Let's face it – sales and self-help books rarely cut prestigious literary circles. They're often redundant because proven formulas constrain them. Or the advice offered is vague, generic, or impossible to implement.
And there are so many of them! Amazon alone hosts thousands of these titles, and publishers continue to churn out new ones each year. You could say that salespeople today are spoilt for choice, but you'd be wrong. The truth is, not everything put to print is worth reading.
Reps and Sales managers alike are always advised to read more. It helps expand horizons, hone skills, and find new methodologies fit for various types of sales conversations.
The danger of having so many books a finger tap away is that you’ll have to spend a lot of time sifting through the chaff. Many of these books tell stories of individual companies and people, some of which you may not be able to relate to or learn from because the context may be different.
For these reasons, we have created a list of the best sales books ever based on four crucial criteria. It ensures that every book you read adds value and doesn't waste your time —
- Is the book based on substantial research or a tried-and-tested experiment/model?
- Does the book contain actionable insights?
- What kind of authority does the author command?
- What did other readers have to say about the book?
Here goes.
Which Book Would You Like To Read?
Part I: Books on Sales Models
This section features classics on some of the most-used sales models in the world. Reading these sales books is like a rite of passage for new sales professionals as they explain fundamentals.
1. SPIN Selling by Neil Rackham (1988)
Who wrote it?
A familiar name in the sales world, Neil is credited for developing the ground-breaking sales strategy SPIN, on which this book is based. He has written several books on sales and behavioral psychology.
What's in it?
Backed by decade-long research analyzing over 35,000 calls made by 10,000 salespeople in 23 countries, the book details the different stages of a sales call, classic closing techniques and their effectiveness, and the right way to obtain a commitment from customers. It introduces us to the SPIN framework for uncovering and handling buyer objections.
SPIN strategy is an acronym that relates to four kinds of sales questions that can motivate a prospect to buy:
- Situation Questions – Understand the facts and background of the buyer's current situation
- Problem Questions – Understand the buyer's difficulties that your product or service can resolve
- Implication Questions – Explore the wider effects of your client's problems
- Need-payoff Questions – Help the client view your product or service as a solution to their problems.
Key Takeaways:
- Every sale follows four basic steps - Open dialogue (to build a relationship, Investigate (to understand their problems), demonstrate capabilities, and obtain commitments.
- In order to sell your product or service to a person, you need to make them realize they have a need in the first place.
Who should read this?
Any quota-carrying salesperson who faces objections can use this book as a guide to frame questions while negotiating with their prospects.
Praise for the book:
"Whether you like it or not, all business involves sales in some capacity. Written in 1988, Rackham describes his findings from observing 35,000 sales calls over a period of 12 years. He outlines the sales format that most often led to long-term success (Situation --> Problem --> Implication --> Need-Payoff). The recommendations are authentic, powerful and helpful; this book is a must-read for anyone in business!" - Goodreads.
Related: Check out how to use SPIN Selling effectively in the modern day sales process
2. The Challenger Sale by Matthew Dion and Brent Adamson (2011)
Who are the authors?
Matthew Dion - a founding partner at DCIM Insights, a business research and consulting firm - is a renowned sales expert and the author of 3 Amazon and Wall Street Journal bestselling books.
What's in it?
A study done by the Corporate Executive Board in 2009 found that B2B sales reps can be categorized into six types. And one of the types consistently outperformed others: The Challenger Rep.
The Challenger Sale is a book based on the study that provides a comprehensive take on the methodology and how it can be successfully implemented in your sales process:
The authors explain how almost any average-performing rep, once equipped with the right tools and knowledge, can successfully reframe customers' expectations and deliver a distinctive purchase experience that drives higher levels of customer loyalty and, ultimately, greater growth.
Key takeaways from the book:
- Every B2B rep falls into one of the following categories: 1. The Problem Solver, 2. The Hard Worker, 3. The Relationship Builder, 4. The Lone Wolf, 5. The Challenger.
- The best way to drive B2B sales isn't building relationships; it's to challenge the knowledge of the prospects and offer them new insights.
- 53% of customer loyalty is driven by sales experience - not your brand, product, or price, their research showed.
Who should read it?
Sales heads or managers who want to rethink their overarching sales strategy to significantly improve their reps’ performances.
Praise for the book:
"The most important in selling for many years."
- Neil Rackham, author of SPIN Selling.
3. Gap Selling By Keenan (2018)
Who is the author?
Gap Selling is the second book by Keenan after Not Taught: What It Takes to be Successful in the 21st Century That Nobody's Teaching You. He is the CEO and president of A Sales Guy Inc., a sales consulting firm.
What is the book about?
The book introduces one of the latest sales methodologies to the world – gap selling. It assumes that buyers wouldn’t consider changing their status quo unless the current situation is unsustainable. Therefore, the job of a successful salesperson is to inspire that change by addressing the gap between the customer’s present and future state.
The book lays down five elements of any prospect’s current state. It argues that a successful salesperson can understand the cause of their problem through these elements and where they expect to be in the future. By talking about the product in the context of this gap, a rep can solve their problem and successfully close a sale.
Key takeaways from the book:
- The prospect’s current state can be judged by their actual situation (like industry, location, team size, etc.), the type of problem they’re facing, the impact of the problem, the root cause of the problem, and the emotion the problem elicits in the prospect.
- The future state that the prospect hopes to achieve can be judged based on these parameters.
- The gap can be identified by estimating the difference between the current and future states.
- The salesperson’s job is to persuade the prospect that such a gap can be addressed by their product.
Who should read this book?
Sales reps who find that they quickly lose control of the conversation–prompting the prospect to arrive at their own conclusions–must read this sales book. The book is an effective roadmap to becoming an influencer in a sales process instead of a silent enabler. It can help reps pivot their approach from peddling the product to selling a solution that helps close a gap.
Memorable quote
"If we're selling and we don't understand the size of the gap, then we're not selling, we're taking orders, because we have no influence on the sale."
Praise for the Book:
From actionable tips and tactics to hiring gap sellers to managing gap selling teams, this book has everything you need to know about selling to the gap. Most salespeople would be better off reading this book 20 times than 20 sales books one time…
- Caleb Malik, Sales Executive at SmartBug Media.
Part 2: Books on Sales Strategy
We've curated a list of some of the best insights on sales strategy for managers and leaders. It features some famous heavyweights in the world of sales.
1. Sales Acceleration Formula by Mark Roberge (2015)
Who wrote it?
Named one of Forbes’s top 30 Social Sellers in the World, Mark Roberge is an advisor and the former Chief Revenue Officer at Hubspot.
What’s in it?
Mark Roberge, who engineered the sales success at Hubspot, reveals the tactics that he used to build a sales machine that generated a $100 million business. He unravels his success formula of utilizing metrics and processes to scale sales, predicting growing revenue streams, and building a winning sales team. The book will help you understand how to combine data, tech and inbound selling to every aspect of accelerating sales, including hiring, training, managing, and demand generation.
Key takeaways from the book:
- The five traits to help you predict sales success of a salesperson: Coachability, Curiosity, Prior Success, Intelligence, Process.
- To replicate his success with scaling sales teams he suggests 4 key formulas to be followed in your sales process: The Sales Training Formula, The Sales Hiring Formula, The Sales Management Formula, The Demand Generation Formula.
- Salespeople can strengthen their presence on social media to act as advisors to buyers.
Who should read this book?
Ambitious sales managers entrusted with building sales rocketships should definitely grab a copy. Pick up this book to build a metrics- and science-driven sales team.
Praise for the Book:
"The Sales Acceleration Formula provides the most powerful, practical approach yet to the total marketing and selling process from lead generation to close. It helps senior sales and marketing executives understand how to work in concert to satisfy customers, quickly close sales, and grow revenue exponentially."
—Malcolm P. McNair Professor of Marketing, Emeritus, Harvard Business School
2. Predictable Revenue by Aron Ross and Marylou Taylor (2011)
Who wrote it?
Aaron Ross is an author and co-founder of Predictable Revenue, a sales development service that shares the name of his book, whereas Marylou Tyler is the founder of a Fortune 1000 sales process improvement consulting group called Strategic Prospecting.
What is it?
Isn’t building a sales machine that consistently churns predictable revenue month after month the dream of every startup founder? Aaron Ross, who created a sales process that generated $100 million in recurring revenue for Salesforce.com, answers it in his book Predictable Revenue. He shares his hands-on experience of creating the ultimate sales machine by building effective processes for prospecting and sales pipelines.
Here is a list of notable topics covered in this book:
- How to generate a 9% response rate and win million dollar deals from cold prospects through an outbound sales process but without actually cold calling?
- The seven most common sales Mistakes CEOs and sales VPs make.
- How can outbound sales and selling be friendly and enjoyable?
- How to develop self-managing sales teams?
Key takeaways from the book:
- The Sales Development role is often treated within a sales organization as a low-level job. If you treat it that way, you’ll get low-level results.
- Revenue spikes that are once in a blue moon cannot help you achieve year-after-year growth.
Who should read this book?
This book is for anyone entering sales who wants to know about specialized roles in B2B sales. So if you want to build a sales machine, with clearly structured sales teams made of people with defined roles, who work together to deliver consistent and predictable revenue, then give it a read.
Praise for the book:
"Aaron has created a work that is useful to established companies and entrepreneurs. The material is easily digested and applicable to businesses large and small."
- Brent Mellow, CEO, akaCRM.
Related: Check Out A Quick 15 Minutes Summary of the Predictable Revenue
3. Selling to Big Companies by Jill Konrath (2005)
Who wrote it?
Jill Konrath is an independent sales strategist and consultant who has authored two best-selling books – ‘Selling to Big Companies’ and ‘Agile Selling.’
What’s in it?
Everyone wants to land the big fish. Jill Konrath, from her extensive personal experiences, reveals essential strategies on how to approach those ‘Big Companies.’ And the primary route of entry is through decision-makers. The book sheds advice on the best way of talking to corporations on the challenges of reaching decision-makers of large companies and on exploring the process of selling all the way from preparation to pitch to big-sized companies.
Key takeaways:
- A strong value proposition is the simplest way to land big companies.
- To capture the attention of decision makers at large companies, you must not vomit all of your product or service’s information, as one would think is the right thing to do when pitching to the big fish. Instead drill down on solving a specific problem that the decision maker is facing.
Who should read this book?
If you are a first time seller to the big fish, then this is your pocketbook guide.
Praise for the book:
Selling to big companies takes big ideas and big thinking. Jill Konrath's book will provide you with both - so that you can go out to the big boss of the big company and come back with the big order. This book will help you - BIG time.
- Jeffery Gitomer, author of Little Red Book of Selling.
4. The Psychology of Selling by Brian Tracy (1985)
Who wrote it?
With over 40 years of experience, Brian Tracy has educated thousands of sales reps to become their best self and authored over 70 books, including many New York Times Best Sellers.
What’s in it?
The Psychology of Selling is a classic that delves into a number of ideas, strategies, and techniques for salespeople to sell faster and easier than ever before. It is broken down into eight comprehensive chapters that begin by motivating sales reps on how they can become the top reps and ends with how to close the sale, followed by a bit of general advice on what he believes are the keys to success.
Key takeaways:
- The yearning to succeed or the fear of failure, it’s all in the head. Understanding that the psyche needs to be prepared is essential in becoming a top salesperson. The salesperson’s ‘self concept’ is one of the most important things to change in order to become successful.
- He adds that focusing on small consistent changes will help you get to the top 20% salespeople who execute 80% of sales–as explained in the 80-20 rule or the Pareto principle.
- Do what other successful salespeople are doing and eventually you will get the same results.
- Understand that people’s decision making rests upon two reasons: Desire for gain or fear of loss. That’s why one of the best approaches to selling is building trust in the customer so they don’t hesitate going ahead with the offer.
Who should read this book?
This book can be called The Sales Bible, naturally everyone interested in selling something should read it.
5. The Sales Development Playbook by Trish Bertuzzi (2016)
Who is the author?
Trish Bertuzzi, the Founder and CEO of The Bridge Group, a sales consulting firm that has helped over 400 B2B tech companies build and nurture sales teams.
What’s in it?
Trish Bertuzzi draws on her immense experience of leading sales teams for three decades to reveal some of the best ways for B2B companies to generate a healthy pipeline and achieve growth. The book, true to its name, is a sales playbook that offers step-by-step tactics and strategies for building, and leading a modern sales team. She identifies that there are two major changes in the industry–one that the market is saturated and prospects are being targeted by multiple companies in multiple industries, and two that there are various decision makers in the process. Bertuzzi’s sales playbook gives you a map to navigate such a road, thus making it the most relevant book for today’s modern B2B sellers.
Key takeaways from the book:
- For leaders, maintain an SDR playbook which outlines
- 1. Information about prospects, target markets,
- 2. the inbound and outbound prospecting+lead qualification process,
- 3. Multi-touch point sales sequences,
- 4. Email templates and voicemail scripts,
- 5. A handy how-tos on objection handling,
- 6. How-tos on the tools in the sales tech stack.
- Here’s a hiring mantra from the book: ‘Hire and promote first on the basis of integrity; second, motivation; third, capacity; fourth, understanding; fifth, knowledge; and last and least, experience.'
Who should read this book?
VP Sales and managers who want to build and manage a high-performing modern sales team.
Praise for the book:
"People get hung up on the wrong questions around sales development: templates, tools, and tricks. The Sales Development Playbook asks and answers the right questions. If you're looking to increase qualified pipeline, read this book."
– Mark Roberge, Chief Revenue Officer, Hubspot
Part 3: Books on Building and Managing Sales Teams
As managers you may be expected to guide your teammates the best way possible. You should be as invested in their growth as they are in your revenue’s growth. So we collected an assortment of inspiring sales books that contain unimpeachable advice on coaching, team-building, and skill-building.
1. The Ultimate Sales Machine - Chet Holmes (2007)
Who wrote it?
Chet Holmes was an acclaimed business strategist, lecturer, and author. During his illustrious career, he had worked with over 60 Forbes 500 companies, including NBC, CitiBank, Warner Bros. Legendary Investor Charlie Munger once called Chet “America’s greatest sales and marketing executives.”
What’s in it?
Many often suggest great ideas but execute them in a half-baked manner. So when the results are disappointing, they move on to the next big thing.
In the Ultimate Sales Machine, Chet offers one simple piece of advice for them: Focus. He emphasizes that when you zero in on essential skill areas and channel all your energy to master them, you can create that big difference.
Key Takeaways:
- Holmes’s stresses on time management, employee training, executing effective meetings, attracting the right buyers and a lot of more strategic moves that will help you close more deals.
- One of these strategies explains how you can land your ‘dream 100’ list of prospects. It outlines all the steps you need to follow to land your ‘dream 100’ list of prospects.
Praise for the book:
Chet not only knows more and better ways to grow sales than probably anyone but even more important, he has the systems that make his concepts realistic and easy to implement. Most of the books I've read on business growth are interesting. But this man's material is out-of-the-park great."
–Loral Langemeier, author of The Millionaire Makers Guide to Creating a Cash Machine for Life
2. Blueprints for a SAAS Sales Organization by Fernando Pizarro and Jacco Van Der Kooij (2015)
Who wrote it?
Fernando Pizarro is a sales and marketing growth leader, having worked at Disney, Yahoo, and Discovery.
Jacco Van Der Kooij is the Managing Partner and founder of Winning by Design, a B2B sales expertise from Silicon Valley.
What’s in it?
Blueprints for a SaaS Sales Organization is a detailed guide for SaaS leaders on how to build a sales organization that works together across the entire customer relationship.
The authors, Jacco Van Der Kooij and Fernando Pizarro, worked with dozens of CEOs and VPs to present their learnings as a blueprint outlining all the details of setting up a sales organization down to the floor plans for sales operation centers.
Key Takeaways:
- SaaS sales organizations can no longer just be pushing products through volume-based email and call tactics, essentially, the spray and pray approach. Instead, they need to focus on evaluating customers and helping them make an educated trade-off, focusing on the quality of the product and customer experience.
- The leaders have to carefully pick the right set of tools, given the impact they have on the organization.
Who should read it?
This book is a must-read for CEOs and CROs of SaaS companies looking to build a sales team from scratch.
3. Sales Management. Simplified by Mike Weinberg (2015)
Who wrote it?
Mike Weinberg is a sales coach, consultant, and bestselling author. He heads the New Business Sales Coach, LLC.
What’s in it?
Sales Management. Simplified makes the case that any organization can curtail its shortcomings by making changes at the leadership level. The book directly, bluntly, and often humorously points out problems with underperforming organizations. It also offers a number of actionable solutions as part of a simple framework for a drastic impact on the functioning of the company.
Key Takeaways:
- An effective framework for company sales leadership can ignite positive changes in the sales culture.
- An insightful approach to effective hiring, coaching, compensation, and managing sales teams.
Who should read it?
The book is written for people in sales leadership roles like sales managers, regional sales managers, or director-level professionals.
Memorable quote
"The best intentions, target account lists, and powerful sales weapons are useless if we never launch the attack.”
Praise for the book:
Sales Management Simplified by HBR
- Mike_Weinberg
4. Coaching Salespeople into Sales Champions by Keith Rosen (2008)
Who wrote it?
Keith Rosen is the CEO of Profit Builders. He has been named the most influential executive coach by Fast Company and Inc. magazine.
What’s in it?
Keith Rosen’s award-winning book focuses on the power of coaching. At its heart, Coaching Salespeople into Sales Champions is about boosting the performance of all types of reps irrespective of their quota attainment rates. Rosen is for handing ownership to each individual sales rep by allowing them to solve their own problems, thereby decreasing the burden on each manager.
Key Takeaways:
- Coaching for increased accountability, productivity, and ultimately sales.
- How to achieve long-term ROI by coaching.
- Retaining and coaching top performers.
Who Should Read it?
Managers who want long-term, reliable best practices on sales coaching.
Memorable Quote:
"The traditional scenario to facilitate change is typically a stressed-out manager who lays the same stress on his salespeople that his boss dumped on him. Work harder; get focused; our jobs can be on the line; just bring in some more business. This hollow approach seldom drives change."
Praise for the book:
"There is no other single activity to boost sales that work better than sales coaching, and this book is the best ever written on how to do it well."
– Brian Tracy, author of The Psychology of Selling
5. Sales Management Survival Guide by David Brock (2016)
Who wrote it?
David Brock is the founder and CEO of Partners in EXCELLENCE, a sales consulting organization.
What’s in it?
David Brock’s Sales Management Survival Guide reconciles the idea that the job of a sales manager is to –
- Rake in numbers, and
- Orchestrate the sales performance by dealing with people – their sales reps.
True to its title, the book plays out like a timeline-driven guide for sales managers. The book handholds new managers through their first 30 days in the organization. From getting to know the company better to working with the team to execute top selling strategies, the book delves into the day-to-day duties of the manager like coaching, team building, conducting review meetings, and even recruiting.
Key Takeaways:
- Spend the first month as a sales manager getting to know the company, the sales team, as well as the customer base. The idea is to foster familiarity – with both formal and informal channels – to work most effectively.
- The next 30 days can be spent in the team- and skill-building while also ensuring the team implements the sales strategy successfully.
Who Should Read it?
New sales managers with little prior experience settling into their role.
Memorable Quote:
"Your personal growth as a leader will be directly tied to your ability to give and receive feedback."
Praise for the book:
6. Cracking the Sales Management Code by Jason Jordan and Michelle Vazzana (2011)
Who wrote it?
Jason Jordan is a sales management expert widely published in HBR, Entrepreneur, Forbes, and other leading publications.
Michelle Vazzana is the CEO of Vantage Point Performance, a sales training, and management firm.
What’s in it?
Informed by extensive research into how successful companies manage their sales teams, Cracking the Sales Management Code is a manual of practical takeaways after which to model your own salesforce. Jordan and Vazzana write with the assumption that sales is the outcome of several activities and not the activity itself.
The book fleshes out a framework that focuses on metrics and how business results, sales objectives, and sales activities can be linked to boosting overall performance.
Key Takeaways:
- Identify the desirable results, followed by the best objectives and activities that will lead to the attainment of those results.
- Encourage managers to focus squarely on executing these activities by creating a management rhythm and formalizing all conversations.
Who Should Read it?
Founders and CEOs who want to offer direction to their sales teams to realign their strategies.
Memorable Quote:
"Plan from the top to bottom, and then manage from the bottom to the top."
Praise for the book:
Part 4: Books for Prospecting
Here's a list of four books that are authorities on ‘prospecting’ – an area responsible for the non-negotiable KPIs of quota-carrying sales reps.
1. Fanatical Prospecting by Jeb Blount (2015)
Who wrote it?
Jeb Blount is the writer of 13 sales books, speaker, and sales acceleration specialist. He is the CEO of Sales Gravy, a sales acceleration, and customer experience enablement service.
What’s in it?
Fanatical Prospecting shifts the focus from the bottom of the funnel, i.e., the ultimate sales function, to the top – prospecting. Blount argues that finding good prospects, and a lot of them, holds the key to successful sales. It’s a deep dive into the changing rep mindset, reasons why reps fail to prospect, and the objectives of prospecting.
Key Takeaways:
- Prospecting fanatically requires a mindset shift where the rep is focused on the next sale. It can only be achieved when the salesperson rids themselves of the fear of rejection.
- Phone calls are irreplaceable. Although social media is an excellent tool for promotion, deals can only be closed over phone calls.
- Use of data and analytics for direction in their work and measuring their performance.
Who Should Read it?
Sales reps bound by quotas who wish to populate their pipelines with more leads.
Memorable Quote:
"In sales, easy is the mother of mediocrity, and in your life, mediocrity is like a broke uncle. Once he moves into your house, it is nearly impossible to get him to leave."
Praise for the book:
- Goodreads.
2. New Sales. Simplified by Mike Weinberg (2012)
Who wrote it?
Mike Weinberg is a sales coach, consultant and bestselling author. He heads the New Business Sales Coach, LLC.
What’s in it?
New Sales. Simplified tells you how to bring in new business, as opposed to selling to existing accounts. Weinberg’s argument for invigorating new leads hinges on the fact that when the going gets tough for a company, it is the new prospects that can bring it business. The book both offers new insight and acts as a refresher on garnering and nurturing new leads.
Key Takeaways:
- Focus on viable prospecting and closing more deals
- Create a sales narrative with the customer front and center
- Aim for productive facetime with more and more prospects.
Who should read it?
To fill your pipeline with leads, give this sales book a read.
Memorable Quote:
"We must take back control of our calendars, stop allowing others to put work on our desks, and selfishly guard our selling time."
Praise for the book:
3. High-Profit Prospecting by Mark Hunter (2016)
Who wrote it?
Mark Hunter, also known as ‘the Sales Hunter,” is a sales consultant, author and speaker. He also hosts The Sales Hunter podcast.
What’s in it?
Even though the internet has unlocked many new methods of prospecting and building pipelines, eschewing traditional tried and tested practices is not a sustainable way to stay ahead of the curve. Mark Hunter argues precisely this in High-Profit Prospecting. Using the idea that prospecting is central to any business as a launchpad, the book discusses the many ways in which sales reps can find better leads, cold call better, and better leverage social media.
Key Takeaways:
- Prospecting should be a continuous activity and reps should keep away from prospecting myths like passively waiting for responses and not taking action.
- Reps can attract high-profit prospects by positioning their company, product and customer experience as above average.
- Salespersons should be able to differentiate between prospects who are likely to convert and those who aren’t.
Who Should Read it?
This is a refresher book on prospecting. Read it to brush off any prospecting myths and to pick up new ways.
Praise for the book:
4. Everybody Lies by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz (2017)
Who wrote it?
Seth Stephens-Davidowitz is an economist, data scientist and author. He has formerly worked at Google and is an op-ed contributor at the New York Times.
What’s in it?
Somewhere at the cross-section between big data and human psychology, Everybody Lies deals with how this data collected from our online activities acts as an excellent tool to understand human behavior. This witty and engaging reflection on the conscious and unconscious clues about our true selves we leave strewn all over the internet doubles up as a useful manual on the psychology of buying.
Key Takeaways:
- Because of large sample sizes, big data is a better indicator of human behavioral patterns.
- Data reveals more accurate insights because people are prone to lying.
Who should read it?
Organizations with access to large pools of data can be dissected for psychological insights.
Memorable Quote:
"Netflix learned a similar lesson early on in its life cycle: don't trust what people tell you; trust what they do."
Praise for the book:
"Move over Freakonomics. Move over Moneyball. This brilliant book is the best demonstration yet of how big data plus cleverness can illuminate and then move the world."
— Lawrence Summers, President Emeritus and Charles W. Eliot University Professor of Harvard University
Part 5: Books for Cold Calling & Emailing
This segment is devoted to better communication – the most potent tool in a salesperson's toolbox. Whether it's cold calling, sales presentations, or writing cold emails, these four books have got you covered to say the right thing at the right time.
1. Smart Calling by Art Sobczak (2010)
Who wrote it?
Art Sobczak is a prospecting and inside sales trainer and an award-winning author.
What’s in it?
Art Sobczak’s Smart Calling addresses the big bad wolf sales reps wrestle with daily – cold calling. The book is aimed at helping salespeople warm up their sales leads and honing their persuasion skills to close more deals. Packed with actionable insights, Smart Calling is no stranger to bestseller lists in this category.
Key Takeaways:
- Pivot from cold calling to smart calling by preparing in advance and avoiding common mistakes.
- Do your due diligence on the prospect before you ever pick up the phone.
- Incorporate empathy in your sales style. Show the buyer you’re trying to help them and not just pushing the product.
Who Should Read it?
New sales reps for some foundational guidance. Experienced salespeople can return to the book to brush up on the basics.
Memorable Quote:
"Value is not what you say it is; it is always what the buyer perceives it to be."
Praise for the book:
2. Power Phone Scripts by Mike Brooks (2017)
Who wrote it?
Mike Brooks, or Mr. Inside Sales, is an award-winning sales trainer and script playbook developer.
What’s in it?
Mike Brooks’ Power Phone Scripts is more manual than the book. Steering clear of generic advice, Brooks has created an impressive oeuvre of scripts, conversation openers, comebacks, questions, rebuttals, and phrases that drive the sales conversation forward with more confidence. Other than its current, unbelievably relevant templates, the guide carries some dynamite advice on common sales concerns.
Key Takeaways:
- Don’t start selling during your first call. Instead, focus on qualifying the prospect.
- Put qualified prospects in the pipeline instead of focusing on volume.
- Pepper your presentation with soft, trial closes to get a sense of where your prospect stands before your big finish.
- Don’t roll over when someone objects to your pitch. Follow up with prepared scripts to secure a definitive answer.
Who should read it?
Sales reps are in need of some hand-holding early on in their careers.
Memorable Quote:
"If you are willing to do the things that most sales reps aren't willing to do, then soon you'll be able to do and have the things that most sales reps will never be able to do and have."
Praise for the book:
"Mike is a brilliant author. His techniques will be most valuable in my marketing/ sales career!
Enjoy every word he writes!" - Goodreads
3. The Ultimate Sales Letter by Dan Kennedy (1990)
Who wrote it?
Dan Kennedy is a marketing advisor who works with entrepreneurs. He founded Magnetic Marketing in 1970.
What’s in it?
Communication is key to selling – whether verbal or written. The Ultimate Sales Letter unveils the formula for compelling sales letters and emails, and how anyone can learn to write them. Although first released in 1990, this book has gained even more relevance today when everyone, including your prospects, is bombarded with information overload. Kennedy’s concise takeaways help reps gain visibility even in their prospects’ cluttered inboxes.
Key Takeaways:
- Copywriting is not a creative process, but a mechanical one. It can be mastered by learning predefined formulas.
- Admit to the shortcomings in your product to establish your credibility.
Who should read it?
Salespersons who need to hone their persuasion skills in writing.
Memorable Quote:
"Write for the buyer, not the nonbuyer. Real prospects are hungry for information."
Praise for the book:
Part 6: Books to Improve Sales Communication - Negotiation, Objection Handling, Persuasion, Psychology
Negotiation and persuasion is tricky territory. This section features sales books that go a step further to help you understand the finer points of sales communication, often with help from psychology.
1. The Science of Selling by David Hoffeld (2016)
Who wrote it?
David Hoffeld is a science-based sales trainer and the CEO of Hoffeld Group.
What’s in it?
Most sales instructions stem from anecdotal evidence. Reps often chase tried-and-tested blueprints to close sales – a spray and pray approach – instead of scientific evidence. The Science of Selling delves into the oft-neglected psychological side of selling. Backed by extensive research on neuroscience and psychology, the book draws up a sales approach based on human nature and decision-making.
Key Takeaways:
- Answers to six “whys” can help reps overcome mental barriers holding prospects back –
- Why change?
- Why now?
- Why your industry solution?
- Why are you and your company?
- Why your product or service?
- Why spend your money?
- The sales equation BD=f(SW*ES); where BD (business decision) is the function of the six whys and emotional state.
- Get your prospects to make small commitments throughout the sales process.
- Use psychological selling methods like priming, mirroring and anchoring.
Memorable Quote:
"The more your way of selling mirrors your buyers' decision-making process, the more effective it will be." - Goodreads
Praise for the book:
"Great & easy-to-read sales basics in one book. Plus: "the 6 whys" => very powerful concept!"
2. Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss (2016)
Who wrote it?
Chris Voss is a former FBI hostage negotiator, businessman and academic, and the CEO of the Black Swan Group.
What’s in it?
Negotiation is among the most dreaded stages of a sale – it’s confrontational, and can often leave a bad taste in the mouth. But what about a hostage situation? The stakes are through the roof and a successful negotiation can become the difference between a life saved or lost.
Chris Voss’ Never Split the Difference reveals nine principles for successful negotiation. It can help induce the much-needed mindset shift in reps to go from hating negotiations to actually engaging with the process like their life depends on it.
Key Takeaways:
- Listening to validate other people’s emotions and create trust.
- Encourage the other side to bond and empathize with you.
- Gently saying “no” can help each party clarify what they really want.
Who Should Read it?
Sales reps early in their careers.
Memorable Quote:
"Conflict brings out truth, creativity, and resolution."
Praise for the book:
— Publishers Weekly
3. Secrets of Question-Based Strategy by Thomas Freese (1999)
Who wrote it?
Thomas Freese is the founder and CEO of QBS Research, Inc and a five-time best-selling author.
What’s in it?
If salespeople knew exactly what customers wanted, how much easier would it be to sell? Thomas Freese in Secrets of Question Based Strategy proposes an elegant solution that’s been right under our noses all this while – just ask. The book dives into “conversational layering” — how different types of questions at various selling stages can improve the end result.
Key Takeaways:
- Get prospects’ attention by using provocative questions
- Strategically use close-ended questions to condition and qualify prospects.
- Get prospects to commit by asking if you were able to successfully accomplish their goals.
Who Should Read it?
Sales reps who find scriptwriting challenging.
Praise for the book:
4. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini (2006)
Who wrote it?
Robert Cialdini is a psychologist and academic. He is Professor Emeritus at Arizona State University and visiting professor at Stanford University and the University of California, Santa Cruz.
What’s in it?
Robert Cialdini’s Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion encompasses 35 years of research on why people change their behavior to say “yes”. Widely regarded as perhaps the most seminal work on persuasion and the human psyche, Influence has become a staple in every successful salesperson’s personal library. The six principles outlined by Cialdini are now a mainstay in MBA classes and even sales orientation workshops.
Key Takeaways:
We’ll leave it to you to discover Cialdini’s six principles in this remarkable read. Here, we’ve distilled them into a couple of key takeaways –
- Humans routinely use mental shortcuts when there’s uncertainty or lack of knowledge. These can be leveraged to influence people favorably.
- Decision-making is heavily influenced by emotions, not rationality. The six principles enumerated in the book tap into different emotions and human urges to influence decisions.
Who should read it?
Sales professionals interested in incorporating psychological insights into their process to close more deals.
Memorable Quote:
"A well-known principle of human behavior says that when we ask someone to do us a favor we will be more successful if we provide a reason. People simply like to have reasons for what they do."
Praise for the book:
- Adam Grant, New York Times bestselling author of Think Again and Originals and host of the TED podcast WorkLife
Part 7: Books on Sales Mindset
Our last segment contains books that can help make you a better salesperson, by introducing positive changes to the type of person you are. Although these titles belong on our best sales books list, we think everyone should read them.
1. Little Red Book of Selling by Jeffrey Gitomer (2004)
Who wrote it?
Jeffrey Gitomer is a prolific writer, sales trainer, and public speaker.
What’s in it?
A short and sweet read with plenty to take away in the form of blurbs, cartoons, quotes and “half-quotes”, Little Red Book of Selling is thoroughly enjoyable. Gitomer is preoccupied with the idea that understanding why people buy is the only thing that matters in sales. The book builds on this idea and seeks to uncover the basic principles of buying.
Key Takeaways:
- People like to shop, but not to be sold. Salespeople can understand why their prospect is buying their product by simply asking the right questions.
- A sales process should not be about the deal or the price, but about creating value and positioning yourself as a resource.
- Engage the prospect by asking smart questions, instead of pushing for the hard sell.
Who should read it?
Salespeople who are hard-pressed for time or dislike reading.
Memorable Quote:
"In order for you to be the BEST you can be for others, first you must be BEST for yourself."
Praise for the book:
"One of the best books on sales I've ever read. No matter where you are in your sales career, this book has something that you can take away from it. I love Gitomer's conversational style, and his statement early on that you should read the book several times is true.
2. How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling by Frank Bettger (1947)
Who wrote it?
Frank Bettger was a salesman, self-help writer and lecturer. Although he was a failed sales rep at 29, by the age of 40 he became extremely successful, thanks to the principles of selling he developed and honed.
What’s in it?
A classic of 75 years, How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling reads almost as a memoir of a failed salesman who created and perfected his own principles of selling and rose to success. The book from a bygone era may seem like a misfit in this list, but it offers invaluable insights for the modern salesman who is witnessing fatigue with automated sales in his prospects.
Writing at the height of the obsession with the American Dream, Bettger offers practical, step-by-step guidelines through which a salesperson can create their own distinctive style and become successful.
Key Takeaways:
- Fake it till you make it. Pretend being enthusiastic until you become inspired.
- Shift the focus away from yourself and on the client.
- You can turn a “no” into a “yes” by investigating the reason behind the prospect’s rejection.
- Keep yourself informed about your industry to create trust and credibility.
- Ensure you make your prospective buyers feel important.
Who should read it?
Sales managers looking to inspire their teams.
Memorable Quote:
"The most important secret of salesmanship is to find out what the other fellow wants, then help him find the best way to get it."
Praise for the book:
3. The Greatest Salesman in the World by Og Mandino (1968)
Who wrote it?
Og Mandino was the successful author of The Greatest Salesman in the World which sold more than 50 million copies.
What’s in it?
Rather than providing actionable insights, The Greatest Salesman in the World reads like a philosophical narrative on how one should become a better person in order to function as a great salesman. Mandino draws significantly from Christian spirituality, laying down 10 principles to develop the desired habits like persistence, humility, self-confidence, and generosity.
Key Takeaways:
- Unconditional love can help improve all relationships, even professional ones.
- Persistence is key to securing sales, but it is also important to take a pause and take breaks.
- Practice emotional control in everything to avoid spoiling your relationships.
Who should read it?
This should get a one-way ticket into your must-read pile.
Memorable Quote:
"Do not aspire for wealth and labor only to be rich. Strive instead for happiness, to be loved and to love, and most importantly to acquire peace of mind and serenity."
Praise for the book:
4. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey (1989)
Who wrote it?
Stephen Covey was an educator, speaker and author of several successful business books. He was named of the 25 most influential people by Time magazine in 1996.
What’s in it?
If you haven’t already read it, here’s what The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is about – you can hone how effective you are, both personally and professionally, by inculcating a paradigm shift in your worldview and practicing a set of seven habits. The core idea is that to usher in change, one must change their perceptions.
Key Takeaway:
- Management refers to doing things in the right way, but leadership means doing the right things.
- We view the world in the way we’re conditioned, not as it is.
- One can change their attitude and behavior to make small changes, but for big changes, they must rethink their basics.
Who should read it?
Although not written keeping sales professionals in mind, this sales book offers advice on ways in which they can inculcate a mindset shift. Professionals across industries and experience levels have benefited from this book since it was released.
Memorable Quote:
"Sow a thought, reap an action; sow an action, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap a destiny."
Praise for the book:
So, What’s Going on Your Reading List?
We decided to include many newer books and bring back the focus to the mindset salespeople need to be in. In this world of fast prospecting, we may often forget to separate ourselves from our jobs. Those on the frontlines of sales facing the shots need to know that sales is a mindset, and that strengthening it will lead to more meaningful work.
Here’s our recommended ‘Sales Bibles’ list for reps:
We handpicked books that are classic, some that shed light on buyer psychology, and some on effective prospecting.
- SPIN Selling by Neil Rackham (1988)
- Fanatical Prospecting by Jeb Blount (2015),
- Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini (2006)
- The Psychology of Selling by Brian Tracy (1985)
- Power Phone Scripts by Mike Brooks (2017)
- The Ultimate Sales Letter by Dan Kennedy (1990)
Tell us in the comments what your ‘Sales Bibles’ list includes!
