While so much of sales success is putting in the work each day — calling customers, sending creative emails and running demos — there’s only so much you can learn from the daily grind. Buyer preferences are constantly changing, which means your sales tactics need to evolve with them.
One of the best ways to stay up to date on the latest sales trends and strategies is to attend a sales conference. Whether you’re a first-year sales representative or an experienced team leader, conferences offer an opportunity to network with hundreds of peers, experiment with new tools and hear from leaders in the field.
And now that the end-of-year sprint is over, the calendar page has been flipped and the champagne bubbles have gone flat, it’s the perfect time to start planning your conference schedule for the year. Whether you’re looking for some inspiration or just interested in a change of scenery, we’ve compiled a list of some of the top sales conferences you can look forward to in 2022.
14 Top Sales Conferences to Consider
- Sales Enablement Summit
- CS100 Summit
- Leadership Summit
- Seismic Shift
- Hard No Tour
- Gartner CSO & Sales Leader Conference
- Tenbound Sales Development Summit
- INBOUND
- OutBound Sales Conference
- Sistas in Sales Summit
- Sales Success Summit
- Be the Change Retreat
- Surf and Sales Summit
- Dreamforce
Sales Conferences to Consider
Sales Enablement Summit
Organizer: Sales Enablement World
What to expect: Creating an effective sales strategy, developing sales reps and engaging customers are challenges every sales leader experiences. Sales Enablement World’s two-day conference Sales Enablement Summit brings together sales leaders from around the world to share how they approach those obstacles and more. Sales enablement leaders from Salesforce, Yelp, Lyft and more are all expected to speak at the event — covering topics like creating a culture of continuous learning, solving the gap between buyer preferences and seller behavior, and deploying sales enablement automation.
While the summit is geared toward senior sales leaders, it offers something for managers at all levels looking to network or for inspiration, according to the event brochure. The summit, which sets up shop in cities worldwide, will start its 2022 season on Feb. 9 in Austin and will visit six U.S. cities throughout the year.
The details: Feb. 9-10 in Austin, Texas; March 23-24 in New York, New York; May 26-27 in Las Vegas, Nevada; Sept. 14-15 in San Francisco, California; Oct. 19-20 in Boston, Massachusetts; Nov. 16-17 in Chicago, Illinois.
CS100 Summit
Organizer: ClientSuccess
What to expect: Customer success platform ClientSuccess is slated to bring back its annual conference CS100 Summit this year to the Sundance Mountain Resort in Utah after a two-year hiatus due to Covid. The event is geared toward customer success leaders focused on improving their customer experience, reducing churn and expanding business within their existing user base.
In addition to the typical mix of keynotes, roundtable discussions and workshops, attendees can also take advantage of the location to go on hikes or just enjoy the nature escape.
The details: Feb. 15-17 in Sundance, Utah.
Leadership Summit
Organizer: American Association of Inside Sales Professionals
What to expect: The sales profession has undergone a lot of changes in the last couple of years. Outside sellers shifted to inside sales to adjust to travel restrictions, sales teams went remote (and many have stayed that way) and customers have preferred a digital buying experience over working with sales reps.
After hosting a virtual conference last year, Leadership Summit aims to tackle all of those topics and more in person this year. Hosted by the American Association of Inside Sales Professionals, the conference will also include panels, workshops and breakout sessions. It is also open to all sales professionals from VPs to customer success managers to sales development reps.
The details: March 8-10 in Chicago, Illinois.
Seismic Shift
Organizer: Seismic
What to expect: Sales enablement software company Seismic is back this year with another installment of its annual conference, Seismic Shift. After hosting it virtually in 2021, this year’s sales enablement conference will be held in person in San Diego with a virtual option. While details remain scarce, the event will likely include speakers from some of the biggest tech companies in the United States and tackle the latest sales enablement innovations.
Last year’s event focused on how sales leaders can teach their teams to use storytelling to improve customer engagement. It included more than 60 sessions and 100 speakers from companies like IBM, Microsoft and Salesforce, according to a press release.
The details: March 30-April 1 in San Diego, California.
Hard No Tour
Organizer: Thursday Night Sales
What to expect: For the last two years, sales leaders Amy Volas and Scott Leese have been hosting a weekly virtual “happy hour” for sales reps called Thursday Night Sales. The meeting is a place where reps can network with one another, ask questions and get career advice.
Last year, Volas and Leese launched the Hard No Tour conference in Las Vegas as a way for the community to continue the conversation in person and hear from guest sales experts over a three-day stretch. The event will return in April this year at Miramar Beach, Florida, for any reps interested in networking with peers, talking sales and hearing from experts in the field.
The details: April 22-24 in Miramar Beach, Florida.
Gartner CSO & Sales Leader Conference
Organizer: Gartner
What to expect: For sales leaders looking to stay up on the latest trends in the industry, the Gartner CSO & Sales Leader Conference is a must-attend. The research and advisory company hosts its event over three days in San Diego. This year’s conference will tackle emerging sales strategies, digital business transformation, maximizing sales analytics and more. Attendees can also explore and learn about new sales tools from Gartner’s network of trusted technology providers.
The details: May 16-18 in San Diego, California.
Tenbound Sales Development Conference
Organizer: Tenbound
What to expect: This one-day event is perfect for any sales development rep looking to advance their skills and hear from some of the top voices in the industry. Hosted by the sales development representative consulting firm Tenbound, the annual Tenbound Sales Development Conference provides a day of panels, workshops and networking. Last year’s topics included AI in prospecting, pipeline planning and the future of sales development. In addition to the in-person conference, Tenbound will also host two virtual conferences throughout the year.
The details: June 2, virtual; Sept. 8, virtual; Nov. 4 in Austin, Texas.
INBOUND
Organizer: HubSpot
What to expect: Keep an eye out for customer relationship management platform HubSpot’s annual conference INBOUND. Last year’s session was fully virtual and explored topics reflecting the current trends in sales like facilitating a remote work setup and continuous learning. It also included keynote speaking events from business leaders like Spotify’s Chief Content and Advertising Business Officer Dawn Ostroff and celebrity Patriot Act host Hasan Minhaj (discussing activism).
Details about this year’s event have yet to be confirmed, but you can watch clips from INBOUND 2021 in the meantime. Whether you’re interested in HubSpot’s latest offerings or keeping up with the latest trends in inbound sales, INBOUND has you covered.
The details: Sept. 6-9 in Boston, Massachusetts; Sept. 7-9, virtual.
OutBound Sales Conference
Organizers: Anthony Iannorino, Mike Weinberg, Mark Hunter and Jeb Blount
What to expect: If you’re focused on prospecting and building a pipeline, then keep an eye out for the OutBound Sales Conference. The Atlanta-based event attracts more than 2,000 sales professionals from across the country, according to its website, and delves into all things prospecting, pipeline and productivity.
While the 2022 speaker list hasn’t been released yet, last year’s headliners included some of the biggest names in sales, including Anthony Iannorino, Jeb Blount, Brynne Tillman, among others. Attendees can expect workshops, training events and panels designed to help them improve their outreach and boost pipeline generation.
The details: Sept. 18-23, virtual; Sept. 21-23 in Atlanta, Georgia.
Sistas in Sales Summit
Organizer: Sistas in Sales
What to expect: While more women of color are entering sales, most sales teams and their leadership remain white and male. Founder Chantel George started Sistas in Sales to create a space where women of color throughout the profession can meet and share career tips and advice. The Sistas in Sales Summit is an extension of that mission.
Last year marked its fourth annual conference and included three days of workshops and panels led by leading women of color in sales. In addition to offering sales career advice, other workshops tackled wellness topics like managing your emotional health, taking care of your physical health and balancing your workday. This year’s conference will include seminars on managing your finances in sales, leveling up your sales skills and how to network in professional spaces.
The details: Sept. 21-23 in New York, New York.
Sales Success Summit
Organizer: Sales Success Media
What to expect: Often the best people to learn from in sales aren’t the managers or executives but the team’s top performers. That belief drives Scott Ingram’s podcast Sales Success Stories, and it’s also the foundation for the annual conference he hosts called Sales Success Summit. Instead of booking thought leaders and revenue executives, the conference Ingram puts on through his company, Sales Success Media, features speakers who rank among the top one percent of their sales team in revenue. While the agenda for 2022 hasn’t been set yet, attendees of the conference can expect to gain tangible insights from the best in their profession.
The details: Oct. 10-11 in Austin, Texas.
Be the Change Retreat
Organizer: National Association of Women Sales Professionals
What to expect: Let’s be honest, tech sales still has a long way to go when it comes to diversity and equity. While more women are taking on sales roles, it remains a male-dominated profession. National Association of Women Sales Professional’s annual Be the Change Retreat is all about providing a space for women in sales to meet, develop their skills and advance diversity, equity and inclusion hiring initiatives in the profession.
Topics from its 2021 conference include exploring key strategies to engage buyers, creating a practical diversity, equity and inclusion plan and getting leadership buy-in and how to scale diversity initiatives within the company. While the agenda for 2022 hasn’t been finalized yet, it will once again be held in October, which just so happens to be Women in Sales Month.
The details: October (dates to be determined) in Savannah, Georgia; October (dates to be determined) in Newport Beach, California.
Surf and Sales Summit
Organizer: Scott Leese and Richard Harris
What to expect: The Surf and Sales Summit isn’t your typical sales conference. Breaking from the traditional conference mold of meeting inside a convention center with hundreds of other professionals, Surf and Sales Summit meets on the beaches of Playa Grande, Costa Rica and promises a smaller, more intimate conference experience. Led by sales trainers and authors Scott Leese and Richard Harris, attendees can expect about five hours of sales training a day in a small group setting to go along with zip lining, surf lessons and catered meals.
The details: Nov. 12-16 in Playa Grande, Costa Rica (first session); Nov. 17-21 in Playa Grande, Costa Rica (second session).
Dreamforce
Organizer: Salesforce
What to expect: The Coachella of tech conferences. While it’s not sales specific, Salesforce’s annual event brings together some of the biggest names in tech, entertainment and politics to talk about the tech industry. Previous conferences, for instance, included speaking appearances from Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, former Vice President Al Gore (discussing sustainability) and actor Will Smith (discussing storytelling and inspiration).
The event also offers workshops and panels for anyone working in tech or who uses its customer relationship management platform. Dreamforce was held virtually in September 2021, and can still be streamed on Salesforce+.
The details: TBD.
