9 great sales management courses online (and how to choose the right one)

The right sales management course gives you the skills to develop and empower your sales team to hit their targets and close high-quality deals.

With so many management courses available online, it can be difficult to choose one that matches your circumstances, budget and learning needs.

In this article, you’ll learn how sales management training can help salespeople at all career stages, explore seven of the best online courses to consider and choose the one that’ll best equip you to lead and sell more effectively.

Key takeaways from management courses online

• Management courses online help new and seasoned leaders keep up with shifting customer demands, employee expectations and sales trends and technologies.
  
  

• Effective sales management training combines data-driven decision-making with strong people management to coach high-performing teams effectively.
  
  

• The best course choice depends on your career stage, time availability and intended outcomes: new managers benefit from foundational learning, while senior leaders gain most from strategy-focused training.
  
  

• For managers looking to put leadership skills into practice with a smart CRM, Pipedrive Academy courses are a strong place to start online – sign up for a 14-day Pipedrive trial.

Why sales management training is critical for sales leaders in 2025

New and aspiring sales leaders aren’t the only ones who can benefit from online sales management training programs.

With buyer behaviors constantly evolving, even highly experienced sales managers must keep updating their skillsets to succeed. Here are three main reasons why:

1. The current shift toward digital-first selling, data-driven decision-making and remote team management means today’s sales leaders need both traditional people management skills and technological fluency.
   
   

2. Modern consumer attitudes toward corporate social responsibility, omnichannel shopping and brand loyalty mean sales teams have new expectations to meet. It’s a leader’s job to go beyond traditional coaching to ensure every rep is closing sales deals in line with customer needs.
   
   

3. Employees’ expectations and priorities in flexible working, sustainability and diversity are changing. Sales managers must account for this changing landscape and embrace new sales models and technologies to be effective leaders.

With all this in mind, great sales management courses can teach you how to:

• Meet the buying needs of modern consumers while adapting to new sales technologies

• Identify, manage and act on the most valuable performance data using the latest analytics tools

• Become a great sales manager your team wants to work hard for through improved communication skills

• Ignite passion among your sales representatives with a more personal people management approach

Become a better coach for developing salespeople to build high-performing teams

Best 9 sales management courses to hone your skills in 2025

To simplify your search for the perfect course, this article has built a list of starting points to consider.

Here are nine of the best sales management courses online in 2025, covering a range of leadership styles, skill levels, teaching methods and time demands.

First, explore this handy table summarizing all nine course recommendations – starting from beginner-friendly, freely accessible options and moving on to more advanced leadership courses to support more comprehensive business strategies.

Next, delve into the specifics of each course to help you plan and incorporate your learning efforts into your time management system.

1. Best for basic leadership knowledge: Udemy – Sales Management: Creating a Solid Foundation

This “fast-track overview” tailors sales leadership foundations for beginners transitioning into managerial positions. The no-frills taster course uses simple terminology to give salespersons a solid understanding of sales management roles.

The short course includes

• Seven best-practice frameworks for effective team management

• Hands-on tips for solving common, day-to-day sales team challenges

• A downloadable workbook and personal action plan to reinforce key learnings

There are five modules with 14 self-contained lectures that learners can follow in any order, followed by a final five-question test to reinforce the newly gained knowledge.

Course details:

Format: Online, self-paced

Cost: Free

Duration: 46 minutes of on-demand video

Teaching method: Video tutorials with a supporting workbook and a short quiz at the end

Certification: No formal badge or certificate provided (the course focuses on practical learning rather than credentials)

2. Best for developing your leadership skills: ASLAN – Catalyst

As well as offering training for sales managers in inside sales, call center sales and field sales, ASLAN provides a sales leadership training program called Catalyst.

The course consists of three core modules: Lead, Manage and Coach.

Throughout, learners can leverage the cloud-based Catalyst Dashboard to manage 200+ developmental activities for reps and track results, productivity, competency and engagement levels.

Upon completion of the workshop, a post-training certification path helps leaders integrate newly acquired skills into their daily practices and initiatives.

One of this course’s biggest selling points is its focus on changing how you see and approach leadership. If your one-size-fits-all management approach isn’t getting results, you’ll find ASLAN’s Other-Centric leadership philosophy valuable and insightful.

Course details:

• Cost: Varies based on cohort, individual or group sales and management training requirements. – Contact ASLAN for a quote.

• Duration: The core training is a concentrated two-day workshop, with customized pacing also an option. Post-training certification typically lasts 90 days.

• Teaching method: Online or in-person interactive workshops with skill development activities and a dashboard for tracking results.

• Certification: Learners complete a structured assessment and receive ASLAN Leadership Certification on completion.

3. Best for driving sales growth: eCornell – Sales Growth Certificate Program

Based on the 2016 book Sales Growth: Five Proven Strategies from the World’s Sales Leaders (authored by McKinsey experts), this five-stage course by Cornell University helps managers build actionable roadmaps for driving sales growth.

While it’s useful for salespeople at all levels, managers are eCornell’s main focus. In the course’s five units, you’ll learn how to:

• Discover sales growth opportunities

• Get the most from your sales efforts

• Win with your key customer accounts

• Negotiate effectively to maximize the value of every sale

• Manage sales performance for team and business growth

Renowned faculty members teach the unit and the content is authored by a host of senior sales specialists from McKinsey & Company, including Director Maria Valdivieso, Senior Partner Homayoun Hatami and Chief Business Development Officer René Langen.

This lineup means you’ll gain access to a goldmine of experience-backed insight from industry leaders.

Course details:

• Cost: $3,900 or $830 per monthly instalment

• Duration: 3–5 hours per week for three months, with each unit lasting two weeks

• Teaching method: Online, instructor-led videos and supporting texts, with a maximum class size of 35 students

• Certification: Learners receive the Sales Growth Certificate from Cornell Johnson Graduate School of Management upon completion

4. Best for beginner sales managers using a CRM: Pipedrive Academy – Master Sales Management

Part of the Pipedrive Academy’s free resource library for everything sales- and CRM-related, this beginner-friendly course teaches practical leadership skills that integrate directly with Pipedrive’s CRM workflow for effective sales enablement.

Master Sales Management: Leading Sales Teams with Confidence equips novice sales managers with actionable, tool-specific strategies they can implement immediately, including guidance on:

• Managing and motivating a sales team within a CRM environment

• Tracking sales pipelines and team performance effectively

• Implementing structured sales processes

• Coaching reps to improve their sales deal results

While the course is specific to Pipedrive, all managers can apply the leadership and coaching frameworks learned to their specific roles or sales scenarios.

Course details:

• Cost: Free (all Pipedrive Academy content is free to access)
• Duration: Self-paced, 11 lessons of around 35 minutes
  
• Teaching method: Video tutorials, walkthroughs and CRM-integrated lessons with practical examples
• Certification: Learners receive a badge of completion from the Pipedrive Academy

5. Best for inspiring team performance: RAIN Group – Sales Management

RAIN’s Sales Management training course gives managers the skills to keep their teams motivated, accountable and hitting performance objectives.

Recognizing some of the role’s biggest challenges, it promises to help leaders host more valuable team meetings, forecast performance more effectively, hire great new talent and coach reps to consistently exceed sales targets.

RAIN’s modular approach means participants and their employers can get a more personalized learning experience by focusing on the topics most relevant to their needs to become effective managers.

There are various modules within the leadership course, including:

• Sales Forecasting and Pipeline Management

• Interviewing and Hiring Sales Superstars

• Leading Exceptional Team Meetings

Course details

• Cost and duration: Both vary based on business and learner requirements, and you can contact RAIN Group for a consultation

• Teaching method: Each course comprises online classroom or in-person sessions, online resources and application coaching

• Certification: n/a

6. Best for stepping up to management: LinkedIn’s Transitioning to Management for Salespeople

LinkedIn Learning is a great place to upskill in many professional fields, including sales and marketing management.

At the time of writing, there are 55 courses in the Sales Management section of the platform

The Transitioning to Management for Salespeople course specifically targets new and aspiring sales leaders.

Led by sales consultant and author of Selling with Noble Purpose, Lisa Earle McLeod, this well-reviewed mini-course gives learners an idea of what to expect when switching from team member to team leader.

McLeod focuses on the areas in which new sales managers typically get stuck, including:

• Sales pipeline management

• Sales strategy

• Coaching

• Reporting

• Sales forecasting

• Attracting and retaining talent

• Holding sales meetings

• Working with other departments

• Dealing with failure

It’s a short course, but the points raised here should set the groundwork and inspire your next steps in sales management education.

Course details

• Cost: $29.99 or free with a one-month trial to LinkedIn Learning

• Duration: One hour and 15 minutes (self-paced)

• Teaching method: A series of video tutorials, slideshows and real-life examples presented by Lisa Earle McLeod, with quizzes to test your knowledge

• Certification: Learners receive a LinkedIn “Certificate of Completion” after finishing the course

7. Best for a big-picture view of sales leadership: West Virginia University – Sales Operations/Management Specialization (Coursera)

This Coursera “Specialization” is a five-course series using a mix of theoretical and practical methods to teach students about sales management.

Three highly qualified West Virginia University professors speak on all areas of sales management, including organizing, selecting, training, motivating and compensating team members.

You’ll learn how to:

• Develop a plan for organizing, staffing and training a sales force

• Identify the key factors in establishing and maintaining high morale in the sales force

• Develop an effective sales compensation plan

• Evaluate the performance of a salesperson

• Organize sales territories to maximize selling effectiveness

• Evaluate sales ethics and sales management strategies in relation to current legal standards of practice

Students also get to meet practicing sales managers and build up to an “Applied Learning Project”, which involves analyzing the sales function of a real business.

Course details:

• Cost: Requires a Coursera Plus subscription at $399 per year or $59 per month (includes a seven-day free trial and access to 7,000+ other certificate programs). You can access the course materials for free, but not the assignments, support or certification.

• Duration: This specialization contains one course of five weeks, three courses of four weeks and a final capstone project, for a total of 18–19 weeks.

• Teaching method: A mix of instructor-led course videos, supporting text, graded quizzes and a hands-on assessment project.

• Certification: Learners earn a shareable certificate from West Virginia University on completion.

8. Best for exec-level, strategic management: Harvard – Strategic Sales Management

Unlike entry-level courses, Harvard’s Strategic Sales Management course focuses on strategic decision-making and performance management. Interactive online sessions help learners to master key aspects of sales leadership.

Participants in this intensive four-day course will explore:

• Leveraging effective leadership coaching for team growth and success

• Training high-performing direct reports using persuasion equation techniques

• How to enhance sales pipelines and tailor communication to strengthen team culture

Management Essentials also applies strategic theory to real-world business scenarios using interactive exercises and real-world case studies.

Course details:

• Cost: $2,950
• Duration: Two consecutive Tuesdays and Thursdays
• Teaching method: Online instructor-led sessions
• Certification: Certificate of completion from Harvard Division of Continuing Education

9. Best for more win-win outcomes: Sandler – Negotiating Mastery

Sandler’s Negotiating Mastery course emphasizes the power of relationships in sales. As a sales manager, you’ll:

1. Become a stronger negotiator for your own deals

2. Be better positioned to coach reps in sales negotiation styles and best practices

The nine-lesson course includes modules like:

• Understanding and Dealing with the Professional Negotiator

• Sources of Negotiating Leverage

• Personality, Style and Persuasion

• The Most Common Negotiating Mistakes

• Top 12 Gambits Buyers Use and the Countermeasures

Sandler’s teaching methodology is all about reinforcement. As well as providing plenty of theory-based content, it encourages learners to practice new leadership skills through role-play, simulations and other low-risk situations before transferring them to the field.

Course details:

• Cost and duration: Dependent on business and learner requirements – contact Sandler for a custom quote

• Teaching method: A mix of video content and supporting texts, with access to the Sandler Resource Library of podcasts, whitepapers, reports, webinar recordings and e-books

• Certification: n/a

How to choose the right sales management course

All sales management courses have their own focuses, methods and credentials. The following factors should help you make the best decision for your problem-solving and leadership requirements:

Unsure where to start? Take a shorter and broader fundamentals course to get some basic ideas on what you want to pursue in depth as you scale your management efforts.

Management courses online FAQs

Final thoughts

The best sales management training courses allow you to refine old skills, learn new ones and keep up with evolving trends to close deals successfully and stay ahead of your competition.

With such a broad range of sales management training programs available, you should have no trouble finding one that matches your ambitions, schedule, learning style and budget.

Pipedrive Academy courses include sales management and many relevant topics to help you lead teams and sell more effectively. Develop your sales skills and learn how to seamlessly apply them to your CRM processes with a free 14-day Pipedrive trial.