Professional Selling Skills: LinkedIn Learning vs HubSpot Academy and Other Platforms for Developing Sales Skills 

Pick HubSpot Academy first if you sell online or use a CRM. Pick LinkedIn Learning first if you want broad sales training, polished videos, and a neat certificate for your profile.

TLDR: HubSpot Academy is best for practical sales habits, especially prospecting, CRM use, email follow-up, and inbound sales. LinkedIn Learning is better for structured career learning, like negotiation, cold calling, account management, and sales leadership. For example, a junior rep who spends 30 minutes a day for 30 days on HubSpot sales lessons could build a working email sequence, clean up their pipeline, and improve follow-up speed by 20% to 30%. Use both if you can. Use one if your time is tight.

LinkedIn Learning vs HubSpot Academy: the quick match-up

Sales training can feel like a gym membership. Everyone signs up. Few people show up. Even fewer do the reps.

That is why the platform matters. You need lessons that are clear. You need practice. You need tools you can use the same day.

Here is the simple split:

• HubSpot Academy: best for inbound sales, CRM habits, email outreach, pipeline work, and real sales workflows.
• LinkedIn Learning: best for broad professional sales skills, career growth, communication, and leadership.
• Gong Academy: best for call review, coaching, and revenue team ideas.
• Coursera: best for deeper courses from universities and business schools.
• Udemy: best for cheap, quick, practical courses on specific skills.
• Salesforce Trailhead: best if your company uses Salesforce.

What are professional selling skills?

Professional selling skills are the habits that help you turn conversations into revenue. Not by being pushy. Not by sounding like a robot in a blazer.

Good salespeople do simple things well:

• They ask better questions.
• They listen without waiting to talk.
• They explain value in plain English.
• They follow up on time.
• They handle objections without panic.
• They know when to close.
• They use CRM data instead of guessing.

The best platforms teach these skills in small chunks. That matters. Nobody wants a three-hour lecture called “Advanced Revenue Excellence.” Please no.

HubSpot Academy: best for practical sales workflows

HubSpot Academy is free. That is a big deal. It gives you courses on inbound sales, sales software, CRM, email, reporting, and customer success.

The style is simple. The lessons are direct. The examples often connect to HubSpot CRM. That can be great. It can also feel a bit too HubSpot-shaped if your company uses another tool.

Best features:

• Free certifications.
• Strong training on inbound sales.
• Good lessons on CRM hygiene.
• Useful templates and examples.
• Clear links between sales and marketing.

Best for: SDRs, BDRs, account executives, startup founders, marketers who sell, and small business owners.

The annoying bit: some lessons assume you are using HubSpot products. That makes sense. It is their academy. Still, it can slow you down if your company lives in Salesforce, Pipedrive, or Zoho. Expect to mentally translate a few steps.

If you are new to sales, start with HubSpot’s inbound sales course. It teaches a calmer version of selling. Less “spray 400 emails.” More “understand the buyer and help them move.” Nice.

LinkedIn Learning: best for polished professional development

LinkedIn Learning is paid in most cases. Some people get it through work, school, or a library. If you have access, use it.

Its big strength is range. You can learn sales calls, negotiation, storytelling, presentation skills, emotional intelligence, sales management, and even Excel for sales reporting.

Best features:

• High-quality video production.
• Many expert instructors.
• Certificates that connect to your LinkedIn profile.
• Good learning paths for career growth.
• Strong soft skills content.

Best for: professionals who want to improve selling, communication, confidence, and career credibility.

It drives me a little crazy that finding the best course can take longer than expected. Search “sales skills,” and you may get a buffet the size of a cruise ship. You need to filter hard. Sort by rating, length, and topic.

Which one teaches better selling?

That depends on your sales job.

If you are doing CRM-heavy sales, use HubSpot Academy. You will learn how to manage contacts, track deals, and follow up. These habits sound boring. They make money.

If you sell through meetings, presentations, networking, and relationship building, use LinkedIn Learning. Its communication courses are strong. They help you sound sharper and more human.

Here is a useful rule:

• Need sales process? Choose HubSpot Academy.
• Need confidence and communication? Choose LinkedIn Learning.
• Need both? Pair them for 60 days.

A simple 60-day learning plan

You do not need to watch 80 courses. Please do not. That is fake productivity wearing headphones.

Try this instead:

1. Days 1 to 10: Take a HubSpot inbound sales course.
2. Days 11 to 20: Build or clean your sales pipeline.
3. Days 21 to 30: Take a LinkedIn Learning course on asking better questions.
4. Days 31 to 40: Practice cold calls or discovery calls.
5. Days 41 to 50: Take a negotiation or objection handling course.
6. Days 51 to 60: Review results. Keep what works. Drop what feels forced.

Track three numbers during this plan:

• Reply rate: How many prospects answer?
• Meeting booked rate: How many calls become meetings?
• Follow-up time: How long do you wait before your next touch?

If your reply rate moves from 6% to 9%, that is not tiny. That is a 50% lift. Sales math can be sneaky like that.

Other platforms worth checking

Gong Academy is useful for teams that record sales calls. It focuses on real conversations, coaching, and deal improvement. It is less beginner-friendly, but great for managers and revenue teams.

Salesforce Trailhead is excellent if your company uses Salesforce. It turns learning into small modules with badges. It is practical, but very Salesforce-focused.

Coursera offers deeper business courses. Some come from known universities. It works well if you want theory plus structure. It can feel slower, though.

Udemy is the discount store of sales training. That is not an insult. Some courses are wonderful. Some are dusty. Check reviews, update dates, and sample videos before buying.

Skillshare can help with presentation, storytelling, and personal branding. It is less sales-specific, but useful for people who sell through content or consulting.

What should managers choose for a team?

For teams, start with the sales process. If your CRM is messy, fix that first. HubSpot Academy or Trailhead can help, depending on your system.

Then add communication training. LinkedIn Learning is strong here. Build a playlist. Keep it short. A team will not finish a 14-hour mega-course unless snacks and mild threats are involved.

Use short assignments:

• Watch one lesson.
• Practice one call opener.
• Rewrite one follow-up email.
• Role-play one objection.
• Review one lost deal.

This works better than dumping courses into a shared folder and hoping magic happens.

Final verdict

HubSpot Academy wins for hands-on sales process. It is free, practical, and great for CRM-minded selling.

LinkedIn Learning wins for wide professional growth. It is polished, flexible, and strong on soft skills that matter in real deals.

The best choice is not fancy. It is the one you will actually use. Choose one course. Finish it. Apply one lesson this week. Then measure what changed.

Sales skill grows through practice. Not through collecting certificates like shiny digital stickers. Though, yes, those stickers do feel nice.