Top European Social Selling Professionals

Since this is my 100th post on LinkedIn, I wanted to create something special on the subject of Social Selling.

When we think about social selling, we often think about the American thought leaders, experts, trainers and practitioners. But when we look at their advice, teaching and practices, we say to ourselves: “This will not work in this manner here in Europe”. And guess what? Most of the times it doesn’t… because of culture, languages and business eco-systems.

However, over the course of the last years, some Europeans, including myself, have taken the basic concepts and fine-tuned them into their specific country to come up with a modified version of social selling to fit the local language and business culture. These people rarely show up on worldwide influencer lists because they work in local language and often cater to smaller business communities. They also make less “noise” and do less international branding. They are however, bigger influencers than the American ones in the local country. Let’s call them micro-influencers and they are THE trend for 2019.

Having found myself on a worldwide list or two, I always complained that many Europeans are ignored. 

Since there is no such a list of European Social Selling people, I decided some time ago to create one. Initially, I was going to create a top 20, 30 or even 50 but since it was hard to compare numbers and influence, I decided to go for a country approach. Luckily, I do speak a number of languages to understand what people are posting; plus I have a strong European network; and a lot of good contributors to create this list.

Introductory note: Other than the UK, Holland and a few exceptions in other countries, social selling has been reduced to LinkedIn usage which is limiting the concept. Twitter, Facebook, Vlogs and blogs are not always popular in countries when it comes to social selling.

Starting with in the UK, there are of course many people who have made a name for themselves. These 10 people should surely be on your watchlist: Tim Hughes, Daniel Disney, Adam Gray, Jaz Greer, Mark Stonham, Mark Williams, Tim Bond, Gary Farmer, Ollie Whitfield and Angus Grady.

Crossing the pond to the Netherlands, the second biggest community of social selling professionals. They are the Americans amongst the Europeans and have the largest active LinkedIn community (source: J-W Alphenaar). They publish both in English and Dutch which making choices somewhat difficult but here are 9 names to follow: Perry van Beek, Toni van Dam, Jan-Willem Alphenaar, Richard van der Blom, Corinne Keijzer, Guy Strijbosch, Claudy Van Casteren, Victor Huiting and Wendy van Gilst.

Moving even more north, we touch Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland). Smaller markets don’t necessarily means fewer professionals, but these are these 6 people are worth following: Eva Sachse, Leif Carlsen, Allan Lind, Casper Pedersen from Denmark - Laura P??kk?nen from Finland – Olle Leckne from Sweden.

Moving down to Germany, the plot thickens as there are fewer of them and social selling seems not to have made such as dent. However, that being said here are the names of people that should be on your radar: Sandy Kim Benoit, Susanne Hillmer, Bj?rn Blum, Martin Dietrich, Armin Haas and Christopher Schr?ck.

Next on our European journey is Switzerland. A multi-lingual environment represents a challenge for any social seller, but these people have submerged as thoughtleaders in this field: Baschi Sale, Massimo Fiorani, Jeannette Mutzer, and Sarah Santacroce. When it comes to Switzerland’s neighour, Austria, there seems to one person standing out: Alexander Losbichler.

Moving down even more to Italy, we find Lucca Bozzatto, Fabio de Vita, Giorgio Fiammeghi, Mirko Saini, Maria Letizia Russo and Guglielmo Maffeis.

To east of the above countries, we find a few people who have taken social selling level. The young newcomers to the space are in Poland Katarzyna Sitarska, Karol Bartkowski, Maja Holub and Angelika Chimkowska and Matevz Kadak in Slovenia.

Changing direction to Spain and Portugal, social selling is being evangelized by the following professionals: Jordi Gili, Eduardo Laseca, Manolo Vidal, David Martinez Calduch, Esmeralda Diaz-Aroca, Alex Lopez Lopez and Angeles Carsi Lluch.

Making our way up to France, social selling is catching up very fast thanks to these professionals carrying the flag forward: Loic Simon, Philippe Deliège, Chloe Hacquard, Jean-Fran?ois Messier, Romain Crema, Philippe Attal, Bruno Fridlandski, Patrice Laubignat and Antoine Jambart.

So who do you think I have missed from this list and why? Here are my 3 Call-To-Actions:

• Call-To-Action 1: Please use the comment field to add your views, comments, omissions and even complaints… Love to get up to 100 social selling professionals.
• Call-To-Action 2: Who should be in the Top 10? Just give me the numbers!

Call-To-Action 3: Join the Social Selling VIP Program via

Below the final list with their LinkedIn and Twitter profile links:

1. Tim Hughes, LinkedIn, Twitter
2. Daniel Disney, LinkedIn, Twitter
3. Adam Gray, LinkedIn, Twitter
4. Jaz Greer, LinkedIn, Twitter
5. Mark Stonham, LinkedIn, Twitter
6. Mark Williams, LinkedIn, Twitter
7. Tim Bond, LinkedIn, Twitter
8. Gary Farmer, LinkedIn, Twitter
9. Ollie Whitfield, LinkedIn, Twitter
10. Angus Grady, LinkedIn, Twitter
11. Perry van Beek, LinkedIn, Twitter
12. Toni van Dam, LinkedIn, Twitter
13. Jan-Willem Alphenaar, LinkedIn, Twitter
14. Richard van der Blom, LinkedIn, Twitter
15. Corinne Keijzer, LinkedIn, Twitter
16. Guy Strijbosch, LinkedIn, Twitter
17. Claudy Van Casteren, LinkedIn, Twitter
18. Victor Huiting, LinkedIn, Twitter
19. Wendy van Gilst, LinkedIn, Twitter
20. Eva Sachse, LinkedIn, Twitter
21. Leif Carlsen, LinkedIn, Twitter
22. Allan Lind, LinkedIn, Twitter
23. Casper Pedersen, LinkedIn, Twitter
24. Laura P??kk?nen, LinkedIn, Twitter
25. Sandy Kim Benoit, LinkedIn, Twitter
26. Susanne Hillmer, LinkedIn, Twitter
27. Bj?rn Blum, LinkedIn, Twitter
28. Martin Dietrich, LinkedIn, Twitter
29. Armin Haas, LinkedIn, Twitter
30. Christopher Schr?ck, LinkedIn, Twitter
31. Baschi Sale, LinkedIn, Twitter
32. Massimo Fiorani, LinkedIn, Twitter
33. Jeannette Mutzer, LinkedIn, Twitter
34. Sarah Santacroce, LinkedIn, Twitter
35. Alexander Losbichler, LinkedIn, Twitter
36. Lucca Bozzatto, LinkedIn, Twitter
37. Fabio de Vita, LinkedIn, Twitter
38. Giorgio Fiammeghi, LinkedIn, Twitter
39. Mirko Saini, LinkedIn, Twitter
40. Maria Letizia Russo, LinkedIn, Twitter
41. Guglielmo Maffeis, LinkedIn, Twitter
42. Katarzyna Sitarska, LinkedIn, Twitter
43. Karol Bartkowski, LinkedIn, Twitter
44. Maja Holub, LinkedIn, Twitter
45. Angelika Chimkowska, LinkedIn, Twitter
46. Matevz Kadak, LinkedIn, Twitter
47. Jordi Gili, LinkedIn, Twitter
48. Eduardo Laseca, LinkedIn, Twitter
49. Manolo Vidal, LinkedIn, Twitter
50. David Martinez Calduch, LinkedIn, Twitter
51. Esmeralda Diaz-Aroca, LinkedIn, Twitter
52. Alex Lopez Lopez, LinkedIn, Twitter
53. Angeles Carsi Lluch, LinkedIn, Twitter
54. Loic Simon, LinkedIn, Twitter
55. Philippe Deliège, LinkedIn, Twitter
56. Chloe Hacquard, LinkedIn, Twitter
57. Jean-Fran?ois Messier, LinkedIn, Twitter
58. Romain Crema, LinkedIn, Twitter
59. Philippe Attal, LinkedIn, Twitter
60. Bruno Fridlandski, LinkedIn, Twitter
61. Patrice Laubignat, LinkedIn, Twitter
62. Antoine Jambart, LinkedIn, Twitter

Oh yes, yours truly

63. Mic Adam, LinkedIn, Twitter