Back in the days, students and knowledge-seekers used to choose a guru; one man that can teach everything starting from skills to the meaning of life. Now as time changed yet the sea of knowledge grew to a new horizon and to stay at the top of your industry you have to suck every drop of knowledge from industry leaders.
Especially in sales, which almost everyone thinks is all about beating their competition (well, there might be a little truth to that). But if you’re in sales then you need to know everything best and worst of the industry, from news to new sales techniques.
Irrespective of all the negativity about the sales domain, many people who work in sales are also motivated to help other salespeople succeed and advance their careers.
And in order to help you, we have handpicked the 10 best sales influencers from the business community where some of them are sales leaders of successful businesses, some of them are investors, and some of them are serial entrepreneurs.
Note: this article covers sales gurus from across the world. You might wanna check out best Indian sales trainers to follow. Or if you have enough good sales advice, and you need help with implementing it across your team check out the best telecalling and sales CRM.
Following the right sales influencers on social media channels can help you find ways to connect with prominent thought leaders which will give you a lot of insight into best practices, new trends, tips and advice.
1. Gary Vaynerchuk:
Gary Vaynerchuk a.k.a Gary Vee is the chairman of VaynerX and CEO of VaynerMedia. Gary is associated with 8 other brands like Gallery Media Group, PureWow, Resy, VaynerSports, etc. As well as he is among angel investors for brands like Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Venmo, and Uber.
Just his portfolio and experience is enough to follow him right away especially if you’re from a sales background. Apart from his business and professional achievements he has become a household name because of his videos and podcasts on sales.
He’s also a judge on Apple’s new TV Series, Planet of the Apps, which is definitely gaining traction as well. Simply put, Gary really simplifies how people think about sales in the digital era, especially in regards to messaging, audience and just plain old sales hustle.
2. Kyle Porter:
He is the CEO of SalesLoft and he knows the ins and outs of closing deals and making the most out of your time and energy. Salespeople need all of the pep talks they can get. So, if you’re looking for inspiration, Kyle is definitely someone to follow.
As the CEO of SalesLoft, a leading sales software platform, Kyle knows first-hand how to a salesperson to close more deals – even when the clock is working against them as he really gets to the heart of what to do during the tough sales calls and how to advance and grow your career in sales
3. Aaron Ross:
Aaron Ross is the Co-CEO of Predictable Revenue as well as the author of the two best-selling sales book namely From Impossible to Inevitable and Predictive Revenue (a well-respected sales publication in Silicon Valley).
Aaron is definitely a thought leader you should be following if you’re interested in predictive revenue. He offers a very detailed approach to sales and gives tangible tips on how to grow your business.
Aaron shares the best sales tips and techniques on Twitter and LinkedIn. He has talked about cold calling 2.0 and inbound sales methodologies as well as he gives insight about share advice and expert analysis on anything from avoiding outbound prospecting mistakes to sales productivity.
4. Sean Sheppard:
Sean is the founder of Growth X. Moreover, he is also a serial entrepreneur with lots of experience in growing many early stage companies.
If you want to think about ways to leverage tech to drive pipeline then Sean is your guy because he’s really focused on predictability in sales. Sean is a great influencer for you to follow if you’re just getting started in sales and want to build a pipeline fast as he majorly focuses in all about growth and boosting sales education.
5. Trish Bertuzzi:
Trish Bertuzzi has played a major role in the sales game for the past two decades. Best known for her book on sales, “The Sales Development Playbook” is a must read if you want to evolve and get better as a salesperson.
She’s also the President and the Chief Strategist at The Bridge Group, a company that specializes in helping teams with inside sales.
Though her book is a great introduction to her sales philosophy, it can’t hurt to follow her on Twitter as well as she knows how to motivate salespeople, especially when it comes to honing in on best practices.
6. Kelly Riggs:
Kelly is the founder and President of Business LockerRoom that focuses on sales and leadership strategies. He is best known as the B2B sales expert.
He is the author of three successful books on sales and management apart from that he has been a two-time national award winner of Salesperson-of-the-year.
Kelly is one of the best influencers to follow on Twitter and LinkedIn for B2B sales. His major focus is to guide sales leaders to identify and hire the right sales teammates. He also trains sales squads to drive positive results
7. Phil Gerbyshak:
Phil is VP of Sales at Vector Solutions providing training to sales teams around the USA. He is among the top sales and marketing influencers with a unique speaking style.
He coaches salespeople on how to close more deals using social networks and talks about successful sales tactics.
Phil focuses on the benefits of connections; hence he is more active on LinkedIn. You can find some of the finest sales articles on his LinkedIn profile.
8. David Dulany:
David is the lead consultant at Tenbound, a program that helps teams build an SDR infrastructure from scratch.
He gives you easy access to his Sales Development Podcast, where he has a really interesting take on the role of the SDR and how it can make the entire Sales Dev community better.
If you are working on a lean team or start up that is just starting to build pipeline and set up a sales strategy then he’s the one you should follow.
9. Mark Hunter:
Mark Hunter started his own consulting company to share his motivational tips and proven sales techniques to help you increase your sales and profitability after working with Fortune 100 companies with over 18 years of experience.
If you are new to sales domain the Mark Hunter aka Sales Hunter to go for, just follow him and get the best tips & tricks about sales.
10. Lori Richardson:
She is the President of Score More Sales, which helps mid-market companies scale up and train their sales teams. She is also known as a leading sales strategist and influencer.
She grew up in a family of small business leaders, and carried out that tradition by getting into tech sales in her early 20s.
She shares a ton of practical content (articles, podcasts) where she offers a lot of great advice based on her career in sales.
So, these are the 10 best sales influencers according to us. Don’t forget to follow them on Twitter and LinkedIn for the best updates on sales and marketing.