Sales

Top 25 Sales Influencers for 2013

June 12, 2013

It’s our 2nd annual list highlighting the most active and influential sales thought leaders online.

Sales is changing. And for many salespeople, the process of selling has become more complex and complicated than ever before. The good news, of course, is that there has also never been so many tools and resources so readily available, so many communities full of sales insight so accessible and in our reach. Salespeople everywhere are flocking online to share their lessons and experiences, to provide helpful suggestions and seek solutions from others.
If you are looking for sources of sales insight for your business, this list of influencers represents the cream of the crop.
These experts and analysts offer invaluable ideas for establishing and improving your sales organization, along with the tips and resources you need to fuel your company’s growth. Whether you are looking for solutions for lead generation and lead nurturing, best practices for hiring and managing your sales reps, or thoughts on the latest sales trends and ideas, these experts have you covered.
Learn more about each influencer and how to connect with them below.

OpenView’s Top Sales Influencers for 2013 are:

Bob Apollo, Inflexion-Point Strategy Partners

As the founder and CEO of UK-based Inflexion-Point Strategy Partners, Bob works with technology-based expansion-stage B2B companies, helping them to achieve market leadership through scalable sales and marketing processes that systematically identify, attract, engage, qualify, persuade, and convert more of the right sort of prospects. Connect with him on Twitter @bobapollo.

Miles Austin, Fill the Funnel

As “The Web Tools Guy,” Miles combines a long career in technology sales with a long love affair with technology. He has been recognized as one of the leading authorities on Web Tools for sales and helps companies develop the strategies, implement the tactics, and choose the tools necessary to maximize sales productivity. Connect with him on Twitter @milesaustin.

Trish Bertuzzi, The Bridge Group

Trish 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 2013 Consulting Provider of the Year Award from American Association of Inside Sales Professionals. Connect with her on Twitter @bridgegroupinc.

Dave Brock, Partners in EXCELLENCE

Dave helps sales and business professionals achieve extraordinary goals through his consulting and services company Partners In EXCELLENCE. A global consulting practice, Partners In EXCELLENCE supports clients worldwide and provides coaching and mentoring to individuals ranging from CEO through individual contributors. Connect with him on Twitter @davidabrock.

Ian Brodie, IanBrodie.com

Ian provides straight talking marketing and sales advice for consultants, coaches and other professionals. Based in the UK, he offers coaching, training, and consulting to help individuals and organizations reach their goals for business growth. He shares his 5 Simple Marketing Tweaks That Will Get You More Clients and other tips on his More Clients blog. Connect with him on Twitter @ianbrodie.

Brian Carroll, MECLABS

Brian is the executive director of revenue optimization 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. Connect with him on @brianjcarroll.

Jonathan Farrington, JFA and Top Sales World

Jonathan is a globally recognized business coach, mentor, author and consultant. The Managing Partner of Jonathan Farrington & Associates and CEO of Top Sales World, he also contributes sales tips regularly to his popular blog. Connect with him on Twitter @TopSalesWorld.

Colleen Francis, Engage Selling Solutions

A successful sales leader for over 20 years, Colleen has become renowned for her practical strategies and use of measurement and accountability to inspire sales team results. She has been distinguished as a Certified Sales Professional (C.S.P.) and Sales and Marketing Magazine has called Colleen and Engage Selling one of the top 5 most effective sales training organizations in the market today. She is the author of Honesty Sells and the upcoming book Perpetual Sales Boom. Connect with her on Twitter @CFrancisVoice.

Jeffrey Gitomer, Ace of Sales

A 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. Connect with him on Twitter @gitomer.

Charles H. Green, Trusted Advisor Associates

Charles is an author, speaker and world expert on trust-based relationships and sales in complex businesses. Founder and CEO of Trusted Advisor Associates, he is author of Trust-Based Selling, and co-author of the classic The Trusted Advisor and its practical follow-up, The Trusted Advisor Fieldbook. Connect with him on Twitter @CharlesHGreen.

Gerhard Gschwandtner, Selling Power Magazine

Gerhard is the creator of Selling Power Magazine (and Blog) as well as the Selling Power Sales Leadership Conference. He is the author of 16 books on selling and sales management, and broadcasts a daily video series where he interviews various sales leaders, CEOs, and marketing experts. Connect with him on Twitter @gerhard20.

Leanne Hoagland-Smith, Increase Sales Blog

Leanne is a heurist who disrupts the status quo by discovering new ways to guide and support rapidly growing small businesses — those who wish to grow beyond their current employees and executives in chaos. Connect with her on Twitter @CoachLee.

Mark Hunter, The Sales Hunter

As “The Sales Hunter,” Mark helps individuals and companies protect their profits and build better long-term customer relationships. Since 1998, Mark has conducted thousands of customized training programs and keynotes on sales. He is best known for his ability to motivate and move an organization through his high-energy presentations. Connect with him on Twitter @TheSalesHunter.

S. Anthony Iannarino, The Sales Blog

Anthony is an author, speaker, and entrepreneur. He is the President and Chief Sales Officer of SOLUTIONS Staffing, the Managing Director of B2B Sales Coach & Consultancy, an Adjunct Faculty Member of Capital University’s School of Leadership and Management. He writes for ThinkSales, SUCCESS Magazine, and daily at thesalesblog.com. Connect with him on Twitter @iannarino.

Jim Keenan, A Sales Guy

Keenan has been selling as well as running, building, tweaking, disrupting, fixing, and flat-out reconstructing sales organizations for almost 20 years. Senior Partner and Founder of A Sales Guy Consulting, and author of the Top 25 Sales blog, A Sales Guy, he has been named one of Sales and Marketing’s most influential people by Top Sales World Magazine, and was ranked #7 on Twitter by Radius Intelligence’s list of Top 25 Sales Influencers. Keenan is also creator of A Sales Guy U, the Web’s fastest growing site for sales resources, videos, eBooks and more. Connect with him on Twitter @keenan.

Jill Konrath, JillKonrath.com

Jill’s fresh strategies help salespeople acquire new clients, minimize losses to “no decision,” and slash months of their sales cycle. She is the bestselling author of SNAP Selling and Selling to Big Companies, a popular blogger, and frequent speaker/trainer at sales meetings. Connect with her on Twitter @jillkonrath.

Ken Krogue, InsideSales.com

Ken is the President and co-founder of InsideSales.com, the pioneer of Lead Response Management. A sought-after speaker and contributor to Forbes, Ken also writes about best practices, new research, and tips concerning the Inside Sales industry at his blog. Connect with him on Twitter @kenkrogue.

Kendra Lee, KLA Group

As founder and President of KLA Group, Kendra helps small and midsize technology companies implement and enhance their prospect attraction strategies to get more customers. She is a frequent contributor to the company’s blog and her latest book, The Sales Magnet: How to Get More Customers Without Cold Calling, is available now. Connect with her on Twitter @KendraLeeKLA.

Nancy Nardin, Smart Selling Tools

Nancy is the foremost expert increasing sales productivity through the use of tools. As President of Smart Selling Tools, she consults with many of the top sales productivity software vendors as well as end-user organizations looking to select the right tools. Learn more about Nancy on her Sales Productivity blog, and connect with her on Twitter @sellingtools.

Steve Richard, Vorsight

Steve is Co-Founder of Vorsight, the Sales Training Provider of the Year three years in a row, according to the AA-ISP. He has been featured in the Harvard Business Review, the Washington Business Journal, the Washington Post, and CNN/Money. He is also a CNBC guest contributor. Connect with him on Twitter @srichardv.

Lori Richardson, Score More Sales

Lori is in her eleventh year overseeing Score More Sales, LLC, a Boston-based firm that partners with mid-market technology companies to improve prospecting through working directly with sales leaders and in coaching sales reps. Lori splits her time between consulting, training, and as a mid-market sales blogger for technology brands. Her fourth book, Sales Rockstar will be out in 2014. She is also a fundraising auctioneer and  curates a group for women sales and marketing experts called Sales Shebang. Connect with her on Twitter @scoremoresales.

Lee B. Salz, Sales Architects

Lee is a leading sales management strategist specializing in helping companies build scalable, high-performance sales organizations through hiring the right salespeople, effectively onboarding them, and aligning their sales activities with business objectives through process, metrics and compensation. He is the Founder and CEO of Sales Architects, Business Expert Webinars, and The Revenue Accelerator. Lee has authored several books including the award-winning book Soar Despite Your Dodo Sales Manager. Look for his new book in 2013, Hire Right Higher Profits: Turn Your Sales Team from Money Pit to Wise Revenue Investment. Connect with him on Twitter @SalesArchitects.

Anneke Seley, Reality Works Group

Anneke was the 12th employee at Oracle and the designer of OracleDirect, the company’s revolutionary inside sales operation. She is currently the CEO and founder of Reality Works Group (formerly Phone Works,) a sales strategy and implementation services firm that helps large and small businesses build and restructure sales teams to achieve predictable, measurable, and sustainable sales growth, using Sales 2.0 principles. She is the author of Sales 2.0: Improve Business Results Using Innovative Sales Practices and Technology and her writer also appears on her blog, The Sales 2.0 Advocate. Connect with her on Twitter @annekeseley.

Tibor Shanto, Renbor Sales Solutions

Tibor has been a sales leader for over 25 years, helping companies achieve and improve their revenue goals. He has been called a brilliant sales tactician, helping sales teams and organizations to better execute their sales process. As a principal with Renbor Sales Solutions, he works with leading B2B sales organizations to deliver sales growth through the right combination of strategic and tactical execution supported by metrics and his Follow-Through Action Plan. Connect with him on Twitter @TiborShanto.

Mike Weinberg, The New Sales Coach

Mike is the founder of The New Sales Coach, a sales blog and consultancy that helps businesses rediscover the fundamentals of sales and new business development. His first book, New Sales. Simplified: The Essential Handbook for Prospecting and New Business Development, was published by the American Management Association and has become a #1 Amazon Bestseller. Prior to launching his own firm, Mike had been the top-producing salesperson in three organizations. Connect with him on Twitter @mike_weinberg.


For last year’s list, see the Top Sales Influencers for 2012. Who should we add to the list next year?

OpenView, the expansion stage venture firm, helps build software companies into market leaders. Through our Expansion Platform, we help companies hire the best talent, acquire and retain the right customers and partner with industry leaders so they can dominate their markets. Our focus on the expansion stage makes us uniquely suited to provide truly tailored operational support to our portfolio companies. Learn more about OpenView at openviewpartners.com.