The Top 15 Best Sales Blogs to Help You Close More Deals

"Become the person who would attract the results you seek." — Jim Cathcart

In every aspect of our lives, goal setting is important, but for the type of person who thrives in sales, it is even more true. Goals are what keep you motivated. Competition is what drives you. 

And while leadership has likely set goals for you, for the sales team in general, there’s a pretty good chance you’d like to exceed those goals. What are the results you seek?

Once you’ve defined what those goals are, it’s time to address how one becomes the person who achieves them. When it comes to sales, how does one do that?

Do you keep trying the same methods over and over, hoping you’ll find the customers on which those tactics work? Or do you stay up-to-date on sales strategies, techniques, and trends?

While sticking with the same strategies may bring you some success, in sales, the most successful representatives are the ones who remain agile, who follow industry and sales leaders, and who remain lifelong learners when it comes to the art of the sale. One of the best ways to do that is to follow sales blogs.

Why Sales Blogs Matter

There’s no shortage of books on sales out there. In fact, many of us know the salesperson whose office or home office shelves are lined with the latest works on sales strategies and techniques. 

However, what there is often a shortage of is time. In short, while audiobooks may be great if you’ve got a commute, finding time to read is a luxury, and if you’re looking to make some quick gains and changes in your tactics, sales blogs may be the route to take.

Not only do sales blogs provide a quick read on what might be trending, but what also makes sales blogs so appealing is the timing. Sales books are great. You get experts with 20+ years of experience in sales giving you tips and techniques, but books are often written a year or so out. 

The real-time nature of blogs means you’re getting content tweaked by the people in the “trenches.” Much like recipes that need a little modifying or personalization, sales blogs can give you up-to-date information on what’s working and what isn’t, right now.

In short, you can be more responsive to trends and changes. Further, rather than a helicopter view of the strategy in question, you get a closer look from the ground.

Sales blogs matter because they’re among the best ways to stay up-to-date on sales techniques and strategies as well as a way to keep you motivated and actively chasing those goals.

What is it you want to attract? Once you know the answer, you move on to how you become that person. Blogs are a good place to start.

Top 15 Sales Blogs

One of the hardest parts about getting the most out of sales blogs is finding which ones to read. It seems like, these days, just about everyone has a sales blog, and there are a wide variety based on job role, career stage, industry, and more. 

While this list is in no way exhaustive, there are a lot of blogs out there, so we’ve selected a few of our favorites that rank at the top of nearly every best of list.

The Best Blogs for Sales Reps

1. Sales Hacker

While designed with the entire sales process in mind and written for a variety of career stages and job roles/titles, sales reps are likely to get the most out of this blog. Across the board, it’s lauded as one of the best resources out there and rightfully so. 

Not only do blog topics cover a wide range from cold calling and emailing tips to closing, Sales Hacker has the information you want and need to hit goals and reach the next level.

The Best Sales Hacker Blog Posts

• The Three Most Effective (Dis)Qualifying Questions You Can Ask
• 7 Successful Sales Pitch Examples and Why They Work
• Sales Productivity Tips for Collaborative Teams

2. Sales Gravy

Sales is hard. Sales Gravy meets that fact head on. While there are some tips, techniques, and strategies covered within, the primary focus of the blog is the sales mindset. 

From managing expectations and stressors to staying motivated and energized, Sales Gravy will get you through the grind and teaches you to focus on the wins.

The Best Sales Gravy Blog Posts

• 5 Tips For Working With Gatekeepers, Not Against Them
• Increase Your Sales with Actionable Emails
• 4 Alternatives to Cold Calling

3. HubSpot Sales Blog

One of the most digestible blogs out there in terms of providing actionable tips. When a football player takes the field, they get a playbook. HubSpot is the sales playbook, which is what makes it great for folks new to sales and looking to up their game and improve their technique.  

From planning your sales process to sending follow up emails, HubSpot’s blog gives those new to the sales rep role templates, lists, and plenty of examples to get them going and keep them motivated.

The Best HubSpot Sales Blog Posts

• How to Create a Sales Plan: Template + Examples
• Mass Email is Dead. Try This Better Marketing Strategy Instead (+Examples)
  
• 30 Sales Prospecting Email Templates Guaranteed to Start a Relationship

4. Gong

While valuable for sales leaders as well, Gong provides amazing tips for sales reps as well. Much like the other directed at the rep market, the goal is to provide actionable steps to improve everything in the process, from initial calls to efficient meetings and closing the deal.

The Best Gong Blog Posts

• 30 Mind-Blowing Sales Stats That Will Change The Way You Sell
  
• 10 deal-making negotiation tips from Chris Voss
• 3 powerful tactics to build rapport that work wonders in 2020

5. The Make It Happen Blog

Early on in a sales career, it’ll strike most reps that the successful reps they want to emulate are the ones who have a solid sales persona, can tell a good story, and instinctively know how to read how that fits with a client.

Good sales reps turn captivation into closing. Not only does John Barrows, a sales trainer, tell you how to do that, he shows you.

The Best Make It Happen Blog Posts

• Catching Your Sales Groove
  
• What Happens in Vegas: 11 Sales Tips I Learned After Getting Drunk And Buying A Timeshare
  
• Sell the 20%

The Best Blogs for Sales Managers

6. Engage Selling Solutions

Engage Selling Solutions is focused specifically on management topics, making it a great blog for those who’ve recently transitioned into a sales manager position. Guiding teams, developing and nurturing pipelines, and sales planning are different beasts. 

Additionally, acting on knowledge within your own role is different from training and mentoring others. Colleen Francis provides tips, strategies, and insights into how to be your best so your team can do the same.

The Best Engage Selling Solutions Blog Posts

• The Key to Faster Sales
• The Best Way to Sabotage Your Renewals
• The Missing Step in Account Management

7. CloserIQ

Arguably one of the biggest changes in moving to a leadership or management role is recruiting, hiring, and retaining top talent. Sales team churn is a common challenge for managers, as is finding ways to keep teams motivated and building skills, so having CloserIQ bookmarked is a great strategy. 

It’s full of tips, strategies, and techniques to help manage the human resources aspect of sales team management.

The Best CloserIQ Blog Posts

• Retain Employees and Reduce Turnover Through Effective Talent Management
  
• 7 Traits I Look for When Hiring Sales Talent
  
• How to Help Sales Reps Who Missed Their Quota

8. The Center for Sales Strategy

As with CloserIQ, The Center for Sales Strategy tackles what can be the hardest part of moving into a sales leadership role. 

Moving from making the sale to recruiting, managing, mentoring, and training a high-performing sales team isn’t easy, so these blogs really focus on the best strategies to achieve that and build a team that prides itself on professional development and revenue growth.

The Best Center for Sales Strategy Blog Posts

• The Ultimate Guide to New Employee Onboarding
  
• The Top 6 Strategies to Elevate Employee Engagement and Win the War on Talent
• How Sales Should Use Social Media to Drive Revenue

9. TopLine Leadership Blog

If you’ve worked your way up from a sales rep position yourself, you likely know how hard it is to stay motivated and keep plugging away when efforts aren’t as successful as you like.

After all, we put the same amount of effort into sales we don’t close as those we do. It’s hard to sustain that level of effort and keep a positive attitude without a team and leadership to offer support. 

However, motivating your sales team isn’t your only job, so getting help on that front is key, and the TopLine Leadership Blog is where you should look.

The Best TopLine Leadership Blog Posts

• 3 Mindset Changes New Sales Managers Must Make
• 5 Sales Coaching Tips that Are Easy to Implement
• Coaching Sales Reps to Reach Higher-level Decision Makers

10. Star Results

While it’s designed and written predominantly with new sales managers in mind, that doesn’t mean even seasoned managers can’t get something out of the great content here. One of the best assets is the analysis of old strategies as compared to newer ones. 

Most sales managers were mentored by the person who came before them and, as anyone in sales can tell you, the landscape is constantly shifting. Therefore, having access to a blog that compares the methods and discusses those transitions is crucial to the success of the entire sales team.

Further, Star Results really offers the nuts and bolts to sales management for those new to the role. It’s a great place to start to cut one’s teeth.

The Best Star Results Blog Posts

• The Not So Secret Way to Crush Your Numbers
• Sales Management Tip #26: Listen, Learn, and Laugh (but check out the whole series!)
• Sales Leaders Share How They Keep Their Salespeople Focused (roundtable)

The Best Blogs for Sales Executives

11. Sales Benchmark Index

Much like the move from rep to manager, the move to executive means there’s a shift in focus as well. The Sales Benchmark Index blog helps you handle that shift by providing strategy for hiring, developing an overall strategy, and leading your team to exceed their goals.

The Best Sales Benchmark Index Blog Posts 

• How Leading Finance Executives Drive Transformative Growth
• 3 Keys to an Unmatched Account Segmentation Strategy
• 6 Ways to Make Change Management Less Excruciating

12. OpenView Labs

While OVL is a venture capital firm, the blog has established itself as a great resource for executives on everything from building and strengthening sales development programs and teams to hiring and training the best team to hit your targets.

The Best OpenView Labs Blog Posts

• Teach, Be Curious, and Challenge Them to Rise: Tips for Better 1:1s
  
• The Difference Between a Manager and a Leader
  
• 9 Conversations that Bring Goal, Role, and Plan Clarity-- And Drive Growth
  

13. Miller Heiman Group

We can’t stress enough how important it is to stay up-to-date on emerging trends and strategies in the sales sphere. It’s not just for your reps. Leadership has to also avoid falling into the trap of relying on the outdated strategies, or simply ones that have grown stale. 

The Miller Heiman blog covers those strategies, new and emerging tech that will help you leverage them, and even the political and social considerations today’s leaders need to know.

The Best Miller Heiman Blog Posts

• Hitting Your Year End Numbers
  
• How Sales Organizations Can Accelerate Their Revenue Growth
• How to Shift from Sales Management to Sales Leadership

14. XANT (Formerly InsideSales.com) 

In addition to overseeing the finding, hiring, retaining, and training of the best team out there, leadership means tactics and strategies.

Trish Bertuzzi, author of The Sales Development Playbook, and her team bring you tips, strategies, and insights in their blog that inform your ability to meet team development expectations and drive growth and revenue.

The Best XANT Blog Posts 

• Revenue Operations: Secrets to Generating Sales and Growing Revenue
• Inside vs. Outside Sales: Refining the Sales Structure
  
• Sales Automation is Your Strategic Advantage

15. Cerebral Selling

If you’ve been at this for a while, then you know how valuable data is. While anecdotes and experience speak volumes, data-driven strategies drive growth (and revenue). 

David Priemer brings that to his blog. Using data and research, he asks you to think about the way you’ve been selling and gives you exercises to strengthen what you can and change what you must.

The Best Cerebral Selling Blog Posts

• 3 Surprising Operational Lessons from High-Growth Sales Leaders
  
• The Ultimate Guide for Mastering Objections
  
• The One Question Sales Leaders Need to Ask Their Teams
  

Crush Your Team’s Quota By Following the Best Sales Bloggers 

While this is, in no way, an exhaustive list of the sales blogs out there (and we didn’t even get to the podcasts!), it should help you cut through some of the clutter and find what you’re looking for. 

The sales game is hard, so learning to find and use existing resources, beyond the ones in your own office, is crucial. As a salesperson you know part of the game is hustle and that hustle involves using what you can to be better. Whether it’s tips, tactics, strategies, or simply a kick in the pants when something’s gone south, these sales blogs will help. Happy reading!