relevant.

Also, be sure to either paste the information into your sales manual document, or link directly to the website page or online file. Avoid linking to a folder that they’ll have to sort through to find what they need. If your sales reps find your sales manual isn’t helpful (even just once or twice) they won’t use it.

Team Structure

When your sales reps have a comprehensive understanding of how your sales team functions and how it fits into your organization as a whole, it’s easier for them to collaborate and work together efficiently. That’s why detailing your sales team structure and people to know is an important part of your sales manual.

The Team Structure section should include:

  • A hierarchy chart of your sales team’s structure.
  • Each team member’s name, responsibility, and contact information.
  • Key people to know at your company and when/how to engage them.

It’s also important to include the roles and contact information of non-sales team members who your reps will need to interact with. Some examples include personnel in human resources, information technology, and accounting.

The Competition

The better sales reps can relate to their prospects, the easier it is to sell to them. Good sales reps help prospects make a successful buying decision – even if that means your company isn’t a good fit. To do this, reps need to understand the full range of options available to your prospects, and how your company fits in this lineup.

Depending on your business specifics, the info you cover in this section may include:

  • Your company’s value proposition, competitive advantages, and strengths and weaknesses compared to others in your industry.
  • Your competitor’s strengths, weaknesses, pricing, and positioning.
  • Relevant (and up-to-date) market conditions or industry trends.

Be as detailed as you need to be, but still aim to keep the information clear and easy to understand. If you overwhelm your reps with unnecessary information, they’ll be more likely to miss the important points.

Rep Responsibilities

This section of your sales manual should detail three types of rep responsibilities: duties, quotas, and targets. Duties explain what to do, quotas say how often you need to do specific duties, and targets are goals typically rewarded with bonuses.

Ideally, the key activities reps need to accomplish will be tracked within your CRM, and your sales manual should include details on how to do so. Regardless, if there is something you want or expect your sales reps to do, it needs to be clearly defined in your sales manual.

Compensation

Most good sales reps are in it for the money and really care about commission. Make sure you spend ample effort explaining commission terms as clearly as possible. It’s an important topic for sales reps, so you don’t want to be seen as brushing it aside or not explaining it well.

This section should be highly detailed, and should include:

  • How commissions are earned — For example, is it when a sale is made to a new customer, or once a new customer pays for a product?
  • When commissions are paid — Explain whether commission is paid monthly, on the 10th day of the month following the commission period, etc.
  • How commissions are calculated — For example, a 10% commission on total invoiced amount, 10% commission on net profit, etc., with an explanation of how overhead and “net” is calculated.
  • Example scenarios — Give several examples (with increasing complexity) that demonstrate how commission is earned, calculated, and paid.
  • Additional commission terms — When applicable, such as rollover clauses or commission adjustments.

Again, when it comes to compensation, it’s always best to be as specific as you can. Don’t fill this section with unnecessary fluff, but be sure to cover every single aspect that affects rep compensation. Transparency and specificity on this topic are extremely important.

Targeting

Sales reps need to understand the target demographic and how to find usable contact information. This section gives them the tools they need to do so effectively. As with many other sections in your sales manual, this is going to be highly specific to your business and targeting process.

At the very least, this section should include who to target, who to avoid targeting, and how to source leads. Depending on the complexity of your targeting process, you may also need to add information on how to use a targeting tool or lead source properly, prompts for reps to come up with targeting strategy improvements, and (if some qualified prospects are more valuable than others) an explanation of the different tiers of ideal customers.

Prospecting

Along with targeting, your reps should know how to engage targeted leads.

Your Prospecting section should detail your strategy and process for reaching leads, and it should include the lead statuses that define a lead’s position in the prospecting process.

If applicable, you may also need to cover:

  • Details for the inbound prospecting process – goals, targets, conversion process, as well as templates and snippets for responding to inbound leads.
  • Details for the outbound prospecting process – goals, targets, and cadence and sequence for outreach to leads.

If you want new sales reps to be able to sell effectively, they need to understand how prospecting works in your company, field, or industry. Don’t leave this part of their skill set to chance.

Qualifying

How will your reps know who is worth sinking their time into? By defining your qualifying criteria and process in your sales manual, you’ll be answering this question for your reps.

The Qualifying section should explain both aspects of qualifying:

  • Qualifying criteria — What makes an opportunity qualified.
  • Qualifying process — How to properly qualify an opportunity.

In addition to the criteria and process for qualification, you should also explain what to do with leads once they’ve been qualified or de-qualified. These are usually pretty straightforward, such as creating a deal in the CRM and passing the baton to an Account Executive. But no matter what, they need to be explained in writing.

Sales Process

A sales process is a step-by-step process for turning interested prospects into customers. This is essential to creating a good sales manual, and should be explained as clearly as possible. The sales process begins after a lead has been generated from prospecting, or in some cases, once they’ve been qualified. This lead becomes a prospect and now enters the sales pipeline. The sales pipeline is a series of steps (deal stages) that need to happen in order for the prospect to complete the buying process.

A simple sales pipeline will almost always include a variation of the following stages:

  1. Qualified
  2. Negotiation
  3. Closed Won (Sale Complete)
  4. Closed Lost (No Sale)

Your sales process may look similar to the above, or it may be significantly more complicated. The best sales processes are highly customized to their company. Typically you’ll need more deal stages and more sales calls for complex and expensive products, as well as for deals with multiple decision makers or complex decision-making processes.

From there, explain your sales process and how each stage works.

  • Stage definition – Explanation of what it means for a deal to be in this stage. This may be as simple as repeating the stage name. For example: A contract has been sent to the prospect.
  • Stage activities – What tasks do we perform while a deal is in this stage? For example: Follow up with the prospect to remind them to sign the contract.
  • Goals – Every stage has a primary goal. Most have a secondary goal, and some have a tertiary goal. List these goals for each stage. For example: Receive a signed contract; Get prospect to commit to signing the contract by a specific date; Determine obstacle that’s preventing the contract from being signed.
  • Next action – After we’ve completed the Stage Activities above, what’s our next action? For example: Hand deal over to the customer success team once the contract has been signed.
  • Duration (optional) – How long should a deal remain in this stage? For example: A contract must be signed within 30 days.

Unless you already have a detailed sales process, this will probably be the most time-intensive part of creating your sales manual. But even if you need to adjust your sales pipeline and deal stages later on, defining your sales process in writing is a beneficial (and necessary) step.

Workflows and SOPs

Efficient and scalable businesses have efficient and scalable processes. The more these processes are automated, the better. But whenever a human (sales rep) is involved, the process needs to be written and easily accessible.

Here are some examples of processes to include in this section:

  • How to get set up on the required tech stack.
  • How to quote customers.
  • How to process an order.
  • How to update the CRM.
  • How to fill out forms or documents.
  • How to create an invoice or other documents.
  • How to explain our contract.
  • How to request PTO.

If these processes all have their own forms or documents then you don’t need to recreate them. List them all in this section with direct links to each file.

As you document each process, consider including:

  • Step-by-step instructions — Numeric, sequential instructions are much easier to follow than paragraphs of text.
  • Screenshots — Especially when describing how to use software or an app.
  • Flowcharts — For processes that differ depending on the situation or other variables.
  • Links — Rather than just mentioning the name of documents or forms and explaining where to find them, link directly to them.
  • Videos — For more complex processes, especially in apps or software, do a screen-record video showing the process step by step.

As a bonus, documenting your processes for your sales manual often leads to immediate improvements. Once processes are written down, problems and bottlenecks are often clear and impossible to ignore.

Account Ownership

These are rules that govern which sales rep can call on which accounts. In many organizations, only one sales rep may sell to each customer or account. These rules can be complex depending on the nature of your business, but most newer sales teams just need some basic, written rules.

Teams with multiple competing reps need Account Ownership rules in order to keep reps from stepping on each other’s toes, and to keep them from annoying customers with calls or emails from multiple reps.

Account ownership rules need to cover:

  • How reps gain ownership of accounts.
  • How reps lose ownership of accounts.

Again, these are going to vary widely depending on your business model. Be as detailed as you need to be to get the information across, but don’t make account ownership rules that you aren’t willing to actively enforce.

(Optional) Sales Methodology

A sales methodology is a set of guidelines or principles for interacting with prospects or customers. Methodologies are fairly complex and require dedicated training to experience the full benefit and really “follow” the methodology, but you can still learn many new skills from reviewing them.

If your organization has chosen to use a formal sales methodology such as the Challenger Model, Solution Selling, or Sandler Method then you’ll want to dedicate this section to explaining that methodology and how it works.

Objection Handling & Value Selling

This section should include information on common objections and how to overcome them, along with specific ways to provide value to your customers.

Objection Handling When building this section, you’ll want to take every objection and concern you can think of and highlight them here. For each of them you’ll want to include:

  1. The objection.
  2. An example response.
  3. An explanation for why the example response is an ideal response.
  4. (Optional) Background on the objection.

Try to explain each objection in as much detail as possible. The more context the sales reps understand behind the objection, the better they’ll be able to handle them on the fly and come from a place of mutual understanding when speaking to the prospect about that concern.

Value Selling

While objection handling is more about responding to objections properly, value selling is hearing customer pain points or buying criteria then matching them to features of your product and end-benefits to customers. Proper objection handling keeps you from losing deals whereas well-trained value selling enables you to win deals.

Value selling is easiest to create in a simple table with the following three columns:

  1. Pain point / buying criteria — A potential customer’s issue, need, or goal that can be solved with our product.
  2. Features — Our product features that solve this issue, fulfill this need, or reach this goal.
  3. Benefit — The end-benefit to customers who use this feature to resolve this point point or buying criteria.

When working on your value selling table, keep in mind the differences between capabilities, features, and benefits. For example, if your laptop has a fingerprint scanner, it saves you the trouble of needing to type in your password when you log in. The feature here is the fingerprint scanner, the capability is unlocking your computer, and the benefit is the few seconds that the fingerprint scanner saves you versus typing in your password manually.

Of course, if you haven’t already worked through value selling or objection handling, creating this section of your sales manual is going to be somewhat time-intensive but very beneficial in the long run.

Resources

The purpose of this section is to make this manual the one-and-only document sales reps need. Inevitably your reps are going to need to use other software, reference personal documents such as contracts, and more. If you can use this section to link to every other resource your reps will ever need, you’ll have made your sales manual a very usable single source of truth.

Some common resources to link to include:

  • Sales & marketing collateral (stored in CRM, Drive, Dropbox, etc.).
  • Personal documents (employee contract, commission reports, etc.).
  • HR platform.
  • Websites for CRM, targeting, or prospecting tools.
  • Industry publications or blogs.

Basically, if it’s something your reps are going to need to reference or access, link to it under Resources.

How to format your sales manual

Don’t use multiple documents in multiple locations with multiple versions. If helpful information is difficult to find, or in numerous locations, reps will spend unnecessary time looking for them (or won’t look at all). Your sales manual should be housed in one company-wide document with links to sales-relevant external docs, URLs, etc.

Use these sections as a foundation for creating your sales manual:

  • Basics — Introduction to the role and company.
  • Team Structure — Your current sales team and key people to know.
  • Competition — Where you stand among your competitors.
  • Responsibilities — Expectations and quotas for your sales reps.
  • Compensation — How commission is earned and paid.
  • Targeting – Your target demographic and how to find their contact information.
  • Prospecting — How to find leads and engage them.
  • Qualifying — Criteria and process for ensuring an opportunity is worth your time.
  • Sales Process — The stages and processes for turning prospects into customers.
  • Workflows & SOPs — Processes and guidelines reps need to follow on a daily basis.
  • Account Ownership Rules — Rules of the hunt.
  • Methodology — How to approach selling.
  • Value Selling & Objection Handling — Tips for overcoming objections and providing value.
  • Resources — Links to anything else reps may need.

Your sales manual is a dynamic document and should be updated regularly. For this reason we don’t recommend printing your sales manual or creating it as a static PDF file. Both Notion and Google Docs are easy to update, and offer sharing options that are simple and straightforward, but there are other software platforms that have similar capabilities. Online documents are also searchable using Cmd+F or Ctrl+F, making the information even more easily accessible for your team.

Whatever platform you use to store your sales manual, it’s important to keep it organized, accessible, and a dynamic single source of information for your sales team.

In Conclusion

Creating your own sales manual takes time, but in the long run it will make your job easier. By following the steps in this detailed outline, you’ll be able to write a sales manual that accurately reflects the sales practices and policies specific to your business. By keeping this document accessible and up to date, you’ll equip your sales team to work and sell effectively.

To learn how to build a sales plan check out this guide.

Want to have access to templates, examples, instructions, and more? View our Sales Team Starter today!