Have you ever wondered how superstar salespeople get so good at sales?
Here’s a hint: They don’t just wing it.
Success in sales isn’t something that happens by chance. Success comes when you follow a proven sales strategy and cultivate good daily habits that will help you crush your goals.
Once you know the strategies and habits of superstar salespeople, it’s actually really simple to follow their lead and transform your own sales process for stellar results.
In these 12 articles, you’ll learn the secrets of superstar salespeople that you can use to revamp your sales strategy, adjust your daily habits, and rise to the top of your industry. Check it out.
Why These Are 12 Must-Read Sales Training Articles
As a sales strategist, I share some of my best sales advice and sales training articles in leading publications such as Inc., HubSpot, Entrepreneur, and Salesforce—and right on my own blog.
The sales training articles I write go viral when they really resonate with sales trainers and salespeople alike.
Here are 12 of those sales training articles—with sales strategies you won’t want to miss. Check out my comments on each one below. I’d love to hear your thoughts!
#1: 3 Ways to Evade Dreaded Gatekeepers published at Entrepreneur.com
Article Description: For decades, sales trainers have sought to answer, “How can I get through a gatekeeper to connect with my prospect?”
Selling to C-suite buyers can be extremely profitable, but most salespeople find gatekeepers to be a frustrating obstacle to connecting with those prospects.
This is one of my most popular sales training articles. In it, I offer three proven strategies to evade those dreaded gatekeepers and close more sales with high-value customers.
My Comment: Gatekeepers are good at what they do, so winging a conversation with them just won’t cut it.
Top salespeople have a plan in place before they even pick up the phone.
With the right plan, you don’t have to be nervous about not getting through or resort to rudeness when you run into an obstacle.
Instead, check out sales training articles like this one to learn exactly how to get through.
#2: 6 Steps to Closing Tough Customers in B2B Sales published at Salesforce
Article Description: B2B sales can be incredibly lucrative, but they can also be extremely difficult.
Some B2B prospects will downright bully any salesperson who crosses their path.
That rejection leads many salespeople to wonder how to handle fear on the phone and in other selling situations.
This article provides super helpful tips for overcoming that fear and closing deals with intimidating prospects.
Many salespeople have found this one of my most helpful sales training articles and now know how to close even the toughest customers in just 6 steps.
My Comment: Pushy prospects may seem off-putting at first, but they often turn out to be some of the very best customers.
Why? Because they’ll tell you exactly what they’re thinking.
Being able to answer their objections as they come up—instead of getting all the way to the end of the meeting to hear “I want to think it over”—is critical to closing the sale.
Successful salespeople use that feedback and insight to close the customers most salespeople dismiss as rude.
Sales training articles like this one hold valuable keys to understanding aggressive customers and closing those difficult sales.
#3: 8 Simple Tricks to Re-Engage Existing Clients for More Business published at HubSpot
Article Description: Many salespeople devote the majority of their time to pursuing new leads, but they miss out on one of the biggest opportunities for more sales: existing clients.
It’s way easier to re-engage an existing client than to immediately connect with any prospect you’ve never met.
While many sales training articles focus on filling your pipeline, this one will teach you how to get more value out of relationships you’ve already worked hard to build.
Check it out to learn 8 simple tricks to re-engage your customers for more business and increased sales.
My Comment: Top salespeople don’t just call on existing clients once a year.
Instead, they use these strategies to keep customers engaged until it comes time to close another sale.
In many cases, failure to invest in customers throughout the year is why salespeople are losing their existing clients.
Re-engaging dormant clients doesn’t have to be especially time-consuming, and I’ve written sales training articles like this one to show you how.
#4: 5 Must-Know Tips to Closing Monster Accounts published at Inc.
Article Description: One of the most common misconceptions about successful salespeople is that they close tons and tons of sales—but that’s simply not true.
Instead, they master how to close fewer sales that are worth ten times more than the average salesperson’s.
Once you realize why clients don’t buy from you, it’s easy to make small tweaks to your sales strategy and start closing monster accounts.
This is one of my viral sales training articles dedicated to teaching you the 5 must-know tips to closing massive accounts and crushing your goals.
My Comment: Massive sales are the secret to climbing your way to the top of your company and industry.
The good news is that huge sales really don’t take that much more work than your average deal.
The approach is all about working smarter—not harder.
If you want to boost your profits without working more than you do right now, this is one of my must-read sales training articles.
#5: How to Be a Good Salesperson – 5 Steps to Become a Great Salesperson Published at MarcWayshak.com
Article Description: There are “good enough” salespeople, and then there are truly great salespeople.
Superstar salespeople are incredibly rare, but their strategies are surprisingly easy—once you know them.
This is one of my most popular sales training articles because it lets you in on the secrets of top salespeople.
Check it out to learn how to update your own strategies and daily habits in just five steps.
My Comment: With the right strategies in mind, it’s possible to turn a rookie into a sales superstar.
Instead of trying to reinvent the wheel, read sales training articles like this one to learn from those who have figured out how to crush the competition.
Then, use their tips to rise to the top of your own industry and close more sales than ever before.
#6: The Perfect 3-Step Sales Process published at MarcWayshak.com
Article Description: Some salespeople spend hours searching the internet for sales training articles to help them succeed.
While these articles hold lots of helpful tips and strategies, at some point, success requires overcoming your fear, picking up the phone, and getting to work!
The best sales process isn’t the one that’s most complicated; it’s the one that’s easy to remember and repeat again and again.
This article shares the perfect 3-step sales process—it’s simple, but proven to work.
If you aren’t sure where to begin to crush your sales goals, stick with sales training articles like this one for practical strategies you can start using today.
My Comment: I’ve found that superstar salespeople across industries have a lot in common.
One of the most common trends in top performers is a commitment to a consistent, predictable sales process.
This article holds simple but powerful strategies for everything from how to earn trust with prospects to how to write a case study. Don’t miss it.
#7: How to Sell Commodity Products – How to Sell a Product that Seems Like a Commodity published at MarcWayshak.com
Article Description: Knowing how to sell an expensive product is hard enough.
But when prospects view your offering as a commodity, closing deals is even harder.
If you don’t know how to sell a product that seems like a commodity, you’re going to get stuck haggling over price only to be undercut by the competition.
It doesn’t have to be that way.
This article reveals how to sell commodity products in a way that creates real value and allows you to close bigger sales.
My Comment: I’m a competitive guy, but if there’s one race I don’t want to win, it’s a race to the bottom.
If you rely on cutting prices to make your offer appealing, you’re only shooting yourself in the foot.
Instead, check out sales training articles like this one for real strategies to add value to your offering, earn the respect of prospects, and crush your sales goals.
#8: Not Good at Sales? 3 Steps to Build Confidence in Sales published at MarcWayshak.com
Article Description: Sales is a lot like trying to fly a plane on a windy day—except in sales, every day is windy.
Salespeople face objections, rejection, and other obstacles on the way to success.
That’s why it takes real confidence to succeed in sales. If that confidence doesn’t come naturally, you have to build it yourself.
Check out this article for three simple steps to build confidence in sales and outshine the competition.
My Comment: Without sales confidence, it’s nearly impossible to master how to build rapport with prospects and show the value of your product or service.
Maybe that’s why only 31% of salespeople converse effectively with senior executives.
I write sales training articles like this one to help even beginner salespeople sell with confidence when meeting with C-suite executives at big corporations.
Follow these three steps to grow your confidence, close more deals, and rise to the top of your company and industry.
#9: 5 Keys to Great Sales Proposals That Closes The Deal published at MarcWayshak.com
Article Description: There are countless sales training articles on how to fill up your pipeline, how to read body language, and much more.
But at the end of the day, if you don’t know how to close a deal, none of that other stuff will help you.
Knowing how to write a great sales proposal that closes the deal is absolutely critical to your success in sales, and this article will show you how with just five simple keys. Check it out.
My Comment: I’ve worked with thousands of salespeople, and what I’ve found is that many of them take hours to craft proposals, yet what they come up with is only hurting their chances of closing the sale.
This is because most salespeople pick up their sales proposal techniques in some haphazard way from trainers who never bothered to test out a variety of leading approaches.
In this article, I share keys to a great sales proposal that I’ve personally seen superstar salespeople use to close deals with a wide range of prospects across industries.
These are proven sales proposal techniques that actually work.
#10: 5 Killer Sales Presentation Techniques to Close the Sale published at MarcWayshak.com
Article Description: There’s nothing worse than getting to the end of a sales presentation just to hear, “I really need to think this over. Can you call me back in a week or so?”
Nine times out of ten, that answer leads to runarounds and dead ends rather than a successful sale.
Fortunately, with the right sales strategy, you can avoid hearing those frustrating objections ever again.
Check out this article for 5 killer sales presentation techniques to close the sale.
My Comment: Salespeople often ask me how to close more sales and bigger sales.
I share some of my best sales presentation advice in this article, which quickly made it one of my most viral sales training articles ever.
If you want to know the secret to crushing your next quota and becoming a superstar salesperson, don’t miss these simple but powerful sales presentation techniques.
#11: How to Master the Art of Selling Anything: Updated published at MarcWayshak.com
Article Description: When Tom Hopkins first published How to Master the Art of Selling, it was a groundbreaking book that sold millions of copies.
That was 40 years ago and, well, a lot has changed in 40 years.
There was no Internet. There were no cell phones. There weren’t even flat-screen TVs.
Today’s world is radically different, yet most salespeople are still using outdated techniques.
Check out this article for an updated take on how to master the art of selling anything.
My Comment: It’s not just the technology that’s changed. Consumer behavior has changed dramatically as well.
Because they have easier access to information and more options than ever before, old-school pitches and persuasion just don’t work anymore.
This is one of my most popular sales training articles, and I wrote it to help salespeople in every industry update their approach and start closing more sales in today’s marketplace.
#12: The Must-Know Keys to Any Great Case Study Presentation published at MarcWayshak.com
Article Description: Feature and benefit selling has been around since 1887—well over 100 years ago!
Prospects have heard these presentations over and over and over, and quite frankly, they’re bored.
Case study presentations are an engaging alternative that invite prospects to be part of a story where you help them solve their biggest challenges.
Check out this article for must-know keys to nailing a case study presentation.
My Comment: Many of my sales training articles are aimed at calling out and correcting old-school sales advice, and this is no exception.
Countless sales gurus still teach salespeople to give a features and benefits presentation, but this just doesn’t work anymore.
If you want to dramatically improve your techniques and boost your sales, it’s time to learn how to give a great case study presentation.
Conclusion: How These 12 Sales Training Articles Can Transform Your Selling Approach
Sales training articles like these hold all sorts of keys to transforming your selling approach.
You can learn how to get past gatekeepers and close tough B2B customers.
You’ll find tips to both re-engage existing customers for more business and close monster sales with new accounts.
You can discover keys to becoming a great salesperson or learn a powerful 3-step sales process. You can build sales confidence to chase your dreams—even if prospects have treated your offering like a commodity in the past.
You can learn techniques for sales presentations and proposals that help you close more sales. And, finally, you can make sure you’re replacing outdated sales advice with tips that actually work in today’s marketplace.
These viral sales training articles hold all of that advice and more. Now that you’ve looked through them, I want to hear from you.
Did you get any great ideas from these 12 viral sales training articles? If so, please share below in the comments section.
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About the Author Marc Wayshak
Marc is is the best-selling author of three books on sales and leadership, including the highly acclaimed titles Game Plan Selling, The High-Velocity Sales Organization and his forthcoming book, Sales Conversations, Mastered.
Marc is a contributor to Inc, HubSpot, Fast Company, Entrepreneur Magazine, and Huffington Post Business. He also hosts a popular YouTube channel on sales strategy with over 103,000 subscribers.
Marc helps thousands of people his data-driven, science-based approach to selling that utilizes all the best tools available to sales organizations today.