Three Books …Three Events…Three Blogs
The sales landscape is constantly changing as we all try to do it better than our competitors. As such it’s an area that is seeing a lot of innovation — blink, and you may find yourself light years behind the top sales teams in tech sales.
To keep up and get ahead we all need to keep learning. Therefore I thought I would share my favourite sales enablement resources — including books, events and blogs.
I would love to hear where you get your inspiration and learning from. Comment below with your top 3:
Top 3 books….
Top 3 events….
Top 3 blogs….
Must Read Sales Books For 2017
“The more I read, the more I acquire, the more certain I am that I know nothing.”
Predictable Revenue by Aaron Ross and Marylou Taylor
This book takes you inside the growth playbook behind one of the most successful companies of our time: Salesforce. For scaling startups that have are operating in a clear category. Predictable Revenue will teach you how to build a sales machine. Its a great peek into how salesforce.com built its sales engine.
Sales Manager Survival Guide by David Brock
If you are staring in a new sales manager position this is the perfect book to read. The 30, 60 and 90 guidelines will also help you prep for the interview question and plan looking forward.
The Sales Acceleration Formula by Mark Roberge
In a similar vein to Predictable Revenue, Roberge explains how he helped build Hubspot from a startup to a company worth more than $100 million. But unlike Predictable Revenue this focuses more on an inbound marketing approach. This book is relevant for both startups and those at scale. An interesting way to look at sales from someone new to sales and from an engineering background. My favourite takeaway is the focus on how to hire A players.
Must Attend Sales Events 2017
When: 3/7–3/8/2017
Where: San Francisco
Why: Sales Hacker has been putting on some amazing events lately! As an example, Sales Hacker’s recent Sales Machine conference boasted some amazing, inspirational speakers. Stay tuned for Revenue Summit (co-presented with FlipMyFunnel, which promises to boast more amazing speakers and sessions.
Past Speakers Include: Arianna Huffington (Huffington Post), Gary Vaynerchuck, Trish Bertuzzi and Seth Godin
When: 2/7/17–2/9/17
Where: San Francisco
Why: SaaStr 2016 was one of the most inspiring conferences of the year, and next year’s event will probably be even better. This conference is basically a must for sales leaders who are selling SaaS, as it offers a nearly unparalleled chance to network with decision makers at some of the world’s top companies.
Past Speakers Include: Jeff Lawson (CEO, Twilio) and Dharmesh Shah (Co-Founder, Hubspot)
When: 11/6–11/9 2017
Where: San Francisco
Why: Dreamforce is the world’s largest technology conference. You better believe that it’s going to be packed to the gils with highly actionable sessions and panels featuring a who’s who of today’s most seasoned industry leaders. Past panels that RingDNA has hosted alone have featured John Barrows, Aaron Ross, Elay Cohen, Craig Rosenberg, Heather R. Morgan and more!
Past Speakers Include: Melinda Gates (Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation), Marc Benioff (CEO, Salesforce) and Tony Robbins
Wildcard SXSW
When: 10/3–19/3 2017
Where: Austin, Texas
Why: Just do it. Im my view the best event of the year. Music meets tech in Austin. Last year yours truly Barack Obama even shared sales techniques on how he raised an additional $200 million in campaign revenue.
Must Click Sales Blogs
BuyerDeck’s blog: go on bookmark our blog or add it to your RSS reader! We’d also be very interested to hear from you if you would like to contribute a guest blog. If you’ve got something interesting to say about sales, get in touch.
Accelerate by Andy Paul: author of Amp Up Your Sales Andy Paul has a thought-provoking blog that interviews founders and sales leaders. I love this blog because the conversation is always about where their sales is today, the challenges they face and how they are overcoming them.
David Brock — One of my favourite sales writers, Dave has a very provocative and engaging blog on all things enterprise sales. His blog is especially targeted at the new sales manager.
If you haven’t looked at any of these books, events or blogs before, I recommend you do. Let me know your recommendations below…
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