As a cold calling SDR, your day-to-day hustle would comprise dialing your prospects, making meaningful conversations, and turning those conversations into booked meetings.
And as much as you enjoy the daily dose of adrenaline rush that comes with cold calling, it's equally important to pause, reflect, and learn to improve your chops.
And what better way to learn than to pick up a good ol' book written by someone who's been in your shoes?
But with 1000s of books out there, each claiming to hold the key to cold calling success, it can be overwhelming to choose a book.
Here, we've curated a list of 15+ best cold calling books with takeaways, so you can spend more time reading and less time selecting the perfect one. Whether you're just beginning with cold calling or an expert looking to up your cold calling game, this list covers it all.
Keep reading to find the cold calling books that resonate with you the most.
Top 16 Books on Cold Calling for SDRs At All Levels
Getting started with cold calling or transitioning to a call-heavy sales team can be daunting for beginner SDRs. The first 11 cold calling books below will help you get a better understanding of cold calling do's and don'ts and navigate it with confidence.
1. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Cold Calling
Author: Keith Rosen
Why should you read this book: The Complete Idiot's Guide to Cold Calling offers a roadmap for beginner SDRs to navigate the world of cold calling. It is divided into 5 broad sections that help you get in front of the right prospects confidently and craft the right questions to identify selling opportunities and avoid wasting time on the wrong leads.
This is a handy book when starting out with cold calling as it teaches you how to create perfect voicemail messages to increase return calls and craft compelling reasons to convince prospects to talk to you.
Key cold calling takeaways from the book:
- Learning the seven steps to permission-based cold calling conversations to avoid pushing the prospect.
- Developing your Most Valuable Proposition (MVP) to gain a competitive edge.
- Designing a personalized step-by-step prospecting and follow-up system to align it to your strengths, goals, and selling philosophy.
2. Cold Calling for Cowards
Author: Jerry Hocutt
Why should you read this book: If the idea of cold calling leaves you in sweats, this is the book to pick. Cold Calling for Cowards offers valuable insights from Hocutt's personal experience along with over 150,000 sales professionals. The book not only teaches you how to make successful cold calls but can also transform your approach to rejection.
In this book, you'll find simple yet impactful methods to boost your confidence and make those cold calls a lot less intimidating.
Key cold calling takeaways from the book:
- The ‘Skeletons in the Closet’ technique to get return calls.
- A Chinese brainwashing technique to qualify prospects.
- The best questions to ask on a first call.
3. Lessons from 100,000 Cold Calls
Author: Stewart Rogers
Why should you read this book: As the title suggests, Rogers has made 100,000 cold calls and compiled the lessons he learned along the way into one valuable book. Whether you're a beginner or a seasoned sales professional, his book will help you enhance your cold calling game by setting achievable goals and building a master database of sales prospects.
The book also serves as a practical guide for crafting compelling scripts, handling objections effectively, and ultimately closing more deals.
Key cold calling takeaways from the book:
- Learning selling strategies tailored to over 11 personas including CEOs and sales managers.
- Selling concept and credibility in just 60 seconds.
- Discovering practical steps to maintain your cold calling master database.
4. Cold Calling Techniques (That Really Work!)
Author: Stephan Schiffman
Why should you read this book: With a rich experience of over 30 years in sales and corporate training, Schiffman breaks down the nitty gritty of cold calling in his book Cold Calling Techniques (That Really Work!). You'll learn how to improve your conversations by understanding the prospect's needs and handling common objections effectively.
The book teaches you how to open your cold calls confidently, refine voicemail messages, and present your offer compellingly. Additionally, Schiffman equips you with effective strategies like creating a sales plan, following through, and understanding what success means for your prospect.
Key cold calling takeaways from the book:
- Tips to overcome cold calling obstacles, such as voice mail, cell phones, and e-mail.
- Strategies to turn leads into prospects, learn more about their needs, and overcome common objections.
- Mastering the 4-step sales process for successful cold calling.
5. Smart Calling
Author: Art Sobczak
Source: Amazon
Why should you read this book: Art Sobczak's Smart Calling is another excellent read to overcome the anxiety and fear associated with cold calling. It highlights some of the classic cold calling mistakes SDRs make unconsciously and provides techniques to improve their cold calling efforts. These include researching thoroughly, preparing before the call, and focusing the conversation on the prospect's needs.
Sobczak's book also equips you with case studies and impactful methodologies to minimize your fears and turn those disappointing no's into exciting yes's.
Key cold calling takeaways from the book:
- Multiple case studies from successful salespeople to understand what works and what doesn't.
- Tips and techniques to minimize fear and rejection.
- Using ‘social engineering’ to get tips on prospects.
6. Cold Calling for Chickens
Author: Bob Etherington
Why should you read this book: Cold Calling for Chickens simplifies the process of cold calling, particularly for SDRs who find the concept daunting. With his rich experience in sales, Etherington offers practical advice, techniques, and strategies in his book to approach cold calling with confidence. His book is based on a successful course given to thousands of people and talks about the art and science of reaching out to complete strangers.
For beginner cold callers, this book provides invaluable insights into addressing common challenges and fears and overcoming the anxiety to make successful cold calls.
Key cold calling takeaways from the book:
- Mastering the preparation and approach to make cold calls with confidence.
- Practical techniques to make cold calls with confidence.
- Fostering a mindset that views cold calling as an opportunity for growth instead of a dreaded task.
7. Authentic Cold Calling
Author: Gregory Priola
Why should you read this book: Priola's Authentic Cold Calling is packed with effective tips and strategies to turn cold leads into warm ones. Instead of relying on outdated scripts and high-pressure tactics, the book highlights the importance of building genuine connections, listening actively, and providing value to potential clients.
The book not only helps you develop the skills needed for effective cold calling but also the mindset required to thrive in sales environments.
Key cold calling takeaways from the book:
- Building a high-quality and formatted sales lead list.
- Discovering the best time and days to cold call.
- Strategies to turn gatekeepers into allies.
8. The Secrets to Cold Call Success
Author: Paul M. Neuberger
Why should you read this book: Paul M. Neuberger has taught thousands of students across 120 countries, helping sales reps close more deals in less time. His book The Secrets to Cold Call Success serves as a comprehensive guide to cold calling, helping you transform the way you approach sales.
Paul believes cold calling isn't about luck or numbers but about strategy and provides valuable insights to make successful cold calls.
Key cold calling takeaways from the book:
- Identifying the right clients and discovering innovative ways to find them.
- Five building blocks of creating a killer cold call script.
- A step-by-step guide to creating your own unique script.
9. Take the Cold Out of Cold Calling
Author: Sam Richter
Why should you read this book: What makes cold calling 'cold' is that you might not know much about the prospect you're calling. And so, you need to sound credible and leave a good first impression every time you pick up the phone. Richter addresses this in his book by providing multiple search techniques and websites to access more information about prospects and build meaningful relationships.
The book provides simple, step-by-step instructions and real examples of how you can use different platforms to find premium information about prospects.
Key cold calling takeaways from the book:
- Using the 'invisible web' to find information not accessible by standard search engines.
- Understanding the theory of the ‘Fourth R’ and value-based warm call selling.
- Using the 'Customer Data Aggregator' and expert 'warm call scripts' to make a great first impression.
10. Pick Up the Phone and Sell
Author: Alex Goldfayn
Why should you read this book: In today's digital age, where email and social media marketing have become the go-to outreach strategies for sales professionals, Goldfayn brings attention back to our handy phones. The book highlights the psychological barriers that prevent salespeople from picking up the phone and offers practical advice to overcome these challenges.
It also provides tips for calling people you don't know and shows you how to use text messaging along with phone sales.
Key cold calling takeaways from the book:
- Tips to approach different types of calls with different types of prospects.
- Using social media, including LinkedIn to boost phone sales.
- Overcoming the fear of phone calls and warming up cold calls.
11. Power Phone Scripts
Author: Mike Brooks
Why should you read this book: Whether it's opening a cold call, dealing with a gatekeeper, or facing objections, sometimes you might find yourself struggling to come up with an effective response. During such times, Brooks' Power Phone Scripts can be a savior.
In the book, he shares 500 word-for-word questions, phrases, and conversations that you can use to craft the perfect response and keep the conversation going.
Additionally, this book equips you with practical techniques to determine if the person on the other side of the phone is right for your solution and offers effective scripts for prospecting, emailing, voice mails, and rebuttals to navigate the conversation confidently.
Key cold calling takeaways from the book:
- Over 500 effective phrases, rebuttals, and conversation openers.
- Getting over the fear of asking for a sale.
- Effective scripts for prospecting, emailing, voice mails, and more.
Moving forward, we have 5 excellent reads to enhance your approach to cold calling with detailed insights into outbound sales and the buyer's journey. These books will help you bridge the gap between theory and practice, refine your sales prospecting strategies, and book more meetings.
12. Fanatical Prospecting
Author: Jeb Blount
Why should you read this book: Fanatical Prospecting is a comprehensive guide packed with practical techniques, tools, and strategies to build a high-quality sales pipeline.
From leaving impactful voicemails to engaging prospects across multiple channels, this book is packed with valuable information, making it a handbook for all B2B salespeople since it came out in 2015.
Fanatical Prospecting is suitable for both beginner and experienced SDRs as it offers practical examples and frameworks to elevate your selling process.
Key cold calling takeaways from the book:
- A 5-step telephone framework to book more appointments.
- Using the 'Law of Familiarity' to avoid rejections.
- Learning the 30-day rule to keep your pipeline full.
13. Outbounding
Author: William (Skip) Miller
Why should you read this book: Miller's Outbounding challenges the heavy reliance on inbound leads for sales organizations, presenting outbound sales as an effective strategy for sustained business growth. The book addresses the intimidation around cold calling and equips you with the tools you need to make successful calls.
The author also advocates carefully understanding the prospect’s perspective to determine if and how they can benefit from your solution. He further goes on about above-the-line (ATL) and below-the-line (BTL) buyers and how you can meet both their needs.
Key cold calling takeaways from the book:
- Learning the skills required for outbounding, including research, organization, overcoming fears, and more.
- Using the "R = F+C" formula to measure the leading indicators as well as the trailing indicators for outbound activity.
- Important success ratios to benchmark your outbounding activities.
14. Outbound Sales, No Fluff
Author: Rex Biberston and Ryan Reisert
Why should you read this book: If you're not up for endless novels and want a quick read packed with actionable, valuable content, this is the book for you. At just 43 pages long, it covers all the fundamentals for beginners or experienced professionals looking to brush up their skills.
As the title promises, there's zero fluff, zero rants, and zero product pitches. The book strips down outbound sales to its essential components that a salesperson can control: Cold calls, cold emails, social selling, creating prospecting lists, and more.
The authors share actionable techniques that you can implement immediately and maximize your success.
Key cold calling takeaways from the book:
- A step-by-step guide to filling your sales pipeline with highly qualified opportunities.
- Using ‘funnel math’ to boost conversions.
- Learning the technique of ‘bucketing leads’ to manage your prospecting time effectively.
15. Follow Up and Close the Sale
Author: Jeff Shore
Why should you read this book: Here’s some cold calling statistics that should give you pause: 80% of sales require 5 follow-up calls after a meeting, but 44% of sales reps give up after the first follow-up call.
If you’re one of them, this book is for you. In Follow Up and Close the Sale, Shore presents the idea of follow-ups as opportunities to strengthen prospect relationships rather than mere check-ins. He provides actionable strategies to turn follow-ups into a powerful tool for closing sales.
The book focuses on the customer's buying journey and highlights the importance of aligning follow-up strategies to address their concerns, questions, and needs at each stage.
Key cold calling takeaways from the book:
- Creating and maintaining emotional altitude for the customer.
- Understanding the 'Buying Formula' to select the right follow-up method.
- Developing the right mindset, strategy, and execution for following up.
16. High-Profit Prospecting
Author: Mark Hunter
Why should you read this book: This is an excellent read for sales professionals looking to elevate their prospecting efforts to achieve higher profitability. In the book, Hunter addresses prospecting myths and common reasons why prospecting fails. The book also provides practical tips and approaches to building a pipeline of high-profit customers.
It also equips you with techniques for leveraging social media, email, and other modern tools for effective prospecting along with time-tested methods such as cold calling.
Key cold calling takeaways from the book:
- Debunking widely-held prospecting myths.
- Learning the difference between prospects and suspects.
- Replacing cold calling with informed calling.
How to Get the Most Out of Reading Cold Calling Books?
These books on cold calling offer a sea of knowledge. However, just skimming through the pages isn't enough. To truly grasp the strategies and tips, you need to engage with the contents of these books on a deeper level. Here's how:
- Apply the concepts in your calls. Take the strategies you learned outside the pages of the books. Use them to elevate your daily cold calling process to see which tactics work best.
- Start a book club with fellow SDRs. This is a great way to not only retain what you learn but also allows you to understand different perspectives. You can discuss concepts, share insights, or brainstorm ways to apply the learnings to your work environment.
- Discuss points with your sales manager. Jot down key points as you navigate through each book about cold calling and schedule time to discuss them with your sales manager. This will help you leverage their expertise and chart out the best possible way to implement them into your cold calling strategy.
Remember, while these books about cold calling offer some excellent advice, the journey of every salesperson is unique. So make sure to tailor the strategies wherever needed to suit your individual style and target market.
Now go pick a book from this list and supercharge your cold calling!
