- On the back of your product/service
- On the back of your organizational methods and technologies
- On the back of your talent
With this blog, I prefer to focus on the latter two routes, applying equally to all products/services. With this post in particular, it’s gonna be all about upping your sales talent management game.
Even John D. Rockefeller said, “Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.”
A large part of getting ahead involves tapping into available resources and learning from the best of the best— and sales conferences are arguably one of the best ways to do just that.
Besides the immediate lessons on how to manage sales talent, they’re the ideal environment for networking and forming key relationships with other like-minded professionals.
Here are five conferences that will cover the best new trends in sales talent management for 2016:
1. SiriusDecisions Sales Leadership Exchange
Date – February 24–25, 2016
Location – San Diego
Ticket Price – Early Bird is $950 and Standard is $1,150
This event is geared toward B2B sales leaders and is all about sales growth. More specifically, this event will cover topics like utilizing sales intelligence to better meet consumers’ needs, fine-tuning sales talent management and efficiently investing in sales resources. There will also be a strong emphasis on emerging sales trends and how companies can capitalize on those trends to gain momentum in 2016.
2. TOPO Sales Talent Management Summit
Date – April 7-8, 2016
Location – San Francisco
Ticket Price – Early Access is $795, Regular Access is $895 and Last Chance is $1,095
Attendees at this event will have access to over 30 sessions covering sales leadership, sales development, sales technology and inside sales talent management tips from some of the top sales leaders on the planet. The keynote speaker of the TOPO Sales Summit is author and Director of Business Insights at Twitter, Jeffery Ma. Other speakers will include James Burnette of LinkedIn, Scott Keane of Google and Liz Cain of NetSuite.
3. AA-ISP Leadership Summit
Date – April 20–21, 2016
Location – Chicago
Ticket Price – Early Bird is $1,295 and Standard is $1,395
The AA-ISP is an association that’s devoted to inside sales – and their Leadership Summit will feature over 70 of the world’s top inside sales experts. Presentations will cover topics like effectively implementing technology into sales, recent industry trends and guidance for solving today’s most difficult issues. Attendees can also participate in roundtable discussions, and there will be networking opportunities galore.
4. Dreamforce
Date – October 4-7, 2016
Location – San Francisco
Ticket Price – Pre-registered passes are $999
Salesforce, one of the world’s leading Cloud-based sales software providers, runs the annual Dreamforce event. Although all of the details have yet to be ironed out, attendees can expect all of the awesomeness they got at the 2015 event and more. Dubbed as “the Super Bowl of software,” Dreamforce is a must for those with a keen interest in technology and sales software and will offer over 1,400 breakout sessions with discussions covering nearly every imaginable topic. Software for better sales talent management will certainly be a part of the conversation.
5. INBOUND
Date – November 8–11, 2016
Location – Boston
Ticket Price – All Access is $899 and VIP is $1,598
In 2015, INBOUND generated a lot of buzz from their sales conference that included the likes of Seth Godin, Sophia Amoruso and the co-founders of HubSpot, Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah. 2016’s conference promises to be just as epic and will offer four full days of sales and marketing advice from some of today’s top professionals. Attendees will also have the opportunity to meet with speakers at book signings and can network at Club INBOUND.
Attending any one of these five sales conferences in 2016 should open your eyes and lend insight into what it takes to optimize sales talent management. In turn, this can be a catalyst for a major upswing in productivity and help you get the most from your sales reps.