20 B2B Sales Experts You Should Follow Today

If you're anything like us, you treat LinkedIn as your newspaper. You wake up in the morning and go straight to the most trusted news channel, we mean, social media platform.

We get it. As the world of B2B SaaS evolves, you need to keep up with the ever-changing trends to stay afloat.

In this article, we've listed 20 SaaS sales experts, with a diverse palette of experiences and perspectives, that you should follow for your daily sales motivation.

However, let's start by understanding the roles and responsibilities of a SaaS salesperson.

What Does a SaaS Salesperson Do?

Before we get into the roles and responsibilities of a SaaS salesperson, let's understand what SaaS is.

SaaS stands for Software-as-a-Service and is a cloud-based software delivery model that allows users to access applications over the Internet. The main difference between SaaS and a regular web application is that SaaS operates on a subscription-based model. 

Now what a SaaS salesperson does is sell this software to potential customers. A day in the life of a SaaS rep looks like this:

1. Prospecting and Lead Generation - Identify potential buyers in the target market through cold calling, email outreach, social media networking, and attending events.
2. Lead Qualification - Assess the needs and pains of prospects and conduct discovery calls to see if the product aligns with their business pains.
3. Product Knowledge - Understand the true benefit of the product to translate the same to prospective buyers.
4. Pipeline Management - Track and manage prospects and deals at various stages of the sales cycle. 
5. Relationship Building - Fostering long and lasting relationships with customers to boost customer retention.

20 B2B Sales Experts You Should Follow Today

Navigating the world of SaaS sales can be tricky, but don't worry. We've put together a list of sales professionals you can follow to learn and take inspiration from.

1. Lincoln Murphy

Founder of Sixteen Ventures, a consultancy that helps companies realize exponential growth through real Customer Success, Lincoln Murphy ipundit of customer-centric growth.

Why you should follow Lincoln Murphy: With over 15 years of experience in the industry, Lincoln has had a big impact on many companies globally. He has directly helped thousands of businesses by giving advice and hosting workshops on Customer Success. He focuses on making customers stick around longer, buy more, and speak positively about companies. If you're a budding growth hacker, Lincoln's the guy for you. 

2. Jill Rowley

A social media evangelist, Jill Rowley is a force in the field of sales. Being one of the early hires in Salesforce (within 100) and the 13th member of Eloqua, Jill has had over 22 years of experience in the industry.

Why you should follow Jill Rowley: Nicknamed "Eloqueen", Jill's passion for startups and category creators knows no bounds. She's currently a GTM Advisor and Limited Partner at Stage 2 Capital, a company that invests in early-stage B2B software companies and works closely with leadership teams to put into action strategies for long-lasting revenue growth. Having started investing in 2012, three of the companies she advised - HubSpot, Accompany, and DataRPM - have had successful exits.

3. Sarah Brazier

Having dabbled in a variety of career paths, Sarah is now an Account Executive at Gong. Sarah is an educator, actor, and a nationally awarded speaker with experience in sales, social media marketing, and event hosting.

Why you should follow Sarah Brazier: Sarah joined Gong as a Sales Development Representative in 2019, and quickly rose through the ranks. A consistent quota-crusher, she even made the President's Club within a year of joining! She currently partners with Hard Skill Exchange where she helps other professionals crush quotas by exchanging best practices, strategies, and techniques.

4. James Buckley

James "Say-what-sales" Buckley is one of LinkedIn's top sales influencers, and his purpose is "to show salespeople their true worth as the tip of the spear." 

Why you should follow James Buckley: Currently a host and content creator at JB Sales, James Buckley shares regular content on how to up your sales game and helps reps from around the world with best practice tips and instilling salespeople with the confidence they need to be successful. His other skills include personal branding, relationship-building, and content strategy.

5. Alexine Mudawar

Alexine Mudawar is the CEO of Women In Sales, an organization that focuses on elevating and empowering women within the sales profession.

Why you should follow Alexine Mudawar: With 10 years of hands-on experience in SaaS, Alexine has received multiple President’s Club awards, regular quarterly high-achievement acknowledgments, and a consistent history of exceeding quota. Other awards to her name include Salesforce Top Sales Influencer and Crunchbase Most Influential Women in Sales.

6. Kyle Coleman

Currently the Senior Vice President of Marketing at Clari, Kyle Coleman is one of the most influential people on LinkedIn. Kyle is a Sales and Marketing leader passionate about people development, identifying & solving problems, creating & optimizing processes, and unifying departments across the revenue organization. 

Why you should follow Kyle Coleman: A member of the Top Voices program on LinkedIn, Kyle Coleman regularly shares his two cents on sales, marketing, and revenue growth on LinkedIn. Follow Kyle if you want actionable tips on cold prospecting, cold emailing, and SDR best practices.

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7. John Barrows

John Barrows is the CEO of Sell Better by JB Sales, an initiative aimed at elevating salespeople to unlock their true potential. John is a firm believer that when Sales is done right, it's the greatest profession in the world, but when done wrong, it's the worst. In his experience, he has delivered his signature training programs to best-performing sales reps at companies like Salesforce, LinkedIn, and Salesloft.

Why you should follow John Barrows: A sales trainer with 25 years of experience, John aims to assist every individual trying to break into the industry. He authored a book named "I Want To Be In Sales When I Grow Up" because he wants young minds to think of sales as a viable career for them in the long run. He also recognises the unequal gender distribution in the field, and supports the movement to encourage more women to enter the field. 

8. Ashley Zagst

As a person who pivoted from marketing to sales, Ashley is your go-to expert on all things GTM. Currently an Account Executive at Apollo.io, Ashley helps revenue leaders reach their aggressive growth goals by making GTM more intelligent, simple, and accessible to all.

Why you should follow Ashley Zagst: Ashley is a top-notch seller, having been promoted to Senior AE in 6 months after 150% quota attainment at Chili Piper. She's the Founding Member of RevGenius, a digital platform for professionals in the revenue space to learn, share, support, and grow with each other. If you're on the lookout for more knowledge on sales development and inbound marketing, Ashley's the person you need!

9. Jason Lemkin

Jason Lemkin is the CEO of SaaStr, the world's largest community for B2B/SaaS founders. Before that, Jason's most prominent stints included Vice President of Adobe Systems, and Co-founder and CEO of EchoSign.

Why you should follow Jason Lemkin: Jason's proven expertise and track record in the world of sales and business allow him to share valuable insights and strategies that can significantly improve your sales process. He's a Trusted Advisor, consistent quota-crusher, and member of the President's Club. SaaStr was recognized under "Forbes 100 Best Websites for Entrepreneurs" and Jason won the "Quora Top Writer" consecutively from years 2013 through 2018.

10. Becc Holland

Becc Holland is the CEO of Flip The Script, a sales training organization that focuses on teaching salespeople how to excel at finding potential customers and becoming successful prospectors.

Why you should follow Becc Holland: Becc Holland has over 10 years of experience under her sleeve, her previous stints being Senior Manager of Inside Sales at Gong.io and Head of Sales Development at Chorus.ai. She's the current Director of Sales Leadership and Sales Prospecting Channels at GTMNow (formerly known as Sales Hacker), which is an online platform for GTM leaders to share their insights and strategies.

11. Lori Richardson

Lori Richardson has been a longtime sales influencer, with over 15 years of experience in B2B Sales. Lori is a passionate advocate for women to make it in the world of sales.

Why you should follow Lori Richardson: Author of “She Sells: Attract, Promote, and Retain Great Women in B2B Sales,” host of an award-winning podcast "Conversations with Women in Sales,” and Sales Coach at Harvard Business School, you best believe that Lori knows a thing or two about sales. Lori is also an Advisor at Women in Sales and provides sales consulting services via Women Sales Pros. 

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12. Sam Nelson

Former SDR Leader at Outreach.io, Sam Nelson is one of the most sought-after influencers on LinkedIn. He is the founder of SDRLeader.com, an exclusive community for sales leaders across the globe to help each other through forums, in-person or virtual meetups, and shared resources.

Why you should follow Sam Nelson: In his first year at Outreach, Sam exceeded his quota by 159% and made it to the President's Club. He quickly rose through the ranks and was responsible for Outreach's largest SDR Team. Sam shares weekly polls on LinkedIn that are quite insightful and jam-packed with knowledge.

13. Belal Batrawy

Started as an SDR at TriNet, Belal Batrawy has had quite the journey. Founder of Death to Fluff, Belal strives to make salespeople seen and heard in their struggles and frustrations. Death to Fluff is a weekly newsletter that showcases real-life stories from salespeople around the globe about something they went through that wasn't their fault but became their problem.

Why should you follow Belal Batrawy: Belal founded learntosell.io which provides online courses to help sellers master B2B sales. He is a renowned keynote speaker at Sales Kickoff and a GTM and Sales Advisor at Techstars.

14. Steli Efti

Steli Efti is the Co-founder and CEO of Close.io, an easy-to-use CRM for startups and small businesses. 

Why you should follow Steli Efti: After being in the sales industry for 10 years, Steli shares his learnings and thoughts via The Close Blog. Whether he's talking about cold calling or sales-qualified leads, his enthusiasm for the subject never wavers. If you're an up-and-coming SDR, his insights may prove more valuable to you.

15. Aaron Ross

Better known as the author of Predictable Revenue, Aaron Ross is a sales advisor, author, board director, and executive coach. 

Why you should follow Aaron Ross: Aaron Ross created the Outbound sales team and strategy for Salesforce from the ground up back in 2002. Since then, he has helped multiple SaaS companies scale their sales teams. He's one of the most influential SaaS sales leaders today.

16. Thibaut Souyris

CEO and Founder of SalesLabs, Thibaut aims to train and coach SaaS sales teams to convert more prospects into customers. 

Why you should follow Thibaut Souyris: In his previous stint at Applause, Thibaut managed a team of 10 and raised a 4.6 million EUR pipeline within 2.5 years. Every week, he interviews thought leaders, experts, and top performers in B2B sales. You can discover new tactics and strategies and implement them within your organization.

17. Dharmesh Shah

Dharmesh Shah is the Founder and Chief Technology Officer at HubSpot. Dharmesh founded his company when he was only twenty-four years old.

Why you should follow Dharmesh Shah: Being a marketing genius, Dharmesh Shah authored "Inbound Marketing." He is a respected speaker in the SaaS and startup community. He is active on his LinkedIn, Twitter, and his website with a community of 500,000 members.

18. Sally Duby

Sally Duby is a veteran who is passionate about helping tech companies realize the full power of virtual selling, inside sales, and sales development. Current member of the Board of Directors of Revenue Grid, Sally's passion is to build the next generation of inside sales and sales development teams.

Why you should follow Sally Duby: Voted one of the most influential Inside Sales Experts by the AA-ISP, Sally has built a reputation as an expert in building and transforming teams to achieve repeatable and predictable sales models.

19. Dale Dupree

Dale Dupree is the Founder and CSO of The Sales Rebellion, leading a revolution against outdated SaaS sales processes. 

Why should you follow Dale Dupree: Dale's fire for changing the sales game began in 2019. In his words, "I believe in Radically Educating your prospects on a first touch. I believe in Responses, good or bad, but never indifferent. I believe your Territory is your Community, we enable Sales Wanderers. I believe your Pipeline is Alive. I believe people are more than just a signature for your deal. I believe in fellowship over negotiations." Follow Dale to learn some out-of-the-norm sales tip.

20. Kevin "KD" Dorsey

Kevin Dorsey is the Senior Vice President of Sales and Partnerships at Bench Accounting. He's also a SaaS Sales Consultant, Keynote Speaker and advisor, and Sales Leadership Coach.

Why you should follow Kevin Dorsey: Names Salesforce Top Influencer to Follow, Kevin Dorsey is your guy for actionable sales insights. He engages his audience on LinkedIn almost every day with posts filled with valuable content. His other awards include Crunchbase Top Sales Leaders You Should Know and LinkedIn Top Sales Voices.

What Skills Are Needed For B2B Sales?

B2B businesses are fuelled by the sales they make. However, in recent times, the way buyers behave has changed - making it harder for sellers to convince them. 

So, here's a list of skills you need to develop to keep up with the market and stay ahead of competitors.

1. Social Selling - Everyone who's anyone is on social media. Use this to your advantage. These platforms put a face to your name and establish a personal connection that you can't achieve through emails alone.
2. Active Listening - You may be a great listener, but active listeners make good use of the information they gain from prospect interactions. Your prospects share a lot of details with you on calls. Pick the ones relevant and use them in your next sales pitch.
3. Research - Uncover the latest industry trends and dig deeper into your prospect's world. This helps you form a more personalized sales strategy for higher results.

What 3 Things Might Make a B2B Salesperson Successful?

While social selling, active listening, and research skills are all good to have, the 3 most important skills that separate top sales reps from the rest are the following:

1. Extensive Product Knowledge - Having an in-depth understanding of your product, knowing how it stands in the market, and how it can solve different problems in different ways, can significantly enhance your ability to convince prospects to buy your product successfully.
2. Consultative Selling - The best reps understand that each prospect is on a journey of their own. Based on that, they develop innovative strategies to provide a personalized experience and move them further down the sales funnel.
3. Delivering Value - What sets you apart from the thousands of businesses competing in the market is the value you provide to your prospects. This means you need to translate the benefits of your product into terms that your prospect will resonate with.  

Parting Thoughts

Selling can be tough. But with the right skills and guidance, you'll be adequately armed to handle any prospect that comes your way. 

These best B2B sales experts are building a community and changing the way you win at sales. Follow and connect with them to network and access tips to build your sales skills.

What is the average SaaS sales rep's salary?

According to Glassdoor, the average SaaS sales rep's salary is $158,370 per year. The average additional pay stands at $73,018, with a range from $54,764 - $102,226. Additional pay includes sales commissions, bonuses, and other monetary benefits. The average sales commission rates fall between 20-30%.