Sales

Forecasting can feel like a dark art — part science, part intuition, and a dash of hoping for the best. But as businesses face increasing pressure to predict everything from sales targets to inventory needs, relying on gut feelings just doesn’t cut it anymore.

I’ve spent weeks talking to forecasting experts, sales leaders, and business owners about how they actually approach forecasting (not just how they’re supposed to). What I discovered is that while the methods may sound intimidating, the core principles are more approachable than you might think.

Whether you’re trying to avoid another inventory stockout or looking to make smarter revenue predictions, I’ll walk you through the most practical forecasting methods and help you choose the right approach for your business.

Table of Contents

• What Is a Forecasting Method?
• Best Forecasting Methods
• How to Choose the Right Forecasting Technique

What Is a Forecasting Method?

A sales forecasting method is a systematic approach to understanding future possibilities based on both historical data and human insight. In B2B, this often means combining hard numbers (like pipeline data) with qualitative inputs (like sales rep confidence levels).

All of this can help you know what to expect the next month, quarter, and even fiscal year to look like.

“Forecasting feels like having a backstage pass to the future of our market,” says Chris Bajda, Managing Partner at Groomsday. “By tapping into data from previous seasons and current trends, we’re able to predict what our customers will need and when.”

I’ll share an example to help make this concrete. Imagine I run a coffee shop. A simple forecasting technique might just look at last year’s sales and add 10% for growth. But a more sophisticated approach would consider:

• Seasonal patterns (iced drinks in summer, holiday drink specials).
• Day-of-week trends (busy weekday mornings vs. leisurely weekends).
• Local events (nearby office closures, construction projects).
• Market changes (new competitor opening nearby).
• Economic factors (inflation affecting coffee bean prices).

The impact of forecasting can be dramatic. An analysis by Dgtl Infra found that when they used integrated forecasts (combining sales data, usage metrics, and market trends), they closed 31% more revenue than those relying on pipeline data alone.

Source

Pro tip: If you’re looking to brush up on your forecasting skills, I recommend checking out these free courses in HubSpot Academy: Forecasting and Analytics in Sales Hub and Hubspot Sales Forecasting.

Types of Forecasting Methods

Forecasting methods generally fall into two main categories: qualitative and quantitative approaches. I like to think of them as the “art” and “science” of forecasting — both valuable, but used in different situations.

Source

Qualitative Forecasting Methods

Qualitative forecasting methods shine when historical data is limited or when you’re venturing into new territory. They rely on expert opinions, market insights, and informed judgment rather than pure numbers.

For example, if you’re launching an innovative product with no direct competitors, you might use:

• Delphi Method (gathering expert opinions systematically).
• Market Research (customer surveys, focus groups).
• Expert Judgment (industry veteran insights).

Best for: New products, innovative industries, or sectors with limited historical data.

Quantitative Forecasting Methods

Quantitative forecasting is all about the numbers — using data-driven models to make predictions. Think of it as letting the data tell the story.

For example, a retail chain might analyze:

• Past sales data across all locations.
• Seasonal buying patterns.
• Economic indicators.
• Weather patterns.
• Customer behavior metrics.

Examples of quantitative forecasting include:

• Time Series Analysis.
• Moving Average.
• Exponential Smoothing.
• ARIMA.
• Regression Analysis.
• Machine Learning Models.

Best for: Stable, data-rich industries where historical patterns can reliably inform future predictions.

TL;DR? Many successful businesses actually combine both qualitative and quantitative methods, using data to inform decisions while still leaving room for human insight and market knowledge.

Best Forecasting Methods

In speaking with dozens of experts for this piece, one thing became clear to me: There’s no consensus on what method is “best.” The options vary widely depending on your end goals, your industry, the data you have available, and much more. It will also greatly depend on which forecasting software you choose.

That being said, here are some top forecasting methods that you may find helpful.

1. Time Series Analysis

Time series analysis is widely used for recognizing trends and seasonality in historical data; it’s a heavy hitter in the forecasting world. Many experts that I spoke with use time series as one of their methods.

Bajda from Groomsday explains, “Time series analysis is especially useful for businesses that experience seasonal peaks and valleys, like retail.” This method helps track cyclical patterns, allowing businesses to optimize inventory and marketing strategies for anticipated demand changes.

Below I explain specific types of time series analysis.

Moving Average

This is like taking your business’s temperature over time — it smooths out short-term fluctuations to show the real trend.

Here’s a simple example:

Q1 Sales: $100,000

Q2 Sales: $120,000

Q3 Sales: $110,000

Q4 Forecast = ($100,000 + $120,000 + $110,000) / 3 = $110,000

Exponential Smoothing

Exponential smoothing is like your business’s short-term memory. Just as you would remember what happened last week more clearly than last year, this method gives more weight to recent events.

Here‘s a real-world scenario: Let’s say I run a downtown lunch spot. My sales might look like this:

Monday: $2,000

Tuesday: $2,200

Wednesday: $1,800 (Unexpected rain)

Thursday: $2,300

Friday: $2,500

A simple average would say I make $2,160 per day. But exponential smoothing might predict closer to $2,400 for next Monday because it:

• Puts more emphasis on those strong Thursday/Friday numbers.
• Considers the rainy Wednesday an outlier.
• Spots the slight upward trend.

ARIMA Models

Auto Regressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) is like having a master analyst who can spot complex patterns. While exponential smoothing is great for clear trends, ARIMA shines when things get messy.

Here‘s why it’s powerful. Let’s say I’m running an online fitness equipment store:

• January starts strong (New Year’s resolutions).
• Sales dip in February.
• March sees a mini-surge (spring fitness push).
• Summer is steady.
• September spikes again (back-to-routine season).

ARIMA can handle all these patterns plus:

• The lingering effects of past events (like how a viral TikTok video boosts sales for weeks).
• Multiple seasonal patterns (daily, weekly, and annual cycles).
• Irregular but predictable fluctuations.

2. Machine Learning Models

Machine learning has transformed forecasting by spotting complex patterns humans might miss. Dgtl Infra shared compelling results from combining AI with traditional methods.

Their data showed AI models identified enterprise user adoption growing 28% quarter-over-quarter, while sales team insights revealed financial services companies were integrating their API three times faster than other sectors — a critical pattern that pure data analysis missed.

They’re also the company I mentioned above that closed one-third more revenue when using an integrated forecast rather than just pipeline data alone.

Modern ML approaches include:

• Neural networks: Identifying hidden patterns in customer behavior.
• Random forests: Analyzing multiple variables like industry, company size, and usage patterns.
• Gradient boosting: Improving prediction accuracy over time by learning from past forecasts.

3. Scenario Planning

In B2B, where single deals can make or break a quarter, scenario planning is essential. This method helps you prepare for different possible futures rather than betting on a single forecast.

“If we’re promoting a video for a seasonal campaign, like Black Friday, we create multiple outcome scenarios based on varying budget allocations, engagement levels, and ad placement strategies. This way, we’re prepared to pivot as needed,” explains Spencer Romenco, Chief Growth Strategist at Growth Spurt.

Here’s an example:

Conservative Case

– Only deals with 90%+ probability.

– Minimal upsell revenue.

– Standard churn rate.

Base Case

– Deals at 70%+ probability.

– Historical upsell rates.

– Normal market conditions.

Upside Case

– Additional stretch opportunities.

– Accelerated deal velocity.

– New product adoption.

4. Sentiment Analysis

Understanding the deeper context of customer feedback can be as valuable as tracking pipeline metrics. Sentiment analysis moves beyond basic satisfaction scores to uncover meaningful patterns in customer behavior and market direction.

For example, Kratom Earth incorporates feedback from customer reviews, social media comments, and direct interactions in their forecasting process.

“We pay attention to the words customers use, the benefits or effects they mention, and even any concerns they share. If we notice a trend where people talk about increased stress or a desire for relaxation, this guides us to forecast a higher demand [for certain products],” says Loris Petro, Marketing Strategy Lead at Kratom Earth.

“This allows us to plan inventory and marketing efforts around actual customer emotions and needs, which we believe is extremely accurate.”

How to Choose the Right Forecasting Technique

To illustrate how you can go through the decision-making process, I’m going to use a fictional example. We’ll call her Hannah and she runs an online pet goods store. Her orders have grown from 100 to 1,000 a month and now she’s facing some headwinds.

“I’m struggling to predict demand. Last month, I ran out of our bestselling cat food. The month before, I had to discount excess dog toys. There has to be a better way than just guessing!”

1. Take stock of your available data.

First ask yourself, what data do you have access to? Most businesses are sitting on more useful information than they realize. (P.S. This is where AI can be incredibly helpful!)

This could include:

• Shopify sales history.
• Purchase order records.
• Customer reviews.
• Email marketing metrics.
• Social media engagement.

In Hannah’s assessment of the data, she might find that cat products make 45% of her revenue, dogs make up 40%, and other pets are 15%. In her business, she also sees seasonal trends that cause her products to spike — things like pet costumes around Halloween and new pet supplies around Christmas.

Pro tip: “If you have a strong history of data, methods like time series can reveal powerful patterns,” Badja suggests. For industries experiencing rapid shifts, machine learning models that continuously update based on new data are better suited to capturing real-time changes.

2. Connect trends from business patterns.

The next step is to go one step beyond the data — find ways to connect the dots.

In Hannah’s example, she might be asking herself:

• “Why do certain products sell out while others sit on shelves?”
• “How do holidays affect different product categories?”
• “What’s causing these random spikes in certain items?”

By looking closely at the patterns over the past few months, you’ll likely spot some key trends. For instance, Hannah could discover that 90% of customers reorder every six weeks, sales spike after email promotions, and the weather doesn’t impact sales.

All of these discoveries offer helpful insight into her customer’s buying patterns and how she can better predict future sales.

3. Select your method.

Now comes the fun part — choosing your forecasting approach. Let‘s look at different methods through Hannah’s lens.

For example, if Hannah calculated the simple average across the last few months, she wouldn’t end up with any results that she could use to predict the future.

Simple Moving Average

Last 3 months sales:

• January: 800 orders
• February: 900 orders
• March: 1,000 orders
• Basic forecast: (800 + 900 + 1,000) / 3 = 900 orders

However, a multi-factor method could better account for her business’s growth rate and seasonal patterns.

Product Forecast =

(Base Average)

× (Growth Factor)

× (Seasonal Factor)

× (Marketing Impact)

Example for Premium Cat Food:

Base Average: 302 units

Growth Factor: 1.15

Seasonal Factor: 1.0 (non-seasonal)

Marketing Factor: 1.2 (email campaign planned)

June Forecast = 302 × 1.15 × 1.0 × 1.2 = 416 units

Pro tip: Make sure you are factoring in both qualitative and quantitative data.

4. Leverage short-term and long-term projections.

Start by mapping out sales projections for your specific business. Take a piece of paper and draw three columns: this month, this quarter, and this year.

For instance, if you run a software company, your immediate concern might be customer churn rate, while your quarterly view focuses on new feature launches, and your annual picture considers market expansion. A retail business might track daily inventory in the short term, seasonal trends quarterly, and store expansion annually.

Pro tip: “Don’t forecast based on past success,” says Stephen Do, Founder of UpPromote. You must consider uncertainty. Marketing changes constantly — new competitors, customer behavior, and affiliate marketing trends can disrupt your models.”

5. Build your integration system.

As I mentioned earlier, you’re likely sitting on a ton of valuable data — let’s put it to use.

To maximize forecasting accuracy, you can pair a CRM like HubSpot with an AI-driven platform, recommends Jeremy Schiff, CEO of Salesbot.io.

“While typical forecasting methods often focus solely on funnel performance, Salesbot.io leverages data across platforms like HubSpot to gain a comprehensive view of the entire sales pipeline — from lead generation to MQL, SQL, opportunity, and closed-won,” Schiff says.

“By aggregating insights from HubSpot, we can pinpoint which channels are working best at each stage of the sales journey, enabling smarter investment decisions and optimized resource allocation. This approach allows us to forecast not only future deal closures but also channel-specific effectiveness, helping us maximize impact across the sales process.”

6. Adjust on a regular basis.

This is where most forecasting efforts succeed or fail. You need a regular rhythm of reviews, but they should fit naturally into your existing workflow.

Forecasts aren’t one-size-fits-all. As Michael Benoit from ContractorBond says, “We review our forecasts every quarter to ensure they’re still relevant.” Regularly updating forecasts with current data helps businesses stay agile and maintain alignment with real-time conditions.

Pro tip: “When forecasting, especially with a team, you have to strike a balance between being too conservative and too ambitious,” Lexie Smith, Founder and CEO at Growth Mode, recommends. “Setting goals too conservatively may mean hitting targets sooner, but if they’re too achievable, it risks undershooting potential and can leave you vulnerable to unexpected shortfalls. On the flip side, overly ambitious targets can be unrealistic, leading to slow adjustments and missed opportunities for recalibration if early performance indicates underperformance.”

Improve Your Financial Health With Forecasting

After spending weeks learning from experts and business leaders about forecasting, here‘s what I’ve learned: Don’t get caught up in making things more complicated than they need to be. Your forecasting should actually solve real problems in your business.

Running a retail store and constantly running out of stock? Start by tracking your inventory patterns. Sales team missing their targets? Focus on those pipeline metrics.

One thing that really stuck with me was that buyers rarely follow a perfect, linear path. Your forecasting needs to roll with the punches when your assumptions turn out wrong.

Sure, we‘ve got more powerful forecasting tools than ever before, from basic spreadsheets to fancy AI systems. But at its heart, good forecasting isn’t rocket science: get reliable data, find patterns that actually mean something, make smart predictions, and learn from what really happens.

My best advice? Start with whatever matters most to your business right now. You can always build from there.

Like most people, my first real experience with AI was when ChatGPT was launched in 2022. At first, I was simply amazed by the wealth of knowledge it could provide. However, I soon realized that the true power of AI for entrepreneurs wasn’t in accessing information but in how its capabilities could be applied across multiple use cases. The potential wasn’t just exciting — it felt limitless.

Over the last few years, I’ve watched AI live up to that potential, and its impact on business is undeniable. Nearly 70% of CEOs predict that AI will drive competition, reshape business models, and require new skills from the workforce.

In this post, I’ll dive into how AI is changing the game for entrepreneurs and why it’s no longer just a nice-to-have but a must-have tool for staying competitive.

Table of Contents

• AI and Entrepreneurship
• How Entrepreneurs Are Using AI

AI and Entrepreneurship

It’s hard to overstate how much AI has reshaped the entrepreneurship landscape.

When I think about the barriers that once made starting a business so challenging — limited resources, lack of specialized skills, or the sheer scale of effort needed — it’s clear that AI has changed the rules of the game.

For instance, generative AI and other technologies now have the potential to automate work activities that currently absorb 60 to 70 percent of employees’ time. What used to require large teams, deep pockets, or years of expertise can now often be achieved with the right AI tools and a willingness to learn.

I’ve seen this firsthand in my work. I’m always working on new ideas, so I’m constantly stepping into areas where I don’t have much expertise. AI has been my go-to in those moments. Whether it’s troubleshooting code for a small project, refining my thoughts while writing blog posts, or building strategies and challenging my thinking when exploring new business opportunities, AI has allowed me to bridge gaps I wouldn’t have been able to overcome otherwise.

What really excites me about AI, though, is its flexibility. It’s not one-size-fits-all. Depending on how you approach it, AI can be your silent partner in the background or take on a central role, driving innovation and strategy.

Whether you’re just starting with an idea, refining a product, scaling operations, or exploring new markets, AI can provide significant value at every stage.

McKinsey’s recent research shows that about 75% of the value generative AI delivers is concentrated in four key areas: customer operations, marketing and sales, software engineering, and R&D — some of the most critical aspects of building and running a successful business.

This likely explains why a 2023 study by Gartner found that generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) was the number one type of AI solution deployed in organizations.

Another Gartner survey also revealed that 79% of corporate strategists believe technologies such as AI, analytics, and automation will be critical to their success over the next two years.

This rapid adoption and increasing reliance on AI is a clear sign of AI’s growing importance in building and running modern businesses.

It also raises some important concerns.

As AI becomes more embedded in entrepreneurship, aren’t entrepreneurs at risk of over-relying on it? And exactly when does reliance turn into over-reliance?

Well, while I think it’s clear AI is an incredible enabler, it’s important to remember that it’s still a tool: it can’t replace the creativity, empathy, and strategic thinking that make entrepreneurs successful. This is why finding the sweet spot and understanding how to leverage AI for specific use cases is quickly becoming one of the most critical skills for the modern-day entrepreneur.

How Entrepreneurs Are Using AI

AI is actively reshaping how businesses operate.

In this section, I’ll dive into five practical ways entrepreneurs use AI in their businesses. I’ll also share real-world examples and AI tools that highlight how powerful AI can be when integrated into your business.

1. To Add Insight to Data Analysis and Interpretation

In today’s digital landscape, data is everywhere — CRMs, email platforms, analytics tools, etc. While gathering this data is important, I’ve found that the secret sauce is in analysis and interpretation.

This is where AI comes in.

AI-powered business intelligence tools bring a level of sophistication to data analysis that was once unimaginable. Unlike traditional business intelligence, these tools don’t just collect data—they can now understand, contextualize, and apply insights.

One of my favorite applications is through predictive analysis.

As renowned computer scientist Andrew Ng explains, “AI systems are good at spotting patterns when given access to the right data.” By processing current and historical data, AI can identify trends and forecast future outcomes.

For example, Domo.ai, a data analysis solution, offers a chat platform where users can ask questions, and their AI analyzes the data to provide contextual, personalized predictions — all in natural language. These predictions can range from projected product demand to forecasts of returning customers.

Features like these are crucial for accurate decision-making because missteps in these areas could lead to severe consequences like customer churn and wasted resources.

2. To Streamline (and Democratize) Software Development

Just a few years ago, if you didn’t know how to code or didn’t have the budget to hire a developer, your ideas often remained just that — ideas. The world of software development seemed closed off to anyone without technical skills or resources.

But now, AI has completely flipped the script. It’s broken down those barriers, enabling entrepreneurs — regardless of their technical background — to bring their ideas to life.

AI tools like ChatGPT and Github Copilot allow anyone to generate fully functional code from scratch by simply feeding in prompts.

This has been a game-changer for non-technical creators like myself. GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke calls it, “the most profound breakthrough in technology since the genesis of software development itself.”

But even for technical founders and developers, AI is a valuable tool for streamlining development. For instance, tools like Workik automate code migration between different technologies, while BrowserStack uses AI to make automated testing more efficient.

Ultimately, whether you’re a non-technical entrepreneur or an experienced developer, AI opens up new possibilities for building software products.

3. To Transform Their Approach to Marketing

After nearly six years in marketing, I’ve witnessed the industry undergo countless shifts. But nothing has been as monumental — or potentially disruptive — as AI. It’s fundamentally changed how we approach marketing, from creation to delivery and even optimization.

One area where AI really shines is content creation. Tools like Claude and Copy.ai help generate blog posts, social media copy, product descriptions, and more at a speed and quality that once required entire teams.

Similarly, AI tools like MidJourney have transformed how we create media assets. As someone without a design background, being able to generate high-quality images and graphics with just a few prompts has completely changed the scope of what I can create and how I approach my work.

But AI’s impact doesn’t stop at creation — it’s reshaping marketing strategy, delivery, and optimization. Tools that pull insights from customer behavior, market trends, and historical data help craft more data-driven and targeted marketing plans. I also often find myself using generative AI to brainstorm and stress-test my ideas.

Finally, once campaigns are live, AI can work behind the scenes to optimize performance. Many marketing tools now have built-in AI features that analyze data in real time, adjusting elements like email subject lines, ad spend, and content distribution to ensure campaigns run as efficiently as possible.

Interestingly, Jessica Apotheker, Boston Consulting Group’s global CMO, believes the future of AI in marketing should increasingly focus on these data-driven applications rather than creative functions.

As she explains, “We need to reskill and reorganize to embed people who can build and use predictive AI tools at the core of decision-making in marketing. This means developing teams of marketing data scientists and engineers who create solutions to analyze performance.”

4. To Assist and Refine Sales Processes

According to former Outreach.io CEO Manny Medina, “In the future, there will be no sales representative or manager that doesn’t have an AI supporting their work.”

This rings especially true when you consider the sheer volume of data points that come into play when closing deals, especially at scale.

Salespeople have to juggle personalization, relevance, and timing, all of which can be the deciding factors between a “yes” and a “no.” And this makes sales one of the industries where AI can have the most significant impact.

How AI tools are changing the sales world

Take HubSpot’s AI, Breeze, for example.

Breeze’s “guided selling” feature helps reps close deals faster by automatically identifying and prioritizing the best leads. It even suggests “next steps” for leads at various pipeline stages, allowing salespeople to focus on the most promising opportunities and reduce time spent on less qualified leads.

Beyond Breeze, several other AI tools enhance and streamline the sales process in unique ways. Conversica uses language models to create personalized outreach messages and engage in conversations with leads. Asgard helps identify companies most likely to purchase your products, while Gong analyzes sales calls to develop personalized coaching plans for reps, helping them improve performance.

With so many AI-powered tools, your sales teams can leverage technology to enhance their processes and redefine what’s possible in sales performance.

Source

5. To Boost Efficiency and Satisfaction in Customer Support

According to a recent HubSpot study, 85% of service leaders believe AI will completely transform the customer’s experience with their company.

I agree with this sentiment because the last decade alone has introduced numerous AI-powered customer support channels, tools, and strategies. Today, there are countless use cases for AI in customer support.

Chatbots and virtual assistants, powered by natural language processing (NLP) technologies, allow companies to provide 24/7 on-demand customer support. AI tools can also pull relevant data from past interactions, purchase history, and customer preferences to create personalized experiences during these support interactions.

But AI can even go beyond direct customer interactions to help improve the efficiency of support teams.

For example, AI can support customer service reps by providing contextually relevant data during complex customer queries. It can also help build and maintain knowledge bases using real-time customer queries and corresponding solutions.

The possible applications are endless. Agata Rogińska, support team leader at Text, predicts that as AI in customer support progresses, “human agents and AI will complement each other in a way that AI will cover some repetitive tasks and boost efficiency. It will support human agents with additional data, which will help them to focus on more complex issues, building relationships and handling sensitive, emotional scenarios.”

A New Era for Entrepreneurship

There’s never been a better time to be an entrepreneur. AI removes so many obstacles and levels the playing field, allowing you, as an entrepreneur, to innovate and compete. Using AI, you can move faster, make smarter decisions, and focus on what really matters: building a great product.

As a business owner I know there’s one thing that can make or break my business: cash flow. If you start a brick and mortar store with employees you may be aware of how crucial it is to know when cash is going in and out — but maybe less so if you run an online business or are a consultant.

At the end of the day I’m a writer — not a numbers person — so the more I can outsource the financial side of my business, the better off we all are. One particular use case I’ve found interesting is how businesses (like me!) can use AI to improve the accuracy and ease of cash flow forecasting.

Given that 80% of small businesses go under due to cash flow problems, getting this right is crucial. And better cash flow = getting to continue doing the work that I love.

To learn more about the tech’s potential, I spoke to several experts across various industries (from finance to ecommerce) to see how they are integrating AI into their forecasting methods and what tips you can learn from their experience.

Table of Contents

• Why Use AI for Cash Flow Forecasting?
• How AI Changes Cash Flow Forecasting: The Old Way vs. The New Way
• How AI Can Improve Cash Flow Forecasting
• Implementation Guide: Tips for Using AI in Cash Flow Forecasting
• Tools for AI Cash Flow Forecasting

Why Use AI for Cash Flow Forecasting?

You probably already know that AI can save you time and money running your business — but how exactly can it help you better forecast your cash flow?

To answer this, I should first explain what cash flow forecasting is and some common challenges you might face using traditional methods.

• Cash flow forecasting: The process of estimating future cash inflows and outflows to predict your business’s financial position over time. This includes things like revenue streams, payroll costs, and day-to-day operational spending.
• Why it matters: This helps businesses make informed decisions about investments, expenses, and growth opportunities while ensuring they maintain adequate cash reserves.

How AI Changes Cash Flow Forecasting: The Old Way vs. The New Way

Back in time before AI, cash flow forecasting meant gathering data from different systems, updating spreadsheets, and making educated guesses about when customers might pay. It’s manual, time-consuming, and often inaccurate.

Manual forecasting suffered from siloed data, outdated information, calculation errors, and missed seasonal patterns. Teams wasted hours on basic analysis that was outdated before it was complete.

Now, imagine having a system that automatically pulls data from all your sources, learns your customers‘ payment patterns, and alerts you to potential cash shortages before they happen. That’s what AI brings to the table.

While traditional forecasting might tell you to expect $100,000 in payments next month based on historical averages, AI can tell you things like:

• Company A always pays early when they order more than $50,000.
• Company B typically pays late during summer months.
• Your retail sales are likely to spike between 10 AM and 2 PM two days after Social Security payments hit. (Yes, that’s a real data point a source shared with me!)

P.S. If you’re looking to brush up on your forecasting skills, I recommend checking out these free courses in HubSpot Academy: Forecasting and Analytics in Sales Hub and Hubspot Sales Forecasting.

How AI Can Improve Cash Flow Forecasting

AI improves the accuracy and speed of cash flow forecasting.

Traditional cash flow forecasting can be tedious and error-prone, but AI is solving this problem.

“AI reduces the time spent collecting and entering data, and it can create more accurate forecasts by taking into account unexpected events and current economic conditions, which can be difficult to capture through traditional forecasting,” explains Jim Pendergast, General Manager of altLINE.

AI excels at identifying complex patterns that humans might miss.

The power of AI lies in its ability to uncover hidden patterns in financial data that might escape human eyes. (And why spend your time poring over detailed spreadsheets if you don’t have to?)

Alex Schlesinger, Founder and CEO of Active Mutual, a final expense insurance business, shares a compelling example. His team noticed that many of their senior clients would receive their Social Security payments on the third Wednesday of each month. “In the past, we’d roughly estimate that ‘yeah business might pick up around then.’

“Our model picked up that not only do sales increase two days after Social Security payments, but specifically, they spike between 10 AM and 2 PM on those days,” Schlesinger explained.

“That kind of accuracy means we can plan everything better — from marketing budgets to commission payouts,” Schlesinger added. “Plus it’s way cheaper than it used to be.”

AI integrates multiple data sources for comprehensive forecasting.

Modern businesses generate vast amounts of data across various systems and departments. AI’s ability to synthesize these diverse data streams sets it apart in cash flow forecasting.

Craig J. Lewis, Founder and CEO of Gig Wage, emphasizes that “AI has introduced predictive algorithms that significantly enhance both the speed and accuracy of cash flow forecasting by processing large datasets in real-time.”

Here are some data sources that can be integrated by AI:

• Sales and revenue data.
• Accounts receivable aging.
• Supplier payment terms.
• Inventory levels.
• Market trends.
• Economic indicators.
• Weather patterns (for seasonal businesses).
• Social media sentiment.
• Competitor activities.

Roy Benesh, CTO of eSIMple, contrasts this with traditional methods: “When we use traditional forecasting, it depends on past data and people’s judgments collected over time, but AI pulls in different data from many sources like supply chain changes and market trends that provide optimized answers now.”

Benesh shared with me examples of what that looks like for two different industries. Take manufacturing as an example. With AI, you can pull in real-time data from supply chains, inventory, and revenue streams to get a clearer financial picture. Retail companies, who rely on maintaining an accurate level of inventory, can also rely on this real-time data to keep updated predictions.

Check out HubSpot’s Forecasting Software.

Implementation Guide: Tips for Using AI in Cash Flow Forecasting

Testing out AI doesn’t have to be overwhelming. I‘ve talked with several business owners who’ve successfully made the transition, and they all share a common approach: start small, stay focused, and build gradually.

1. Start with small pilot projects before scaling.

Don’t try to revolutionize your entire financial system overnight. Pick one area — maybe customer payment predictions — and start there.

Lewis from Gig Wage recommends you “pinpoint the areas where you think optimization is needed and work with AI in those areas to see how you like the results.”

Begin with one specific project ➡️set clear success metrics.

Maybe you want to reduce the time spent on forecasting by 50% or improve accuracy by 25%. Having these concrete goals will help you measure progress and build confidence in the system.

2. Maintain human oversight and expertise alongside AI tools.

AI shouldn’t be something you solely depend on. As Benesh explained to me, “Human oversight and frequent checks against actual cash flow data are still key to staying accurate.”

“There’s a myth that this approach ‘just works’ on its own, but it needs regular attention, especially in unpredictable markets,” he added.

Lewis echoes this advice, “If the present looks like the past, then AI will do a strong job in minimizing forecasting errors. This is broadly useful because during these periods AI will outperform humans. If there is a significant deviation from the data on which the model is trained, the model will mismanage cash. I think it’s important to know what a computer is good at and what humans are good at so that you mitigate risk to the highest extent possible.”

3. Blend with traditional methods.

“Traditional methods, though slower, allow seasoned analysts to apply judgment and context that algorithms alone may miss — there is still somewhat of a tradeoff,” adds Lewis.

I like thinking of it like having both a GPS and a local guide. The GPS (AI) provides precise, data-driven directions, but the local guide (human expertise) knows about the road construction that started yesterday. You need both for the best results.

4. Start small — and focus on quality over quantity.

Lewis’s last bit of advice? “Be incremental. Pinpoint the areas where you think optimization is needed and work with AI in those areas to see how you like the results. This simplifies the transition and allows people to adapt to the new tools. AI is fundamentally a tool that helps with optimization. I think it would be much harder to implement from the get-go.”

Tools for AI Cash Flow Forecasting

1. HighRadius

What is it? HighRadius offers a cash flow forecasting software that’s powered by AI and has a 95% forecast accuracy rate. This tool is designed to optimize liquidity management by leveraging AI to provide deep insights into cash inflows and outflows.

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Key Features

• Automated data gathering that consolidates cash flow data from multiple sources, reducing the need for manual data entry.
• Predictive insights that use machine learning to analyze historical data and create highly accurate cash flow predictions.
• Scenario modeling that allows businesses to simulate different cash flow scenarios to prepare for possible market fluctuations.

Best for: Mid-sized to large enterprises with complex cash flow needs, looking for high accuracy in their cash flow predictions and real-time updates.

2. Oracle Cloud EPM

What is it? Oracle Cloud Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) Platform is a suite of cloud-based financial software tools that helps businesses manage their planning, budgeting, forecasting, and reporting processes. It integrates with other Oracle financial tools, making it a great option for managing your overall financial performance.

Key Features

• AI and machine learning integration that enhances forecasting by incorporating trends, seasonal patterns, and anomalies into cash flow predictions.
• Comprehensive financial planning that enables businesses to manage budgets, planning, and forecasts in one unified platform.
• Real-time data integration that pulls data from various departments for a unified view of cash flow and financial health.

Best for: Large enterprises that already use Oracle products.

3. Kyriba

What is it? Kyriba is a cloud-based cash management platform focused on improving cash visibility and liquidity management. Its AI cash flow forecasting feature helps businesses predict and control their cash flow needs.

Key Features

• Real-time cash flow tracking that provides a detailed, real-time view of cash positions across multiple accounts and currencies.
• AI-driven scenario analysis that allows companies to simulate different financial scenarios to assess potential impacts on liquidity.
• Multi-currency support. I think this is ideal for global businesses with cash flow needs across different currencies.

Best for: Multinational corporations or businesses with high-volume cash flow activity across multiple currencies and accounts.

4. Planful

What is it? Planful is a financial planning and analysis platform that incorporates AI-based anomaly detection and predictive forecasting to aid cash flow forecasting. I found that the platform is quite easy to use and that it integrates well with other financial tools.

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Key Features

• Anomaly detection that identifies unexpected changes in cash flow data, helping companies address discrepancies early.
• Predictive forecasting that uses AI to analyze past cash flow patterns and forecast future cash needs.
• Collaboration tools that facilitate cross-department collaboration for more accurate cash flow planning.

Best for: Planful is ideal for small to mid-sized businesses that require a flexible, user-friendly platform for financial planning, especially if you’re looking for collaboration features.

Use AI to Increase Your Cash and Focus on Your Business

I had a harder time finding AI cash flow tools that were designed for smaller businesses. But given the complexities of cash flow (and more $$) for enterprise businesses, it makes sense. I’m sure that financial companies will still continue to experiment with ways they can integrate AI into their offerings.

But I’ve walked away with some helpful ideas about how I can incorporate AI into my cash flow forecasting process — and I’d like to run an experiment looking at the past 12 months and see if ChatGPT can find any trends that might be helpful for me as I’m planning the upcoming year.

If you’re interested in testing some tools, remember the expert advice I shared: start small, maintain human oversight, and focus on one specific area where AI can help your cash flow forecasting.

After all, better cash flow predictions mean more time doing what you love and less time worrying about whether you can make payroll next month. (A win-win!)

I’ll never forget one of my first big sales meetings. I walked out feeling defeated, convinced I’d blown it. The prospect had bombarded me with tough questions and objections, and the whole time I thought they were poking holes in my pitch because they weren’t interested. Later on, a mentor would point out that those “grilling” questions were actually a buying signal in disguise. That prospect was deeply engaged, trying to gather justification to buy.

In this article, I’ll share what buying signals in sales really are, the different types of signals you should watch for, how to identify them in real time, and how to respond when you spot one. I’ll even throw in examples (including a few I learned the hard way) so you can recognize these cues in your own sales conversations.

By the end, you’ll be able to more effectively read your prospects and ensure you’re addressing the things that matter most to them — and hopefully, close more deals along the way.

Table of Contents

• How to Identify Buying Signals
• What are buying signals in sales?
• Types of Buying Signals
• How to Respond to Buying Signals
• Examples of Buying Signals
• How Buying Signals Made Me a Better Salesperson

What are buying signals in sales?

Buying signals are behaviors or statements that indicate a prospect is considering a purchase. Regardless of what sales methodology (or combination of methodologies) you adhere to, buying signals help salespeople understand where a buyer is in the decision process, what matters most in a purchase, and when the seller should take action.

According to data from Lantern, effective use of buying signals can create 10-20% more sales opportunities and reduce a company’s customer acquisition cost (CAC) by up to 30%. Why the stark improvements? Buying signals help you differentiate between casual interest and true intent, ensuring you spend time on the highest-quality deals with the best chance of closing.

Types of Buying Signals

Buying signals come in a few different flavors. Here are some common types, each of which signals prospect interest from a slightly different angle. Under each type, I’ll give a quick “pro tip” or explain what scenario it’s best for, so you know how to leverage that signal in your sales efforts.

Verbal Buying Signals

Verbal buying signals are the spoken or written clues the prospect shares. These are often the easiest to catch — after all, you can literally hear or read them — but they can sometimes be hidden in plain sight. In my early days, I would often be too busy thinking about the next point in my presentation and miss cues from the prospect. Don’t let that happen to you! Here are a few examples of verbal signals:

• Questions about the product or service. If your prospect starts asking detailed questions (“How does your solution handle X?” or “Can it integrate with our current system?”), they’re picturing themselves as a user. They’re essentially saying “Convince me this works for me.” That’s a buying signal. In general, the more thoughtful the questions, the more engaged they are.
• Discussions of budget or pricing. When a prospect brings up money or budget without being prompted, it’s a huge signal. It means they’re seriously considering how to make this purchase work. They might ask, “What would the pricing look like for a team of 20?” or “Is there a discount if we sign a two-year contract?” That indicates they’re envisioning the deal. On the contrary, a prospect who clearly avoids any mention of price will need to be brought around to the idea.
• Questions about next steps or implementation. This signal is like a golden ticket. If a prospect asks something like, “What would the next steps be if we decided to move forward?” or “How soon could we get started after signing?” they’re essentially probing the path to closing. Similarly, asking about implementation details (“How long does onboarding take?”) shows they’re picturing the post-sale scenario. That’s a strong buying signal because they’re mentally moving beyond if they buy to how they’ll operate after they buy.
• Expressing dissatisfaction with a current vendor. This one doesn’t slip past most salespeople. Prospects that complain about their current service provider are generally begging to be put out of their misery. Even if it seems small or unimpactful, focus on the pain point they’re bringing up and emphasize how your organization can help them avoid it.

Pro tip: Practice active listening. It sounds obvious, but it’s easy to slip up and find yourself planning for the next part of your pitch. Slow down and truly listen to what’s being said. I guarantee your prospect would rather you listen closely, even if it means you’ll need a short pause to collect your thoughts before responding to what they’ve said.

Non-Verbal Buying Signals

Have you ever sent an email that you thought couldn’t be any clearer only to have the recipient completely miss the point? People make mistakes, of course, but it’s also true that human beings communicate a lot without words — and sometimes more than we mean to. In sales, especially in face-to-face meetings or video calls, pay close attention to these signals.

• Body language. Think eye contact, nodding, leaning forward, smiling, or even the classic “slow-and-thoughtful-head-nod.” I once had a prospect in a demo who barely said a word (which freaked me out), but I noticed they kept leaning in to look closer at my screen share and nodding slightly whenever a feature seemed to resonate. That was a buying signal; they were engaged. Sure enough, they moved forward after the demo.

On the flip side, beware of closed-off body language. If the prospect is looking at their watch or phone or maybe responding to Slack messages during the demo, you might as well take a leap to re-engage them — because you’re either losing them fast or they’re already gone.

• Tone of voice and enthusiasm. If you’re on a call and can’t see the person, listen for tone. Excitement is hard to hide. Even a simple “uh-huh” or “mmm” in an affirming tone as you speak can indicate agreement and interest. Conversely, monotone “Okay… got it” responses might mean they’re not sold yet, and complete silence is usually a bad sign, too.

Pro tip: You’ll need to give prospects space to talk in order to pick up on tonal cues. Of course, you’re doing that anyway, right?

Digital Buying Signals

Buying signals aren’t just happening during conversations. They’re also happening online, often before a prospect ever talks to you or in the days or weeks between your live conversations. I like to call these digital buying signals, and they include a prospect’s interactions with your company’s website, content, emails, and more. Here are some common digital signals that someone is interested:

• Email engagement. Ever get a notification that a prospect opened your email or clicked a link you sent? If a prospect consistently opens your emails quickly or multiple times throughout the day, that’s a signal. I like to reach out and suggest a quick phone call — it’s less intrusive than a virtual meeting, and they can get a lot of their questions answered in just five minutes.
• Website activity. If you see that a lead has visited your pricing page, features page, or looked at case studies, take that as a solid buying signal. They’re doing their homework on you and essentially moving through stages of the funnel on their own. Reach out and see if you can help them with anything, and recommend content (if you have it) that they might be interested in.
• Free trial or demo sign-ups. If your company offers a free trial or a freemium version and a prospect signs up for it, that’s an obvious one — they’re interested enough to take your product for a test drive. Similarly, signing up for a live demo or webinar you’re hosting indicates active interest. They’re essentially raising their hand and requesting more information.
• Social media and community engagement. This signal is a bit softer, but still noteworthy in my book. If a prospect starts following your company on social media or they like or comment on your posts, there’s certainly some indication of curiosity and intent. These signals might not be as strong as an actual inquiry, but they paint an overall picture of an interested lead — particularly when combined with other signals.

Pro tip: Digital signals happen behind the scenes, but they’re important enough to be brought to your attention. I generally loathe browser notifications (we have enough notifications in our lives), but I have one exception — any time a prospect clicks a link in my email, I have HubSpot alert me. It’s a much stronger signal than a mere email open, and worth interrupting my concentration just a little to know about it.

Situational Buying Signals (Trigger Events)

The last type of buying signal I’ll cover isn’t about the prospect’s behavior toward you, but rather external events or situational changes that signal a potential buying opportunity might arise. These are often called trigger events in sales. Savvy salespeople watch for these because they can open a window to reach out or advance a conversation that may have stalled out in the past. Here are a few examples:

• Company changes. If your prospect’s company announces a new round of funding, a merger, an expansion, or a new executive hire (like a new CTO or CMO), that’s a possible buying signal. New leadership often means new priorities and new budget allocations, and fresh funding means resources to invest in solutions.
• Public mentions of pain or goals. Sometimes companies will publicly hint at needs. For example, if a CEO says in an interview, “Customer experience is our top focus this year,” and you sell a customer success platform, that’s a signal. Or if a prospect posts on social media complaining about a problem that your product solves, it could be a great time to gently reach out with some insight.
• Industry or market changes. New regulations, market trends, or even competitor moves can trigger buying behavior. If a new law requires your prospect’s industry to report something and your solution helps with that reporting, their sudden compliance need is a buying signal. Or if one of their major competitors just implemented a solution similar to yours and is seeing success, your prospect might be feeling pressure to keep up even if they haven’t directly engaged with you yet.

Pro tip: Situational signals definitely require you to have a pulse on the prospect’s world beyond what you might be picking up in your direct interactions. Set up Google Alerts, follow their company on LinkedIn, use sales intelligence tools — whatever helps you catch wind of these trigger events. A little bit of research and news tracking goes a long way.

Now that we’ve covered the gamut of buying signal types, let’s talk about how to actually identify these signals in practice. It’s one thing to know the theory; it’s another to consistently spot the signals in the wild.

Identifying buying signals is a skill that you can develop with practice. Early in my career, I honestly didn’t know what I was looking for — it was like trying to tune a radio without knowing the station frequency. Over time, I picked up some habits that made catching signals easier.

Here’s how you can hone your senses to spot those crucial cues.

1. Be an active listener (and observer).

In my opinion, listening more than you talk is the most important part of any sales interaction. When the prospect is speaking, really hear them — not just the words, but the intent behind the words. Do they sound excited? Concerned? Confused? Those emotional tones might tell you something, but don’t assume your inference is correct. Paraphrase and confirm your interpretation: “It sounds like you’re really interested in that integration to increase your team’s efficiency, did I get that right?”

Also, observe the prospect’s demeanor. If you’re face-to-face, things like nodding or smiling while they say “That could be useful for us” amplify the signal. If you’re on a call, listen for subtle verbal cues like a change in tone or the pace of the conversation. Essentially, keep your antenna up for any change in the prospect’s engagement level.

2. Ask open-ended questions.

One of the best ways to draw out buying signals is to ask questions that encourage the prospect to talk. Questions like “What are your thoughts so far on what we’ve shown?” or “How does this compare to what you’re doing today?” invite them to reveal their feelings and intentions.

Their answers can be a treasure trove of signals. If they respond with enthusiasm and start explaining how they’d implement your solution, you’ve got a positive signal. If they hesitate or bring up a concern, that’s useful too — it might be an objection you need to address.

3. Leverage your CRM and sales tools.

I touched on this in the digital signals section, but use technology to help you. Set up notifications for key prospect activities like email opens, link clicks, and content downloads. If your sales process doesn’t already have it, I would strongly recommend incorporating a lead scoring system that assigns a value to these activities and more, helping you prioritize the most engaged prospects. Did a potential buyer just visit your pricing page? Reach out asap.

4. Educate yourself and your team on common signals.

Make buying signals a part of your sales training and team conversations. If you’re new, ask veteran reps what signals they look for that indicate a deal will close. It might be their language, when they start using phrases like “when we implement” — or it might be when they invite a technical lead to the next call. The more familiar you are with the most important signals, the more they’ll pop out at you in real life. I keep a list in my notebook of top buying signals as a reminder before I go into a meeting, because it mentally primes me to watch for them.

In short, identifying buying signals comes down to being attentive, curious, and prepared. When you make a habit of actively listening and observing, asking good questions, and using the tools at your disposal to bring signals to the forefront, you gain valuable insights that help you close deals, provided you respond to them correctly.

How to Respond to Buying Signals

So you’ve spotted a buying signal. Now what? The whole point of recognizing these cues is to respond in a way that moves the sale forward and supports the buyer’s journey.

Handled well, your response to a signal can propel a deal to a rapid close. Handled poorly, you could set things back or even squander a deal entirely.

1. Act quickly.

Timing is everything, and you should jump on signals when you see them. For example, say a prospect has posted about an issue they’re having on social media. That means they’re likely in the awareness phase, and they’ll soon be gathering information on possible solutions. Wait too long and you’ll be compared against the entire market of possible solutions, or worse, they will have made a decision without even considering you as an option.

2. Dig deeper.

Some signals are opportunities to learn more about a prospect’s needs. For example, whenever I was asked if my company’s software integrated with another vendor, I’d take advantage of that glimpse into the prospect’s broader tech stack and use it to infer what high-level problems they were hoping to solve. Do they want better results? Increased efficiency? More agility? Use the clues you’re given and ask for more information.

3. Reiterate value.

Buying signals often reveal a prospect’s top priorities. For example, when asked how quickly they could complete onboarding and implementation, I’d safely assume they were looking to move fast. Knowing this, I would reiterate that yes, they could get onboarded quickly, and also explain that I would accelerate things where possible.

For example, marking their contract redlines with high priority for the legal team might shave an additional 3-5 days off the implementation timeline. Show prospects you know what they value, and that you’ll make it a top priority as well.

Examples of Buying Signals

So what are real buying signals I’ve come across out in the wild? This list is far from exhaustive, but here are several of what I would consider the “Greatest Hits.”

• Asking about pricing. A soft signal, but it shows they’re envisioning the purchase.
• Inquiries about contract details. If they’re digging into the contract, they’ve probably narrowed their search down to your solution and a few others.
• Bringing in other stakeholders. One of my favorite signals to see — no one wants to waste the time of someone else on their team, so you’re in a good spot when they include other decision-makers.
• Expressing pain your product solves. If they’re venting about their current situation, they’re inviting you to show them how your solution will change it.
• Requesting references. They’re looking for validation.
• High degree of responsiveness. Your solution is a priority for them.
• Direct comparisons to competitors. They consider you viable, but want to make the right choice. Highlight your strengths for their specific needs.
• Engaging with content. Another soft signal — they might still be gathering information, but if they’re leaning on your content for insights, your solution will probably be a consideration at least.

Remember, a single in isolation certainly doesn’t guarantee a sale — but I’ve had the best results closing deals when I see several of these buying signals throughout the sales process and respond to them.

How Buying Signals Made Me a Better Salesperson

Looking back on my sales journey, I see that learning to spot and respond to buying signals has been critical. You can never truly separate sales from numbers (more at-bats means more opportunities), but you also can’t ignore the fact that not all opportunities are created equal. A strong grasp of buying signals taught me to invest my time into the deals that offered the most value and the best chance of closing.

Using buying signals isn’t about some high-pressure tactic or sleazy manipulation. It’s about being in sync with the buyer and understanding what they need and value out of a solution. When they’re enthusiastic about something, you’re sharing that excitement and helping them move toward their end goal. When they’re hesitant, you’re slowing down to address an important need.

It’s a dance, not a shove, and it’s one I recommend that you learn to master.

Most salespeople face the same persistent challenge: Their prospects lack urgency. There are a number of strategies — both successful and unsuccessful — reps use to overcome this inertia. Often, they end up offering huge discounts with expiration dates.

While this technique might result in an initial sale, I advise against it because the company‘s margins and the rep’s commission bonus both take a hit. Once other potential customers learn the business‘s salespeople are willing to discount heavily, it’s difficult to sell at full price. The solution?

Create authentic urgency using an effective urgent email template.

I’m sharing my nine best sales email templates that encourage your prospects to buy sooner rather than later without resorting to discounting or manipulative tactics. Let’s dive in!

Table of Contents

• 9 Urgent Email Subject Lines & Templates
• Tips for Expressing Urgency in Emails
• Urgent Reminder Emails — My Final Thoughts

There are many different emails in your sales arsenal, like the professional reminder email, email notifying of an overdue payment/unpaid invoice, etc. Today, we’re going to focus on the most critical part of the lead cycle: getting a lead to buy.

I recommend developing your own personalized email templates (using data like open and click rate) within the free HubSpot Email Builder. Send emails, see which perform best, and then turn those into new templates with just a few clicks. Instead of copying and pasting the email templates over from this article, they’re stored directly in your HubSpot email template library.

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Now, let’s dive into those urgent email templates.

Template 1: “What your competitor is missing”

Subject line: What [prospect’s competitor] is missing

Hi [prospect name],

I recently got off the phone with someone in [relevant department] at [company in prospect’s space]. [Company] is doing some really interesting things around [business area prospect is interested in].

Would you like to hear how I think [prospect’s company] could apply some of those takeaways?

Best,

[Your name]

Why I think it works: Mentioning the buyer‘s competitor will immediately spark their fear of falling behind. They’ll be eager to learn how they can update their strategy — meaning you‘ll get a response asking when you’re available.

Better yet, include a link to your calendar so they can schedule a meeting right then and there. While you may be eager to hit send before setting up your calendar scheduling link, I know you’ll be relieved by the ease of scheduling calls this way.

This message is also compelling because it establishes your knowledge of the space. You show you‘re not only familiar with the competition, but have valuable information about their game plan as well. Of course, never invent a conversation that didn’t happen. Lying is no way to make a sale.

Template 2: “How does your company compare?”

Subject line: [Prospect’s company] compared to average?

Hey [prospect name],

I‘m impressed by your [campaign for X, recent company announcement about Y, work in Z area]. I’d expect your results to be above the [industry, vertical, market] average.

Would you be interested in discovering exactly where you stand compared to your peers?

Best,

[Your name]

Why I think it works: With your inside view into companies with similar products, missions, locations, audiences, and so on, you’re ideally positioned to extend this offer — and few are more enticing.

It’s win-win-win: If your prospect is hitting it out of the park, she‘ll want to see just how heartily she’s beating the other companies in her space.

If she‘s doing good but not great, the buyer will want to learn her current margin so she can increase it. And if she’s failing, she’ll be curious to know if everyone else is struggling even more than she is.

I like the benchmarking approach because it uses curiosity to generate a response, and it leads with your value.

Template 3: “Thoughts about your issue with X”

Subject line: Thoughts on [likely challenge]

Hi [prospect name],

Lately, I‘ve spent some time thinking about [challenge prospect is likely facing]. It’s a big issue for companies like yours — after all, [reason why this pain point is significant].

I don’t have a full-fledged solution yet. However, I do have a couple of ideas that could make a difference. Do you want to hear them?

Best,

[Your name]

Why I think it works: Leading with a relevant pain point tells your prospect that you’re knowledgeable — and just as importantly, empathetic and helpful.

By admitting you don‘t have the perfect answer, you’ll seem genuine rather than salesy. The buyer will feel compelled to reply and learn what you’ve come up with.

Template 4: “Taking X step”

Subject line: Taking [X step] at [prospect’s company]

Hey [prospect name],

I saw you haven‘t [updated X strategy, changed over to Y system, added Z policy]. While I don’t want to ring any unnecessary alarm bells, I think you‘re risking your company’s [long-term growth in A, health in specific area B, plans for C].

Here‘s the first thing I’d do: [Actionable suggestion or high-level tip]. If you’d like to hear the next steps, let me know.

Best,

[Your name]

Why I think it works: Bring your prospect‘s inaction front and center. Once you’ve reminded them they still haven’t made any progress, they typically want to correct that as soon as possible.

To make sure the buyer follows up with you — rather than coming up with their own plan — I recommend that you give them a solid tip. They’ll quickly see you as a source of guidance.

Template 5: “Biggest takeaway from our call today”

Subject line: Biggest takeaway from our call today

Hi [prospect name],

I‘ve included a recap of what we discussed today. One of the most significant insights from our conversation: You’re currently [losing X per month, missing out on Y per week, at a huge risk for X]. The sooner [prospect’s company] [solves this challenge, takes this opportunity], the better.

Main items covered:

• [Item #1]
• [Item #2]
• [Item #3]

I’m looking forward to speaking again on [date and time]. Do you have any questions I can answer in the meantime?

Best,

[Your name]

Why I think it works: This email reinforces the urgency you (hopefully) instilled during the call. Its straightforward, neutral tone conveys confidence and tells your prospect you’re not wasting any time or words.

Start with a polite greeting, keep the tone professional, and make it clear that this email requires prompt attention. They‘ll start taking the matter seriously, if they haven’t already.

Template 6: “Timeline for accomplishing Y by [date]”

Subject line: Timeline for [doing X] by [date]

Hi [prospect name],

Glad we got the chance to discuss [topic] today. [Important event] you mentioned is just X [days, weeks, months] away — if you want to have a strategy for [achieving Y] by then, you’ll need to follow this timeline:

• [Action step #1] by [date]
• [Action step #2] by [date]
• [Action step #3] by [date]

Are you available on [date and time] to talk about [action step #1]?

Thanks,

[Your name]

Why I think it works: Remind your prospect time is of the essence. To hit their goals, they can’t let this deal slip to the bottom of their to-do list.

I’ve found that providing a sample timeline is effective for two reasons. First, it’s a major value-add: Rather than figuring out what they need to do and when, the buyer can follow your plan.

Second, it structures the sales conversation. Your prospect will know what to expect from each stage, which makes them feel more secure.

Template 7: “Few more suggestions for accomplishing your goal”

Subject line: Few more suggestions for [solving X]

Hey [prospect name],

Now that I‘ve had some time to think about our last conversation on [date], I’ve come up with a few more suggestions for [solving X pain point, meeting Y objective, exploring Z opportunity]. You’ll be excited to hear these.

Do you have some time in the next week?

Here’s a link to my calendar so you can book a time that works: [Link].

Cheers,

[Your name]

Why I think it works: This follow-up email template — which isn’t for the faint of heart — lets you take back control of the sales conversation.

First, the offer gives your prospect a great reason to reply. Who doesn’t want free, no-strings-attached ideas for hitting their goals or improving their business?

Telling the buyer they‘ll be “excited to hear” these ideas also shows a lot of confidence, as does linking to your calendar rather than asking if they’re available on a certain date and time. Typically, this self-assurance makes you seem more credible.

Template 8: “How [customer] got Z results”

Subject line: How [customer] achieved [X results]

Hi [prospect name],

[Prospect‘s job title] at [rep’s company] is always busy doing [X, Y, and Z] — so I assume you’ve got a full plate as well.

But spending some time upfront to put in place a solution for [pain point] will pay off exponentially. [Customer], for example, [saved X hours per week, trimmed Y from their budget, made Z more per month] after using [product].

Are you free on [date and time] to pick up where we left off?

Thanks,

[Your name]

Why I think it works: Guilt-tripping the buyer for their unresponsiveness doesn‘t work — they’ll either feel annoyed or ashamed, neither of which prompts them to reply.

So, use a different approach. Show that you‘re not taking it personally that they haven’t gotten back to you: Based on your relationship with their counterpart at your company, you know they’re slammed.

Then, remind your prospect that they really can’t afford to wait. I’ve found that this one-two punch of empathy and urgency convinces buyers to answer every time.

Template 9: “[Name], you’re a special case”

Subject line: [Prospect‘s name], you’re a special case

Hi [prospect name],

Normally, I stop following up with people if they haven‘t gotten back to me after [X weeks]. I figure they’re not interested, and I don‘t want to waste anyone’s time.

However, my conscience won‘t let me give up so easily with you. Based on our conversations on [date and time] and [date and time], I’m confident you could [solve X pain point, capitalize on Y opportunity] — which will allow you to [get that promotion to X role, increase your team’s output by Y amount, outperform your competitors in Z area].

So before I walk away: Are you sure you’re not interested in [solving X, capitalizing on Y]?

Best,

[Your name]

Remember to customize.

Yes, it sounds so obvious it doesn’t even need to be said. But then why do I have emails addressed to “Dear [insert name]” sitting in my inbox right now? Even when writing an urgent request, no one should be in a rushed or careless state.

Personalization matters: 82% of sales professionals surveyed in our Sales Trends Report said that connecting with people and building relationships is the most important part of selling.

All of my email templates shared above use brackets — search your email for them using Ctrl + [ or Command + [ to ensure you’ve removed all of the placeholders before hitting send.

Or, use email software with built-in customization, like the free HubSpot Email Builder. You can quickly customize emails with all the details leads expect, like:

• First name, company name, etc.
• Relevant documents.
• Your meeting links.

Plus much, much more using our built-in AI feature. See it in action here:

Saving time with AI: 81% of sales professionals surveyed in our Sales Trends Report said that AI can help them spend less time on manual tasks, saving up to two hours a day.

This works in both automated email sequences and one-on-one emails. I love how this feature makes it so easy to add more depth to emails. It moves beyond using first names and gives readers the feeling that you really remember them.

Urgency example: You‘re sending a live demo reminder. The name, time, date, time zone, link, etc. must be customized correctly or the upcoming event will be missed, and you’ll lose your chance to sell live to your prospect at the end of the demo.

No bait and switch subject lines.

No one wants to get an email that says “Found your wallet! — Just kidding, but while I have you here…” This is a real example!

Sure, tricks can yield high open rates. It might even trigger an immediate response! But it will rarely be a positive response. A clear subject line wins every time.

Urgency example: Instead of a goofy subject line, let readers know about a time-sensitive matter like a discount code, invitation, or opportunity that’s expiring. Inspire FOMO (the fear of missing out) instead of an eye roll.

Make urgency obvious.

Most people skim their inboxes looking for whatever requires immediate attention. If you want readers to respond immediately, then a sense of urgency is required in your subject line and email body. Clear and concise language will yield the best response.

Urgency example: Mention any scarcity factors, such as limited call spots or expiring deals, to get the reader’s attention and inspire a prompt response.

Cut the clichés.

Raise your hand if your eyes glaze over these overused email phrases:

• Look forward to hearing from you.
• Make time in your busy schedule.
• Hope this email finds you well.
• Kind regards/best regards.
• Just a gentle reminder.
• Earliest convenience.
• Quick reminder.

“Hope this email finds you well” is so overused that it was turned into a viral meme during the pandemic:

Now, there‘s nothing wrong or unprofessional about these well-wishes — they’re just overused (to the point that you probably have all of these clichés sitting in your inbox right now).

Urgent follow-up emails need to get the reader’s attention. Thoughtful email copy will help achieve that more than overused filler.

Urgency example: Swap out filler like “looking forward to hearing from you” with a time-sensitive push like “reminder that link expires in 48 hours.”

Clear CTAs.

A reader shouldn’t have to wonder how to take action on your email. Proposition readers with one clear call to action per email.

Again, try touching the reader‘s FOMO when writing your CTAs. What will they miss out on if they don’t act? Consequences are important in urgent emails.

If you want your email to be addressed promptly, consider touching on one of these fears:

• Trend/seasonal relevance will pass.
• Event registration closing.
• Discount code expiring.
• Price increasing.
• Spots filling up.

Urgency example: You‘re running a time-sensitive promotion. If your CTA doesn’t reflect that, viewers miss out and don’t buy from you.

Ask a question.

Sometimes, leads take longer to convert. You might not make a sale with this email sequence, but you can still develop the relationship if you keep the conversation going. Add a question to every email template to achieve this.

If you forget to include a question inside the free HubSpot Email Builder, you’ll get reminder messages like this thanks to the “content suggestions” feature:

Monitor for results.

Like all sales efforts, monitoring and optimization are key. You can do this manually by gathering data from multiple tools and tracking in a spreadsheet, or you can use email tools with built-in analytics like the free HubSpot Email Builder.

At a glance, you can see open rates and clicks for your email templates:

Then, rather than recreating the most successful emails manually, you can turn them into email templates:

The more emails you send through your HubSpot account, the more data and actionable recommendations you’ll be given:

A data-first approach to your urgent email template will fuel more growth than being guided by guesswork.

Urgency example: You notice that the fourth message in your email campaign is where readers lose interest and stop opening emails, so you add a time-sensitive offer to incentivize opens.

Urgent Reminder Emails — My Final Thoughts

I know that sending an urgent request in a sales email can be difficult — asking for urgent attention is a delicate act in sales. With these free email templates up your sleeve, kindling urgency becomes as simple as pressing “Send.” Customize them to fit your prospects and monitor performance.

Most teams today are in touch with their sales data in some way, shape, or form. Some industries and companies are better at it than others.

In tech, for example, where I spend a lot of my time as a marketing consultant, sales and marketing are pretty tight. They share systems and strategies to the point where most of the time I’m sitting in the revenue team’s reporting calls with sales, marketing, and customer success analyzing metrics together.

I’ve seen sales data management done well, and I’ve also been in the position of having to whip it into shape. Now, organizations are in a position where responding quickly to market changes can make or break, and the ability to effectively use sales data for strategic decision-making is mission-critical.

I know this is easier said than done. How you gather, access, interpret, and use your sales data is highly dependent on your organization, industry, and the technology you have in place. But regardless of where you sit in that mix, let’s take a look at some solid strategies for making your sales data a performance enabler.

Table of Contents

• Types of Data a Sales Team Should Track
• Sales Data
• How to Analyze Sales Data
• Data-Driven Sales
• How to Develop a Data-Driven Sales Strategy
• Building a Data-Driven Sales Team
• Sales Data Helps You Grow Better

Sales Data

Data is an indispensable component of successful sales teams. Sales data can help representatives avoid pursuing bad-fit customers, and it can inform new opportunities that sales teams wouldn’t detect otherwise.

However, data on its own can be intimidating, especially for teams that are getting used to such an analytical culture. I’ve also seen sales teams that avoid their own data like the plague, afraid that if they look too closely, they might not like what they find.

That being said, sales teams don’t need to make use of every single metric. Some data just exists without providing insights, and that’s fine. Before I dive into the types of sales data your team should track, let’s start with how to approach sales data so it benefits your team and company goals.

How to Approach Sales Data

When I’m working with a sales and marketing team on performance tracking, I always start with business objective(s). This step isn’t about what data can do for you; it’s about the goals within your business. So, I recommend focusing on what you want for your sales team.

Example: We want to shorten our sales cycle in Q2.

Next, I make a note of what questions arise from the objective.

Example: How long is our current sales cycle? What’s causing it to be at this length? How long would we like it to be? How much money would this save us? What do we need to shorten the current sales cycle?

Finally, I identify which sales metrics are needed to answer these questions. (I’ll cover the types of sales data below.)

Now, the sales team should know which specific sales metrics to leverage as we work to meet the objective. Over time, as the objectives change, I may need to add or remove various data points based on need.

The following section will cover the types of data your team should know.

In this section, I cover the most common sales key performance indicators (KPIs). These are important for covering company-wide performance as well as tracking how your sales team is impacting your broader company goals. Let’s look at them in more detail in the following chart. I’ll talk about how to actually collect this data later.

For a list of over 50 sales metrics, as well as a breakdown of sales KPIs per team type, check out our Ultimate Guide to Sales Metrics.

Download our free Sales Metrics Calculator to calculate your average deal size, win-loss rate, churn rate, and more.

How to Analyze Sales Data

So, I’ve identified an objective and tracked several KPIs to measure progress — now it’s time to analyze the data.

Once I have sales data in order, it’s good practice to present the findings visually. Charts, graphs, and dashboards make it easier to understand the information, enabling the team to spot trends, patterns, and correlations within the data. It also provides an opportunity to detect any outliers that require further investigation.

For example, HubSpot’s sales dashboard gives users a birds-eye view of their sales performance, allowing them to track key metrics like revenue, sales by lead source, and year-over-year growth.

HubSpot’s Sales Reporting & Performance Dashboard

Armed with these insights, you can take actionable steps to optimize your sales performance and make informed business decisions.

Next, I’ll discuss how to build a data-driven strategy and sales team.

Data-Driven Sales

Data-driven sales is a sales approach that involves collecting and using specific metrics to inform all sales decisions, from lead prospecting to people management to churn reduction and pricing.

Using data in sales can help your representatives improve productivity. It can also save them precious time and energy pursuing customers who aren’t a good fit or are uninterested. Implementing a data-driven sales approach can also make your business more profitable.

This approach sounds easy enough, right? Well, it’s one thing to say you embrace a data-driven sales strategy … and it’s quite another to use that data to influence, develop, and empower your sales organization.

Let’s talk about what a data-driven sales approach looks like in action.

How to Develop a Data-Driven Sales Strategy

I’m a pretty operations-focused person when I work on projects with a revenue team. So I know it can be tempting to just hit “go” and start building processes and dashboards. It’s certainly an important part of building a data-driven strategy for sales. But there are a few other components that need to be put in place, too. Let’s take it step by step.

1. Get buy-in at all levels on your sales data management.

I’ve seen situations where a huge amount of work is put into data and workflows in CRMs and business intelligence tools, only for reports to fall flat when presented to executives. To be data-driven in a meaningful way, you first need to decide as a team and an organization what that data should be driving you toward.

So, first things first, you need to make sure everyone is on board. That includes entry-level or junior team members who manage a lot of the day-to-day data, all the way up to senior managers who are going to be reviewing reports and making strategic decisions. The former is because they may have input on the practicalities or challenges of collecting and maintaining certain data points (always a win to get ahead of that issue early), and the latter is because you might be surprised by what they want to know when it comes to strategic decision making.

I could also have named this section “Set Your Sales Goals and Objectives” because it almost amounts to the same thing. You need to figure out what everyone cares about, align on the metrics and KPIs that are going to inform strategies, and work backwards from there to get the data you need.

2. Perform a deep-dive audit on your existing data.

If I’m working on a project that involves a reporting overhaul and we’ve got a messy CRM situation on our hands, I sometimes have to brace myself because, inevitably, it’s a pretty painful process.

I recently worked with a tech company who hadn’t touched their CRM in well over a year. Outreach and sales processes were handled elsewhere and a ton of valuable leads and data had been left to rot. It was a mess but, to put new outreach sequences and automation in place, I had to dig into everything and spend weeks on a huge clean-up process.

This is where you really need to roll up your sleeves and get into it. Here are a few questions I always keep in mind during a sales data audit:

• What needs to stay, and what needs to go? Sure, you can use enrichment tools to try and update that contact info, but there are some leads and accounts that are probably not worth keeping. Think of all the people who have likely moved to a new role or company within a year or two after the record was first created. Draw a line in the sand and retire old records, at least to keep them out of rotation for outreach or marketing.
• Are we still using the same terminology and processes? Lots of data messes get created when processes change. If not planned properly, it gets tricky to link the “before” and “after” sides of old and new processes in your reports. Let’s say you change the definition of your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP). It might be a great strategic decision, but it’s about to cause havoc in your reporting. If things have changed, make sure they are clearly documented and accounted for in your databases.
• Do we have the dreaded duplicate records issue? This is another common one. Sales teams can process a huge amount of data, and when multiple tools are linked together, or manual lead entry is performed, it’s really easy to create duplicate records. The scale of this depends on the reason it’s happening, but you may need to put aside a few weeks just to tackle this one data cleanliness issue.

Unfortunately, this may not be a one-off task. A 2024 sales performance report found that 98% of sales professionals admit their CRM data is inaccurate. Data cleanliness is an ongoing challenge, and you might need to revisit this audit process regularly to keep on top of it.

3. Identify your knowledge and tech gaps.

Old data is one thing, but an audit of your existing data and processes is also useful for identifying glaring holes in your reporting. Remember that first all-important buy-in step? By documenting objectives and working backward, I can see what’s already available to the team and which data points are slipping through our fingers.

Sometimes, you might need to simply adjust your existing CRM, like adding new custom fields. However, there may be times when a new piece of technology is needed to close the gap.

One area I’ve regularly encountered big gaps is between sales and marketing. Sales rely so heavily on lead and account-based data. But, there are plenty of marketing metrics and KPIs that are extremely useful to sales. Marketing data can help inform outreach strategies, pain points to focus on, and lots more.

For example, sales statistics show that 72% of company revenue is generated from existing customers. Imagine how much more effective your upsell strategy would be if you were keeping track of marketing reports on email open rates and customer engagement at the account level.

Building a more integrated report between marketing and sales data can be as simple as adding an integration between systems without the need for new technology at all.

4. Nail down the practicalities of actioning the data.

It’s so easy to spend time on beautiful dashboards only to forget that the point is to become data-driven. In other words, data ultimately needs to create insights that are actionable. I’m sure we’ve all sat through calls on a revenue team where metrics are listed out and talked about, but there’s a certain “so what?” hanging in the air.

I have found breakpoints and “if/then” statements helpful for this in the past. First, you need to identify trends to track. Let’s say it’s something as simple as monthly lead volume. If that lead volume is trending down, at what point do you take action and change tactics? And what should those tactics be?

Similarly, if it’s trending up month over month, at what point is it right to invest more in order to maximize results? The breakpoint leads to a decision branch, which then leads to action. It’s not always as clear cut as this example, but it’s a useful mechanism for making sure data and reporting don’t gather dust.

Building a Data-Driven Sales Team

A sales team that relies on data observes a handful of distinct practices. Here are some of my criteria you can use to assess whether your team is truly data-driven or at least part of the way there.

1. They align on goals and mission statements.

I’ve always found that a data-driven sales team is aligned on everything — not just big objectives but day-to-day goals, processes, and best practices. This alignment is the responsibility of sales managers to communicate and execute.

I believe it’s also good practice to develop those objectives and goals with your entire sales team, so loop them in on any planning or goal-setting meetings.

This process mirrors the questions I discussed above about figuring out what sales data to use. They help determine what goals your sales teams are pursuing, what data can help you achieve those goals, and what each team member needs to do to stay aligned in your pursuit.

2. They build and follow a sales process.

A data-driven sales team follows a distinct sales process — a repeatable set of actions your team does to close a new customer. A sales process allows you to see which parts of your sales approach are working and which parts aren’t. By repeating the same actions across your team, you can make a note of where you can incorporate and track new KPIs and sales data.

When making changes or updates to your sales process, I highly recommend doing so slowly and with one change at a time. Sales teams are busy, target-driven people at all levels so changing management can be tricky. I find this lets your team get used to the change and allows you to clearly see if that change is benefitting or hurting your overall sales process.

3. They use existing data to inform strategy.

A data-driven sales team doesn’t only use new data; they also use any data they’ve already been collecting (even if it’s never been put to use). I typically find that existing data can be a goldmine of insights and untapped ideas — just take a look at how LinkedIn’s AI-driven account prioritizer leveraged data to focus the sales team’s attention on valuable leads and increase renewal bookings by 8.08%, having previously relied on “intuition and fragmented data signals.”

Before diving into a new data tool, I also recommend doing some analysis on any existing sales data, such as information about past buyers and prospects. Gather your sales team and chat about what existing data you have and how you can use it to inform new decisions or strategies.

4. They work with a CRM — and they make data accessible.

A data-driven sales team works closely with a customer relationship management (CRM) tool, such as HubSpot’s free CRM. A CRM database is highly valuable. It effectively replaces cluttered spreadsheets and disjointed tools — and it generates helpful sales reports (which you can also find in HubSpot’s Sales Hub).

A CRM can track all prospect and customer activity and automate even the most menial tasks, such as email follow-ups and contact updates. I find it also keeps your sales team aligned by making all of your sales data equally accessible.

Get full visibility into your sales process with HubSpot’s free sales reporting.

5. They track all prospect interactions to learn what works and what doesn’t.

I’ve sometimes noticed that we’re typically very focused on what a lead or prospect does, but they’re not always the most important data points. Or, at least, I have found a wider look can paint a more complete picture. A data-driven sales team treats every prospect interaction with equal importance. Whether a prospect never responds or becomes a customer, every interaction can give your sales team valuable data and insight into what’s working.

Prospect interactions can tell you a few important things:

• Where that prospect came from.
• Why your sales rep reached out in the first place.
• How your sales rep made contact and what form of communication they used.

From initial contact, you can also track either 1) the sales cycle for the specific prospect or 2) which competitor you lost the prospect to. You can also gather demographic and psychographic information from each prospect who becomes a customer to further build out your buyer personas.

6. They only engage with leads and prospects that fit certain criteria.

A data-driven sales team only pursues leads and prospects that prove to be good-fit customers — something that proper data can tell them. As I said above, sales data has the potential to save your sales team precious time and energy, as well as make your company more profitable.

To do this, your team must make use of the data it collects. Once you qualify good-fit leads, your team should know what data to look at to understand whether they should engage a new prospect. Perhaps you’ve defined a good-fit lead as a customer with a certain monthly revenue as well as a certain minimum of marketing team members. Encourage your team to focus their energy on prospects that fall into this category.

7. They communicate about best practices and approaches that don’t work.

A data-driven sales team is constantly sharing best practices with one another. Perhaps one of your sales reps has learned a new way to use their sales data. Perhaps another has found a new approach that almost always guarantees a prospect response.

Regardless, your sales team should always be chatting about their best practices and approaches that don’t quite work. I recommend sharing this information through team-wide meetings or via one-on-ones between managers and reps.

Not only will this strengthen morale and act as a means of sales coaching and training, but I find it helps you continually keep your data — and how you use it — up-to-date. Sales data is an iterative process, and your sales team can help you constantly improve on how you use and apply it.

Sales Data Helps You Grow Better

From teams who are so overwhelmed with data they can’t see the woods from the trees to those who are intimidated by even the thought of looking at detailed reports, I’ve seen every variation of a team that wants to be data-driven but doesn’t know how.

What I’ve learned is that business objectives and working backward are both key. There’s also no harm in starting with what you have and letting the next questions that come up naturally guide the way.

At all times, keep focused on insights over data. If the data is telling you a story as opposed to gathering dust, you’ll be much better equipped to make decisions and showcase your performance.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in July 2020 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Picture hiring a promising sales rep. But three months in, they quit. Sound familiar? You’re not alone — 52% of top sales hires quit because of poor sales training or onboarding. On top of this, Ann Clifford, founder and president of Safari Solutions, notes that it takes three to nine months for new sales hires to hit their quotas.

Both situations put hiring resources and future company revenue at stake. The solution? A structured sales onboarding plan. Having the right training process that avoids turnover and grows revenue can allow you to keep great talent longer.

That may seem easier said than done. But, don’t worry. I spoke to several sales leaders to get their tips and tricks. Below, I’ll also share some of my favorite training materials and onboarding templates that can help you get a new team member started. Let’s dive in.

Table of Contents

• Why Invest in Salesperson Training?
• Stages of the Sales Onboarding Process
• Making the Most of a Sales Manual
• Sales Manual Examples
• Best Practices for Training Salespeople
• Make Your Sales Training Worthwhile

Why Invest in Salesperson Training?

HubSpot research found that the average sales rep tenure at a company is 18 months. With such a short window, developing efficient onboarding and training resources is crucial for hiring managers. Beyond that, orientation and sufficient product knowledge are keys to having successful sales representatives who stay far beyond the year-and-a-half mark. Other benefits you get from training your reps include:

• Improved productivity. Every day counts in sales. The earlier you train your new reps, the faster they ramp up and start hitting their quotas.
• Better sales conversations. Instead of using generic pitches, trained sales reps learn how to ask the right questions, actively listen, and tailor their messaging to each prospect’s unique needs, leading to more meaningful and productive discussions.
• Higher conversion rates. Sales training helps reps master key techniques like objection handling, value selling, and closing strategies, enabling them to turn more prospects into customers with confidence.
• Consistent and scalable performance. A well-trained sales team follows proven frameworks and best practices, ensuring consistency across the organization and making it easier to scale and onboard new reps successfully.

Featured Resource: Sales Training Manual

Download for Free

Stages of the Sales Onboarding Process

Sales onboarding involves new salespeople and giving them all the tools they need to interact with buyers. A strong sales onboarding process should boost your salesperson’s confidence and help them get results quickly.

I’ve found that teams, including ours at HubSpot, look at a few different time frames when creating their onboarding plan. We’ll cover the following below:

1. Pre-week onboarding.
2. First 30 days.
3. First 60 days.
4. First 90 days.

Stage 1: Pre-Week Onboarding and Day One

You might think training starts on a new employee’s first day. However, successful sales teams start even earlier. If you want your new hires to come confident, consider pre-week onboarding. This can be an email, course, or quick video that gives your sales representatives more information on their roles and what they’ll learn during training.

Pre-week onboarding can help set expectations, that way your new hire isn’t left in the dark. Here’s what we do at HubSpot.

Before their official first day, new HubSpot sales hires experience “a day in the life” of a sales representative. In just 20 minutes, a new hire can see what their work will look like as a member of the sales team. From technical setup to call observation and activity shadowing, new representatives get an up-close look at the end goal of their training period.

Here are a few other items that we send along to new hires before their first day.

Email and Administrative Preparation

Whether your team works remotely or in the office, you need to get new hires’ tech set up so they can open up their laptop and get started. HubSpot’s people team makes sure that our new reps have email and relevant app access before the first day of work.

With a rep’s email, we can send new hire HR information ahead of time, as well as an agenda for training sessions. Having all of the relevant meetings already on their calendar helps our new team members know where to go and who to meet.

Pro tip: Be sure to remind your new hire to select a picture for their email and create an email signature.

Day One: Orientation

The first day at a new job is like starting at a new school. You need to set aside time for new-hire orientation. At HubSpot, that includes one week of Foundations, a week-long set of sessions that help new hires learn about the company. After, there’s up to a week of department-specific training, allowing our reps to learn about the sales team specifically.

Your organization may not be able to dedicate a week and a half to foundational training. However, I highly recommend allowing one day for orientation. That allows your new reps to find and resolve any tech issues, learn about the company’s mission, and take an initial dive into the offering you sell.

Pro tip: Use the first day to take care of HR documentation, set them up with a computer, and introduce them to the company at a high level.

From there, you can set up one-on-one time with direct managers. That should include a coffee chat on day one, something I found helpful when I started at HubSpot. Later in the week, I met with my manager again to discuss my 30-60-90-day plan.

Another helpful program at HubSpot? We encourage new hires to have lunch with a veteran HubSpotter to learn more about the company. New hires also get a chance to ask a senior sales leader questions so they can get a better sense of what to expect.

Pro tip: Before day one, assign each new rep a “Welcome Buddy” who informally checks in with the new hire. They could answer questions and ensure the rep feels supported. This small step can reduce first-week anxiety and foster a sense of belonging right away.

Stage 2: First 30 Days

The first month (30 days) for your new hire circles around learning about the company, available solutions, the internal organization, and their role. Here are a few topics you should cover in the first 30 days.

1. Company Culture and Mission

In the early stages of the sales training, you want to introduce your new sales member to the company and its values. The goal here is to make sure they fully grasp why your company exists and how you serve your customers.

Culture is a big part of getting the message across. If openness and collaboration matter to your sales team, new hires should see it in action during onboarding. Your new team members should feel comfortable asking any questions that come to mind. Reps who have been along for longer should guide the way.

“The social aspect of onboarding often doesn’t receive the attention it deserves,” says David Rubie-Todd, co-founder and marketing head at Sticker It. Social connections and company culture can differentiate your company, showing that you have an environment where the employee can thrive.

“For instance, organizing meet-and-greet sessions with colleagues or assigning a mentor can greatly facilitate the transition for new employees, helping them to feel a sense of belonging and camaraderie quickly,” Rubie-Todd says.

Rubie-Todd also notes that these cultural components create an atmosphere where employees can grow personally and professionally.

2. Understanding the “Why” Behind the Sales Process

One of the most important parts of training and onboarding new sales hires is helping them understand the “why” behind their new role.

Scott Williamson, vice president of sales engineering at R. Williamson & Associates, warns, “It’s easy to teach someone the steps of the sales process, but helping them understand the reasoning behind it is crucial for their long-term success.”

Like Rubie-Todd, Williamson focuses on company values and the mission. Williamson says, “I want the new hire to understand why we exist and who we serve. This provides context for everything else they will learn.”

From there, Williamson’s team dives into the details of their sales methodology.

“As we review things like prospecting techniques, objection handling, and closing — I share stories and examples that illustrate why we do things this way. The reps who truly grasp the why end up internalizing it and selling with more passion and effectiveness,” Williamson says.

3. Product or Service Training

What will your rep be selling? Whether it’s pool supplies or software, it’s important to train them on how to administer, use, and see the value of your product or service. Proper product or service training lets new sales hires articulate the benefits of your products to address buyers’ unique needs.

At HubSpot, our new hires undergo extensive product and Inbound Marketing training. They learn how to use HubSpot products, like our CRM, Marketing, and Sales tools. The hands-on training involves building landing pages, setting up contacts, and presenting “final projects” at the end of their training cycle.

I love the time spent actually using our product. The projects built throughout training allow reps to show off their understanding of HubSpot tools. Managers can also gauge new hire progress.

Josh Ladick, president at GSA Focus, emphasizes product training in sales training. Ladick says, “Product knowledge and customer-engagement strategies are the fundamentals that empower new hires, giving them confidence and clarity when interacting with clients.”

Pro tip: Encourage new reps to use your product or service themselves as much as possible. First-hand experience builds confidence and allows them to speak authentically about how your solution solves customer pain points.

4. Gaining an Understanding of the Market

A successful sale often comes down to BANT: Budget, Authority, Need, and Timing. While determining budget and handling general price objections can be pretty straightforward for an experienced representative, the other three components require familiarity (and perhaps intimacy) with both the buyer and the market. Here’s why:

• Authority. To establish authority with the prospect, the representative must understand your position in the market: your strengths and weaknesses, as well as those of your competitors.
• Need. The representative must also develop competency in mapping those strengths and weaknesses to prospect pain points to qualify for (and prove) fit.
• Timing. Gauging the prospect’s timing, knowing customer and sales lifecycles, and developing a nurturing and follow-up process that works with those life cycles are crucial for getting the timing just right.

Getting the last three elements of BANT takes experience and training. Once a new hire understands who you’re selling to and what their needs are, you can more easily adapt your selling methods to these areas.

Stage 3: First 60 Days

Once the sales representative completes their “information gathering” period, it’s time to give them hands-on experience. During this time, managers should empower new reps to improve their comfort level with the selling process. Reps should also work on developing sales processes and routines. Here are some helpful tactics to get you there.

Job Shadowing

An effective way to onboard a new sales rep is to pair them with one of your seasoned team members. This gives insights in real-time and lets them learn by watching. Have the new employee listen to calls, ask questions about workflow, and get a sense of the team’s strategy.

One-on-One Feedback

This training method pairs a new hire with a senior team member for individualized coaching. The personalized approach allows the new salesperson to receive direct feedback, tailored guidance, and mentorship that aligns with their strengths and areas for development.

Peer Training

Peer training involves a new hire learning directly from a colleague at their level rather than a senior leader. This method fosters collaboration, helps the new employee build relationships within their team, and creates a comfortable learning environment with less pressure. It also ensures that new hires quickly adapt to the team’s daily workflows.

Roleplaying

Conducting roleplays during sales training helps new reps practice conversations. A team member acts as a prospective client, and the new rep can test different approaches to see what works for them.

This interactive method sharpens key skills such as objection handling, negotiation, and active listening. It also promotes teamwork and prepares the new sales representative for real-world scenarios.

Prospecting and Introductions

Your new hire is likely going to work with some accounts already on the books. In some cases, they may be replacing an employee who has left, inheriting multiple clients. The representative should introduce themselves to points of contact for accounts that already exist. Beyond that, it’s time for your new rep to do some initial prospecting and outreach to begin filling their pipeline.

Performance Reviews

Conduct regular reviews with sales representatives to give constructive feedback, recognize achievements, and identify areas for improvement. Assess rep individual and team performance by focusing on key metrics, such as conversion rates, quota attainment, and sales cycle length.

This doesn’t have to be as formal as your team’s annual performance review. The goal here is to update the rep on their onboarding progress.

https://youtu.be/l1slThPkHyA

Stage 4: First 90 Days

After 60 days, the representative should be comfortable and autonomous enough to apply their training and start making an impact as their pipeline opens up. Managers should ensure that new reps have everything they need to:

• Establish a schedule that’s aggressive but works for the rep.
• Meet with prospects and develop relationships.
• Navigate the process, hit KPIs, and crush goals.

Once you’re sure your representatives are ready to hit the ground, here are some of the last things I suggest you do.

Set clear expectations & goals.

Set 30-, 60-, and 90-day goals. Calculate ramp rate based on the average number of months it takes a new salesperson to hit 100% (or close to) of quota. To make this more accurate, segment an average ramp period by experience. For example, it might take the typical veteran salesperson four months to ramp, while a freshly minted college grad requires nine months.

Establish a new-hire mentor.

Sales onboarding can be challenging. You can lessen the challenges by assigning a mentor to help beyond your initial training period. At some organizations, a mentor is a more senior rep who can inspire new hires. At other companies, mentors are at the same level but have spent more time in the role, offering peer-to-peer advice.

Mentees can bounce questions, comments, and growing pains off their mentors. Mentorship provides new hires with perspective, guidance, and advice from someone outside their management team.

At HubSpot, new hires get paired with a mentor. Beyond the first few weeks, mentors can offer career advice, make important networking connections, and save salespeople from burnout. In my experience, pairing new hires with mentors sets them up for a longer, happier career with your company.

Making the Most of a Sales Manual

A sales manual is a guide that contains the background information of your company, the goals you want to achieve, and the selling process. These documents are a great way to standardize your sales agents’ orientation program.

You want to create a sales manual that becomes the go-to guide for new sales personnel. Naturally, the manual will guide them through their entire onboarding process. The manual should provide details about their job and technology access. A good sales manual also describes your target client and how to talk to them, as well as the do’s and don’ts of your selling process.

Pro tip: Sometimes, a sales manual will include technical guides, like how to log in to certain software or how to access a sales dialer. You can create these parts quickly and painlessly using HubSpot’s free Guide Creator, which captures step-by-step instructions with images.

Regularly update your sales manual based on feedback from new hires. If reps frequently ask the same questions or struggle with a particular process, refine the manual to address those gaps proactively.

Sales Manual Examples

Every sales training manual is different based on what the company sells, as well as its goals and objectives. Here are four examples of sales manuals you can use as a guide to write yours.

1. HubSpot Sales Training Manual [PDF]

HubSpot has an elaborate onboarding process for its sales agents. The entire process takes 90 days. In the first 30 days, sales agents learn about HubSpot, our selling systems, solutions, customers, and everything else about what we offer.

For the next 30 days, the sales agent gets what I’d describe as a “trial process.” They start their sales journey by applying the concepts, principles, and lessons that they’ve learned. This is when an agent fashions their style through experimentation.

After 60 days, the sales agents are ready to work officially. The sales manager sets key performance indicators (KPIs) for the agent and provides what they need to achieve them. On the 90th day, the agent can monitor their progress and see what they can change for better results.

For more details on the 30/60/90 method, download the HubSpot Free Sales Training Manual.

What I like: HubSpot’s sales manual makes expectations clear for each milestone. Reps can easily benchmark where they are in the process and if they’re falling behind.

2. Jibu Sales Training and Development Guide [PDF]

Jibu is a drinking water company with over 160 franchises in eight African countries. It has sold over 490 million liters, so it’s doing something right. One element of its success? Jibu’s sales agent training guide.

The sales manual template is split into two sections. The first part contains the company’s background information. This allows the sales agents to connect with the company and understand how things run across the organization. It includes:

• What sets Jibu apart from its competitors.
• Who Jibu’s customers are and why they love Jibu.
• Jibu’s production technology.
• How Jibu settled on their price range.

The second part of the sales agent guide covers the selling process. Some things that the sales agent learns in this part include:

• The difference between marketing and sales.
• The different types of Jibu customers.
• How to engage with customers.
• What to avoid in sales.

This part is crucial in ensuring that sales agents understand the company’s expectations on how they should carry themselves.

Check out the Jibu Sales Training and Development Guide PDF to see all the details.

What I like: This manual includes information about the company’s mission. This information can inspire reps, getting them fired up to sell. They’ll also know more about what sets Jibu apart so they can close deals more successfully.

3. Badger Sales Training Manual [PDF]

This guide is ideal for a newbie in the sales department. Badge Sales Training Manual provides a comprehensive guide on all the basics of sales training. It defines sales and teaches you how to go about it.

In this guide, you’ll learn hacks like how to cut the sales training program time by 50%. This will ensure your sales agents are effective and you don’t spend months in the training session without getting results.

The Badger sales manual also teaches selling methods to ensure you choose those aligned with your products or services. Check out the Badger Sales Training PDF to learn the rudiments of sales.

What I like: This guide describes which sales tasks can be automated and by what tools. This manual can help you save time from the get-go so reps can close deals faster.

4. Trojan Labor Sales Training Manual [PDF]

Trojan is a subsidiary of Hire Quest Direct that has been in the industry since 2002. They help companies look for workers in any field — most of whom are temp employees. Trojan has an intensive sales manual training guide that teaches its sales agents everything they need to sell its staffing services.

The manual also teaches the agents the importance of not over-glamorizing their services to manage the customers’ expectations. It also guides agents on what to do once a customer makes an order and the correct follow-up messages.

What I like: Trojan’s sales manual shares email and call templates their agents can use in different scenarios, making work easier for new recruits.

Best Practices for Training Salespeople

1. Train them on how to use your CRM.

Your CRM is where you log calls, deals, and account information. Your reps use it every day, so you should spend real time getting new hires comfortable with the platform.

Include hands-on, project-based training such as entering new contacts, setting reminders, and logging communication. When appropriate, have them take a CRM certification exam. Most CRMs offer them, and it’s a great way to ensure new reps understand how to use the software.

You can find HubSpot’s free certification courses here.

2. Conduct call reviews.

Before your reps fly solo put multiple call reviews on the calendar. This can either be synchronous, with a manager sitting in the room with the rep listening in, or asynchronous by using a call recording platform. Managers can see how the call went and give helpful tips on how to improve.

You can also have new reps check out calls from your top performers. In my experience, this experience can be aspirational and expose new reps to tactics they may not have considered before. New hires can also learn from a variety of experience levels and a wider range of critiques.

3. Provide a sales process overview.

Cover the main stages of the sales process and conversion rate benchmarks (on average, 10% of emails convert to connect calls, 20% of connect calls convert to discover calls, etc.). This will tell your new representatives where to prioritize efforts and what numbers they’ll be held to.

Playing the numbers game varies from business to business. This is a good time to share how your company performs in the market and the challenges of selling your specific offering.

4. Train reps on how your company handles prospecting.

How does your company prospect? Share common channels, number of touchpoints, and best practices. Outline how much research representatives should conduct and which details they should look for.

If you have any helpful templates or tools to automate some of the research process, be sure to share them. This can give your new rep a leg up.

5. Walk the reps through your buyer personas.

Describe your ideal customer. If you’re a B2B company, teach your salespeople what a best-fit company looks like and which contacts they should try to get. If you’re B2C, describe the consumers that reps should target. I also recommend you lay out the foundation for how your organization assesses and communicates with decision-makers.

6. Provide a competitive analysis.

During the training process, make the time to orient new hires to your industry. That includes describing your competitors and what makes your offering a standout. You can either share a competitive analysis or turn the process into an exercise, having reps research your company and discussing at the end.

Be honest about where your product/service falls short of the competition and where it outperforms the rest of the market.

https://youtu.be/0KyCAcV_y7o

7. Have strong reps provide demo training.

Incorporate good and bad examples into demo training and have everyone participate in role-play. Conduct reviews of new hire demos, connect calls, and close conversations. Include common objections that arise during your sales process, and let new hires respond to those objections before supplying them with ready-made scripts.

My rule of thumb is to provide positive feedback first, then move to areas for improvement. Foster this rule in your sales organization to create a team that embraces constructive criticism instead of being afraid or resentful.

8. Hold technical training.

Learning to use team or company technology (i.e., phones, video platforms, etc.) can be a tough and undocumented process. Train new hires on using your technological resources, and have them showcase their skills during a demo with you.

When they can troubleshoot basic issues — like asking prospects to mute their microphones if an echo arises during a presentation — they’re one step closer to being ready for a live call.

9. Practice negotiating and common object handling.

Even experienced representatives need to know how a company approaches the negotiation phase. What are your parameters for discounts and sales? What kind of judgment calls can your representatives make in terms of discounts? And, what is the etiquette for discussing these topics with prospects?

When buying a new car, I was paired with a new sales rep. I kept saying no to maintenance plans until the final offer — a deal so good that it didn’t even cover the cost of oil for regular changes. When the rep’s manager came in, he was genuinely surprised (if not a little annoyed) by the low cost of my plan.

The lesson here? Make it very clear what salespeople can and cannot offer to prospects. You don’t want to severely undercut your offering.

https://youtu.be/UyZJVsMqFss

10. Offer client onboarding training when applicable.

Will your representatives be in charge of onboarding new clients? In some cases, this responsibility falls to the customer success team. At smaller organizations, salespeople may work with clients on implementation.

Your new hire should know exactly where their role ends. If their job includes onboarding, share a checklist of what they need to guide clients through. If there’s a hand-off to a renewal manager or customer experience representative, ensure both parties should understand that process.

11. Encourage necessary certifications.

While this is not required in every role, I believe that certifications can be a helpful part of the new hire journey. Here at HubSpot, representatives are certified in inbound sales and inbound marketing. These reps also become certified in giving HubSpot demos. I’ve seen that really successful reps understand how these ideas work, customizing the inbound methodology to their personal sales processes.

So my recommendation? At the end of sales training, hold a certification exam for new reps. Certain passing scores must be met and managers are notified if further training is necessary.

12. Create vertical-, role-, or territory-specific training.

Everyone should move through basic sales training to understand the goals, values, and customers that your sales organization prioritizes. From there, you need to provide relevant supplementary training for role-specific duties.

Your manual for an account executive should be different from a business development representative. If you’re bringing in a manager or executive, further training may be required to set them up for success. Any manuals or training materials should be tailored to each specific role.

Beyond that, you’ll want to localize training. HubSpot is a global company. I’ve heard from sales leaders across the organization that winning tactics vary by market. You need to train your reps on specific verticals or territories they’ll be targeting (i.e., when prospecting in the Pacific Northwest, phone calls convert at a higher rate than emails).

13. Keep training engaging.

I’ve found that a good training process accounts for different learning styles and preferences. Use a range of sales training games and activities to keep your training engaging for all. Create a questionnaire to get feedback after training sessions to understand what the team liked and disliked about each session so you can develop your onboarding as you go.

Make Your Sales Training Worthwhile

Ramping up in sales is tough. But if you do it right, you’ll see big benefits. I’ve seen it right here at HubSpot. Reps who know how to sell drive revenue. Beyond that, the reps I’ve spoken to note that they’re more likely to stick around at companies where they feel supported by their managers.

Reps here have told me that they appreciate the company’s Foundations orientation program. They’ve learned from mentors and call reviews. These structures help them learn more about our product and processes, making their initial ramp smoother.

So, don’t skimp on new rep onboarding. Get it right, and you’ll enjoy the benefits of talent retention, high morale, and a high-quality sales strategy.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in August 2019 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

A strong sales strategy plan creates the foundation for a cohesive and successful sales organization. Sales strategies and initiatives also align salespeople on shared goals and empower them to do their best work — keeping them happy and successful, too.

In this guide, I’ll dig into some sales strategies and initiatives that I’ve found can help you generate more leads and close more deals. But first, let’s define what a sales strategy is.

Table of Contents

• What is a sales strategy?
• The Most Effective Sales Strategies
• How to Build a Sales Strategy
• Sales Initiatives
• Why is a sales strategy important?
• Sales Strategy Types
• Sales Strategy Examples from Successful Sales Teams

Source

Most strategies involve a detailed plan of best practices and processes set by management.

Why is a sales strategy important?

A clear sales strategy serves as a map for the growth of your business. Your sales strategy is key to future planning, problem-solving, goal-setting, and management.

An effective sales strategy can help you:

• Give your team direction and focus. Strategic clarity can help your sales reps and managers understand which goals and activities to prioritize. This can lead to improved productivity and outcomes.
• Ensure consistent messaging. Your sales strategy can help your team deliver a consistent message to prospects, partners, and customers. This can increase both trust and effectiveness.
• Optimize opportunities. Strong sales strategies will help you target the right prospects and customize your approach. This can help your team make the most of every sales opportunity.
• Improve resource allocation. Your sales strategy outlines your priorities and resources. In turn, this can help your sales team use their time, effort, and other resources more efficiently, boosting your team’s ability to focus on high-potential deals.

Next, let’s cover some of the sales strategies that I’ve found can be most effective.

Sales Strategy Types

The customer is the most important element to consider when choosing your business‘s sales strategy. Once you’ve addressed their needs, you can start thinking about your sales team. Your sales strategy should offer a framework that attracts and engages prospects — while simultaneously enabling your team to build relationships.

Prospects‘ and teams’ needs and interests vary, so your sales strategy shouldn’t be one-size-fits-all. Every sales org should draw up the type of sales strategy that works best for its priorities.

Here are some frameworks you can reference when putting yours together.

Outbound Sales Strategy

Outbound sales strategies are the legacy approach of most sales teams. In these systems, companies base their sales strategy on the seller, not the customer.

Outbound sales processes often include cold calling, purchasing email lists, and engaging in other cold prospecting techniques. As a result, daily success metrics are often based on the quantity of connections, not the quality.

Outbound sales teams often rely on manually-entered data to monitor their sales pipelines and coach their salespeople. To enhance efficiency, outbound sales teams may utilize software to automate certain tasks, though the integration might not be seamless. They may also run sales and marketing independently, which can create a disjointed experience for buyers.

Inbound Sales Strategy

Inbound sales strategies are the modern methodology for sales teams. Companies following an inbound approach base their sales processes on buyer actions, capturing seller and buyer data to monitor their pipelines and coach their salespeople.

Inbound sales strategies connect reps’ activities to the three stages of the buyer journey — awareness, consideration, and decision — encouraging sales teams to map their tactics to each step.

The inbound methodology also aligns sales and marketing, creating a seamless experience for buyers. Check out this post to learn more about inbound sales and how to develop an inbound sales process.

Inbound vs. Outbound Sales Methodology

Nowadays, much of the information needed to evaluate a product is available online — empowering buyers and making them less reliant on sellers for product knowledge and insight. That means that if sales teams don’t align with the modern buyer’s process. If they fail to add value beyond the information already available online, then buyers will have no reason to engage with a sales team.

As I mentioned above, inbound sales benefits buyers at each stage of the buyer process, including:

• Awareness.
• Consideration.
• Decision.

Inbound sales teams help buyers become aware of potential problems or opportunities and discover strategies to solve those problems.

Then, buyers evaluate whether the salesperson can help with their problem, and if the buyer thinks they can, they’ll purchase a solution to their problem. Inbound sales reps are helpful and trustworthy, creating partnerships rather than power struggles.

Consultative Selling

The modern sales professionals should always act as helpful, consultative resources for prospects. Consultative selling is a strategy that leans into that trend. It places emphasis on leading with relationship building and positioning the right product after that connection has been established.

This brand of sales involves certain key actions, including balancing questions with insights, developing trust with extensive product knowledge, active listening, and letting feedback guide conversations.

Obviously, this is an extremely high-level overview of the strategy — for a more granular picture of how it works, check out this article.

Account-Based Selling

Account-Based Selling (ABS) is a sales strategy that’s rooted in locking in on key, higher-value accounts as opposed to casting a wide net for a broad range of prospects. With ABS, salespeople are expected to identify and pursue specific accounts that have high conversion potential.

That means salespeople are expected to conduct thorough, thoughtful research on prospects to more effectively meet them where they are. The strategy also places emphasis on collaboration with marketing — sales teams lean on their marketing departments to create personalized, targeted content for each account.

Ultimately, successfully executed Account-Based Selling rests on a sales team’s ability to take a granular approach to really lock in on individual prospects’ needs and interests. Salespeople leveraging the strategy also need to know how to prioritize the accounts they pursue.

ABS can be extremely effective if it’s done right, but it does come with its share of risk — if your sales org elects to forego reaching out to a wide range of prospects in favor of connecting with key accounts, you generally have less room for error.

Partner Selling

Partner selling is a sales strategy that requires forming strategic partnerships with adjacent brands. With partner selling, your company gains access to new markets through promotion from your partner.

Ideally, your partner will have their own client base. This is generally preferred because it means sales teams can tap into a new market without spending weeks or months researching potential leads and refining messaging strategies.

The downside of partner selling is that your in-house sales team may not be the ones directly selling to customers. This means you’ll need to rely on your partner’s sales teams to do the work and trust they’re portraying your company in the most favorable light.

Value-Based Selling

A smart salesperson knows that the best way to make a sale is to describe the benefits and value of the purchase. While most salespeople throw this strategy into their everyday sales conversations, it has a name: value-based selling.

Value-based selling focuses on selling the positives and benefits of your products and services. To effectively use this strategy, your sales team needs to dig deep into your ideal client’s pain points and understand their challenges.

When done correctly, value-based selling is effective. It helps build relationships with your clients, while also positioning your company as an industry solution.

For a look at some other key methodologies that can inform your sales strategy, check out this article.

Below, I’ll walk through how to create a sales strategy plan for your team.

The most effective sales strategies involve the entire organization. Sure, individual sales pros may excel in one strategy over another, but to really drive the point home and close more deals, you need everyone on the same page.

Check out these practical (and effective!) sales strategies. Choose the ones that best fit your brand and train your team on how to use them.

1. Increase online sales through social media.

Focusing on online sales is a great sales strategy, but it requires the help of your marketing team. To understand how effective social media marketing is for online sales, let’s look at some data from Statista. Statista surveyed marketers across the globe and found:

• 83% say social media helps increase their brand awareness.
• 73% say social media marketing helps increase traffic to their website.
• 65% of marketers say it helps generate new leads.

There’s no doubt social media brings about increased online sales. However, while it may be tempting to jump on the hottest social media trend or just go wherever your competitors are, that probably won’t be your best choice. Instead, be diligent about figuring out where your target customers are spending their time and meet them where they’re most active.

For some companies, that means advertising on TikTok. And for others, that means avoiding TikTok in favor of focusing on LinkedIn.

Pro tip: Social media was built for connections. You may need to adjust your tone and voice to match different platforms. You’ll want your content to blend in naturally with the platform and not seem out of place.

2. Become a thought leader.

Thought leadership is more than just a trendy buzzword. It’s a sales and marketing strategy designed to position your company as a leader in the industry. It takes dedication and cross-department collaboration. When done correctly, it helps build an undeniable brand narrative that attracts the right leads.

Sharing advice, tried-and-true best practices, and niche expertise are some of the most long-lasting ways to build a brand narrative and lend more credibility to your organization.

That’s what thought leaders do.

An Edelman report found that “Thought leadership is one of the most effective tools an organization can use to demonstrate its value to customers during a tough economy — even more so than traditional advertising or product marketing, according to B2B buyers.”

According to the study, 61% of decision-makers believed that thought leadership could be moderately or very effective in demonstrating the value of a company’s products.

So what’s the catch? Not all thought leadership content is created equal.

Thought leadership can have a huge positive impact, but poor thought leadership can be devastating to a company’s sales goals. So, before you plan a spree of LinkedIn posts to drive leads, consider:

• Who your audience is.
• What they need to know.
• How your organization can help.

Then, consider which of your employees should engage with your thought leadership strategy. Thought leaders can be anyone in your organization, including:

• C-level executives.
• Sales leaders.
• Marketers.
• Customer service representatives.

Also, it may not hurt to have a second set of eyes from your marketing, communication, and PR departments review your plan first to make sure everything is on-brand (and trackable!).

3. Prioritize inbound sales calls as hot leads.

You and your sales team know your process better than anyone. So take it from me — if you’ve seen success with pitching with pricing first, last, or somewhere in between, stick with what’s working for you.

Beyond that, your team should always prioritize the prospects who come to you. These hot leads are definitely interested in what you have to sell, and before they make a decision, they want to get the information they need about how it will benefit them.

By prioritizing talking to these prospects as soon as they call in or send an email, you’re putting your best foot forward and showing them that you’re helpful, solutions-oriented, and considerate of their time.

4. Implement a free trial.

47% of sales pros who offer buyers self-service tools are more likely to be over their sales goals compared to pros who do not offer those kinds of tools.

So, what’s the best way to get prospects interested in your offerings? A free trial.

Free trials give potential customers the opportunity to test your product out before committing to it. This sales strategy helps create interest while also nudging leads through the conversion funnel.

Pro tip: To encourage users to switch to a paid version, you can place restrictions on your free version, such as limited features or usage caps — but it’s important to ensure that people still have a positive experience with the free trial.

5. Don’t shy away from cold calling.

In sales, cold calling is unavoidable. But it doesn’t have to be miserable. There are a number of cold-calling techniques that really work, including HubSpot’s bulletproof cold-calling template.

I would also highly recommend using HubSpot Sales Hub‘s playbooks and conversation intelligence features here. Playbooks allow you to store call scripts for various scenarios along with other resources in a centralized database — it helps reps adjust their approach on the fly whenever needed.

Conversation intelligence records and stores calls directly within the platform. It then lets you examine each call and leave feedback on any given moment within a conversation.

Pro tip: If your reps are feeling nervous, have them practice cold calls with one another before making actual calls. In my experience, that can be a great way to boost a sales team’s confidence and get everyone comfortable with the script.

6. Offer a demonstration of the product.

Pitching can be the make-or-break moment in a sales strategy. The sales pitch has to be a powerful, compelling presentation, but it also can’t come on too strong — otherwise, you risk scaring away the prospect.

To strike this balance, study the elements of a successful sales pitch and craft a narrative that illustrates to prospects how they’ll benefit from making the purchase. Test your presentations on a few loyal customers and gather their feedback, helping you optimize your pitch and ensure it clearly demonstrates your product’s value-add.

Pro tip: Involve your marketing team to help you create a successful sales pitch. Your marketers understand your audience and can help you craft a better, more compelling message to share with your sales team.

7. Provide a personalized, clear end result.

Prospects want to purchase a means to improve their own operations. So, after you walk through your offering, you have to personalize your explanation of its benefits.

Remember how I mentioned value-based selling? It’s an effective sales strategy your entire team can implement. Focus on highlighting how your company can help each individual prospect in a way that’s valuable to them.

For example, if you’re selling customer service software to a small business that has no experience with similar tools, it’s your job to educate them on how your solution can add value in a small business setting. In this context, explaining how you’ve helped large customers manage hundreds of employees would be completely irrelevant and perhaps even confusing.

With this personalized approach, your prospects will have an easier time seeing how they can use your product or service, instead of getting stuck debating what they’ll even use it for.

8. Be willing to adapt your offering.

In sales conversations, you should expect to come across clients with unique demands. Every company has its own structures and needs, so encountering some variability is only natural.

As Marco Sandrone, a sales leader for the global staffing company Gi Group, explains, “Sales is a dynamic and competitive field that requires constant learning and improvement … that’s why one of the key skills that salespeople need to succeed in today’s fast-changing business environment is adaptability.”

Sandrone notes that adaptability allows teams to adjust to different situations and circumstances. Sales people can then “respond effectively to new challenges and opportunities. It involves being flexible, creative, and resilient in the face of change,” Sandrone says.

You can’t say yes to everything. But instead of immediately saying “we won’t” or “we can’t” to every customer requirement, make sure your sales strategy (and your reps!) is adaptable and able to accommodate your customers’ requests.

9. Close deals with confidence.

How your team closes a sale is just as important as how they start the conversation. Encourage clear, concise, and firm closing techniques to make sure your sales team sets the right expectations and delivers on their promises.

Keeping a list of proven, go-to closing techniques will help salespeople routinely win deals. Some of my favorite techniques include:

• The now or never close: “If you commit now, I can get you a 20% discount.”
• The question close: “In your opinion, does what I am offering solve your problem?”

Pro tip: 47% of sales pros use generative AI to write sales content or outreach methods. Consider giving your team access to an AI tool like Claude or ChatGPT to support their sales messaging.

To further improve your team’s closing techniques and learn to close deals with confidence, check out this free, downloadable Sales Closing Guide.

10. Nurture existing accounts for future selling opportunities.

Account management is an incredibly important part of the sales process, as this is how your team fosters loyal, happy customers and identifies cross-selling and upselling opportunities.

So, after your sales team sees success with its sales strategy, it’s vital to form a partnership between the sales team and customer service/success teams.

Remember: Ensuring customers’ continued satisfaction with your product or service will make them more likely to do business with your company again. You may even inspire them to advocate for it proactively.

Now that you have the template you need, let’s go over how you can build a sales strategy.

Your company needs a solid sales strategy to be successful. Adding AI to your sales strategy improves your sales processes while helping reps close more deals. In fact, Salesforce found that 83% of sales reps who use AI see revenue growth compared to 66% of sales reps who do not.

Below, I outline how to build a comprehensive sales plan and give you practical tips on how to incorporate AI to support your strategy.

1. Develop organizational goals.

Setting goals is a no-brainer for most sales teams. Otherwise, how will you know whether you’re executing the right activities or achieving the best results? There are three strategies that I’ve found can be particularly helpful in developing clear organizational goals for a sales strategy.

Involve cross-departmental stakeholders.

Avoid developing sales goals in a silo. Instead, be sure to get input from stakeholders across the organization, as every department is held accountable to the company’s bottom line.

Create SMART goals.

SMART stands for specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound. Setting SMART goals can help your team simplify and track complex, long-term sales goals.

For example, a specific, measurable, and time-bound goal could be to sell 150% of the projected sales quota in Q2. Your internal team can propose this goal and then decide whether it is both relevant and attainable (attainability is particularly important because setting unrealistic goals can harm team motivation).

Connect individual goals to organizational goals.

If you’re creating a team-specific strategy, you may also want to set goals for individual team members. Building ownership and accountability into sales goals can help keep your team aligned, and it also makes your sales strategy more cohesive.

Pro tip: Use an AI agent to help you further develop and refine your goals. For example, if you’re having trouble creating SMART goals, AI can help you develop a realistic plan for your sales team.

2. Create a customer profile that is tailored to a specific product offering.

A detailed profile of your target customer — a buyer persona — is an essential component of an effective sales strategy. Below, I’ve outlined the key steps to take when creating a buyer persona to ensure you come up with a useful profile:

Find target markets and segments.

First, look at your industry as a whole. Get a sense of your ideal customer’s company size, psychographics, and buying process. You may want to look at industry trends, too.

Conduct market research to understand customer needs and preferences.

Next, do some market research. This template can help you streamline the process and understand which types of research will be best for your business.

You may also want to do some competitor analysis at this stage. Once you know the strengths and weaknesses of competing brands, you can more easily find gaps that you can fill for specific customers.

Create a clear value proposition to attract your ideal customer to your product or service.

Finally, make sure your product offering outlines the benefits of your product for your target customer. It’s important to use insights from your customer profile to emphasize features that solve your target customer’s pain points.

Your business may already have a clear value proposition — but if not, you can use these free value proposition templates to draft one.

Be sure to schedule time to update and refine your buyer persona to make sure it stays aligned with current customer trends and expectations.

Pro tip: AI is a fantastic tool to help you create your buyer persona. Once you’ve conducted your research, consider using that information to create a CustomGPT. A CustomGPT can act as your ideal client, helping you refine your messaging and develop a sales strategy that better resonates with your audience.

3. Hire, onboard, and compensate sales team members adequately.

To develop an effective sales strategy, you need to have a powerful sales team in place. That means investing in hiring, onboarding, and retaining top talent. Specifically, I have learned that there are three key components of building (and keeping) a supportive, successful sales team:

Create great processes for hiring new members of your sales team.

First and foremost, create a list of criteria for sales managers to screen for when interviewing candidates. A well-defined job description and competency framework are also useful. These tools can help your team recruit and retain top talent.

Develop sales onboarding, training, and development programs.

Your training and onboarding program should prepare your sales team to sell effectively and efficiently. It should also help sales reps build advanced skills and industry knowledge.

But what if you don’t have the resources to develop comprehensive training in-house? In these situations, it may be worth considering combining organization-specific training with online sales training programs.

Create a motivational compensation and rewards plan.

Finally, once you’ve built a strong team, it’s vital to ensure your compensation plan is set up to motivate and retain them.

Many organizations connect sales compensation to organizational sales goals, but regardless of the specific compensation plan you choose, make sure that it meets or exceeds industry expectations. It should also inspire your team to celebrate individual and team achievements.

4. Create a plan to generate demand.

Now, it’s time to put together a detailed plan for how to target potential customers and increase their awareness of your offering. This may include using paid social acquisition channels, creating e-books, hosting webinars, and the many other strategies laid out in this article.

Featured Resource: Sales Plan Template

Download the Template for Free

As you create your sales plan, here are some of my top tips to remember:

Create targeted messaging and positioning for your target audience.

Targeted positioning will help your team create a foundation for reaching your top-priority audiences. It will also help you choose the best channels and tactics for each campaign, boosting your chances of increasing demand and identifying qualified leads with your sales strategy.

Add clear goals and KPIs to your sales plan.

In my experience, clear goals are critical both to help you stay motivated and to make sure you’re able to track the effectiveness of your sales strategies. Tracking these metrics can also help you change or update your strategies to increase their effectiveness over time.

Create processes for lead nurturing and follow-up.

Once you’ve generated some demand, it’s time to start converting. Of course, not every lead generation opportunity translates into a qualified lead or sales opportunity.

As you track your newly generated demand, find ways to align your processes with your buyers’ journeys. Then, use sales automation tools to manage your leads and create personalized follow-ups. This can help every rep on your team send the right message at the right time.

Optimize your sales plan and process.

It’s also essential to build in time to review your metrics. Then, you can use A/B testing, customer feedback, and sales team insights to refine your sales strategy plan further.

Pro tip: AI sales tools can help optimize your sales processes. Some tools can help your team quickly identify hot leads, while others help verify data, like phone numbers, to make cold outreach more effective. Review your strategy to identify areas of improvement, then look for an AI tool that can help fill in those gaps.

5. Measure individual and team performance.

Once you’ve set up your infrastructure, you’ll want to start creating procedures for tracking performance on the individual, team, and company levels. Tracking your efforts is imperative to optimize your processes and practices for future growth. Even if you’re just getting started with setting benchmarks for the team, write those goals down and track your progress toward them.

Build useful metrics to track sales performance.

This can take the form of quarterly KPIs, weekly dashboards, monthly reviews, or some combination of all three. Whatever cadence you choose, your process should also highlight the specific metrics that the team should focus on.

If you’re not sure where to start, these commonly-used KPIs can help you align performance expectations with sales goals:

• Revenue targets.
• Sales quotas.
• Conversion rates.
• Lead-to-opportunity ratios.
• Average deal size.
• Pipeline velocity.

Think about real-time performance tracking.

While business KPIs are useful for the long-term, fast-moving industries may need real-time tracking as well. To get an at-a-glance look at sales team performance, I’d suggest looking into tools that can give you instant visibility, such as HubSpot’s Sales Hub.

It’s also a good idea to consider using a dedicated AI sales tool. 52% of sales pros use tools like these for forecasting and analysis. Real-time insights can help you quickly find and address issues, creating opportunities for proactive sales performance management.

Create a process for sharing performance data.

Ultimately, tracking performance metrics gives you the data you need to offer constructive feedback and coaching to each member of your team. Whether you communicate via one-on-one meetings, performance reviews, or team huddles, it’s important to make space for these conversations. Regularly sharing and discussing performance data is a great way to understand performance gaps, offer guidance, and share best practices.

Pro tip: 40-65% of salespeople say AI saves them at least an hour of time each week. Consider implementing an AI tool with advanced reporting capabilities to cut down the time your team spends on data analysis.

6. Track sales activities.

Data is key to an effective sales strategy plan. With sales activity metrics, you can go beyond individual team performance to understand your entire sales operation.

Collect a range of sales activity data.

Sales activity metrics can help you understand how the team approaches day-to-day sales as a whole. I’ve found that it can be helpful to track everything from the sales presentation to closing techniques.

Specifically, collect data to see how your sales team performs beyond call or deal numbers in activities, such as:

• Meetings scheduled.
• Presentations delivered.
• Proposals submitted.
• Sales presentation success rates.
• Closing techniques.

Comparing this data to other goal metrics can show you patterns, best practices, and areas for improvement.

Track, lead, and prospect sources.

It’s also vital to make sure you’re tracking where your prospects are coming from. For example, if you’ll be publishing thought leadership content or sourcing leads from social media, make sure that any link you share is trackable with a UTM parameter.

Trackable links aren’t just valuable for learning which channels are generating the most leads. They can also help you focus your resources on the channels that generate the most relevant, qualified leads for driving sales.

Focus on continuous improvement.

Once you have a complete set of analytics to track your strategy, use that data to refine your sales strategies, team knowledge, and plans. A clear, data-driven process will make it easier to use customer feedback to grow your sales. It will also give your sales team the agility to adapt to industry and market changes that may impact your business down the road.

Businesses should always be looking for ways to innovate their approach to sales. Of course, it can be hard to know where to start — so here are some creative initiatives that can help sales reps and teams jumpstart their performance, stand out from the competition, and boost team productivity.

1. Refresh your buyer personas regularly.

Buyer personas inform all kinds of activity at your business, including (and most importantly) who your marketing and sales teams pursue as customers.

As your market and company shift, your buyer personas can become out-of-date, causing your sales team’s work to become stagnant and ineffective. As such, it’s critical to work with your marketing team to refresh your buyer personas regularly to best equip your sales team for prospecting and outreach.

Pro tip: If you’ve created a CustomGPT for your buyer persona, update your AI chatbot with new information as it becomes available. This can help you and your team create better sales pitches as your target audience evolves.

2. Actively align sales and marketing.

To align your sales team with your company’s marketing efforts, create and honor a service-level agreement (SLA) between your sales and marketing teams. This agreement will detail how each team can support each other, contribute to each other’s goals, and honor boundaries in a way that still moves prospects toward conversion.

Download our free SLA Template for Sales & Marketing to align sales and marketing goals and activities.

3. Use a CRM.

Successful sales teams and strategies require the right tools.

HubSpot’s all-in-one CRM eliminates manual work and streamlines your sales activity and data. It also keeps your sales team up-to-date about all relevant activity with your prospects, enabling new levels of transparency to motivate and align your team.

You can also use it alongside HubSpot’s marketing analytics software to get a complete overview of how prospects move throughout your sales funnels and streamline operations on both sales and marketing fronts.

Get HubSpot’s Free CRM

4. Listen to your prospects.

Just because prospects aren’t customers yet doesn’t mean they don’t have valuable feedback to offer.

As you move prospects through the sales funnel (and especially when they drop off), ask for candid feedback about their experience with your team and products. Even if they’ve lost interest, you may learn something that can help you convert your next prospect.

5. Invest in sales development and team-building.

The best sales teams align not only with their customers but also with their coworkers.

Sales is a difficult career, and without proper encouragement and camaraderie, people can easily become burned out. So, to keep your sales team feeling satisfied and supported, don’t forget to invest in sales development and team-building activities.

Sales Strategy Examples from Successful Sales Teams

Below, I’ve analyzed two incredibly high-performing sales teams to help shed light on how their unique sales strategies helped them achieve success.

1.HubSpot

Founded in 2006, HubSpot has grown to serve more than 184,000 customers in over 120 countries, bringing in more than $1.7 billion in annual revenue. HubSpot IPO’d in 2014, and the company is now valued at over $24.63 billion.

Here are a few pages from the HubSpot sales strategy playbook.

Hire the right people according to repeatable evaluation criteria.

HubSpot started by defining a list of attributes that made a successful sales rep: Strong work ethic, coachability, intelligence, passion, preparation and knowledge of HubSpot, adaptability to change, prior success, organizational skills, competitiveness, and brevity.

From there, the team established a repeatable process to evaluate candidates during interviews based on these weighted criteria.

Train the sales team by making them wear customers’ shoes.

Next, the team outlined its unique value proposition, target customer, competition, most common objections, product features and benefits, and so forth. Hubspot then created a hands-on training program. This curriculum would not only imitate the sales process for reps before they actually began selling but also allow them to experience their target customers’ pain points for themselves.

Today, a large part of HubSpot’s training program involves having reps create their own website and blog and then drive traffic to it. This exercise allows reps to better understand and support potential customers in the future. The organization also uses exams, certification programs, and presentations to measure each rep’s performance.

After employees are onboarded, HubSpot continues tracking their progress throughout the various stages of its sales process. The primary criteria the team looks at include leads created, leads worked, demos delivered, and leads won. Then, these criteria are measured against each other to create ratios such as leads created versus leads won.

Finally, HubSpot’s sales leaders track each stage in the process, so that if a rep is struggling with any particular metric, they can dig deeper to understand why that’s the case and what they can do to help.

Align sales and marketing.

In addition, HubSpot’s sales and marketing teams work closely together in a process affectionately known as “Smarketing.” This helps both organizations collaboratively generate consistent leads each month.

Thanks to this process, marketing teams understand which qualities a lead needs to meet before it’s handed over to sales, as well as how many of those qualified leads it must create each month to meet sales projections.

At the same time, the sales team understands how long they should wait before contacting a lead and how many attempts they should make to contact that lead. All of these decisions are led by data and science, rather than guesswork or gut feelings.

2. Shopify

Known for its consistent sales momentum and customer satisfaction, Shopify offers another great example of a highly successful sales organization. In a recent press release, Loren Padelford, a Shopify VP and general manager of Shopify Plus, shared his secret sauce for boosting sales.

Hire great people, not necessarily great salespeople.

Hiring is arguably one of the most essential components of a great sales strategy. Many sales managers, though, are misled into believing that they must hire sales superstars.

Instead, Padelford looks for six key traits when hiring salespeople: intelligence, work ethic, a history of success, creativity, entrepreneurship, and competitiveness.

The truth is that sales teams must first look for great people. Then, you can train them to help them become great salespeople.

Treat sales as a science, not an art.

Padelford describes how, thanks to modern digital tools, we can now measure sales down to the second. We can explain success with cold, hard data points, rather than turning to vague, qualitative assessments.

As such, every sales team today should be tracking their average deal size, average sales cycle length, lead-to-deal conversion rate, calls per day per rep, and the number of deals in the pipeline.

When tracked over time, each of these metrics can inform companies about the health of their sales process and help them pinpoint areas where they need to improve.

Build a smart, technological foundation.

Before Padelford took over the sales process at Shopify, sales reps would manually log phone calls and emails into a CRM, consuming five precious hours each week. With a sales force of 26 reps, that added up to 130 wasted hours per week.

Realizing this misuse of time and capital, Padelford led Shopify to adopt the HubSpot CRM. With this modern CRM, Shopify’s sales reps were able to receive notifications when prospects opened their emails, clicked links, and viewed document attachments.

In addition, its prospecting tool gave reps access to more than 19 million prospects, as well as detailed information about these prospects, such as estimated revenue, number of employees, suggested email addresses, and so on.

Maintain a high-quality pipeline by eliminating unqualified leads.

Shopify uses a 4/5 Threshold to filter out unqualified leads, thereby allowing its sales reps to focus on selling to leads who have a higher probability of becoming customers.

To evaluate whether a lead is qualified, a rep must have a concrete answer to four of the following five variables:

• Pain. Is the prospective customer experiencing a prominent business issue or challenge that requires them to make a change?
• Power. Is the prospective customer directly involved with the decision-making process? If not, who is?
• Money. Does our offering fall within their budget constraints?
• Process. What’s their buying process?
• Timeline. What stage are they at in the buyer’s journey? Will they purchase within a reasonable time frame?

Grow Better with Sales Strategies, Initiatives, and Templates

Every company can benefit from crafting a sales strategy plan. The free template below includes everything you’ll need to customize your strategy for your business and sales team.

Most importantly, regardless of what strategy you choose, always implement a buyer-first approach. With the strategies, initiatives, and examples described above, you’ll be on your way to leading a successful, high-performance sales team.

Editor’s note: This post was originally written in April 2020 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Some sales managers hit their targets. Others build teams that consistently outperform, year after year. What makes the difference?

To find out, I spoke with top sales leaders, combed through expert interviews, and listened to hours of podcasts on leadership and performance. The best sales managers don’t just focus on hitting numbers — they build engaged, motivated, and constantly improving teams. They know how to develop talent, navigate challenges, and create a culture where people want to win.

In this piece, I’ll break down the key traits that separate good sales managers from truly exceptional leaders. These insights come straight from the experts, and they might just change the way you think about leading a team.

Table of Contents

• 5 Essential Sales Personality Traits
• How to Improve Your Sales Skills
• Tips for Selling Authentically
• Measure Leadership Impact Beyond Sales Numbers

5 Essential Sales Personality Traits

When I conducted my research and spoke to experts, I noticed something curious: the most successful leaders shared specific traits that had nothing to do with sales techniques. These five characteristics showed up repeatedly in how they handled problems, developed their people, and approached everyday decisions.

1. Coaching Mindset and Developmental Focus

This mindset prioritizes genuine development over basic metrics tracking.

According to Forrester’s Winter Sales Survey (2022), 62% of sales professionals in B2B organizations report that feedback and coaching from their first-line managers is effective and improves performance.

When coaching is done right — by focusing on skill development rather than just number monitoring — it directly impacts sales success. Instead of merely reviewing KPIs, high-performing managers take the time to guide reps through challenging objections, role-play difficult conversations, and offer constructive, real-time feedback.

If coaching isn’t translating into measurable improvement, it may not be coaching at all — it may just be oversight.

In a recent sales podcast, sales leadership expert Shane Gibson highlighted a common misconception. Many managers believe they‘re coaching when they’re actually just monitoring numbers.

“My goal is to really get out from behind the dashboard,” he said.

“Too many sales leaders say, ‘Are you coaching people on your team?’ ‘Oh, yeah, I am.’ Then, I sit on one of their coaching sessions, and they‘re just reviewing metrics. That’s not coaching, that’s compliance,” explains Gibson.

The distinction matters because reviewing metrics alone doesn’t make reps better. Real coaching pinpoints exact skill gaps — like weak objection handling — shows stronger approaches, and reinforces them with hands-on practice.

Later, in the same podcast discussion about building high-performance sales teams, Gibson elaborated on what good coaching entails:

“You need to add generative coaching, skills development, and deal-specific development to the mix if you’re really going to improve and grow the bench strength of your sales team.”

This requires blocking dedicated time for role-playing difficult calls, reviewing call recordings together, and creating personalized development plans for each team member.

2. Authentic Leadership and Vulnerability

Your team won’t follow who you pretend to be. They follow who you really are.

Too many sales managers try to project unshakable confidence, thinking it’s the key to leadership. But real leadership isn’t about having all the answers — it’s about being honest, adaptable, and showing up as your true self.

Our 2024 Sales Trends Report shows that 24% of high-performing sales teams highly rank the importance of building a culture of trust among reps, compared to only 13% of underperforming teams.

Top-performing teams actively cultivate an environment where authenticity, transparency, and trust are prioritized.

“Authentic leadership is the antithesis of imposter syndrome, in my opinion and experience,” says leadership coach Markus Neukom in the Sales Gravy podcast. “I help my clients empower themselves, and once they’re empowered, guess what? They can start empowering their people.”

This self-assurance allows leaders to show vulnerability rather than projecting false perfection. But how do you actually practice that?

Start by leading with transparency. In your next team meeting, openly share a challenge you’re facing and how you’re approaching it. When a deal falls through, instead of deflecting, break down what could have been done differently.

Neukom reinforces this: “You have to dare to be vulnerable. That’s what I basically said to that management team. You have to learn that vulnerability is the key.”

Vulnerability isn’t weakness — it’s a way to build trust. When leaders admit mistakes and limitations, team members feel safe doing the same.

3. Emotional Intelligence and Active Listening

Most sales leaders think they listen. Few actually do.

In tough coaching conversations, it‘s easy to start creating a response before the other person has even finished speaking. That’s not listening — that’s waiting for your turn to talk. “Observe, ask questions, learn to listen,” says Neukom. “When you get those two people in a room, and you ask questions, and you let them speak, half of the solution is already there.”

But active listening is more than nodding along. It means paying attention to tone, hesitation, and what isn‘t being said. “Really listening is an art of emotional intelligence,” Neukom explains. “It’s literally being open, focused on the other person, and here with all five senses.”

According to Jacob Wickett, Founder of Live Digital, a SaaS recruitment agency, “The strongest closers don’t just talk well; they listen well. They pick up on subtle buying signals and tailor their pitch accordingly.”

As a sales leader, this isn‘t just a skill to practice personally — it’s a cornerstone capability to develop in your team.

Try this in your next 1:1: After a rep shares a challenge, pause for three full seconds before responding. If they don’t add anything, ask, “And what else?” This forces you to stay present — and gives them space to share what they were really thinking.

4. Adaptability and Willingness to Change

New hires bring different expectations, industries shift, and buyers approach decisions differently than they did even a few years ago. A leadership style that worked in the past can quickly become outdated.

Markus Neukom has seen this firsthand.

“The question is not if. The question is when you have to adapt your leadership style,” he says. “In this room of 24 management team members, you already have 1/3 of Generation Y, and they ask you, ‘Why?’”

Leaders who struggle with adaptability often see change as a disruption. But those who embrace it recognize it as an advantage. When a team starts questioning the why behind decisions, that‘s not resistance — that’s engagement. Instead of shutting it down, turn it into a conversation.

This evolution extends beyond team management to the entire sales landscape.

“The industry is going through rapid changes, both when it comes to AI, prospect habits, and geopolitical factors that influence the market,” explains Mia Falls, Sales Development Representative from proposal platform Qwilr.

“It’s important to stay up to date and adapt to this month’s needs instead of relying on a yearly plan. In the past, sales has been like the misinterpretation of ‘survival of the fittest’. Those with the thickest skin and biggest bite got ahead. Nowadays, the actual meaning of Darwin’s phrase is true — those who are the most adaptable win.”

If you‘re leading the same way you did five years ago, it’s time to rethink your approach. Instead of giving instructions, ask your reps how they‘d solve a problem. Their response may point out hidden strengths, fresh perspectives, or gaps you didn’t know existed.

5. Strategic Vision and Effective Communication

A sales leader without a clear vision is like a team running plays with no strategy — disorganized, reactive, and unlikely to win. A strong vision shows up in daily decisions, team goals, and how leaders communicate priorities.

“90% of achieving any goals is knowing why, and 90% of getting your salespeople to shift their behaviors or implement new disciplines is often about effectively communicating the why,” says Shane Gibson in his sales podcast.

Telling your team what to do isn’t enough. If they don’t understand why it matters, they’ll resist, disengage, or go through the motions without real commitment. People don’t buy into change unless they see how it benefits them.

Gibson emphasizes this: “Are you inspired by it? If you‘re going to communicate your organizational sales vision or a major initiative, you’re the first person who has to buy into it, and have you connected it to their individual needs?”

Before your next team meeting, ask yourself: Would I be excited to hear this? If not, sharpen your message. Show them how the vision fuels their success — how it impacts their targets, growth, and daily work. If they see the value, they’ll own it.

How to Improve Your Sales Skills

Identifying what makes great sales leaders is just the first step — you need practical ways to build those capabilities in yourself and your team. The approaches below have helped sales professionals at every level sharpen their skills and deliver better results.

Each focuses on specific actions you can take this week, not vague suggestions that sound good but rarely translate to real improvement.

Implement regular self-assessment practices.

Day-to-day targets pile up, and it’s easy to assume experience alone drives improvement. Without regular self-reflection, small mistakes turn into bad habits, missed opportunities compound, and performance flatlines.

Self-assessment practices like structured reflection, peer feedback, and skill tracking help you improve your weaknesses and hone your strengths.

Our research found that 17% of high-performing sales teams highly rank the importance of making performance data available, compared to only 11% of underperforming teams. The ability to measure, track, and analyze performance transparently makes it easier to identify trends, correct weaknesses, and double down on successful strategies.

“Great leaders are great students. They’re highly coachable. They have coaches themselves. They seek mentors for growth in many aspects of their lives, and people want to follow people who are moving somewhere,” says Gibson.

Mia Falls recommends extending this practice across the team:

“Listening to the recordings of successful AE calls every week really helps you understand the product and customers on a deeper level. I’d also recommend finding a tracking system for positive prospect interactions that feels intuitive and works for you. Then, consult it frequently and learn from it. This helps me approach every month with new insights.”

By making these review sessions a regular part of your team’s schedule, you normalize the critical self-assessment process.

A structured approach helps here. Gibson suggests using a framework to measure progress:

“I’ve got a downloadable PDF that’s free. You can rate your sales coaching skills and your sales coaching process as an organization to see where you need to improve.”

Set a monthly habit: review recent calls, assess deal wins and losses, and get outside feedback.

Growth starts with awareness. Take 15 minutes this week to reflect: What’s one area where you struggled? What feedback have you been avoiding? Write it down, and set a small, specific goal to improve.

Build strategic relationship networks.

Strategic relationship building goes beyond random networking events. It’s about intentionally creating a web of relationships that generate opportunities, insights, and support when you need it most.

Think of your network as a living portfolio. Like any good investment strategy, diversification matters. You need connections across different industries, organizational levels, and functional areas. This diversity brings perspective you’d miss in an echo chamber of similar contacts.

For sales leaders, It’s not just about strong external ones, though. Internal ones matter just as much. It’s often down to how well you encourage collaboration within your organization.

“I’ve never had as supportive and motivating of a team as I had in Qwilr and it’s completely unleveled my sales game,” shares Falls. “Knowing that you can always ask a quick question, get some additional insight, and share feedback makes such a difference.”

But here’s where most sales leaders get it wrong: they focus on quantity over depth. Five authentic relationships with decision-makers who trust you enough to take your call will outperform 500 LinkedIn connections who barely remember your name.

Start by mapping your current network. Identify gaps where strategic relationships could open doors to new markets or opportunities. Then, develop a deliberate plan to nurture existing relationships and cultivate new ones by:

• Creating value before asking for anything.
• Following up consistently with personalized outreach.
• Connecting people within your network who might benefit each other.
• Sharing industry insights that address your contacts’ specific challenges.

When you genuinely invest in others‘ success, your network becomes not just a sales tool, but a competitive advantage that can’t be replicated.

Establish gold standards for key activities.

Creating gold standards forces you as a sales leader to sharpen your own skills first. You can’t define excellence without mastering it yourself.

In his podcast, Founder at Cerebral Selling, David Priemer discovered this developmental benefit:

“We told them what to do but never showed them a good version of what that narrative sounded like.”

When Priemer decided to fix this, he had to critically evaluate his own approach: “I had our VP of enterprise sales record what a good version—the gold standard—of that conversation with a customer sounded like.”

Identifying, recording, and analyzing perfect examples compels you to refine your sales techniques. You’ll spot gaps in your messaging, discover better transitions, and develop more compelling value propositions.

As Priemer notes, this self-improvement spans multiple skills: “If you have expectations of them — next steps, forecasting, objection handles — show them what good looks like, so you can hold them accountable.”

By clearly stating your standards, you’ll identify areas for growth and keep improving your sales skills.

Tips for Selling Authentically

Authentic sales leadership creates environments where teams can sell honestly and ethically without resorting to high-pressure tactics. As a leader, your job is to show your team how to match products with genuine customer needs rather than pushing whatever makes the biggest commission.

The approaches below help you build a culture where sales conversations focus on solving real problems instead of delivering slick pitches.

Connect personal values with organizational goals.

Don’t assume targets and commissions are enough to drive peak performance. Numbers alone rarely inspire sustainable excellence, and you need to connect company objectives with their team members’ personal values and aspirations.

Shane Gibson puts it bluntly: “If I’m communicating my vision in a way that’s top-down, not connecting to their values or explaining the overall why for them or their team, I’m already missing the boat. I’m not going to get buy-in from the team.”

This alignment process starts with curiosity: What drives each individual on your team?

For some, it might be financial security to support their family. For others, it could be professional growth, recognition, or making a difference for customers.

The reward for this effort is extraordinary: team members who see their success as connected to company goals approach their work with fresh energy. They solve problems more creatively, push through challenges, and become ambassadors for your vision.

Try these approaches to strengthen this connection:

• Hold one-on-ones focused solely on understanding personal motivations and career aspirations
• Reframe company initiatives in terms of how they support team members’ individual goals
• Create personalized development plans that serve both organizational needs and personal growth
• Celebrate wins in ways that recognize not just results but alignment with core values

When people see how their personal journey connects to the bigger picture, selling becomes less about transactions and more about shared purpose.

Embrace transparency and direct feedback.

Sales teams need clear talk, not careful phrasing.

Gibson champions this approach through specific frameworks: “Radical Candor is a great book on how to give direct and effective feedback. It’s important for not just the leader to read it, but their team to agree that we’re going to be candid and empathetic with one another in a way that creates trust and transparency.”

According to Dewey Thompson, Senior Account Executive at email platform Omnisend,

“I think that sales is, above all, about showing up every day. If something doesn’t work out, be persistent, but also learn to learn from your past mistakes. Ultimately, work on not taking rejection personally.”

As a sales leader, embracing resilience creates an environment where honest feedback feels helpful rather than threatening. When your team understands that feedback is meant to help, not criticize, they’ll be more open to direct guidance.

The real payoff comes when this becomes team culture, not just leadership style.

Gibson notes the real-world results: “If we can do this as a team, people are no longer going to be walking on eggshells or holding things back, but actually comfortable and confident to be vulnerable, but also direct.”

This balance — being both honest and human — creates psychological safety where innovation flourishes, problems surface early, and people grow faster.

Share your perspective on difficult topics.

Sales leaders who hide their true thoughts on tough issues undermine their credibility. When you dodge questions about compensation changes, territory shifts, or challenging quotas, your team senses the avoidance.

Priemer notes: “Your team does want to know what you think, and if they don’t feel you’re being honest, it becomes very difficult to lead them.” He suggests being transparent about your own feelings on topics like compensation changes.

This doesn’t mean complaining about company decisions. Rather, it means acknowledging realities while providing context.

When facing a compensation restructure that might disappoint some reps, skilled leaders might say: “I understand this change feels concerning. I had questions about it, too. Here’s my perspective on why it could benefit high performers like you…”

This honesty builds trust. Your team won‘t always agree with your viewpoint, but they’ll respect your sharing it openly. This transparency also improves your communication skills by forcing you to articulate complex positions clearly and consider potential objections before they arise.

Thoughtfully sharing your perspective on complex topics strengthens your ability to have challenging conversations throughout your career. This crucial skill distinguishes exceptional sales leaders from merely competent ones.

Measure Leadership Impact Beyond Sales Numbers

Great sales leaders build people who stick around and grow. When you coach your team well, speak plainly, and treat customers fairly, you’ll see it in more than revenue.

Look at who stays on your team, what new skills they‘ve mastered, and how customers talk about them. Years from now, your real success won’t be the deals you closed but the sales managers you shaped who still use what you taught them.

Every sales professional has the same experience: The end of the quarter looms, and you’re still waiting for leads to convert into paying customers. As a business owner, I’ve been there too — juggling multiple clients, pitching new writing projects, and managing endless follow-ups.

But, the days of manually managing business may be over. AI sales agents are reshaping the landscape, automating the sales process, and guaranteeing that no lead goes cold. These agents can even do your homework for you, finding prospects who match your ideal customer persona.

With lofty promises, I wanted to see what AI sales agents can actually accomplish today. Below I’ll talk about how AI sales agents work, their use cases, and how they can level up the sales process.

Table of Contents

• What is an AI Sales Agent?
• How AI Sales Agents Work
• Benefits of AI Sales Agents
• Types of AI Sales Agents
• Sales AI Agent Usecases
• The Best AI Sales Agents
• Optimize with AI Sales Agent

What is an AI Sales Agent?

A typical sales lifecycle requires an entire team to move through multiple stages — prospecting leads, qualifying customers, answering inquiries, and closing deals. Working through that process manually takes a significant amount of time. An AI sales agent is designed to automate and streamline this workflow, eliminating repetitive tasks and boosting productivity.

By leveraging machine learning (ML), natural language processing (NLP), and predictive analytics, AI sales agents can operate autonomously. This digital agency can engage with prospects, qualify leads, and even close sales with little to no human intervention.

Now, how is this different from workflow automation? Well, AI’s ability to learn from past interactions allows it to perform its functions independently. A human sales rep just needs to write a kickoff prompt (and offer optional additional guidance to refine the process). From there, AI can start research and do outreach without a human babysitter, a less cumbersome process for the human reps.

How AI Sales Agents Work

AI sales agents gather and centralize customer data from CRMs, website activity, and other digital touchpoints. The agent can then create a 360-degree profile of each prospect.

AI then uses natural language processing to interpret messages, detect buyer intent, and engage in meaningful conversations. With this data, machine learning models predict lead behavior, assigning scores based on engagement history and prioritizing high-potential prospects.

Once a lead is identified, the AI agent automates outreach, scheduling, and follow-ups to ensure continuous engagement. Throughout the process, the AI analyzes sales interactions in real time, providing insights and recommendations to optimize messaging. With multiple selling reps under its belt, an AI agent learns, refining their lead qualification and engagement strategies.

Benefits of AI Sales Agents

1. AI never sleeps.

Potential buyers can visit your site at any time of the day — their needs don’t stop after business hours. However, you may not have reps available 24/7. That’s where AI sales agents can help.

Your AI reps never “clock out.” They’re able to carry out the designated task (whether it’s to respond to inquiries or follow up with prospects) at any time of the day.

I have seen businesses lose potential deals simply because they did not follow up fast enough. Remember, most customers consider speed as important as price and are even willing to pay extra for “immediate service.” Any form of delay can make the difference between your offering and a competitor. AI sales agents can help you maintain that vigilance.

2. Human reps can spend more time on strategic tasks.

George Gallantree, director at Sterling Recruitment, notes that sales teams often need to choose between accurate reporting and high sales activity. That’s especially true when many reps hate burning hours on admin.

“Would you prefer your BDM to be 120% to target YTD or have Salesforce 100% accurate and up to date? You’re probably thinking, ‘I want both,’ but more often than not, you need to make a choice because that is reality,” Gallantree writes on LinkedIn.

AI sales rep can help teams get the best of both world. Agentic AI can take over repetitive, admoinistrative tasks so that human reps can focus on complex negotiations, relationship building and actually closing high-value deals.

The sales professionals we surveyed for our 2024 State of AI in Business and Sales agree. They reported that AI tools allow them to spend more time doing the one thing they were hired for — selling.

3. Customers leave happier.

As I mentioned earlier, today’s customers expect immediate, personalized service. Anything less can cost businesses valuable sales. Therefore, a smooth, tailored sales experience isn’t just a bonus. It’s a necessity for customer satisfaction.

According to Salesforce, 73% of customers expect companies to understand their unique needs, and AI sales agents make this possible at scale. Agents can analyze customer preferences, anticipate questions, and provide instant, relevant responses. These tools can also research prospects and use that information to customize outreach.

This level of personalization makes interactions more engaging and builds trust. Goodwill ultimately leads to higher conversion rates and stronger customer loyalty.

Types of AI Sales Agents

AI sales agents come in different forms, each designed to automate specific parts of the sales process. Here are the three most popular agents used by reps today.

1. AI Chatbots

AI chatbots are already everywhere. Every time I shop online, I see a popup that asks me if I need any additonal assitance. I’ve also noticed new AI chatbots available on social media, so I can talk to a robot if I ever get lonely. I’m already primed for chatbot interactions, just like every other digital consumer today.

AI chatbots are designed to engage with potential customers in real time. They can answer basic product questions and even book meetings for a demo. Some of these conversational chatbots are also designed to qualify leads and transfer high-potential prospects to human reps to seal the deal.

Best for: If your business receives high volumes of inquiries, an AI chatbot would guarantee that your prospects receive instant responses. You can then set up workflows that transfer qualified leads to your human sales teams.

2. AI Voice Assistants

Even if you dread the phone, cold calling is still an important part of sales today. AI can help make the process more informed and efficient. In fact, 73% of salespeople who use AI/automation to assist with cold and warm calling say it somewhat to significantly improves conversation quality.

Most of the reps we surveyed use AI to help with research and outreach. However, AI agents can go even further. In fact, some agents can actually make the calls. Built on speech synthesis, Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR), and Natural Language Generation (NLU) technology, these agents can handle inbound and outbound calls using natural-sounding speech.

There’s still an adoption curve here. Robocalling and spam calls have left me and others unwilling to pick up the phone. If I received an AI call, I would be equally impressed and freaked out. So, use voice technology sparing.

AI voice assistants work best for impersonal or transactional calls, such as appointment reminders, order confirmations, or simple inquiries. For relationship-driven sales, I strongly believe it is crucial to maintain human touchpoints to build trust and rapport.

If your team uses this type of AI tech, make sure you communicate that the receiver is speaking with a voice assistant, as Josh Braun advocates in the image below. This transparency helps manage expectations and builds trust with the customer.

Source

Best for: Companies that rely heavily on phone-based sales and appointment scheduling, which are often transactional and repetitive.

2. AI Assistants

This crop of AI sales agents helps their human agents perform very specific tasks. They act as smart digital assistants rather than standalone agents, working behind the scenes to support reps with daily sales activities. That can include personalizing email campaigns, generating sales insights, streamlining the onboarding process, and much more.

I’ve found that AI assistants help the most with research. I can load my ideal customer persona into a chatbot like Google Gemini and ask the system to find me companies that match that description. From there, I can have AI help me find human decision-makers on those teams and craft a compelling message that catches their attention.

Best for: Sales teams looking to reduce administrative workload, improve lead prioritization, and gain AI-powered insights to enhance their selling strategy.

Sales AI Agent Usecases

1. Lead Qualification and Nurturing

With predictive analytics, AI sales agents can reduce the people-hours spent on sorting through unqualified leads. In our 2024 AI in B2B Sales report, we discovered that this was the second most popular AI use case in B2B sales.

“It used to be the case that dedicating an agent to an individual customer at each point of their sales journey was cost-prohibitive. But with the latest developments in gen AI agents, now you can do it,” stated Jorge Amar, senior partner at McKinsey, in an interview with the firm.

Now, businesses can integrate different types of AI sales agents across different levels of the customer’s journey. Additionally, AI-driven lead-scoring models, such as those offered in HubSpot’s Sales Hub, can analyze various inputs to determine the likelihood of the prospect becoming a customer.

2. Automating Follow-ups and Reminders

I can’t count how many times I’ve told myself, “I’ll follow up later,” only to realize days later that I completely forgot. It happens to the best of us — humans are forgetful.

But AI? It never forgets. It’s like having the most reliable assistant who always remembers when to send that follow-up email or text. And follow-ups matter.

Research shows that 93% of converted leads are reached by the sixth call attempt, yet 50% of leads are never contacted a second time. While the reasons may vary, I’d bet that forgetfulness — and just plain busyness — are big culprits.

This is where AI sales agents shine. They can send timely follow-ups and appointment reminders via email, text, or even voice calls to make sure no lead falls through the cracks.

With unlimited time and access to the right data, AI sales agents can catch intent signals that human reps may miss. Businesses can even set up AI-driven workflows that trigger automated follow-ups based on customer behavior — like when a prospect downloads a whitepaper or abandons a shopping cart.

2. Sales Analytics

AI-powered sales analytics tools analyze past sales data, market trends, and customer interactions to predict future revenue and recommend sales strategies. According to our report, data analysis is the second most popular task salespeople use AI for.

For example, let’s say an AI sales agent analyzes a CRM. The agent finds that teams who make the most of the CRM’s generative AI content creator have higher customer satisfaction and a lower attrition rate. Your team can then spotlight this feature in product demos and run a campaign to increase utilization.

AI sales agents will need access to the right data in order to make these real-time insights. CRMs like HubSpot offer these integrations to empower data-conscious decisions.

The Best AI Sales Agents

1. Breeze Prospecting Agent

AI sales agents aren’t ready out of the box. They need access to data to understand your team’s approach to selling. That’s why I love Breeze. If you already use HubSpot, your prospecting agent already has access to your CRM’s valuable data — no complex setup or training required. Breeze learns from your successful sales patterns and automatically adapts to those insights.

I demoed Breeze so I can show you how it works. I can select which account I want to research in my CRM. Breeze then pulls information about their interactions with my business from my CRM, as well as information from the prospect’s websites and recent news.

I can then open up the account and see an AI generated overview synthesizing that information. When I’m ready to reach out, an AI email writer can take the intelligence and write a first draft that I can send or tweak. AI-powered prospecting helps sales teams work smarter, not harder.

2. Roomie AI by Common Room

Roomie AI is designed to streamline prospect engagement by automating account planning, lead prioritization, and personalized outreach. It detects buying trends and fills in missing details to accelerate account planning.

With AI-powered personalization, Roomie crafts outreach messages based on real-time signals and enhances prospecting by surfacing high-converting contacts from its 200+ million database.

My favorite thing about this tool is its signal hunting feature. Rather than manually piecing together information on a company — who the decision-makers are, what their challenges are, and how to approach them — Roomie AI builds account plans 100x faster by pulling in the most relevant data.

Roomie AI also actively looks for signs that a prospect is ready to buy and then engages them autonomously.

Watch the 5-minute demo of Roomie AI below.

3. Salesforce Einstein

In August 2024, Salesforce announced the launch of two autonomous AI sales agents called Einstein Sales Development Rep (SDR) Agent and Einstein Sales Coach Agent.

While the Einstein SDR Agent nurtures inbound prospects around the clock with minimal human intervention, the Einstein Sales Coach Agent helps sales teams refine their skills by facilitating role-play sessions tailored to specific deals. These simulations allow reps to practice pitching, handle objections, and sharpen their negotiation tactics before engaging with real customers.

I loved that Einstein Sales Coach Agent can adapt its training style to the learner. There’s no one-size-fits-all coaching method. Instead, the AI provides customized and contextual coaching that adapts to real deals, real objections, and real customer interactions.

4. Artisan

Artisan’s Ava is designed to act as a fully autonomous AI sales agent, handling everything from lead qualification to personalized outreach. Unlike other assistive AI sales agents, Ava operates independently without human intervention.

Ava mines data on the prospects, crafts personalized messages, runs email campaigns, and delivers qualified leads straight to your inbox.

My favorite part? The Artisan Sales platform already provides a built-in database of over 300 million verified B2B contacts. It also provides a simple LinkedIn automation that allows Ava to send connection requests and messages on your team’s behalf.

5. Microsoft 365 Copilot for Sales

Embedded within Microsoft 365, Copilot is a role-based sales agent that simplifies tasks, personalizes interactions, and streamlines workflows. It can generate content, note insights during calls, and update records.

My biggest issue with this tool? Copilot for Sales feels too embedded within the Microsoft ecosystem. That may limit flexibility especially if a sales team relies on other CRMs like HubSpot. If you rely on data from multiple sources, you may need extra workarounds to get the platform’s full benefits.

Optimize with AI Sales Agent

Yes, even with advancements in AI, you still need human sales reps. However, AI sales agents can help those reps achieve extraordinary results. They can research faster, customize their messaging based on a prospect’s business, and leverage data from your CRM.

Teams that know how to partner with AI agents will have an incredible advantage, that’s especially true as adoption increases. Start working with AI as a partner today to stay ahead of the curve.