50 Best Sales

Management Articles
of the Decade
Sept. 26, 2016 · Jeremy Boudinet · 20 Minute Read
   

The top 50 must-read articles for modern  sales

leaders.

Modern sales VPs, directors, managers

and operations leaders face an incredible challenge.
The digital age is turning the sales process on its
head. Buyers are more savvy than ever before.
Marketing is more important than ever before.
Industry technology is evolving faster with each
passing year. A flood of young, inexperienced talent
is entering the workforce. 

In the midst of all that, sales leaders are expect to

keep calm, carry on, and hit that end-of-
year revenue goal, or it's curtains.  

The Top 50 Sales Management Articles

of the Decade 
This list profiles the decade's best
articles on modern sales leadership. We chose 50
of the most impactful articles from today's top sales
consultants, industry practitioners, venture
capitalists, and marketing leaders. The selections
cover the most important topics facing modern sales
leaders, and were culled from a wide variety
of industry blogs, leading business publications,
and go-to industry resources. Please find our 50
selections below.

Listed Alphabetically by Title

1. 3 Creative Sales Contest Ideas and Why They

Work

By Zach Watson | Source: TechnologyAdvice

A compelling look at three proven sales contest

formats, complete with real-world examples and
explanations of what drove their success. Read
More: The Winner's Guide to Running Effective Sales
Contests.

2. The 5 Biggest Mistakes All Sales Reps Make 

By Zorian Rotenberg | Source: InsightSquared Blog

What Zorian's really doing here is reverse-

engineering the preaching of good fundamentals.
Members of any profession, sales or otherwise, hate
to feel like their core competencies are being
challenged. Credit to Zorian for covering the most
universal mistakes that all sales professions are
prone to making.

3. 5 Problems with Predictable Revenue 

By Steve Richard | Source: The VorsightBP Blog

Richard doesn't set out to de-legitimize Predictable

Revenue, just set proper parameters as to its
applicability. In doing so, he performs a huge service
to the greater sales community at-large. It's clear
that this article was borne out of necessity. Steve
Richard has no doubt seen firsthand the havoc
wreaked by ill-fated attempts to adopt the Sales 2.0
model where it simply cannot work. Every sales
leader contemplating the adoption of the Predictable
Revenue model should read this article first before
making their final decision. Read More: The
Ambition Guide to  Predictable Revenue.

4. 6 Greatest Sales Management Lessons From

Mark Roberge 

By Lauren Licata | Source: The Base CRM Blog

Unfamiliar with the New School of Sales strategy

that's overtaken SaaS and other industries' sales
teams? This is the perfect introduction. Lauren
Licata asks all the right questions of the legendary
original VP of Sales at HubSpot.

5. 5 Surprising Statistics About Top Sellers

By Jill Konrath | Source: LinkedIn

Jill Konrath delivers a powerful synopsis of Steve W.

Martin's research on the personality traits that
define high-performing sales results. An important
article and cause for self-reflection for any sales
professional. 

6. 6 Strategies for Overcoming Buyer Hesitation in

B2B Sales

By Danny Wong | Source: Entrepreneur

Practical real world tips, sound analysis, and six

ways for reps to start improving conversation
rates. Danny Wong has written dozens of articles on
sales strategy for Entrepreneur - this is his best. 

7. 7 Common Mistakes in Sales+Marketing

Collaboration

By Peter Strohkorb | Source: LinkedIn

Sales-marketing alignment is at a premium and

chances are, your organization could do a better job.
Peter Strohkorb dives into 7 pervasive bugaboos that
plague B2B sales and marketing collaboration. 

8. 7 Elements to Build a Highly Motivated Startup

Sales Team 

By Steli Efti | Source: OpenView Labs

Leading a startup sales team is one of the ultimate

challenges in sales management. Close.io CEO Steli
Efti delivers a great piece on keeping reps
motivated, focused, and accountable in SMB
teams. Read more: 25 Epic Videos to Inspire Your
Sales Force.

9. 7 Sales Performance Metrics that Matter Most 

By Cobhan Phillipson | Source: The Docrated Blog

A simple, well-crafted and spot-on list of 7 pivotal

sales performance metrics. Cobhan's list also arrives
hot-on-the-heels of an emerging consensus
around sales efficiency tracking. Sales
organizations continue to hone in on moneyball sales
metrics at rep, team and company levels.
The concise, accurate directives supplied in this list
are exactly what they're looking for. Read more: The
2016 Sales Performance Index.

10. 10 Objection Handling Techniques For B2B 

By Steli Efti | Source: The Close.io Blog

A classic Steli Efti post. Slightly more subdued than

the borderline-tirades that made Steli a household
name, this list is still Grade-A sales content, with
a pulverizing focus on actionability and a solid two
dozen linked references to immediate further
insights. All it needs is a quintessential Steli video at
the end.

11. 10 Reasons Salespeople Fail 

By Adam Honig | Source: The Spiro Blog

This article has 6,000+ shares because it delivers
unique, profound insights with warp-speed efficiency.
No filler. Just pure, uncut truths that every
frustrated rep experiences at a subconscious level,
but rarely get verbalized.

12. 10+ Sales Pitch Pet Peeves I Could Seriously

Do Without

By Matt Heinz | Source: Heinz Marketing

One of those articles where you find yourself nodding

all the way through it. Bonus points for Matt's
thoroughly entertaining turns-of-phrase for each pet
peeve. The "I'll just start calling you, bud" tactic is a
personal most-hated pet peeve.

13. All I Want is a Cold Email That Doesn't Suck! 

By Heather Morgan | Source: SalesFolk

If you're like us, you're the recipient of dozens of

cold emails each day. Heather Morgan, the principal
of Salesfolk, delivers some of her most actionable,
hard-hitting insights in this critique of several low-
quality, real world cold emails. 

14. The Biggest Trend in Sales Today

By Stephen J. Meyer | Source: Forbes 

If you have any interest whatsoever in the modern

B2B sales landscape, this is required reading. If you
run an old-school sales model and want to know
what all this "Sales 2.0" fuss is about, this is
required reading. And if you're looking to adopt or
optimize a modern, inside sales model within your
organization, this article is the perfect starting
point. 

15. Common Sales Communication Mistakes 

By Scott Britton | Source: The Troops Blog

Most of Scott's posts take a battlefield

focus, methodically scripting out action plans at a
tactical level. And while he's built a well-deserved
industry reputation from his posts
on improving cold email response rate, prospect
list buildingand habits of successful salespeople, his
recent post tackling the broader topic of sales
communication and calling himself out for his own
faux-pas is the best thing he's published yet.

16. Customer Success: The Definitive Guide 

By Lincoln Murphy | Source: Sixteen Ventures SaaS

Growth Strategies

In the big scheme, Sales is invariably intertwined

with Marketing and Customer Success, with each
process informing, directing and driving the other.
Trust us, there's plenty of actionable Sales advice to
be found amongst all the content Murphy devotes to
discussing customer acquisition in the opening
chapters. This is a tabulated, curated guidebook to
the entire customer acquisition and retainment
process.

17. The Customer's Journey Matters

By Tamara Schenk | Source: CSO Insights

This post showcases what Schenk does

best: diagnosing an underlying problem across B2B
sales processes, placing it in the context of an
easily-understood paradigm and then proscribing a
clear strategy for remedying the issues. Here,
Schenk distinguishes a major flaw in how sales
organizations evaluate lead viability: by assessing
their position relative to the prototypical "buying
process," as opposed to the "customer's journey."

18. Debunking the Myth 

By Mike Weinberg | Source: OpenView Labs Blog

Citing to a must-read study by SiriusDecisions,

Weinberg opens our eyes to a new reality of the
modern, digital sales funnel -- prospects are
engaging your salespeople at the very outset of the
buying process. Content marketing, automated drip
email, marketing automation and social media are
moving prospects along the sales funnel - but a
scarce number of them are 67% of the way through
the buying process before initial contact with a sales
rep. Which means sales organizations need to
rethink their perceptions of sales-marketing
alignment in 2016 and get smarter and more
strategic about how they're moving prospects
through the buying process. 

19. Don Draper's Four Rules of Selling 

By Chris Young | Source: The Sales Wolf Blog  

What makes an elite Sales Professional? How about

the mentality of the greatest fictional Closer of all-
time. The vastly underrated Chris Young brilliantly
explains it in this inventive article. Seeing is
believing, and Chris helpfully includes links to
Youtube clips of Mad Men's Don Draper performing
his most epic pitches, negotiations and strategic
discussion. Best of all, he re-conceptualizes the idea
of the ultimate Sales Professional.

20. Don't Forget: You're Selling to Humans

By Trish Bertuzzi | Source: LinkedIn

Trish Bertuzzi has crafted some of the best sales

management content of the decade, period. This
article is her tour de force, as she calls out the
number one crime reps are guilty of - self-centric,
ego-filled messaging - and offers a two-step
approach to fixing it.

21. The Greatest Sales Deck I've Ever Seen

By Andy Raskin | Source: LinkedIn

The most recent article to make this list. Andy

Raskin's deconstruction of a brilliant Zuora sales
deck is spreading like wildfire around sales message
boards, forums and online communities for good
reason. This really is an impeccable sales deck - and
Andy's analysis is spot-on. 

22. How the Best SDRs Take Massive Action 

By Ralph Barsi | Source: Sales Hacker

This article personifies the concept, "Lead by

example." Ralph Barsi took his own massive
action in putting together this sprawling, multi-
faceted playbook-posing-as-a-blog-post. It even has a
couple personal touches interspersed amongst the
diverse array of charts, social media creenshots,
schedules and workflows that make it the
enterprising SDR's go-to bookmark for 2016.

23. How to Avoid the "19-Year Old Dude Move"

with B2B Sales Leads 

By Douglas Burdett | Source: The Kitedesk Blog

This article has it all. Its title alone belongs in the

sales blogging Hall of Fame - and fortunately,
Douglas Burdett backs it up with a hilarious,
universally understandable and compelling premise.
What B2B sales rep hasn't followed up on an eBook
download or similarly tepid new lead with a rushed
calendar invite and follow-up email that acts like the
prospect just requested a full-court sales press
Burdett's sharp analysis distinguishes what
separates overzealous follow-up from proper sales
courtship.

24. How to Implement a Sales-Marketing

Alignment Strategy

By Fergal Glynn | Source: Sales Hacker

Sales is marketing. Marketing is sales. That's the

thesis of Fergal Glynn's definitive article on sales-
marketing alignment, and it hits like a ton of bricks.
A perfect encapsulation of the mentality that's
required to win in the digital age of B2B sales. Read
More: The Sales-Marketing Alignment Playbook.

25. Ideal Client Profile: Focused Sales

& Marketing 

By Nicolaj Christensen | Source: The PipeTop Blog

The Ideal Customer Profile Guide carries all the

hallmarks that make PipeTop sales content stand
out. It's comprehensive, visually compelling, well-
structured and best of all, delivered with a hybrid
persona that's half valedictorian, half class clown.
End result: The most insightful, readable article
you'll find on ICPs anywhere on the internet. 
26. If SaaS Products Sell Themselves, Why Do We
Need Sales? 

By Mark Cranney | Source: Andreessen Horowitz 

We loved this post so much we essentially

plagiarized it in one of our own. We couldn't help it,
as Cranney puts on a clinic here, dispassionately
disspelling the myth of the easy SaaS sale.If you're in
the SaaS industry, read this article. In B2B sales?
Read this article. Still selling a product on its
features? Definitely read this article. Bookmark it,
make it your homepage, whatever it takes to ensure
that you're following the guidance of Mark Cranney.

27. If You're in Sales, You're NOT a Thought

Leader

By Jill Rowley | Source: LinkedIn

Thought leadership always has been - and always

will be - a BS term. Jill Rowley gives it the proper
lashing it deserves. A perfect article for sales
leaders struggling to fix the mindset of reps who
would rather give a Ted Talk than serve their
clientele.  

28. The Inability to Communicate Value

Messages 

By Tamara Schenk | Source: Sales Enablement

Perspectives
Schenk tackles a premise -- the biggest inhibitor to
sales success in 2014 - that we've seen overwhelm
her lesser peers. In doing so, she makes a
compelling case that value messaging, at present, is
the Achilles Heel of the Sales Profession. Great value
messaging requires empathy, and we've spent
the last decade depersonalizing just about every
level of the sales process -- transitioning from cold
calls to cold emails, from manually-typed emails to
automated blaster campaigns, and from in-person
prospect meetings to faceless web demos. Schenk
shows how deep the problem goes and how to rectify
it.

29. Is It Just Me or Are People Going Nuts? 

By Mark Kosoglow | Source: LinkedIn

In a year where every other article about sales

includes the words "acount based," no one told Mark
Kosoglow that he needed to go along with program
and pretend that ABS is a new, groundbreaking idea,
rather than a repacked, tech-updated variation of
the classic enterprise sales model.  This post is a
heat-seeking missile aimed squarely at the ABS
hype machine, fired by an industry insider and
brimming with sincere loathing (just listen to this
interview excerpt) for its targets. Watch video: The
Leaders in Modern Sales Technology.

30. Motivating Salespeople: What Really Works

By Thomas Steenburgh and Michael Ahearne |
Source: Harvard Business Review

The decade's canonical article on sales team

motivation. Steenburgh and Ahearne deftly cover the
most pivotal topics related to sales motivation -
incentives, competitions, compensation structure -
with data-driven insights and actionable
recommendations that apply to any sales
organizations. Watch video: Cell Marque's Ultimate
Sales Contest.

31. No More Alligators 

By Peter Gracey | Source: The
QuotaFactory Blog  

Want to see Peter Gracey nukes a common,

offensively bad cold email back into the Stone Age?
Of course you do. The rapid proliferation of cold
email over the past 5 years has created an
increasingly desperate, over-the-top approach to
stand out from the hordes of other inbox prospectors
vying for attention. Which is why it's so satisfying to
see Gracey take the gloves off with an insipid
"Alligator" prospecting template that's been en
vogue for far too long. 

32. The Role of SDRs in Account Based Sales

By Brandon Redlinger | Source: Salesforce

The best article from one of the true up-and-comers
in B2B sales and marketing. Required reading for any
account-based sales leader thanks to its
comprehensive, flawless SDR onboarding program.
Read more: Bridging the Gap: The Ultimate Guide to
Account Based Sales and Marketing Alignment.

33. The Sales Director Who Turned Work Into a

Fantasy Sport 

By Ethan Bernstein | Source: Harvard Business

Review

The most amazing sales leadership story of the

decade. Ethan Bernstein spent a week embedded in
a Fortune 1000 sales team running a a 3 month,
Fantasy Football-style sales competition. The results
are even more incredible than the format and will
have you rethinking your approach to sales
contests. Read more: Clayton Homes Case Study.

34. Sales Isn't a Laughing Matter, But Maybe It

Should Be? 

By Lou Carlozo | Source: Yesware Blog

We see this problem all the time, especially within

our own industry: Sales Professionals who seem to
think that selling a technology product gives them
license to sell using pitches as charisma-free and
pre-programmed as a Windows update. When you're
tackling enterprise sales in this manner, you're
ensuring failure. Product-market fit, robust
engineering, and competitive pricing: it all goes
right out the window when your message
is unconvincing, unprofessional, or lacks
personality. Lou does a pretty great job of spelling it
out. 

35. Sales Leadership Boils Down to These 2

Words 

By Steve Richard | Source: The ExecVision Blog

A post so elemental and so well-written, it became

the first (and only) article to be syndicated on
the Ambition Blog. Steve Richard zeroes in on 2
sweet words, consistency and accountability, and
brings beautifuly clarity to the twin pillars of
effective sales leadership. He also weaves in some
excellent anecdotal and expert support from
colleagues and, most impactfully, his wife. We could
go on. But we've delayed your introduction to this
post long enough. Click the link and enjoy the best
quick read on sales leadership published in 2016.

36. Sales Predictability: Data, Science and a

Little Glengarry Glen Ross

By Tim Bertrand | Source: ForEntrepreneurs

Acquia Chief Sales Officer Tim Bertrand pulls back

the curtain and runs through the sales strategy that
produced record revenue growth for his company
over 27 consecutive quarters. The decade's most
detailed, transparent and insightful expose of a
successful real-world sales strategy in action. Read
more: The Ambition Way.

37. Sales Prospecting Emails: 4 Great Examples

By Craig Rosenberg | Source: TOPO

The best prospecting email analysis you'll ever read.

TOPO Founder Craig Rosenberg
deconstructs elite prospecting emails from four
real-world practitioners, producing dozens of insights
in the process. You'll come away from this article
with no less than 3 new email tactics in your back
pocket. 

38. The Science of Building a Scalable Sales Team

By Mark Roberge | Source: Harvard Business Review

Mark Roberge's best work this decade has come in

book (The Sales Acceleration Formula) and video
(presentation at Google) form. This article is the
best introduction to his modus operandi, succinctly
divulging the four keys that defined his legacy at
HubSpot. 

39. The Scientific Approach to Goal Setting for

Reps 
By Nikita Ovtchinikov and Sam Laber | Source:
Datanyze Blog

Our anonymous Guest Blogger, The Apex Predator,

declared this to be anessential read for sales
professionals. And we co-sign completely. Perhaps
the most amazing thing about this post, besides its
depth, comprehensiveness and all-around
practicality, is that its main writer isn't a seasoned
sales leader, but an Account Executive at Marketo.
Excellent insights from a relative unknown.

40. Stop Asking How I'm Doing!

By John Barrows | Source: LinkedIn

Industry hero John Barrows delivers a quintissential

article on the purpose of the opening line in prospect
outreach. The synopsis: Dispense with the
pleasantries. Get to the point. Explain the reason for
your outreach with compelling specificity. 

41. THERE ARE TOO MANY BAD SALES PEOPLE

By Keenan | Source: LinkedIn

An article only Jim Keenan could write. Far and away

one of the most entertaining personalities in the
sales community, Keenan sounds the alarm (with all
caps, no less) on the abundance of poorly-trained,
self-centered and downright lazy modern day sales
professionals. More importantly, he unearths the
underlying causes driving the profession's bad
behavior and where we can start improving.

42. There's No Crying In Sales

By Unknown | Source: LinkedIn

Reading a Sales from the Darkside post is like a trip

to the sales blogosphere Twilight Zone. This is a
different kind of sales article: Biting,
unfiltered, hilarious, and on-point. "There's No
Crying in Sales" deservedly hit it big in 2014, thanks
to its refreshing mix of sarcasm and poignant
industry criticism. The inanity of regional sales
meetings, the cruel treatment of success (doubling
quota), and an absolutely brutal distillation of sales
manager double-speak - it's all here.

43. Time Management for Sales Development Reps

By Bryan Gonzalez | Source: TOPO

Bryan Gonzalez beautifully distills the time

management best practices that drive SDR success.
A must-read for any sales development leader,
complete with an hour-by-hour breakdown of an ideal
SDR work schedule.  

44. The Trend that is Changing Sales 

By Steve W. Martin | Source: Harvard Business

Review
Years from now, the sales community will look back
on Steve W. Martin's HBR piece as the harbinger of a
new era in sales. Martin chronicles the steady shift
from field sales to inside sales taking place across
the sales community at-
large, identifying the agents of change and what
they portend for the future of sales.

45. Welcome to the Machine 

By Jill Rowley | Source: LinkedIn

This savage post from Jill Rowley, speaking to the

foremost issues plaguing B2B sales at both the
individual and organizational level, has the courage
and intellect to see B2B sales as it actually
is. "Welcome to the Machine" emphasizes a key
point Jill made in our most recent Sales Influencer
Interview: Buyer interaction with sellers is dynamic.
95% of sales outreach is not. "Welcome to the
Machine" is Jill's exposure of a devastating irony
in modern B2B sales: As companies have focused
more and more on achieving 'predictable' and
'scalable' sales machines, their buyer behavior has
gone in a 180o opposite direction.

46. What Makes Great Salespeople

By Ryan Fuller | Source: Harvard Business Review

A revealing article that identifies 3 core traits of

high performers, based on a massive industry study.
Those traits: Deep (not wide) relationships with a
few top clients, a strong internal network
giving access to company resources, and (shocker)
willingness to perform 4 hours of additional work
each work outside of normal hours.

47. When Selling, Start With Why

By Tomasz Tunguz | Source: LinkedIn

The erstwhile brilliance of Redpoint

Ventures' Tomasz Tunguz lies within a very simple
skill - the ability to take the complex and make it
simple. His synopsis of Simon Sinek's famous Ted
Talk is mandatory reading for any modern day sales
professional.

48. Why Millennials Make Incredible Sales People

By Kayla Kozan | Source: TechVibes 

If you're looking for a definitive article on

the millennial sales rep, look no further. Ridiculously
on-point, well-sourced, and entertainingly-written by
up-and-comer Kayla Kozan. Watch video: How to
Attract, Retain and Maximize Millennial Sales Talent.

49. Why The Greatest Sales Teams Just Kill It On

Dec. 31 

By Jason Lemkin | Source: SaaStr

Wherein the curator of the industry-leading SaaStr
Blog gives New Year's Eve closers their full due.
Lemkin cogently advocates that the New Year's
Ever close is the ultimate sign of an elite B2B
sales rep.

50. Would You Buy from a 20th Century Sales Rep?

By Peter Ostrow | Source: Aberdeen Group

This action-packed article is a must-read for

the modern sales operations leader. Peter
Ostrow uncovers illuminating statistics that deliver
big-picture insights on the most pivotal intersections
between B2B sales, marketing and modern
technology.

Become a Better Sales Manager

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