We here at The Quota like to poke fun at sales influencers. They do, after all, give us a lot to work with (10x your water intake! 10x everything!). But not all sales influencers are created equal, and there are quite a few out there who not only avoid the cringe, but whose posts and advice are actually quite useful. In an effort to highlight the ones we think are the best, we’ve put together the following list. We know about half of these people personally, but even they have made this list because of the quality of their posts, and not because we happen to like them. Here are our top eight, with links to their Linkedin pages:
Jason Lemkin, SaaStr
About: Jason is the founder of SaaStr, and the most prolific Quora poster in history. He previously founded the company EchoSign, which he sold to Adobe, and is a very active investor and advisor.
Why you should follow Jason: Although his posts aren’t always about sales, he does post about selling (specifically, tech sales) quite a bit, and has some great takes on what successful sales reps and teams do, as well as what the unsuccessful ones get wrong. He posts a lot, and it’s almost always worth a read.
Ian Koniak, CEO of Untap Your Sales Potential
About: Prior to starting his sales coaching business, Ian spent his career selling and worked his way up from selling copiers to becoming the #1 AE at Salesforce.
Why to follow: We like Ian because his posts always come from the heart, and unlike some people, he’s not just making up stories for attention. We also like the fact that he’s done what he’s helping others do: become top sellers at highly-competitive organizations. Ian is the real deal, and we’re glad he decided to launch his coaching business and join the conversation.
Ryan Walsh, CEO of RepVue
About: Ryan founded RepVue to help sales reps find the best companies to work for and ensure they’re being fairly paid. Prior to starting his own company, he spent 15 years climbing the ladder from Account Executive to Chief Revenue Officer.
Why to follow: Ryan is a prolific poster who approaches the conversation from the perspective of the sales rep looking to move up in their career. He posts about sales comp, hiring, negotiations, switching roles, and everything in between. We know Ryan personally, and, like the other names on this list, can confirm that he’s the real deal. .
Samantha McKenna, Founder of #samsales
About: Before founding her own sales training business, Sam was head of enterprise sales at LinkedIn. She’s a guest lecturer at top business schools, advises SaaS companies, and writes about sales leadership.
Why to follow: We know Sam and her team well, and we can comfortably say that it’s one of the best-run organizations we’ve ever dealt with. Sam walks the talk, and if everybody followed her highly-professional approach, their teams would be closing millions of dollars in new business a year. Sam did it well before she started teaching others how to do it. A must-follow.
Sahil Mansuri, CEO of Bravado
About: Sahil is the Founder and CEO of Bravado, a community for salespeople that has raised over $38M to date. He’s also an investor and advisor in a handful of sales and marketing tech startups, and was one of the highest-performing sales reps at Glassdoor.
Why to follow: Sahil is never boring, and never one to shy away from taking a controversial stance. He also speaks from the heart and has great insights on the broader sales landscape. With access to the world’s largest sales network, Sahil can spot trends quite quickly. You’re missing out by not having him in your feed.
Chris Orlob, Co-founder of pclub.io
About: Chris runs pclub.io, a sales learning platform and online course library for salespeople. Prior to starting his own sales business, he was employee #13 at Gong where he helped the tech giant grow from $200k to $200M ARR.
Why to follow: Chris’s posts are almost always actionable, realistic, and smart. He shares short videos and posts with lessons from his time growing one of the most popular tools in the sales space, with a big focus on the discovery process. The only question we have about Chris is how he manages to come up with so much useful content all on his own.
Mark Kosoglow, CRO at Catalyst Software
About: Mark is CRO of customer success platform Catalyst. Prior to joining Catalyst, he was the first sales hire at Outreach, helping them grow to $250M ARR.
Why to follow: Having led sales at rocketship Outreach, Mark is the real deal. He shares in-depth posts about leading sales teams, getting tactical and strategic, and using real-life lessons to make his points. Mark is clearly very smart, and, more importantly, he is absolutely committed to the profession of sales. If you want to see how the cream of the crop conducts themself, Mark is a must-follow.
