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The 12 Best Sales Conferences for 2017

5 min readJanuary 4, 2017

2017 is here! As sales professionals, we’re always looking for new ways to expand our skill set and make new connections.

Going to the right conferences can actually offer fantastic ROI to sales professionals. First of all, there are almost always sessions and keynotes featuring top industry experts. It’s a great place to share strategies and learn from the very best.

Conferences can also be an excellent way to prospect for new business. If you’re selling to businesses, chances are that you can meet key decision makers at high-value accounts in person, whether they are new contacts or leads you have spoken with on the phone. This is fantastic because while inside sales reps can often close huge deals over the phone, there will always be something to be said for a face-to-face.

There are a lot of sales, marketing and technology conferences. It’s virtually impossible to go to all of them. That’s why we’ve narrowed it down to a list of 12 up-and-coming conferences that can potentially offer B2B sales professionals the best ROI in 2017.

Revenue Summit

When: 3/7 – 3/8/2017
Where: San Francisco
Why: Sales Hacker has been putting on some amazing events lately! As an example, Sales Hacker’s recent Sales Machine conference boasted some amazing speakers including Ariana Huffington, Gary Vaynerchuk, Seth Godin, Trish Bertuzzi and many more. Stay tuned for Revenue Summit (co-presented with FlipMyFunnel, which promises to boast some amazing speakers and sessions.
Past Speakers Include: Arianna Huffington (Huffington Post), Gary Vaynerchuck and Seth Godin

SaaStr

When: 2/7/17 – 2/9/17
Where: San Francisco
Why: SaaStr 2016 was one of the most inspiring conferences of the year, and next year’s event will probably be even better. This conference is basically a must for sales leaders who are selling SaaS, as it offers a nearly-unparalleled chance to network with decision makers at some of the world’s top companies.
Speakers Include: Jeff Lawson (CEO, Twilio) and Dharmesh Shah (Co-Founder, Hubspot)

TOPO Sales Summit

When: 4/12 – 4/13 2017
Where: San Francisco
Why: TOPO is one of the world’s fastest growing sales organizations. Each year their events are getting better and better. It will be very interesting to see what they have in store for us next year!
Speakers Include: Doug Landis (VP Sales, Box) and Scott Keane (Director Demand Management, Google)

AA-ISP Leadership Summit 2017

When: 4/18 – 4/20 2017
Where: Philadelphia
Why: AA-ISP is the leading association for inside sales professionals. Their conferences are guaranteed to be packed with industry leaders. This is a fantastic opportunity to network and learn from the best.
Past Speakers Include: Lori Richardson (Mid-Market Sales Expert) and Mark Kosoglow (VP Sales at Outreach)

Sales 3.0 Conference

When: 5/1 – 5/2 2017
Where: San Francisco
Why: Sales is changing fast! So fast that the awesome Sales 2.0 conference has rebranded as Sales 3.0! This conference will get to the heart of how sales leaders need to evolve to beat the competition and sell more over the next coming quarters.
Speakers Include: Kara DelVecchio, VP Sales, Wedding Wire and Gerhard Gschwandtner, Founder and CEO, Selling Power

Accelerate 2017

When: 5/2 – 5/4/17
Where: San Francisco, Pier 48
Why: Going in its 5th year, Apttus’ Accelerate is the world’s largest Quote-to-Cash of the year. Accelerate offers 2 full days of thought leadership, best practices, networking, and big name keynote speakers spanning sales, legal, finance, and IT personas. Last year Accelerate brought together over 3000 attendees, 72 sessions, and 3 World Series trophies. 2017 will be bigger.
Notable past speakers: Jay Leno, Magic Johnson, Matthew Dixon, Amy Slater

Forrester Customer Experience Forum

When: 6/20 – 6/21 2017
Where: New York
Why: Customer success is one of the most important aspects of B2B sales (after all, customer retention can often be more lucrative than customer acquisition). This forum will focus on customer experience and offer some strategies that can potentially help your sales team rethink and evolve your interactions with customers.
Select Speakers: Linda Boff (CEO, GE) and Mark King (President, Adidas North America) and

Inbound

When: 9/25 – 9/28 2017
Where: Boston
Why: Sure, Hubspot’s annual conference started as an event for inbound marketers. But as Hubspot’s product has expanded this conference has evolved to include plenty of content for sales professionals. Past speakers have included such sales luminaries as Jill Konrath and Jill Rowley.
Past Speakers Include: Alec Baldwin, Gary Vaynerchuk and Dharmesh Shah & Brian Halligan (Co-founders, Hubspot)

Dreamforce

When: 11/6 – 11/9 2017
Where: San Francisco
Why: Dreamforce is the world’s largest technology conference. You better believe that it’s going to be packed to the gils with highly actionable sessions and panels featuring a who’s who of today’s most seasoned industry leaders. Past panels that Revenue.io has hosted alone have featured John Barrows, Aaron Ross, Elay Cohen, Craig Rosenberg, Heather R. Morgan and more!
Past Speakers Include: Melinda Gates (Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation), Marc Benioff (CEO, Salesforce) and Tony Robbins

CEB Sales and Marketing Summit

When: TBD 2017
Where: TBD
Why: CEB has consistently offered some of the world’s leading research and insight into sales. CEB’s sales and marketing summit will feature top speakers.
Past Speakers Include: The Challenger Sale author Brent Adamson and business author Nick Toman

Sales Management Association Sales Force Productivity Conference

When: TBD 2017
Where: TBD
Why: The Sales Management Association’s 6th Annual Sales Force Productivity Conference was a prime networking event! And we’re looking forward to seeing the lineup for their next one. Though it’s a smaller conference, it should boast some top-tier speakers.
Past Speakers Include: Bob Kelly (Chairman, Sales Management Association), Jason Jordan (Vantage Point Consulting) and Bob Sanders (CEO, Axiom Sales Force Development)

Inside Sales World

When: TBD
Where: TBD
Why: AA-ISP’s conference is sure to be one of Europe’s premier gatherings of inside sales leaders. The conference will explore the latest tips, technologies, and proven best practices for solving today’s toughest challenges and issues.
Select Speakers: TBD

Did we miss any? Let us know in the comments!

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Categories:
Inside Sales
Tags:
B2B sales
events
networking

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