Sales are fundamental for every business and organization,

Statistics show that traditional sales tactics remain effective and their value should never be underestimated.

At the same time, however, new forms of sales techniques are emerging as businesses become more digital, connected and automated.

By 2020, Gartner predicts that 85% of customer interaction with enterprises will be automated.

With business increasingly being conducted online and new models such as software-as-a-service and crowdfunding emerging, the sales world is changing.

From email conversion rates to PPC and optimized landing pages, there are many approaches, techniques and innovations to keep up with.

Whether you’re a hardened sales veteran, startup founder or marketer looking to broaden your horizons, here (in no particular order) are 21 killer sales blogs and posts you should have on your radar.

Hubspot

Inbound marketing platform and content marketing heavyweight Hubspot’s sales blog is predictably full of great content, covering everything from the customer lifestyle to why you’re closing sales wrong.

• How to Talk to Pretty Much Anyone About Pretty Much Anything
• 16 Call-to-Action Formulas That Make People Want to Click
• Lead Scoring 101: How to Use Data to Calculate a Basic Lead Score

Close.io

CRM platform Close.io’s informative blog has great sales content on a range of topics, from cold calling to hiring sales staff and closing prospects for B2B, SAAS and beyond.

• 39 shocking sales stats that will change the way you sell
• 13 killer B2B sales questions to close more deals
• 5 myths about SaaS sales you probably believe

Predictable Revenue

The blog of Aaron Ross, former Salesforce director and author of the award-winning, bestseller Predictable Revenue covers everything from Salesforce optimization to energizing your sales force.

• 4 Mistakes 95% of Salespeople Make With Cold Emails
• How Do I Find My Niche? 8 Questions to Ask Yourself
• 4 Ways to Ensure Your Sales Pipeline Never Dries Up

Saascribe

A great Saas focused blog and community, created by Alex Theuma, that features numerous blogs posts, podcasts, videos and resources covering all aspects of SaaS for startups, with a lot of content on sales.

• How to Crush it Like Docusign
• We Don’t Sell Saddles Here – A Memo from Stewart Butterfield
• Top 5 SaaS Professors of Customer Success

Funnelholic

Sales blog from Craig Rosenberg, co-founder of sales, research, advisory and consulting firm TOPO, featuring numerous guest posts and covering a range of useful sales topics.

• The Most Important Social Selling Lesson an Inside Sales Rep Can Learn
• Never Separate a Gorilla from his Bananas
• Key Findings from 6.4 Million Sales Emails

Top Sales Dog

Research-based and field-tested sales training ideas to help you prospect more effectively, close more sales, retain more customers and deliver more value from sales training company from the Rapid Learning Institute.

• Why is it so hard to train salespeople to shut up?
• Hiring salespeople: What qualities should you look for?
• Can we teach salespeople to shut up and listen?

Your Sales Playbook

Great tips, techniques and ideas from sales veteran and trainer Paul Castain, from cutting to the chase with prospects to why 98% of cold calls are a waste of time.

• 33 Ways To Approach A Potential Client
• Why You Should Love Fridays & Mondays As A Sales Professional
• What To Do If You Suck At Cold Calling

InspireBeats

Lead generation and data research provider InspireBeats’ blog features tips and sales hacks on everything from prospecting to why developers should learn sales.

• 5 Tools That You Must Use To Reduce Churn
• 101 Resources For Startup Sales
• The Most Straight Forward Guide To Getting Started in Outbound Sales

Score More Sales

Experienced B2B technology sales director Lori Richardson’s blog features an array of useful content on sales productivity, lead generation and specialization.

• The Power of Goal Setting In Sales
• Increase Sales by Decreasing Sales Role Pollution
• The Skeleton Strategy to Reach Prospects

The Center for Sales Strategy

This blog from sales performance consultancy The Center for Sales Strategy features a wealth of great content on everything sales related, from digital and inbound to finding and managing sales talent.

• Don’t Delete Me! The Sales Email Subject Line
• A Sales Strategy to Double Time Spent Selling
• Why 75% of Proposals Will Never Close, and 10 Ways to Improve

Growbots

Sales hacking and automation blog from outbound sales automation platform Growbots covering everything from life hacks and sales email tips to sales pipeline advice.

• Know Your Early Growth SaaS Metrics Inside Out
• 8 Takeouts about Startup Sales from Steli Eft
• Engage your leads with visuals in social media

Inside Sales Experts Blog

The blog of sales consultancy, The Bridge Group Inc’s, shares insights and ideas on best practices for inside sales pipeline generation and quota attainment, including trends, tips, models and metrics.

• Inside Sales Comp Calculator: Base Salary & Ote
• 6 Ideas For Making Your Sales Team Warriors
• The Real Difference Between A Director And Inside Sales Manager

Contactually

Some very useful tips, tricks and tools covering everything from building relationships and nurturing leads to following up, from CRM provider Contactually.

• The Biggest List of 133 Relationship Management Tools
• 5 Five Minute Tips on How to Write Follow-Up Emails Effectively
• Modern Selling in 2015: Nurturing Leads in the Digital Era

The Sales Blog

Illuminating regular sales tips and insights from B2B sales trainer Anthony Iannarino, from hustling playbooks to how to stay motivated.

• 15 Things I Would Train Salespeople On Instead of Social Selling
• Declare Your Independence
• Do You Remember How to Close?

Pipetop

Prospecting platform Pipetop’s blog features guest contributors and a range of useful posts covering B2B sales from inbound to prospecting and generating leads.

• 15 Things We Learned The Hard Way Doing Our Early B2B Outbound Sales
• B2B Startup’s 11 Steps To The First 1,000 Ideal Prospects
• Sales Hackers Exist – Steal Their 14 Essential Habits

Inboundrocket

Inbound marketing specialists Inboundrocket’s blog covers a lot of content such as creating effective landing pages and copy, how to convert visitors and lead generation ideas.

• Lead Generation: Best Tips From The Experts
• 7 Industry Experts On How To Build A Crazy High Converting Landing Page For Your Startup
• 9 Lead Generation Ideas to Boost Sales Now

InsightSquared

Sales performance analytics provider InsightSquared’s blog has a lot valuable conten, including podcasts with sales professionals and blog posts covering the sales process from every angle.

• 8 Things The Top 1% Of Sales Reps Do Differently
• The Top SaaS Metrics Of The Most Influential Venture Capitalists
• The Most Powerful Apps For Sales And Marketing Teams

Pure B2B

The blog from lead and data provider Pure B2B features useful B2B resources such as using social media for generating leads, email marketing and how to stop customers unsubscribing.

• 10 B2B Lead Generation Strategies for 2016
• 15 Effective B2B Lead Generation Ideas for Your Marketing Campaign
• How to Cut Costs (and Get Great Leads) in B2B Lead Gen

RightHello

Prospecting and lead platform RightHello’s blog has a wealth of useful resources on sales, from sales for founders to working with international clients and managing sales development.

• Another negative answer to your cold email? Deal with it like a pro
• Don’t waste time at conferences
• How founders can kickstart startup sales

SalesHandy

The blog from sales tool provider SalesHandy has a range of sales posts, from recommended sales professionals to follow on social media to upcoming sales trends.

• What’s Driving the Next Wave of Sales Tools
• 9 Hot Strategies to Lock in Initial Customers for Your SaaS Product
• Sales Hacks to Acquire More Prospects in 2016

Persistiq

Outbound sales platform Persistiq’s blog is filled with interesting and useful outbound sales posts, covering all aspects of the sales process from sales hacking and leads to following up.

• 6 Advanced LinkedIn Prospecting Tactics for the Outbound Sales Rep
• How to Build the Perfect Sales Stack for Your Company
• The Rise of Sales Development