Sometime back, I was interviewing a guy for a sales job at Datahut.
After the interview – he asked for feedback on his performance, and I shared my thoughts.
I loved the guy’s passion, but he lacked a few skills. Unfortunately, he couldn’t pass.
On his way back, he asked, “Can you recommend a few sales influencers & blogs I should follow to learn about sales.”
As a sales guy at my startup – learning and implementing new sales ideas is my top priority.
I follow many sales influencers and marketing leaders, learn, unlearn and relearn new ideas.
I fired up my pocket app and searched for the best sales content I have saved over the years. Based on this list, I picked my top 7 sales influencers which I regularly follow.
Here are my picks of the top 7 sales influencers you should follow in 2018.
These people are the best at their game and spend time helping others learn, develop, grow and succeed at Sales. If you’re not following them, then you’re missing out on some very valuable learnings.
1. Aaron Ross
Aaron Ross (@motoceo) is a sales influencer and an expert in outbound sales and is best known for his book Predictable Revenue, which is like a bible for internet startups. I’ve read it multiple times, and I recommend it to everyone starting up. If you’re into sales, this is a must-read book.
Aaron’s ideas are highly efficient if you are building an outbound sales engine. He designed an outbound sales engine at Salesforce. His experience backed insights can help you develop a thorough, scalable and repeatable process.
2 main bottlenecks in building a repeatable #outbound #sales machine: https://t.co/rBy7Qo1Unw #saas — Aaron Ross (@motoceo) June 20, 2017
From Impossible To Inevitable: How Hyper-Growth Companies Create Predictable Revenue is another book from Aaron. I highly recommend you read it, especially if your startup is in a growth stage.
Follow Aaron here on LinkedIn.
2. Steli Efti
Steli Efti (@Steli) is the CEO of Elastic inc which builds the Close.io CRM. Stelli is simply sales influencer on steroids. He is one of the most energetic sales influencers.
See his youtube videos to believe it – Go Home and Hustle Hard! – Steli Efti
He creates elaborate videos and blogs that help salespeople understand the dynamics of sales.
He writes a lot about the importance of follow-ups and being persistence.
The ultimate guide to follow-up emails: Templates https://t.co/OwBEtrXHhJ — Steli Efti (@Steli) June 11, 2017
Some of his most notable content is when he wrote about landing first few customers, following up with leads and cold calling tips. Follow his blog to get excellent sales content.
Here are a few links to some of his great content:
Follow him on Linkedin.
3. Jason Lemkin
If you are a salesperson/entrepreneur and you are on Quora – you’d probably know Jason Lemkin (@jasonik). He is the founder of EchoSign turned investor, and currently running SaaStr – The World’s Largest Community for Business Software.
Jason produces excellent content for sales, marketing and everything that matters for startups On Quora, SaaStr and through books. He is the co-author of “From Impossible To Inevitable: How Hyper-Growth Companies Create Predictable Revenue.”
If you carefully look at Jason’s sales content – you get a lot of insights about how the enterprise sales work. He shares excellent tips on how to navigate through complicated enterprise sales process. Jason’s content is an excellent reference for young startups who have no enterprise sales experience.
My answer to What's the number one challenge for scale-up founders? https://t.co/NBFDdtSV0q — Jason ✨😊✨ Lemkin 🦄 (@jasonlk) August 23, 2018
You can follow him here:
4. Dharmesh Shah
Dharmesh Shah (@dharmesh)is the co-founder of Hubspot, which provides marketing and sales software for businesses. He also runs a community named onstartups where he writes excellent content on startups.
Through both Hubspot content library and Onstartups – Dharmesh Shah helps salespeople with fresh ideas to help them excel at work. If you take a list of top SaaS sales influencers – Dharmesh will be in the top three.
On a personal note: Dharmesh, if you ever see this blog – I’d love to see you more active on Quora.
Follow him here:
5. Grant Cardone
Grant Cardone (@GrantCardone) is a sales trainer, sales influencer, and a writer. When it comes to sales – He is all about energy and aggression.
The way salespeople handle objections is what differentiates pros from amateurs. I found Grant Cardon’s ideas of objection handling very insightful.
You should check out Cardon’s videos if cold calling is a part of your business. You can also listen to his podcasts on Itunes and other podcast apps.
Do you want to learn how to buy on CAP rates? Find out on Real Estate Investing show on my channel at https://t.co/XsqTg6Xn8B#CardoneCapital #RealEstate pic.twitter.com/C41Bv4p51W — Grant Cardone (@GrantCardone) August 28, 2018
Follow Grant Cardone here:
6. Jill Konrath
Jill Konrath (@jillkonrath) is a speaker and the author of many best selling Sales Books.
Through her blog, Jill shares a lot of fresh ideas about improving sales productivity – Making salespeople productive should be the number one priority for sales leaders. Jills videos and blogs are an excellent resource for productivity ideas. This is the reason why jill made it into the list of sales influencers.
Her book – “SNAP Selling: Speed Up Sales and Win More Business with Today’s Frazzled Customers” is a must-read for successful sales strategies. She talks a lot about sales success mindset very well – Not a lot of people do it as effectively as Jill.
Check out these crucial strategies to avoid falling short of your sales goals this year. https://t.co/xvo5chEt5x — Jill Konrath (@jillkonrath) August 28, 2018
Follow Jill Konrath here:
7. Victor Antonio
Victor Antonio (@VictorAntonio) is a Sales coach, business consultant one of the top sales influencers. He is also a YouTuber who produces fantastic short videos on sales related subjects.
I’d recommend anyone in Sales – especially the beginners to subscribe to Victor Antonio’s Channel on YouTube. What I like about Victor is his clarity in explaining a sales concept.
Here is an example – Client says “Your Price Too High!” and You say “He explains how to handle the price is too high” objection. The explanation is as clear as it can get.
4 Things To Remember In A Negotiation https://t.co/zNIGFa2keE — Victor Antonio (@VictorAntonio) August 23, 2018
You can follow Victor Antonio here:
Whether you are a Junior SDR or a Sales Leader – there is always room for improvement. The best place to get ideas for improvement is from sales influencers, and that’s why it is vital to follow them.
Do you recommend any other sales influencers we must check out in 2018? Let us know in the comments below.