12 Business Days of Salesforce:

7 Habits of Highly Influential Salespeople and Marketers

2 min readDec 22, 2014

By Alexa Schirtzinger

Here at Salesforce, we have the good fortune of coming into frequent contact with some of the most influential salespeople and marketers in their respective industries. Many are well-known authors, speakers, and social media luminaries — not to mention members of our guest blogger program.

This year, we asked these influencers to share some of the most valuable insights they’ve gleaned from decades of work experience. Specifically, we asked each of them to share one habit they had found instrumental in their business success. Here are seven of our favorites.

1. Keep Improving

“Always be thinking about how you can do things better — both from a tactical and a strategic perspective. If you don’t, you will most certainly lose your competitive edge in whatever market you’re in. As Andy Grove of Intel said, “Only the paranoid survive.”

— Michael Gerard, CMO, Curata

2. Choose Your Team Wisely

“I like to think that I’m a great recruiter and have been fortunate to surround myself with people more talented than me.”

— Kyle Porter, CEO, SalesLoft

3. Do It Today, Not Tomorrow

“Urgency matters. Do it today, not tomorrow. Never blame someone who is not in the room.”

— Donal Daly, founder and CEO, The TAS Group

4. Keep Your Eye on Your Goals

“Goal-setting is the number one thing that has contributed to my success. I write down goals for the meetings I have, for my day, week, month and year. I have one ultimate goal that drive every decision I make in my career and in my life.”

— John Barrows, sales trainer

5. Smile

“You can get away with saying hard truths if you say them with a smile.”

— Michael Boyette, executive editor, Rapid Learning Institute

6. Never Expect a Thank-You

“Never expect a thank-you, and never ask for one; once you embrace that philosophy, you’ll naturally gravitate toward doing things that are important to you.”

— William Tyree, CMO, RingDNA