Back in 2018, a survey that was conducted by Ignite Selling on sales strategy, sales improvement initiatives, and sales training methods, revealed something that all of us expected.
“68% of the respondents who were salespeople said that peer-to-peer learning was their preferred way to learn.”
You may be wondering, “…expected?”
Peer-to-peer learning has always worked wonders in the past, so it was expected that it stood the test of time. You might have noticed it even in your own organization. Whenever a new hire joins, they are usually paired with a more experienced person from the same department. The new joiner shadows and learns by observing the latter.
The same rule applies to sales as well.
Due to the nature of the profession, almost every experienced salesperson would have both earned vast success and encountered multiple failures. Tapping into these experiences can give you invaluable lessons you will never find in textbooks, or Twitter threads.
A sales community is a treasure trove of such experienced sales professionals. Joining the right sales community can be a lifeline of support and encouragement in the following ways:
- Opportunities to network and collaborate with fellow salespeople
- Seek out advice and hacks for improving your outreach, perfecting your pitch, and improving all facets of your sales skillset
- Building your personal brand within your niche or industry
- Stay on top of industry trends
- Get hired
However, not all sales communities are created equal. Some online groups can be quite stale and inactive, or even worse, they may turn out to be MLM scams to lure you into buying overpriced sales resources.
To ensure that you join the right group, we have put together a list of the best sales communities that you can join.
Let’s dive in.
What’s Inside:
1. RevGenius
RevGenius, established in 2020, is a vibrant and collaborative community of over 15,000 sales and marketing professionals from across the world.
Why should you join this community?
Members can connect with each other, participate in roundtable discussions, attend curated events, find a mentor or mentee, share tips, and have access to the RevGenius knowledge center.
One thing we love about this community
RevGenius has an extremely engaging and proactive community forum with partner networks that include several reputed names like Canva, Dooly, and Gong. So you can rest assured that you’re getting some valuable advice when you post questions on the community message boards. RevGenius has an extremely popular and active Slack community where you can engage, share ideas, tips, and access some highly coveted sales advice.
Entry criteria
It is open to everyone and completely free of cost.
Check out 40+ Sales Follow-up Email Templates To Use In Different Sales Situations
2. Sales Hacker
Established in 2014, Sales Hacker has scaled itself to become the world’s largest community for B2B sales. As of 2020, this online community boasts more than 166,000 diverse sales professionals and members and has more than 500 contributing authors sharing their expertise.
Why should you join this community?
You’ll find articles, podcasts, videos, training events, and more on the website that is founded on Thought Leadership which is both High Level and Tactical. Sales Hacker also engages in highly effective community building where members share problems and receive personalized solutions.
One thing we love about this community
The Sales Hacker community has one of the most effective and trusted job boards. If you are a salesperson you can easily find that job that you always wanted. If you are an organization, you can use this board to build your A-Team of unstoppable salespeople.
Entry criteria
It is free and open for all.
Kick-start your cold email campaigns with these 100+ email templates.
3. Thursday Night Sales
Thursday Night Sales is a long-running sales-focused weekly podcast hosted by Amy Volas and Scott Leese. It has over 4,290 followers on LinkedIn. This is essentially a club that meets every Thursday night for a sales-infused happy hour. Unlike other communities, this club is very informal, and users can post questions anytime they want.
Why should you join this community?
- You can also get one-on-one advice on how to bring your best self to the hiring process to ace your next job interview
- Connect with top sales leaders to grow your network
- Get insights, viewpoints, and necessary tools to advance your skills and level up your career
One thing we love about this community
You can use TNS’ live webinar and chat
TNS hosts webinars and has a chat option where you can ask for tips or techniques on cold calling or building your sales pitch. Shoot any question that has been bugging you and get them answered by top sales experts in the industry. Due to its informal nature, you can also make a lot of connections and friends in the industry. But most importantly, it is a one-of-a-kind platform where you can connect with the world’s top CEOs, CROs, or CMOs who might show up for the happy hour.
Entry Criteria
Open to all and free membership.
4. Pavilion
Pavilion (formerly Revenue Collective), started in 2016, was a support network for revenue leaders. Since opening its first chapter in New York City, it has grown into an international community of members from the world’s fastest-growing companies. It provides peer-to-peer connection, training and development, and career resources for all high-growth professionals.
Why should you join this community?
- Knowledge Hub: Unlimited access to templates, guides, and over 750 resources.
- 24*7 Q&A: Provides opportunities to converse with peers around the world.
- Small Councils: A curated group solves confidential problems monthly.
- Private sub-committees: Connect with groups with similar interests, like CMOs, CROs, Enterprise Leaders, etc.
- Benchmarking Surveys: Members have exclusive access to real-time data on useful topics.
- Sales Impact Academy: Members have exclusive access to over 25 courses taught by industry experts in an online learning platform. In addition, the Pavilion offers a Rising Executive program through their Access CRO school.
One thing we love about this community
Pavilion provides access to a network of verified recruiters and provides daily job postings. On top of it, there is a dedicated career services hotline and a full suite of resources that will elevate members’ professional development. This is usually achieved through one-to-one strategic planning and for those in-between roles, a dedicated support team is present.
Entry Criteria
There are two types of Membership: Individual and Team. A membership fee (contact Pavilion for fee details) is charged for each of them at the time of application.
5. Sales Management Association
The Sales Management Association currently has around 2000 members. It is a global, cross-industry professional association that is exclusively for managers focused on sales effectiveness. Members include professionals who are leaders in sales operations, sales enablement, commercial effectiveness, and more.
Why should you join this community?
- Members enjoy benefits such as highly interactive training courses, passes to annual conferences, and access to templates, slide decks, and coursework.
- Additionally, SMA has a very active job board on their website, which serves as an important asset for members looking to explore their career growth options within their industry or possibly looking to switch industries.
- A membership with SMA also confers a whole host of benefits such as exclusive discounts from third-party organizations and other offers. Members receive exclusive discounts from commonly used sales tools such as Visme, TimeTrade, SurveyMonkey, SlidePress, and more.
One thing we love about this community
You get access to some of the most cutting thought leadership content consisting of seminal research from Harvard Business School, Columbia Business School, HEC Paris, and more. These highly coveted pieces of scientific research can contain some elusive knowledge that can be leveraged by you and may help you take your sales performance to the next level.
Entry Criteria
The Association’s free subscription allows the members to attend webcasts and subscribe to their weekly newsletter. It comes with both free plans and three paid annual membership plans which range from $95 to $2000.
6. Bravado
Set up in 2017, Bravado has a unique name and markets itself as an exclusive sales community for top sales professionals. This no-fluff community’s main mission is to make salespeople smarter, happier, and richer. It consists of members from over 4,000 organizations around the world, including sales team members from the FAANG’s.
Why should you join this community?
- Bravado is an exclusive membership-only community with a stringent filtration process. This ensures that it attracts top talent from organizations like Slack, Salesforce, Linked In, and Oracle, etc. This not only provides great networking opportunities but also ensures quality interactions in its discussion forums.
- Bravado offers a range of online tools and even in-person events that help their members learn from each other, amplify their voices, build their personal brands, track their career progress, connect with other sales professionals, and be the best at their jobs.
One thing we love about this community
Bravado issues a unique credibility score which is based on customer testimonials recorded directly on a sales professional’s Bravado profile. Bravado is recognizing that trust is the currency of sales. This score helps salespeople differentiate themselves and stand above the fold.
Entry Criteria
Bravado provides exclusive membership only for salespeople looking to make career progress and have honest discussions on becoming the best in sales. Your profile will be verified during sign up and only genuine sales folks will be granted membership.
7. AA-ISP
The AA-ISP is a global community of over 1000+ members who are dedicated exclusively to advancing the growth of virtual sales and inbound sales. Since its inception in 2009, this community is committed to helping virtual sales reps and leaders leverage high-quality resources through published content, local chapters, global conferences, and virtual sales training/certification programs.
Why should you join this community?
- Live virtual training sessions
- Weekly newsletter & updates
- Exclusive access to events, webinars, virtual roundtables
- View industry service providers
- Ask an expert
- Inside sales academy discounts
- Full knowledge center access & submission rights
- Participate in a mentor program
One thing we love about this community
AA-ISP is one of the only Sales Communities to offer in-house Inbound Sales certification programs. These Virtual Inside Sales Certifications include:
- CVS- Certificate in Virtual Sales
- CSDR- Certified Sales Development Rep
- CISP- Certified Inside Sales Professional
- AISM- Accredited Inside Sales Manager
These Sales certificates are highly recognized and even mandatory in certain organizations like IBM, Bosch, Chevron, JJ Keller Business Services, and more.
Entry Criteria
It’s open to all including students and professionals. The student membership is free while the professional membership costs $145 per year. Corporate membership ranges between $60 to $15,000 depending on team size.
8. Modern Sales Pros
Modern Sales Pros is the world’s largest peer education community for sales operations, sales enablement, sales engineering, and leadership professionals. They have 20,000+ members from 5000+ companies
The mission of MSP is to accelerate the learning and professional development of a high-rigor, analytical, and technically competent approach to selling in a modern-day complex sales environment.
Why should you join this community?
MSP has one of the most robust and engaged community forums in this lineup of sales communities. Their sales forum called BrainTrust includes over 2,000 GTM leaders that actively participate in discussions around sales leadership and revenue generation.
One thing we love about this community
Members are provided access to exclusive invite-only dinners, peer-learning-focused meetups, and happy hours.
MSP gives you the opportunity to network and meet sales leaders and CXOs. MSP maintains exclusivity as a ‘leadership only community’ as most members are Directors, VP’s and CXO’s. Each and every new member is vetted through a detailed application process. Most members of Modern Sales Pro belong to high-tech companies that are the epicenter of revenue innovation.
Entry Criteria
It’s an exclusive community for revenue leaders in sales management, marketing management, sales/revenue operations, and the related supporting disciplines. AE’s or individual contributor sellers are not allowed to join.
9. Women In Revenue
Established in 2018, Women in Revenue is a community of women leaders in the tech industry focused on sales, marketing, and other revenue-impacting roles. Founded in San Francisco in 2018, this community promotes diversity in the workplace and seeks to empower women in B2B sales and marketing through continuous education
Why should you join this community?
- Access to Insights and education advice, job opportunities on their Slack Community
- Enable members to accelerate their career in revenue/sales through their Mentorship Program
- Build the personal brand of members through speaking opportunities provided by the community’s Speakers Bureau
One thing we love about this community
The Women in Revenue community offers a one-of-a-kind Mentorship Huddle. This includes One mentor and 1 mentee who collaborate on a specific topic/project and meet once for an hour-long Zoom meeting. The goal is for both parties to leave inspired and educated in a new way, with a piece of work or measured result that progresses their career.
Entry Criteria
It’s a free community that’s exclusive only for women.
10. Women In Sales Everywhere (WISE)
Women represent only 20% of the C-Suite in sales and WISE is on a mission to change that.
Women In Sales Everywhere(WISE), a division of CloserIQ, aims to develop the next generation of sales leaders. This community seeks to create a global network where women in sales can meet peers, find mentors regardless of geography or seniority and find opportunities for growth.
Why should you join this community?
- WISE is the largest Women only sales community on this list with a Global Network With Members from 41+ Countries.
- Unlimited access to WISE Pods
- Access to WISE Job Board featuring WISE-vetted sponsors
- Exclusive access to WISE Online Forums
- Free admission to all WISE events, both virtual and/or in-person
One thing we love about this community
WISE offers some of the best mentorship matchings and ensures a great fit regardless of geography, seniority, or role. These mentorship programs assist in pushing sales representatives to the edge of their comfort zone, leading them to develop new skills and adapt faster. An added bonus is that most members of WISE comprise women in senior revenue positions in organizations like Zendesk, Salesloft, Udemy, and Grammarly.
Entry Criteria
It’s a paid membership that’s open for all sales enthusiasts. Individual Membership is $320/year if paid upfront and $100/quarter if paid quarterly. Most companies reimburse these expenses.
11. National Association of Sales Professional (NASP)
The National Association of Sales Professionals (NASP) is another large online community dedicated to helping salespeople worldwide. NASP is backed by over three decades of experience in sales and leadership. It has over 500+ partner companies.
Why should you join this community?
- NASP offers some of the industry’s most widely recognized sales certifications such as the Certified Professional Sales person and Certified Master Sales Professional. These sales accreditation programs are well respected across industries and verticals. 10K+ certifications have already been completed.
- Receive a monthly newsletter replete with key insights and trends in the sales field
- Convenient access to NASP Career center
- Access Leads to Growth podcast that provides in-depth discussions on best sales training techniques, prospecting skills, and communication.
- NASP’s Women of Sales & Influence Facebook Live series celebrates top women leaders in business by featuring their insights and highlighting their sales and influence expertise.
One thing we love about this community
NASP is officially the largest online community of sales professionals in the world. It consists of members in 500+ partner companies. NASP’s USP is its complimentary assessment and a customized coaching conversation with a NASP advisor. This helps new members learn new skills unique to them in their roles and industry.
Entry Criteria
It’s a free membership that’s open to all
Key Takeaways
Since there are a lot of great sales communities online, it can get difficult to find one that caters to your needs. So, as a good samaritan, we sifted through the internet to get you the top communities that are worth being a part of. Be it voicing your opinions on breakthrough technologies in sales, or posing questions on how to break into the industry, there’s always a group of people who are ready to learn and relearn and share that knowledge with you. A few factors to consider while choosing a sales community that is right for you include:
- Whether you are a beginner or seasoned sales professional
- Whether you’re an individual sales contributor or a sales manager
- Your industry, niche, and market
It is not uncommon to see frequent debates on use cases of sales tools, products, and services in such communities. These communities have turned into a boon for the modern sales professional as they help them sell at a time when no one seems to be buying.
What you need to know is you’re not alone in this journey. Even if you’re selling alone in your living room or seated in a busy office environment, if you want to better yourself at sales, just surround yourself with people you can learn from and trust. And that’s what these communities are all about.
Comments are closed.