Sales Skills

Learn how to craft a LinkedIn sales headline that attracts attention. See 8 proven examples and actionable tips to boost your profile visibility.

If you’re criticizing yourself during a sales call, you’re going about it all wrong. There’s a time and a place for self-criticism. Understand why you’re probably going about it the wrong way and how you can use it to improve your sales mindset.

Discover the 40 best sales books to improve your skills, close more deals, and grow your career in 2025.

We all hate note-taking, but strong sales call notes can help you impress your customers (and can even affect your bottom-line)! Learn how to improve and automate your sales notes.

Master objection handling in sales with proven techniques to overcome pricing, timing, and trust objections—and close more deals.

Explore the shift to permanent remote sales work post-COVID, how to find and excel in these roles, and the rise of remote sales jobs in the U.S.

Want to learn the newest sales tactics and supercharge your sales skills? Then find the top 18 sales conferences you need to attend.

Thinking you might pursue a sales career? Learn the roles, skills, (dis)advantages—everything you need to know about the industry.

Discover how to craft engaging job descriptions with our guide, featuring expert tips and templates for attracting top sales talent in just 14 seconds.

Salespeople that quit learning quit growing. Discover the top 35 sales podcasts and learn from high-performance experts around the globe.

In a world steering away from transactional relationships, businesses now turn to relationship marketing. Here are 7 tips for 2024.

Discover key presentation tips for 2024 to enhance your business pitches and connect effectively with your audience. Elevate your pitch game now!

Master 7 essential soft sales skills—from active listening to adaptability—to build trust, close more deals, and grow your sales career.

Rejection is never fun—especially when it comes in the late stages of a deal. Fortunately, these tips will help you deal with sales rejection effectively.

Are you a good listener? As a salesperson, nothing is more important. Learn how to improve your listening skills with these 8 practical tips.

Discover what a Sales Account Executive does, key skills, daily responsibilities, and average salary in this career guide.

Sales discovery meetings are like the first dates of the sales world. Use this 7-step agenda to guide your meeting and make a memorable first impression.

Learning key sales skills is a never-ending process. Here are 24 skills every sales rep should work on leveling up.

Learn the top 14 skills every sales associate needs to boost performance, close more deals, and grow in a competitive sales environment.

What does it take to become a sales manager? Here are the top skills you need to take your sales career to the next level.

Inside Sales vs. Outside Sales: is one option better? In short, no—you need to see which is best for your specific company & sales goals.

Want to know how to get past the gatekeeper? Don't stress! Do your research, provide value, and show them respect. (More tips inside!)

Facing a price objection? Remember—it’s not always about the price. Learn 18 strategies used by sales professionals to overcome price objections & win deals.

Effective sales presentations are relevant and personalized to the prospect. Learn 11 top tips, plus get our sales presentation templates.

Looking to land a new sales role? This sales assessment test guide will help you show you're the right person for the job!

Ready to boost your results this quarter? Learn essential sales advice from today's top sales leaders, including Jill Konrath, Noah Kagan + more!

Learn 7 effective steps to keep your sales deals moving after a successful demo and boost your close rate. Implement post-demo strategies to shorten your sales cycle.

Social media is rapidly changing how prospective buyers and salespeople communicate. Learn how to take your social selling strategy to the next level.

Boost productivity with 12 sales time management strategies to close more deals, cut admin work, and focus on revenue-generating tasks.

Want to improve your sales career? Here are the top sales blogs to keep learning: 1. Sales Hacker 2. Close.com 3. Sales Gravy 4. SalesFolk

Elevate your sales success with proven persuasion techniques. Learn how to enhance your emails and sales materials to effectively drive conversions and close more deals.

A great sales negotiation leaves both parties happy. Learn how to take control of the process and close more deals.

Master this set of 15 sales training techniques to improve sales, communication, and client retention. Updated for 2022.

High-performing sales reps all tend to share the successful skill of active listening. These key sales questions will have your leads talking themselves into saying yes!

Learn the benefits of prominently listing cold calling on your resume, and how to do it in a way that hiring managers will take notice + free resume templates.

Getting a job in software sales requires tenacity, friendliness, and a bit of grit. Get the lowdown on what recruiters look for in software salespeople.

Improving your sales acumen will help you close more deals and progress faster in your sales career. Here's some practical advice on how to make it happen.

Want to get certified in sales? Here are the top 18 programs from Close, Northwest University, LinkedIn, MEDDIC Academy, and more.

Win-win situations aren't a fantasy. Learn how to create them by doing your homework, asking questions, and flipping the script.

Negotiation is part of sales. Learn the 5 types of negotiation, and how to make sure you and your prospect both walk away happy.

The anchoring effect is a key heuristic in the sales negotiation process. It's part of every purchasing process—whether you know it or not.

LinkedIn is a multifaceted platform that can also act as a sales funnel when used efficiently. Learn these top-5 tips to enhance your profile, streamline outreach, and engage leads.

In this hyper-competitive market, your sales team has a need for speed. Customers expect it, companies demand it, and if you aren't keeping up with those expectations and demands, you'll only find yourself falling behind.

In the midst of the Great Resignation, top talent can be more selective. You want to make sure they're selecting you. Here are five actionable ways to attract and retain the best sales talent in the market.

Want your reps to qualify better, get leads to open up about their true needs, and close deals faster? Discover the top 21 sales training questions you should be teaching your reps, and see how asking the right qualifying questions can help reps succeed.

Explore the role of a sales trainer and learn how to land a sales trainer job with practical tips and interview preparation guidance.

The right sales training quiz acts as a support to your training program, helping reps assess their own abilities and knowledge and learn where they need help. Use our free sales training quiz, including 10+ free resources (videos, articles, and more) to help reps learn as they go.

Ready to make sales training fun? Try gamifying your cold calls, playing prospect detectives, starting an ongoing competition for the latest and greatest news, and more!

Call monitoring allows sales managers to listen to their team on live sales calls and give valuable feedback that helps close deals. With listen, whisper, and barge technology at your finger tips, here are 9 scenarios when you can use each mode.

Learn how to use company and customer insights to boost your sales pitch in the interview, as well as creative ideas to help you stand out.

Discover 12 hilariously bad sales pitches and learn valuable lessons to improve your sales skills and avoid common mistakes.

The first step to create a sales pitch video is to do your homework—that way, you understand who your audience is and what will appeal to them. You’ll also need to choose the right style for your video, as well as the tools you’ll use to record, send, and analyze the results.

Learn from the experts how to set the foundation for a productive day, when to schedule time blocks for focus work, and which communication tools can foster a better remote schedule across your whole team.

When the opportunity comes, will you be ready to give a 15-second sales pitch? To do so, you’ll need to be prepared with a clear benefit and unique value prop, and back those statements up with data. Learn more tips and ideas to help you nail the short sales pitch and know when to use it.

Want to know what a good sales pitch one-liner looks like? Learn 13 of the best sales pitch lines we’ve seen, plus how to use these same principles in your own sales pitch.

Ditch the 'sell me this pen' gimmick. Discover how to hire top sales reps with strategic interview questions and real-world assessments.

Explore common sales excuses and proactive strategies for success. Learn from Steli Efti's insights on overcoming challenges in sales roles.

If you want to connect with senior level decision-makers, LinkedIn is the place to be. Here's how you can quickly establish trust and credibility on the platform.

Ready to turn your ideal customer profiles into something that actually helps your sales team close more deals? Discover our customer profile analysis hacks to gather & understand data, and use it to boost revenue.

Learn five elevator sales pitches that'll help you break the ice and present your product without pushing a hard sale and chasing a potential business ally away.

Sales teams can achieve dreamy results when they nap at work—if they do it right.

Content marketing is more than just a tool for building brand awareness. It has the potential to be your key driver for conversions, if you're willing to invest time. Here's a guide to help you get started.

There are many things you need to screen for when you’re hiring people in a remote company. But the most important thing? Remote culture fit. Here's what to look out for.

Parting ways with team members is never great—but if you follow these guidelines on how to fire a remote employee, you'll minimize the pain, and maybe even maintain a good relationship.

Discover 12 proactive ways to keep selling during a crisis. Learn how to adapt, close deals faster, and secure your business's future.

It’s an understatement to say that salespeople don’t have the best track record when it comes to trust. For the average person, we’re sleazeballs who will say anything to close a sale.

The idea of a company creating a brand is common today. Think about some of the biggest companies in the world. From the golden arches at McDonald's to the "Swoosh" symbol for Nike, brands have become a large part of our surroundings.

I hate to break it to you, but when it comes to inside side sales training, you’re going to spend less time reading and more time interacting with people. Investing in an effective inside sales training system within your company can pay amazing dividends.

Make the most of your next conference by scheduling 1:1 meetings, reaching out to prospects, and following up effectively to boost your sales success.

Learn four key moments when saying no to prospects, which can benefit your business.

Discover why in-person meetings can boost trust, improve communication, and lead to business success. Learn how face-to-face interactions can set you apart in today’s digital world.

The best part about competition is that we discover what we're capable of achieving—and how much more we can actually do than we might have believed. It’s an internal passion for competition that inspired many executives to start their careers in sales.

Learn how to transition your outside sales team to inside sales with these 4 key strategies for success in the digital sales landscape.

Discover five effective strategies to address the 'Your product is too complicated' objection in sales. Learn how to reframe this challenge into an opportunity and boost your sales success with practical, actionable tips.

Sales networking is one of the most painful activities in the business world. It usually involves awkward, over-enthusiastic pitches to people who are tired, impatient, and just want to get to their next panel discussion.

Discover the common sales mistake even seasoned negotiators make and learn Steli Efti's foolproof method to avoid it. Improve your sales negotiation skills today.

Dealing with sales objections is always difficult. But if you sell a product or solution that your clients could create for themselves, in-house, you face a unique objection:

The last thing any inside sales rep wants to hear when they pick up the phone is: You suck!

So you’re looking to build out your inside sales team and you’ve lined up a full day of interviews with potential new hires.

Overcome accent barriers in sales with confidence and practical strategies. Learn how to communicate effectively, regardless of your accent, and turn challenges into advantages.

Discover how selling to non-ideal customers can harm your SaaS startup and learn actionable tips to attract the right clients for sustainable growth.

Discover how to master business networking to enhance your sales pipeline. Learn effective strategies to connect genuinely and leverage relationships for business growth

Explore effective strategies to land a sales job with top startups, including personal branding, networking, and where to find the best opportunities.

When you talk to prospects about switching software, you almost always encounter resistance. So how can you manage—and overcome—that resistance?

If you want to build a prospect’s trust, stop acting like a sales hero.

When I was 18 years old, I used to think that selling was all about talking.

We all want to build strong, long-lasting relationships with influential people—whether they’re CEOs, investors, advisors, or your personal heroes.

There’s no question that inside sales can be a challenge.

For some founders, aligning sales and marketing is an uphill battle

Early in my career, the majority of my business contacts came from my immediate circle. They were people who wrote about the things I wrote about. Thought about the world the way I did. Did the kind of work I did and even spent the majority of their time at the same events I went to

Discover how asking the right question can prevent deals from derailing and help you close more effectively.

Discover how creativity can hinder sales scalability and learn practical strategies to transform your sales management for better team performance.

Discover expert strategies to avoid common sales hiring mistakes and build a high-performing team. Learn from top professionals and download our free Sales Hiring Playbook for actionable insights.

You’ve heard me say it before and you’ll hear me say it again: Sales is changing, fast, and nowhere is this more evident than in the decline of field sales.

Unlock difficult sales conversations with these 4 simple words: "Help me out here." Discover how this phrase can break through deadlocks and build trust.

Show up. Follow up. Follow through. The Hustle Formula. If there’s any real “secret” to success, that’s it.

Discover top sales career advice, free resources, and AI tools to elevate your sales skills. Join the right team and smash your goals with Close.

Imagine yourself telling a difficult prospect, “You've enlisted my expertise and you've rejected it to go on the way you've been going. I'm not interested in that.” Before you can walk away, the once reluctant prospect is now anxious to do business with you.