50 killer sales tips for 2017
Attending sales events and conferences really is one of the best ways to keep informed about current market trends and opportunities. That said, if you were to attend every event throughout the year, well… there may not be much time left for selling! With this in mind, we’ve decided to do the groundwork for you, compiling our top sales tips from this year’s events to date.
1. Kyle Porter, CEO Salesloft – On sales culture
People, Processes, Technology – in that order. We need to have a more personalized approach to everything we do, the era of batch & blast is over.
2. Gary Vaynerchuk, CEO, Entrepreneur, Author – on selling
Wake up every morning wanting to put yourself out of business.
3. Craig Rosenberg, Co-founder & Chief Analyst, TOPO – On account based everything
Account based everything is not tactical. It’s strategic, you need to map the process behind your sales.
4. Jacco van der Kooij, Founder of Winning by Design – On modern sales
Customers want a new experience. They don’t need to be sold to, they want to hear success stories.
6. John Barrows, Owner j.barrows LLC – On building your prospecting engine
You get pushed to who you sound like.You have to sound like a CIO if you’re trying to get pushed to a CIO.
7. Jim Keenan, Owner at A Sales Guy Inc. – On salespeople
We all know who the shitty salespeople are. Don’t be afraid to get rid of them.
8. Rob Jeppsen, Owner at HireVue – On modern sales
You gotta give people what they expect, and then a little more.
9. Jeffrey Hayzlett, Owner at CSuiteTV – On senior executives
You’re going to make mistakes when talking to the C-Suite, no one’s going to die. Take the risk!
10. Brent Adamson, Author of The Challenger Customer & The Challenger Sale
Left to their own devices, the one thing your customers want to avoid is change.
12. Rob Jeppsen, HireVue – on sales excuses
13. John Spence – on smart prospecting
You want to talk to the people who make budgets not the people who have budgets.
14. Miles Austin – on working a team
Identify the people who are going to be negatively impacted by your solution and work with them.
15. Rob Jeppsen, HireVue – on modern sales
Common knowledge does not mean common practice.
16. Jack Kosakowski, Creation Agency – on sales strategy
Think strategically, how can I help them generate business, before asking for theirs.
17. Lesley Youngster – on running a sales team
Sales reps tend to relate to stories more than what a technology does. Tech is just an enabler of a process.
18. Mike Weinberg – on sales
Often, in sales, we become prisoners of hope. Stop hoping, open more opportunities.
19. Alice Heiman, Sales 2.0. – on leadership
A great leader must have a great mindset. Everything else follows from having a great mindset.
20. Brent Adamson, Author of The Challenger Customer & The Challenger Sale
Single decision-maker is extinct. How many people are involved in purchase decision?
22. Derek Grant, VP of Sales at SalesLoft – On the Art of War for Sales
How Sun Tzu’s Art of War applies to Sales Development – Rule #1 be unconventional. It’s skill vs will.
23. Ralph Barsi, RalphBarsi.com – on salespeople
Bring the best version of yourself to work everyday and you’ll never have to worry about succeeding.
24. Gary Vaynerchuk, CEO, Entrepreneur, Author – On social selling
Social media is a slang term for the current state of the internet. Just because you didn’t grow up with it, doesn’t mean you can’t learn it.
25. Trish Bertuzzi, President & Chief Strategist, The Bridge Group – On the Sales Development Playbook
The 5 Whys of Sales – Why listen, why care, why change, why you, why now?
26. Rob Forman, COO at SalesLoft – On sales analytics
You can win arguments with data. Which is why I am in the data game.
27. Aaron Ross, Predictable Revenue – on entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs are always frustrated, every single day. But they do something about it.
28. Grant Cardone, Cardone Training Technologies – on strategy
The second sale is the easiest, present new offers to previous buyers.
29. Jon Ferrara – on sales strategy
If you teach people to fish, they’ll figure out that you sell fishing poles.
31. Lacey Bell, Adobe Systems – on B2B
Not personalizing your message is the biggest mistake you can make while selling to enterprise customers.
32. Craig Elias, Trigger Event Selling – on closing the sale
All decision makers listen to the same radio station – WIIFM. What’s In It For Me?
33. Juliana Crispo, Startup Sales Bootcamp – on sales strategy
Have your buyer prioritize their pain points. Which would they choose if you could magically fix ONE today?
34. Aaron Ross, Predictable Revenue – on running a sales team
Making decisions for your employees robs them of ownership.
35. Jill Rowley, Startup Advisor, Social Selling Evangelist – on prospecting
You need to lead with value – not with your company, credentials, awards, etc.
36. Gary Vaynerchuk, Entrepreneur, Investor, and Author – on salespeople
When you start caring more about your client than you do about your quota, you become a sales Jedi.
37. Trish Bertuzzi, The Bridge Group Inc. – on sales tech
If you’re not going to use technology to make your process and people more effective, don’t buy them.
38. Richard Harris, Harris Consulting Group – on the sales pitch
You need to be able to paint a picture in a conversation. The lost art of sales is the storytelling side.
39. Juliana Crispo, Startup Sales Bootcamp – on the sales pitch
Leave the irrelevant features at home. Don’t think you have to overpitch, you don’t.
41. Craig Elias, Trigger Event Selling – on prospecting
Adding a 2nd point of contact to a call doesn’t double, but TRIPLES your chance of closing an account.
42. Jacco van der Kooij, Founder of Winning by Design – On modern sales
Customers are changing the selling experience – you need to educate, not sell.
43. John Barrows, Owner j.barrows LLC – on sales tips
Don’t just share ebooks and webinars – advise what pages to check out or what minutes to watch.
44. Grant Cardone, Cardone Training Technologies – on sales strategy
Present numbers to your customers! 72% of salespeople never present figures to their customers.
45. Aaron Ross, Predictable Revenue – on entrepreneurship
Success comes from taking a risk, being uncomfortable. Ride the monster ride.
46. Ralph Barsi, RalphBarsi.com – on salespeople
You can’t win if you don’t keep score.
47. Vala Afshar, Chief Digital Evangelist Salesforce – on company culture
The right size companies are the one that consistently deliver on their promise.
48. Jeffrey Hayzlett, hayzlett.com – on senior executives
Types of personalities in the C-Suite: Analytical, Amiable, Drivers, Expressives.
49. Sean Kester, VP Product Strategy at Salesloft – on new hires
New hires should train like an SDR, onboard like a customer success manager, and think like an owner.
50. Lesley Young, Sales executive – on prospecting
Breakup emails were big 5 years ago, it’s out of style now.
And there we have it, our top sales tips from the expert keynote speakers who attended this year’s sales conferences. Feeling inspired?
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Great collection of advice – thanks for putting this together
You’re very welcome Anthony, glad you enjoyed!
Thank you for the list. Was wondering, if there are also webinars that you would suggest. At Leads Indeed we actually like to watch those as a group to get ideas on how to improve on our work. Thanks again for the information.
Hi Richard,
Some of our favourites include the Brutal Truth about Sales & Selling , Marketing Over Coffee and The Sales Acceleration Show.
We held a Sales Acceleration webinar with Neil Patel last Oct, you can check out the recording here https://www.onepagecrm.com/sales-resources-accelerate-sales-webinar
Let us know your recommendations?