Sales

Top 25 Sales Influencers for 2012

January 12, 2012

The research team here at OpenView recently applied their talents toward identifying the most influential sales leaders on the Web today. Browse below for our list of 25 of the most powerful thought leaders in the world of sales management, lead generation, and more.

(Editor’s note: For more details on how this list was compiled, check out this blog post from Brandon Hickie on developing a prioritization scheme for market channel research.)

OpenView’s Top 25 Sales Influencers for 2012 are:

Greg Alexander, Sales Benchmark Index

Greg Alexander

Greg started Sales Benchmark Index to provide sales consulting services to leading organizations across both private and public sectors. He is an active speaker and writer, co-authoring books such as Topgrading for Sales: World Class Methods to Interview, Hire, and Coach Top Sales Representatives.

Follow on Twitter: @GregAlexander

Bob Apollo, Inflexion-Point Strategy Partners

Bob ApolloBob is the Founder and Chief Strategist at Inflexion-Point Strategy Partners, a U.K.-based B2B sales and marketing consulting firm. He’s written hundreds of articles on sales and marketing, and contributes regularly to the Inflexion-Point blog and Entrepreneur Country.

Follow on Twitter: @bobapollo

Trish Bertuzzi, The Bridge Group

Trish BertuzziTrish founded The Bridge Group in 1998 with the goal of helping technology companies build better and more successful inside sales teams. She’s a frequent contributor to the company’s Inside Sales Experts Blog, and was recently named one of the “Top 20 Women to Watch in Sales Lead Management” by SLMA.

Follow on Twitter: @bridgegroupinc

Ian Brodie, IanBrodie.com

Ian BrodieIan provides “straight talking marketing and sales advice for consultants, coaches and other professionals.” Based in the U.K., he offers coaching, training and consulting to help individuals and organizations reach their goals for business growth.

Follow on Twitter: @ianbrodie

Brian Carroll, MECLABS: B2B Lead Generation

Brian CarrollBrian is the executive director of applied research at MECLABS, a science lab and consultancy that helps leaders optimize the financial performance of their sales and marketing programs. He is the CEO of InTouch and author of Lead Generation for the Complex Sale.

Follow on Twitter: @brianjcarroll

Paul Castain, Castain Training Systems

Paul CastainThis “VP of Jedi Mastery” has trained and mentored sales professionals for over 28 years. He owns the site Paul Castain’s Sales Playbook and hosts the The Sales Playbook Podcast.

Follow on Twitter: @paulcastain

Jonathan Farrington, JF Corporation

Jonathan FarringtonJonathan is a globally recognized business coach, mentor, author and consultant. The Chairman of The JF Corporation and CEO of Top Sales Associates, he also contributes sales tips regularly to his popular blog.

Follow on Twitter: @jonofarrington

Colleen Francis, Engage Selling Solutions

Colleen FrancisA sales trainer and consultant with over 15 years of experience, Colleen is the founder and president of Engage Selling Solutions. She also writes the blog, Sell More & Work Less, where she contributes frequent tips for sales managers and professionals.

Follow on Twitter: @CFrancisVoice

Gerhard Gschwandtner, Selling Power Magazine

Gerhard GschwandtnerGerhard is the creator of Selling Power Magazine (and Blog) as well as the Selling Power Sales Leadership Conference. He’s authored 16 books on selling and sales management, and broadcasts a daily video series where he interviews various sales leaders, CEOs and marketing experts.

Follow on Twitter: @gerhard20

Jeffrey Gitomer, Ace of Sales

Jeffrey GitomerA founding partner at Ace of Sales, Jeffrey manages the popular Sales Blog and is a renowned speaker and presenter. He’s also the author of such books as The Sales Bible and The Little Red Book of Selling.

Follow on Twitter: @gitomer

S. Anthony Iannarino, The Sales Blog

Anthony IannarinoAnthony is the president of SOLUTIONS Staffing and a sales coach at B2BSalesCoach.com. He regularly contributes new tips and ideas for sales managers and professionals on his site, The Sales Blog.

Follow on Twitter: @iannarino

Jill Konrath, JillKonrath.com

Jill KonrathJill is a best-selling author and speaker with a focus on using fresh sales strategies that work in today’s business environment. She writes a popular blog and has authored several books, including SNAP Selling and Selling to Big Companies.

Follow on Twitter: @jillkonrath

Kendra Lee, KLA Group

Kendra LeeAs an IT sales and prospect attraction specialist with the Denver-based KLA Group, Kendra has been a featured speaker on selling to SMB companies at various international conferences, events and meetings. Her latest book, The Sales Magnet: How to Get More Customers Without Cold Calling, is available now.

Follow on Twitter: @KendraLeeKLA

Alen Mayer, AlenMajer.com

Alan MayerWith over 20 years of experience in international sales and business development, Alen is recognized as a leading expert on B2B sales training. He has authored several books, including Selling Is Better Than Sex and Trigger Events or How to Find Your Next Customer.

Follow on Twitter: @mayeralen

Mac McIntosh, Business-to-Business Sales Lead Experts

Mac McIntoshMac is a seasoned consultant and speaker who specializes in helping companies get more high-quality B2B sales leads.

Follow on Twitter: @B2B_Sales_Leads

Sean McPheat, MTD Sales Training Specialists

Sean McPheatSean is the founder and Managing Director of MTD Training, a U.K. company that offers sales training and management solutions for companies of all sizes. He is a popular speaker in the sales training circuit and the author of the best-selling book eselling®.

Follow on Twitter: @SeanMcPheat

Sharon Drew Morgan, SharonDrewMorgan.com

Sharon Drew MorganSharon has worked for over 20 years as a thought leader in the fields of decision making and sales. In addition to her own blog, she also manages the New Sales Paradigm website and has authored the best-selling book Dirty Little Secrets.

Follow on Twitter: @sharondrew

Jeff Ogden, Find New Customers

Jeff OgdenJeff is the president of Find New Customers, which focuses on “demand generation made simple.” He writes for the popular blog Fearless Competitor and hosts the B2B marketing show Marketing Made Simple TV.

Follow on Twitter: @fearlesscomp

Lori Richardson, Score More Sales

Lori RichardsonLori is a blogger, speaker, inside sales trainer and B2B sales detective for Score More Sales, a sales strategy organization that she founded in 2001. Her motto is, “Keep your focus, keep it simple, track your metrics, and make a 1% improvement every day.”

Follow on Twitter: @scoremoresales

Kelley Robertson, Fearless Selling

Kelley RobertsonAs president of The Robertson Training Group, Kelley works to help sales professionals master their conversations and win more business. He’s an accomplished keynote speaker and presenter, and has authored two books, including The Secrets of Power Selling.

Follow on Twitter: @Kel_Robertson

Lee B. Salz, Sales Architects

Lee SalzLee is a leading Sales Management Strategist and founder of Sales Architects. He specializes in helping companies hire the right sales people, effectively onboard them and align their activities with business objectives.

Follow on Twitter: @SalesArchitects

Tibor Shanto, Renbor Sales Solutions

Tibor ShantoTibor is an accomplished sales speaker and author of the award-winning sales book Shift!: Harness The Trigger Events That Turn Prospects Into Customers. You can read his frequent thoughts and musings at The Pipeline, the Renbor sales blog.

Follow on Twitter: @TiborShanto

David Steel, The Steel Method

David SteelAn expert and motivational speaker in the areas of sales and social media, David manages the Steel on Sales blog and has written the popular book (now a free eBook) The Care and Feeding of Highly Aggressive Sales People.

Follow on Twitter: @dsteel

Elinor Stutz, SmoothSale

Elinor StultzElinor is an international speaker, author and CEO of SmoothSale, LLC, a sales training company based in California. Her site maintains a running blog of sales tips (as of January 10, it was at tip no. 653!), and speaks frequently to help others “fully thrive in business, sales or their next career move.”

Follow on Twitter: @smoothsale

Mike Weinberg, The New Sales Coach

Mike WeinbergMike is a coach, consultant, and speaker with a focus on helping organizations generate new sales. He is currently writing a book on prospecting and new business development, due for release in fall 2012.

Follow on Twitter: @mike_weinberg

For more on sales management and business development, check out our Sales topic page.

SVP Marketing & Sales

<strong>Brian Zimmerman</strong> was a Partner at OpenView from 2006 until 2014. While at OpenView he worked with our portfolio executive teams to deliver the highest impact value-add consulting services, primarily focused on go-to-market strategies. Brian is currently the Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at <a href="http://www.5nine.com/">5Nine Software</a>.