Twitter is so much more than memes. It’s a legitimate and powerful platform for people to share their thoughts, as well as content they find useful for themselves and their followers.
Salespeople, as busy as they are, still need to keep up with industry news, add to their armory of best practices, and just continuously learn. Social media could be an amazing venue to do all of that–however, the ocean is vast and there are far too many fish.
On Twitter in particular, it’s so easy to get inundated by torrents of information, quotes, and thoughts on a second-by-second basis. You don’t want to add to the noise either. It’s crucial that you ensure there’s purpose in each Twitter activity you take–be it following, retweeting, or posting.
To be on top of your Twitter feed, it’s important to ensure that each person you follow brings value to you. A quality Twitter feed is a result of following quality people.
A lot of people on Twitter–even influencers–fully automate their feeds. The result is a dry, flooded post history. Sure, there’s a lot of value in the content they share–but aside from being a billboard of content, the social factor can’t be discounted. You’d want to follow people who are active and engaged/engaging on Twitter.
To help salespeople build a quality feed, we put together this list of 20 influencers salespeople must follow. Be assured that each one is active on the platform–dishing out value one tweet at a time.
24 influencers you should follow today
Koka Sexton | Larry Weidel | Elinor Stutz | Lori Richardson | Paul Castain | Andy Preston | Jeffrey Gitomer | Nancy Nardin | Chet Holmes International | Anthony Iannarino | Greg Alexander | David Hoffeld | David Meerman Scott | Lindsey Boggs | Mitchell Harper | Matt Heinz | Nancy Bleeke | Ago Cluytens | Steven A Rosen | Tim Sanders | Josiane Feigon | Bob Burg | Kim Garst | Steve Keating
Koka Sexton, @KokaSexton
Founder of Social Selling Labs | Social Selling Guru
We’ve seen it work, and we’re always hungry for new information on social selling. Well, Koka Sexton is one of the biggest names in social selling–and he knows what works.
Salespeople would learn so much by following Koka, if only for links to his own posts and the constant stream of content recommendations that are directed to sales professionals. He’s a huge advocate of content marketing, so we know what he shares is always helpful, valuable, and most of all, actionable.
#SocialSelling =
? profile
? network
? engagement
? #contentmarketing
? metrics
? pipeline
☕️ coffee for closers— Koka Sexton (@kokasexton) May 17, 2016
Larry Weidel , @LarryWeidel
Best-selling Author | Sales Executive | Transformation Coach | Mentor
Larry Weidel is brilliant–and candid!
He definitely tells it like it is. His Twitter feed is filled with <140 character quotes, some from other people, but most straight from his thoughts that would benefit sales managers, sales reps, and business people.
Here are some gems:
You are either picking up steam or losing steam at all times. When you stop pushing, you’ll lose momentum!
While you rest, your competition runs. Build a big team, so your team always has someone running.
It seems so simple: if you’re in business, make a profit! If you’re not, then change something! #TuesdayTip
— Larry Weidel (@larryweidel) May 24, 2016
Elinor Stutz, @SmoothSale
Inspirational Speaker | International Best-Selling Author | Sales Consultant at Smooth Sale
Elinor posts powerful one-liners that teach us about leadership, mindset, attitude, and other crucial areas that are sometimes glossed over by many sales professionals. Her tweets are a mix of candidness and direct honesty–giving you just enough to get you thinking.
She’s been regarded as a top influencer by many news outlets and groups, among them Knowledgetree.com, CEO World Magazine, and Open View Labs. She also constantly ranks high on the #SalesGurus list, a leaderboard that recognizes thought leaders in sales performance management.
If you would not purchase what you sell, then take a hard look at where you are; integrity is everything. #sales#brand
— Elinor Stutz (@smoothsale) May 25, 2016
Lori Richardson, @ScoreMoreSales
Sales & Accelerator Strategist | Sales Leadership | Women in Sales expert
Lori Richardson is a legend. I’ve been reading a lot of sales blogs and she is quoted, mentioned, and praised everywhere. When I research for our pieces on the Tenfold blog, Lori’s work always pops up.
On her Twitter feed, her passion for imparting knowledge to her audience is obvious. It’s filled with nuggets of wisdom, RTs of content from valuable sources, links to her own content on the Score More Sales blog, and occasional casual commentary. Go follow her now.
Tip for #sales – don’t regurgitate features or benefits- or anything product related on a first call or first meeting.
— Lori Richardson (@scoremoresales) May 24, 2016
Paul Castain, @PaulCastain
Vice President of Rock Star Development at Castain Training Systems
Paul Castain is not playing around. Paul is committed to helping sales reps, sales leaders, and business owners sell more–and it definitely shows on his Twitter feed and how he interacts with his followers. Paul is one of the few sought after sales leaders who still finds time to reach out and engage with people who look up to him. It shows on his feed and his blog as well. Go ahead and follow Paul and get your daily dose of highly actionable content. He is currently promoting a free report: The 5 Questions Every Sales Rep Needs To Answer BEFORE Summer.
There’s a fine line between persistence and being a pain in the ass. My money is on the sales rep who navigates those waters properly!
— Paul Castain (@paulcastain) May 23, 2016
Andy Preston, @AndyPreston
Globally recognized Sales Motivational Speaker | International Sales Trainer
Andy Preston is a prolific and sought-after sales trainer with over 300 testimonials on LinkedIn alone! Despite being a busy speaker, he takes his time to tweet about his talks, content, and tweets he finds interesting, and the occasional funny tweet. Andy takes the best tweets from his network and doesn’t hesitate to share it with his audience.
His photo tweets of thought-provoking quotes and blurbs definitely help me jog my brain when I’m in a slump. Andy’s tweets are definitely RT-worthy.
Getting knocked down in life is a given. Getting up and moving forward is a choice! Great quote from Zig! pic.twitter.com/0S5ncK3vF8
— Andy Preston (@AndyPreston) May 3, 2016
Jeffrey Gitomer, @Gitomer
King of sales | Sales legend
He’s Jeff Gitomer! Well, if you’re a salesperson who hasn’t (for some really weird reason) heard of Jeff Gitomer yet, take a look at his Twitter feed. It’s punch after punch of hard-hitting thoughts on sales and success. If you want to be in on what it takes to be a good salesperson, get on the Gitomer train. Candid, honest, and useful.
He also promotes his webinars on Twitter. He currently runs the Gitomer Gold Webinars where he also offers an AMA (Ask Me Anything) session for subscribers
Resilience is not what happens to you. It’s how you react to, respond to, and recover from what happens to you. #gitomer
— Jeffrey Gitomer (@gitomer) May 24, 2016
Nancy Nardin, @SellingTools
Nationally recognized thought leader on sales and marketing productivity tools | Founder and President Smart Selling Tools
Nancy isn’t one of the Top 50 Most Retweeted Vendor by B2B Marketers for no reason. In complex B2B sales, marketing and sales have to work together really closely. Nancy tweets about advanced marketing and selling strategies, and she retweets really helpful content from her network of equally competent sales and marketing leaders as her. She also links to her award-winning blog Smart Selling Tools which is chock full of insightful and helpful articles on productivity tools and selling techniques.
Hot off the press! Meet our Top 35 #SalesTools of 2016 https://t.co/xYc10sIjDd #sales #marketing pic.twitter.com/idoN76Rnhx
— Nancy Nardin (@sellingtools) April 6, 2016
Chet Holmes International, @ChetHolmes
The account of the late sales legend Chet Holmes is run by the team behind Chet Holmes International. They’ve been helping businesses grow since 1991.
It’s been three years since Chet Holmes passed but his wisdom still resonates with sales reps, managers, and business leaders. Committed to helping businesses achieve maximum growth, the Chet Holmes International team handles this account to share quotes from Chet as well as direct excerpts from Chet’s best-selling book The Ultimate Sales Machine. Chet has helped thousands of sales professionals, and their Twitter feed is a testament to the timelessness of his thoughts and lessons.
— Chet Holmes (@ChetHolmes) May 20, 2016
Anthony Iannarino, @Iannarino
International Speaker | Author | Sales Leader
Anthony Iannarino is the type of sales leader who talks straight to the problems of salespeople and sales organizations. Following his Twitter account, you’d get a mix of links to his own content from The Sales Blog, content from other sales leaders, and an occasional quip here and there.
Anthony serves up really actionable advice. High-level sales strategies are part of his gospel as well. However, you’d find that most of the content he puts out addresses the everyday struggles of people in the sales profession. Definitely follow-worthy.
“The mark of the professional is their willingness to persist.” https://t.co/Wmj289wKHm
— Anthony Iannarino (@iannarino) May 25, 2016
Greg Alexander, @GregAlexander
CEO of Sales Benchmark Index
Greg Alexander is a top-notch problem solver. His trade is helping senior executives solve challenging sales and marketing problems. Greg heads Sales Benchmark Index, a management consulting firm specializing in sales & marketing that is dedicated to helping businesses and sales leaders “make their number”.
On Twitter, he shares blog posts from SBI and other helpful content from around the web. He also shares his recent interviews and articles on his feed.
A Quick Guide to Strategic Alignment https://t.co/dD2sYNqNCi by @makingthenumber pic.twitter.com/X0CI1pQS6O
— Greg Alexander (@GregAlexander) May 25, 2016
David Hoffeld, @DavidHoffeld
CEO & Science-Based Sales Trainer | Sales Keynote Speaker | Sales Coach| Sales Behavioral Strategist | Author
David is everything a sales thought leader needs to be. Persuasive but presents innovative sales insights that are backed by real science. In effect, his recommendations are always proven to increase sales.
On Twitter, he shares content and thoughts with the same level of responsibility–if it’s not backed by science, it’s not good enough.
David is widely regarded as a leader in science-backed selling. Dig up his videos on his Twitter feed and you will see presentations filled with both substance and humor. Also check out his firm’s site, HoffeldGroup.com for more insights on buyer’s behavior and sales strategies.
The more your sales behaviors are aligned with how the brain creates a buying decision the more effective you will be. #thescienceofselling
— David Hoffeld (@DavidHoffeld) May 10, 2016
David Meerman Scott, @DMScott
Author | Sales Speaker | Advisor for HubSpot, ExpertFile, VisibleGains, GutCheck, the Grateful Dead Archive at UC Santa Cruz, HeadCount, and Nashaquisset
David Meerman Scott launched his own business when he was laid off in the middle of a job market downturn. Now, he is a sought-after, world-renowned speaker with the ability to educate and motivate troves of people wherever in the world. As an expert in sales and marketing, David’s Twitter feed is filled with helpful links, updates on his speaking engagements, and top notch nuggets of advice. David always stresses the need to directly communicate to your prospects and avoid always casting a wide net.
Educate and inform instead of interrupt and sell.
— David Meerman Scott (@dmscott) April 14, 2014
Lindsey Boggs, @LindseyBoggs
Social Selling Pioneer | Named a “Top Sales Professional” by LinkedIn | Keynote Speaker | Lead Generation Expert
Lindsey is one of the pioneers and top practitioners of social selling. I remember reading her LinkedIn Pulse post about crafting outreach emails on inMail that get replies. Where did I get the link? Of course, on her Twitter feed. On Twitter, Lindsey’s energy is very palpable. She shares updates on her speaking engagements, blog posts, and other content both her own and others’. She also regularly posts videos from her Youtube channel. She discusses techniques and tactics that are helpful to any salesperson who are–and should be–getting into social selling.
My worst #sales call: We’ve all been there, how did you move on and learn from it? https://t.co/tZyHo6dHf4 #socialselling
— Lindsey Boggs (@lindseyboggs) May 18, 2016
Mitchell Harper, @MitchellHarper
Self-taught entrepreneur | Built 5 companies ($200M in total revenue) — 2 sold, 1 failed, 2 doing really well | Startup adviser and investor
It’s important for salespeople to think like businesspeople. Mitchell is a wildly successful entrepreneur who now invests and advises fast growing startups. He has founded or co-founded five companies in the last 15 years–all of which have accumulatively generated $200,000,000 in sales, and have raised over $100,000,000 in venture capital, employing hundreds of people.
Despite his success, he is very active on Twitter–often sharing his thoughts on success, lessons on business, and short videos of him talking about his everyday life and his journey as an entrepreneur. He also promotes his webinars and other content he regularly publishes.
The more you over think it, the less action you take. The less action you take, the lower your chance of getting what you want.
— Mitchell Harper (@mitchellharper) May 24, 2016
Matt Heinz, @HeinzMarketing
Prolific author | Nationally recognized award-winning blogger | President and Founder of Heinz Marketing
Sales and marketing are twins. No matter how much you don’t get along with the marketing department or how much you feel like you’re giving them bad leads, you are co-dependent–they depend on you to give them feedback so they can perform better, and you should rely on them for the same thing.
Matt Heinz is a marketer who understands that the ultimate goal of marketers should be to contribute to a closed sale. They should put salespeople in the position to close deals. On his Twitter feed, he shares extremely valuable content from other sales and marketing experts, as well as golden nuggets of wisdom from their blog and his own thoughts
#RevenueDriver: Treat your marketing dept like a profit center! Manage & measure with closed business as your ultimate goal. cc @radius
— Matt Heinz (@HeinzMarketing) May 20, 2016
Nancy Bleeke, @SalesProInsider
Sales Pro Insider Founder and President | Author of the award-winning book Conversations That Sell | Prolific Coach
Nancy Bleeke’s Twitter feed is filled with nuggets of wisdom that seem to be just what you need at the right time. In her tweets, she addresses issues sales professionals face–issues that they probably have been overlooking. She gives actionable advice on everyday situations–be it in-call struggles, call prep, and closing deals. Nancy is all about making each conversation count.
She’s the consummate sales pro.
Trouble getting the purchasers onboard? Recruit inside help from internal influencers who can help navigate the process. #sales
— Nancy Bleeke (@SalesProInsider) May 24, 2016
Ago Cluytens, @Acluytens
Practice Director EMEA | RAIN Group | B2B Sales Trainer, Coach & Consultant For Tech, Financial & Professional Services
Ago Cluytens is a very passionate sales leader. Hooked on sales from his very first closed deal, he says he’s still enthralled by the process and is still spellbound up to this day. His feed is filled with links to his work all over the web. He’s often invited to share his insights on B2B sales, selling to the C-suite and senior execs, Insight Selling, and other areas that touch high-end, complex B2B sales.
In his work with RAIN Selling, he contributes to the company’s mission to unleash the sales potential of their clients. He brings similar high-level value to his Twitter followers thanks to decades of experience in high-ticket selling and sales consulting.
Why Your Sales Team Performance Is Not Where You Want It To Be on @LinkedIn https://t.co/S9SQXE757G
— Ago Cluytens (@Acluytens) May 20, 2016
Steven A Rosen, @StevenARosen
Executive Coaching | Sales Management Training | Recognised Sales Leadership Thought Leader
Steven Rosen is an executive coach in a class of his own. He left his job as a sales executive to take on a journey to help sales professionals and managers who are constantly stressed and drained by the pressures of the industry.
On Twitter, he shares insights and self-published content on sales management principles and technique from his website Star Results. His blog has been named one of the top 50 sales blogs for 2014, 2015 and 2016. He’s also a prolific content creator, author, and publisher–his latest major work being 52 Sales Management Tips– The Sales Manager’s Success Guide. Check out his “My Breakthrough Moment” to learn more about the man you should be following on Twitter.
Finding top talent is easy. Get a The Ultimate Guide for Hiring STARS https://t.co/gn4ESmmRqy … @StevenARosen
— Steven A. Rosen (@StevenARosen) May 23, 2016
Tim Sanders, @SandersSays
Former Chief Solutions Officer at Yahoo | NYT best-selling author| Lecture circuit speaker
Well, he’s Tim Sanders. His Twitter feed is a mix of tech and business content, filled with commentary on casual topics like sports and music–something to remind us that we need to leave some time for ourselves.
For most of us who work in tech, Tim is a standard. Both business and tech savvy, the likes of Tim are those who are always on the cusp of the next big thing in both tech and business.
On his LinkedIn bio, he wrote: I’m a proponent of giving, loving, helping and encouraging others. In my experience, the greatest gifts we give are intangible: Knowledge, Network and Compassion. To be a great leader, you must come from a place of love and respect. To be a contributor, you need to expand your potential every day.
Don’t we all want to contribute?
My message to college graduates: You have achieved something really hard. Congrats! https://t.co/CZlExu1Qrg #FridayFeeling
— Tim Sanders (@sanderssays) May 20, 2016
Josiane Feigon, @JosianeFeigon
Author of Smart Selling books | Sales Futurist | CEO of TeleSmart | Inside Sales Evangelist | Writer | Speaker
Twitter gives us intimate access to the thoughts of the great minds in sales. Josiane, the author of Smart Selling and CEO of TeleSmart, is one such people we all want to have a conversation with. On her Twitter feed, she shares articles, interviews, and conferences she’s been a part of.
A master of inside sales, Josiane shares content that tackles critical topics in the space. As sales professionals, it is our duty to constantly learn about our industry and strive to be ahead of the pack. By following Josiane on Twitter, we are armed with the tools to do just that.
The most important sales trends that will transform how you sell in 2016 and beyond. Great interview w #Accelerate! https://t.co/UI9x6v8TMy
— Josiane Feigon (@JosianeFeigon) April 18, 2016
Bob Burg, @BobBurg
International Bestselling Coauthor of “The Go-Giver” | Keynote Speaker | Corporate Speaking | Referral-Based Selling
Bob Burg is a mover. He stresses that the way to do business is to focus on giving instead of getting. His years of experience proves that this works. Following Bob, you’ll get a mix of his one-liner thoughts and links to helpful content that are all in line with his message.
Here’s an extremely insightful tidbit from his LinkedIn page:
After all, money is an echo of value. It’s the thunder to values lightning. And, that the amount of money you make is directly proportional to how many people you serve and how well you serve them.
The single greatest “people skill” is a highly developed & authentic interest in the *other* person.
— Bob Burg (@BobBurg) October 7, 2014
Kim Garst, @KimGarst
Social Selling Strategist | TOP Social Media Marketing Pro | Best Selling Author | Speaker | Forbes Top 10 SM Influencer
Kim Garst is the diva of social selling and social media as a whole. Anyone who’s been engaged doing business–whether sales or marketing–on social media must have already heard of Kim or is already following her. Sales reps will learn a lot following Kim on Twitter. She tweets pieces on engagement on various social media platforms, techniques to prospect and get leads on social media, and how to be better at social selling in this time where not selling on social is killing your company’s bottom line.
She’s currently promoting a free jumpstart guide for Periscope–the newest player making waves in the social media scene.
How To Plug In to the Power of Everyday https://t.co/QMoSzclVp3
— Kim Garst (@kimgarst) May 23, 2016
Steve Keating, @LeadToday
Certified Professional Salesperson | Certified Sales Executive | Certified Marketing Executive
In the sea of self-promotion, Steve is a breath of fresh air on Twitter. He’s out to help and his bio says just that: Improving the Sales Profession, Developing the Next Generation of Leaders, Not selling a thing on Twitter, only giving back.
His Twitter feed is filled with his thoughts on hard work, leadership, motivation, and general how-to-be-a-better-person advice. Compared to other influencers on this list, Steve focuses on the softer sales skills like how to navigate negotiations and objections.
He is currently promoting his latest blog post entitled “The Truth of the Matter” about the importance of being honest to ourselves and to others.
Of all the choices you make each day none is more important than the choice of a positive attitude.
— Steve Keating CSE (@LeadToday) April 24, 2014
Follow these sales leaders and you’re sure to always have valuable content to scarf down each day!
FREE EBOOK: 21 Tips Seasoned Sales Reps Won’t Tell You
Prospect better. Sell smarter. Close more.
- The tips include:
- Recognizing Buying Cues
- How to Handle Follow up Calls
- Improving Conversations With Prospects
Patrick Hogan
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