The 50 Best Sales Books of All Time [By Category]
“Who has time for reading?” You may ask yourself every time you come across an article like this.
Well, let me give you some names… Bill Gates reads more than 50 books per year. Elon Musk learned how to build rockets by reading books. Warren Buffett reads 5 to 6 hours a day. And the list just goes on and on.
They are obvious proof that success is closely linked to reading. If they can make time for it, you can too.
Here’s a list of the 50 best sales books of all time organized by categories. Pick up the right ones for you and take your sales game to the next level!
Prospecting
The Sales Magnet: How to Get More Customers Without Cold Calling
By Kendra Lee
Kendra Lee is an expert in increasing revenue by utilizing lead generation strategies. In this book, Kendra reveals exactly how to reach your ideal contacts using approaches that work best for you.
You'll discover a multitude of tips to create a steady rush of new opportunities - all designed to get prospects coming to you, asking for your help because they know about you and want to work with you. This book is perfect for salespeople as it provides tools, templates, and downloadable resources you can use right away!
Stay tuned for Kendra's upcoming episode on the Outside Sales Talk podcast, where she will share her tips on how to restore your win rate.
SPEAR Selling: The ultimate Account-Based Sales guide for the modern digital sales professional
By Jamie Shanks
In this book, Jamie shares his tips to increase sales pipeline by improving account activation and creating new opportunities. You’ll learn everything you need to know about account-based sales, from selecting the right accounts to increasing the conversion of prospective accounts into customers.
You can also check out Jamie’s episode on the Outside Sales Talk podcast, where he reveals the best ways to implement an account-based selling strategy.
Fanatical Prospecting: The Ultimate Guide to Opening Sales Conversations and Filling the Pipeline by Leveraging Social Selling, Telephone, Email, Text
By Jeb Blount
The brutal fact is the number one reason for failure and underperformance in sales is an empty pipe and the root cause of an empty pipeline is the failure to consistently prospect.
In this book, Jeb Blount outlines his innovative approach to prospecting that works for real people, in the real world, with real prospects. Successful prospecting incorporates multiple touches across multiple channels. Pick up this book to learn how to text, email, call, and socially engage buyers.
This book is filled with the high-powered strategies, techniques, and tools you need to fill your pipeline with high-quality opportunities.
You can also check out Jeb’s episode on the Outside Sales Talk podcast, where he shares tips on using time management to become a top salesperson.
New Sales. Simplified: The Essential Handbook for Prospecting and New Business Development
By Mike Weinberg
No matter how much repeat business you get from loyal customers, the lifeblood of your business is a constant flow of new accounts. Packed with examples and anecdotes, this book offers a proven formula for generating new sales.
Weinberg’s handbook provides a detailed process for sourcing, developing, and closing deals. From drafting a compelling “sales story” to making time in your calendar for business development activities, Mike explains the secrets to establish trust with your customers and get more sales.
High-Profit Prospecting: Powerful Strategies to Find the Best Leads and Drive Breakthrough Sales Results
By Mark Hunter
Search engines and social media have certainly changed how prospecting pipelines for salespeople are built today, but the vitality of the pipeline itself has not. Even today, the key to success for every salesperson is a pipeline of prospects. For the salesperson, prospecting is still king.
In High-Profit Prospecting, sales expert Mark Hunter shatters costly prospecting myths and eliminates confusion about what works today. This book will teach you how to find better leads, tailor your timing and message, use social media effectively, leverage referrals, get past gatekeepers, and much more.
You can also check out Mark’s episode on the Outside Sales Talk podcast, where he uncovers the biggest prospecting myths and shares his powerful tactics that will help you get the best leads and drive revenue.
Smart Calling: Eliminate the Fear, Failure, and Rejection from Cold Calling
By Art Sobczak
Cold calling is not only one of the fastest and most profitable ways to initiate a new sales contact; it's also one of the most dreaded―for the salesperson and the recipient.
In this book, Art shares his proven techniques to master the art of the cold call and eliminate fear, failure, and rejection from cold calling. This book will empower readers to take action, call prospects, and get a yes every time.
Relationship Building
DISCOVER Questions Get You Connected
By Deb Calvert
Deb Calvert is an expert in leadership development and sales productivity. She has spent over 15 years coaching sales teams and leaders alike to help improve buyer-seller relationships by creating value for buyers, connecting in new ways, and helping sellers differentiate themselves from the competition. In this book, she gives lessons in leadership development and soft skills to give sellers an edge and become more effective in all stages of the sales process.
The book presents the DISCOVER Questions™ methodology. Using anecdotes from actual sales calls, you’ll learn what DISCOVER Questions you need to ask to open sales, assess customer needs, negotiate, invalidate objections, and close sales. Since sales is all about perfecting your process to close more deals, this is a great book to have at the top of your list.
You can also check out Deb's episode on the Outside Sales Talk podcast, where she explains how certain selling behaviors might harm your performance and how you can start behaving like a leader to win more deals.
The Connector’s Advantage: 7 Mindsets to Grow Your Influence and Impact
By Michelle Tillis Lederman
Michelle Tillis Lederman is an expert on workplace communications and relationships. Her mission is to help people work better together and advance their impact. Using her connections, Michelle has curated expert advice from over two dozen authors, coaches, and business owners to share with her readers. This book shows you how connectors think and act to make things happen faster, easier, and often with a better result.
The book explains why relationships and connecting are critical to your results, success, and even happiness, how connectors have a way of thinking and acting that enables stronger relationships, and how ANYONE can infuse these mindsets and behaviors into their interactions and see the impact.
You can join Michelle’s book club or give the gift of connection, with Michelle’s special offer for Badger readers.
You can also check out Michelle's episode on the Outside Sales Talk podcast, where she explains how being a connector helps you get what you want.
Captivate: The Science of Succeeding with People
By Vanessa van Edwards
Vanessa van Edwards is an expert in EQ, the science of charisma, and human behavior. As a human behavior hacker, Vanessa Van Edwards created a research lab to study the hidden forces that drive us. And she’s cracked the code. In this book, she shares shortcuts, systems, and secrets for taking charge of your interactions at work, at home, and in any social situation.
Her book provides simple ways to solve people problems and you’ll learn how to work a room, read faces, and how to talk to anyone. This book is essential for anyone who wants to improve their interpersonal intelligence, make a killer first impression, and build rapport quickly and authentically in any situation.
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Social Selling
101 Ways to Rock LinkedIn: Updated Edition
By Viveka von Rosen and Dayna Steele
Viveka von Rosen, also known as the “LinkedIn Expert,” works with B2B companies and executives helping them achieve business success with LinkedIn. She has spent 10+ years perfecting her LinkedIn experience which has taught her all she needs to know about LinkedIn. In this book, she, along with Dayna Steele, shows you all LinkedIn has to offer to grow your professional network and succeed in your career, no matter the industry.
This book gives simple, actionable steps you can take today to be sure you’re building your path to success using LinkedIn. The year 2020 forced us to pivot, to understand the importance of our business and our personal brand, and to learn how to create virtual business. Not only has business changed, so has the entire world. That means it’s even more important to create a strong personal brand, so that you stand out from your competition.You’ll want to pick up this book immediately to find out what you need to do to get ahead using this powerful social media platform.
For those of you who read digitally, you’ll be able to check out a free PDF version of Viveka’s book here.
You can also check out Viveka's episode on the Outside Sales Talk podcast, where she shares her secrets on how you can use LinkedIn to amplify your brand as a salesperson.
LinkedIn Unlocked: Unlock the Mystery of LinkedIn to Drive More Sales Through Social Selling
By Melonie Dodaro
Melonie Dodaro is an expert in leveraging LinkedIn for lead generation. Melonie created the Social Selling Accelerator™ method, which quickly transforms ineffective sales teams, using broken traditional sales methods, into effective modern sellers. In this book, Melonie provides a social selling roadmap that will help you generate a consistent flow of quality leads. These leads will help you achieve your goals and revenue targets by utilizing the most powerful lead-generation and rapport-building strategies on LinkedIn.
This book outlines exactly how to get high-paying leads and clients from LinkedIn and includes Melonie's tried-and-true process, The LINK Method™ - a proven 5-step system for connecting with prospects, getting them to know, like, and trust you, and transitioning to offline conversations where you can turn them into clients.
The LinkedIn Sales Playbook: A Tactical Guide to Social Selling
By Brynne Tillman
Brynne Tillman is the LinkedIn Whisperer and CEO of Social Sales Link. For over a decade, she has been teaching entrepreneurs, sales teams, and business leaders how to leverage LinkedIn for social selling. Linking traditional sales training with social media, in this book, you’ll learn about lead generation to connecting with targeted buyers, warm introductions, nurturing prospects, and converting more connections to phone calls.
Brynne will guide you through the business development activities that will help you gain access to stakeholders, add more opportunities in your pipeline, reduce your sales cycle and close more deals through social selling without ever having to cold call again.
You can also check out Brynne's episode on the Outside Sales Talk podcast, where she shares her proven LinkedIn selling tips to help you turn your connections into sales.
Pitching and Closing
Sales in a New York Minute: 212 Pages of Real World and Easy to Implement Strategies to Make More Sales, Build Loyal Relationships, and Make More Money
By Jennifer Gluckow
Jennifer Gluckow is a combination of northeastern smarts and New York City savvy which makes for unstoppable concepts and strategies for selling. She takes her real-life experience in NYC business and sales and shows you that, “If you can make the sale there, you can make the sale anywhere.''
Jennifer has mastered what it takes to ''make it'' in New York, and her book, Sales in a New York Minute, will teach you how to make sales anywhere. Whether you're a sales newbie or a sales master, Jennifer's 212 New York minutes will bring your sales and your customers to the buying point. You’ll learn how to attract customers online and face-to-face, help secure lifelong relationships, referrals and reorders, build trust over time, and ensure profitable sales and customer loyalty. When put into practice, her 212 strategies will make your sales and success soar.
You can also check out Jennifer’s episode on the Outside Sales Talk podcast, where she and Jeffrey Gitomer share their secrets on how to build and maintain a positive attitude.
The Introvert's Edge: How the Quiet and Shy Can Outsell Anyone
By Matthew Pollard
In this book, Matthew explains how introverted people can leverage their reserved personality as a natural strength to sell. Introverts will learn how to find natural confidence, prepare for any situation, sidestep objections, and ask for the sale without being pushy.
What makes this sales book so powerful and practical is that it explains how introverts can feel equally comfortable and sincere in the sales world without changing who they are!
The Perfect Close: The Secret to Closing Sales – The Best Selling Practices & Techniques for Closing the DealJames’s episode on the Outside Sales Talk podcast
By James Muir
If you want to discover how to close sales using the absolute best practice (one that's non-pushy, flexible, natural & easy to learn) then this is the right book for you. This book is especially helpful for salespeople who dislike the “stigma” of selling or find the traditional selling process uncomfortable.
If you are new to sales, this book will teach you how to be effective immediately and will literally teach you the rest of the steps in your sales process. If you are an experienced professional looking for ways to improve your performance, this book will help take your closing skills to a whole new level.
The Perfect Close represents the best practice in closing sales today. Apply it yourself and discover how this simple technique along with being genuinely authentic creates the highest levels of success.
You can also check out James’s episode on the Outside Sales Talk podcast, where he shares proven strategies and techniques in having unique discussions with your customers to close more deals.
Gap Selling: Getting the Customer to Yes
By Keenan
Gap Selling is a game-changing book that presents a powerful new way to connect with buyers.
In this book, Keenan breaks down the traditional sales myths that cause today's frustrating sales issues. He lays out a methodology for better understanding the buyer’s challenges to create value by identifying the “gap” between the client’s present state and desired future state.
You can also check out Keenan’s episode on the Outside Sales Talk podcast, where he shares his tips on how to successfully coach a sales team.
Pitch Anything: An Innovative Method for Presenting, Persuading, and Winning the Deal
By Oren Klaff
When it comes to delivering a pitch, Oren Klaff has unparalleled credentials. He has used his unique pitching method to raise more than $400 million. According to him, creating and presenting a great pitch isn't an art, it's simple science.
Applying the latest findings in the field of neuroeconomics, while sharing eye-opening stories of his one-of-a-kind method in action, Oren describes how the brain makes decisions and responds to pitches. With this information, salespeople can remain in complete control of every stage of the pitch process. This is an essential book to deliver engaging sales pitches.
Negotiation
Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It
By Chris Voss
Reaching the pinnacle of his profession, he became the FBI’s lead international kidnapping negotiator. Never Split the Difference takes you inside the world of high-stakes negotiations and into Voss’s head, revealing the skills that helped him and his colleagues succeed where it mattered most: saving lives.
In this practical guide, he shares the nine effective principles—counterintuitive tactics and strategies—you too can use to become more persuasive in both your professional and personal life.
Life is a series of negotiations. Taking emotional intelligence and intuition to the next level, this book will give you the competitive edge in any discussion.
You can also check out Chris’s episode on the Outside Sales Talk podcast, where he explains how to apply high-stake negotiation techniques to never lose a sale.
Closing Time. The 7 Immutable Laws of Sales Negotiation
By Ron Hubsher
Negotiation is a vital part of sales. Too often, good sales tactics are ruined by poor negotiation skills, resulting in lost deals. After deep research on this topic across world-class sales organizations, Ron Hubsher wrote this sales book that reshapes the negotiation process. He shares actionable tips to increase margins and profitability on your deals.
The book introduces a repeatable system to close sales, increase the lifetime value of clients, create better agreements for both parties, and eliminate discounting. That’s why it’s considered one of the best books on sales negotiation.
Behavioral Psychology and Persuasion
The Science of Selling: Proven Strategies to Make Your Pitch, Influence Decisions, and Close the Deal
By David Hoffeld
Based on the latest research in behavioral economics, social psychology, and neuroscience, this book shows salespeople how to align their sales techniques to the way buyers make decisions.
Hoffeld’s evidence-based approach teaches salespeople effective ways to engage buyers’ emotions to increase their receptiveness, discover underlying objections, and guide buyers through the purchasing process.
To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others
By Daniel H. Pink
This book talks about how sales is a natural activity common to all human beings. It shows how we all practice the art of selling in our daily lives. For example, when you pitch your coworkers a new idea or when you try to convince your friends to watch a new show. From this angle, we’re all salespeople.
You'll learn about alternatives to the traditional elevator pitch, rules to understand others’ points of view, how you can make your message clearer and more persuasive, and much more.
In short, it’s a great sales book that offers a fresh look at the act of selling.
Pause: Harnessing the Life-Changing Power of Giving Yourself a Break
By Rachael O'Meara
Rachael O'Meara is a transformation leadership and executive coach, as well as a mindfulness expert. In her book Pause, Rachael helps you reassess your life with a clear head and dive back in with purpose.
Incorporating the latest findings from psychology and neuroscience and peppered with inspiring stories of successful pauses, this book will show you that the fastest way to happiness is to slow down. As sales can be a fast-paced, hectic career, this book is a must-read for salespeople who want to avoid burnout or who are suffering from burnout and looking for a solution that still benefits their career.
You can also check out Rachael’s episode on the Outside Sales Talk podcast, where she explains how pausing can benefit your sales results.
Stay tuned for a new release from Rachael as Pause the Journal: How to Intentionally Create Your Dreams is coming end of the year!
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
By Robert Cialdini
Robert Cialdini is an expert in the field of influence and persuasion. He spent 35 years researching what drives people to change their behavior. In this book, he explains the results of his evidence-based analysis and teaches the psychology behind the power of persuasion.
The book presents 6 universal principles that will allow you to convince anyone and to defend yourself against skilled persuaders. Mastering these principles will enable you to succeed in sales and get people on your side. Sales is all about convincing the customer to buy your product, so this should be one of your top sales books on your list.
The Art of Persuasion: Winning Without Intimidation
By Bob Burg
In this book, Bob Burg explains what the most successful men and women in modern history have in common: excellent persuasion and influencing skills.
It covers topics like how to make people feel important, how to set yourself apart from the rest, and how to deal with difficult people. These skills will improve your sales techniques and teach you how to get what you want at all times. Bonus: This isn’t just a sales book, it’s also a book about how to succeed in life.
Emotional Intelligence 2.0
By Travis Bradberry
It's no secret that we make decisions based on our emotions, from what to do in our free time to which brand of coffee we buy. That’s why being emotionally intelligent is a key element for understanding the buyer’s needs and wants. As Stephen Covey says “Research shows convincingly that EQ (Emotional Intelligence) is more important than IQ."
In this book, Travis delivers a step-by-step program for developing your emotional intelligence by improving your self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management skills.
The 48 Laws of Power
By Robert Greene
This book breaks down the history of power into 48 essential laws. The rules are meant to explain how prudence, confidence, and self-preservation can help you influence and persuade others.
It provides interesting insights on sales psychology, as well as tips on how to gain control and avoid manipulation. This is a top sales book recommended for salespeople who are trying to improve their negotiation skills and overcome objections.
Coaching and Leadership
Heart and Sell: 10 Universal Truths Every Salesperson Needs to Know
By Shari Levitin
Shari Levitin is an expert in selling from the heart. Using her experience as CEO of Levitin Group, she has helped create over 1 billion dollars in increased revenue for companies in over 40 countries. In this book, she introduces her Third-Level Selling system, a dynamic framework for effective selling in the Digital Age.
Not only do you learn her selling system, but you also learn how to meet sales targets with the customer's desire for a heartfelt, authentic sales approach. Heart and Sell shows you how to blend the new science of selling with the heart of human connection to reach more prospects and consistently close more deals.
You can also check out Shari’s episode on the Outside Sales Talk podcast, where she shares her secrets on uncovering each customer’s emotions and selling more effectively.
Every Job is a Sales Job: How to Use the Art of Selling to Win at Work
By Cindy McGovern
Dr. Cindy McGovern is known as the "First Lady of Sales." As an expert in sales, interpersonal communication, and leadership, she holds a doctorate in organizational communication and has helped hundreds of companies and individuals to create dramatic and sustainable growth. Cindy believes that everyone is a salesperson, regardless of his or her job description, and explains this in her book.
This book is an indispensable roadmap that will show you how to take control of your personal and professional success through her proven 5-step sales process to help you attract new business, keep existing customers, and spot opportunities to promote yourself and your ideas.
You can also check out Cindy's episode on the Outside Sales Talk podcast, where she shares tips from her 5-step process to help anyone become a better salesperson.
Coaching Salespeople into Sales Champions: A Tactical Playbook for Managers and Executives
By Keith Rosen
The secret to developing a team of high performers isn’t more training but better coaching. In this book, Keith shares his coaching methodology and proven L.E.A.D.S. Coaching Framework™ to create a thriving coaching culture and build a team of top performers.
Rather than managers taking on the role of Chief Problem Solver, Keith explains how to confidently facilitate powerful, engaging coaching conversations so that your team can resolve their problems and take ownership of the solution. Readers will also learn how to deliver feedback that results in positive behavioral changes, among other skills that motivate and enable salespeople to reach business objectives faster, especially in our new hybrid workplace. This book is a must-read for anyone who wants to inspire and create a more accountable and collaborative team of sales champions!
You can also check out Keith’s episode on the Outside Sales Talk podcast, where he shares his tips on creating the best sales culture for your company.
Why Sales For College Students: Top Jobs! Top Earning$
By Joyce Johnson
Joyce Johnson is passionate about diversity and empowering the next generation of inclusive sales leaders. Starting her sales career in professional sports and later entering the telecommunications industry as a Sales Director in global markets, Joyce had to learn to navigate in a world that has fallen short of creating diverse and inclusive workplaces. Using her 20+ years of experience, Joyce has married her love for the sales profession, passion for diversity and inclusion, mentorship, and coaching to help empower the next generation of leaders by creating training programs and publishing books to help them navigate the workplace.
This book is a guide to help college students understand the foundation of sales, how they currently use sales in their day-to-day lives, and what transferable skills they have that will help them secure a job in their industry of choice. This book is essential for the next generation of sales leaders and professionals questioning if sales is the right career choice for them.
You can also check out Joyce's episode on the Outside Sales Talk podcast, where she discusses her experiences as a woman of color in sales and why companies should work towards having more diverse sales teams.
Emotional Intelligence for Sales Leadership: The Secret to Building High-Performance Sales
By Colleen Stanley
Colleen Stanley is well known for creating Ei Selling®, a unique and powerful sales training program that integrates emotional intelligence skills with consultative selling skills. With over 25 years of sales and leadership experience, Colleen has learned the secret to building high-performance sales teams. In this book, she aims to connect with anyone charged with growing B2B or B2C sales and to teach them the importance of emotional intelligence for effective leadership in sales.
The book offers simple steps on how sales leaders can create sales cultures that embrace feedback and change through the development of critical emotional intelligence skills. Sales leaders will also learn why ‘real world’ empathy and emotion management are the keys to building strong relationships with their sales team and consistent sales results.
You can also check out Colleen’s episode on the Outside Sales Talk podcast, where she shares her knowledge and advice about how you can leverage the power of emotional intelligence to win more sales and increase revenue.
How Women Rise: Break the 12 Habits Holding You Back from Your Next Raise, Promotion, or Job
By Sally Helgesen
Sally Helgesen is an expert in leadership development and has trained thousands of high achievers -- men and women -- to reach even greater heights. Through her experience, Sally has seen that women face specific and different roadblocks from men as they advance in their careers.
In this book, Sally teaches the greatest sales lesson of all, how to sell yourself. Along with her co-writer Marshall Goldsmith, she identifies the twelve habits that hold women back as they seek to advance, showing them why what worked for them in the past might be sabotaging their future success. This book is essential for women in sales who aspire to be sales managers, leaders, or mentors and don’t know which steps to take next.
The TOP Sales Leader Playbook: How to Win 5X Deals Repeatedly
By Lisa Magnuson
Based on extensive research and interviews with 41 Sales VPs from various industries, this book contains 16 key plays to exponentially grow revenues and drive leadership success. These plays include top strategies for identifying big deals, developing relationships with those prospects, and closing when the time comes. This is a must-read book for modern sales leaders who want to win big.
Business Development
Predictable Revenue: Turn Your Business Into a Sales Machine with the $100 Million Best Practices of Salesforce.com
By Aaron Ross & Marylou Tyler
This book presents the outbound sales process that, in just a few years, helped add $100 million in recurring revenue to Salesforce, almost doubling their enterprise growth with no cold calls. For those skeptical about outbound sales, the book shows how to be friendly and helpful to make the process more enjoyable for everyone involved.
It also covers some of the most common mistakes CEOs and Sales VPs make and how to avoid them.
Predictable Revenue is a great book to help CEOs, entrepreneurs, and VPs of sales build an effective sales process by developing self-managing sales teams and turning employees into mini-CEOs. This is the best book on sales to empower your team.
You can also check out Aaron’s episode on the Outside Sales Talk podcast, where he shares his breakthrough selling methods, key takeaways from his book, and why salespeople should stop prospecting!
The Sales Development Playbook: Build Repeatable Pipeline
By Trish Bertuzzi
The success of any business-to-business company is directly linked to how effectively they acquire new pipeline. And that’s exactly what this book is about, not just growth, but high-growth, explosive-growth.
Throughout the book, Trish outlines 6 elements of success to build more qualified pipelines and skyrocket growth. These elements include aligning your sales development model with your buyer’s journey, segmentation techniques, tactics for hiring and retaining reps, strategies for effective leadership, and much more!
Growth IQ: Get Smarter About the Choices that Will Make or Break Your Business
By Tiffani Bova
Tiffani Bova has spent a lot of time in sales, marketing, and innovation which has given her a unique perspective that inspires people to get smarter about the choices they make, think forward, and increase their Growth IQ.
In this book, she draws on her decades of experience and 30+ in-depth case studies, to show the opportunities--and pitfalls--of each of the ten growth paths, how they work together, and how they apply to business today. You'll learn why it can be a mistake to imitate strategies that worked for your competitors, or rely on strategies that worked for you in the past, so you can grow your company with confidence and grow your Growth IQ.
You can also check out Tiffani’s episode on the Outside Sales Talk podcast, where she discusses how to succeed in sales during an economic crisis.
The Sales Acceleration Formula: Using Data, Technology, and Inbound Selling to go from $0 to $100 Million
By Mark Roberge
Despite his background in engineering, Roberge is considered one of the top salespeople in the world. He’s a Senior Lecturer at HBS and the former CRO at HubSpot, where he increased revenue by 6,000%. So, if you’re looking for actionable tips to improve your ROI this is one of the best sales books.
He’s also the author of this fantastic book that helps anyone understand how sales work. It provides a scalable, predictable approach to growing revenue and building a winning sales team. You’ll learn how to combine data, technology, and inbound selling to accelerate every aspect of sales, including hiring, training, managing, and generating demand.
You can also check out Mark's episode on the Outside Sales Talk podcast, where he shares his secrets to grow a successful sales career.
Sales Methodology and Tactics
Insight Selling: Surprising Research on What Sales Winners Do Differently
By Mike Schultz and John E. Doerr
What do winners of major sales do differently than the sellers who almost won, but ultimately came in second place? Mike Schultz and John Doerr, bestselling authors and world-renowned sales experts, set out to find the answer.
In Insight Selling, Schultz and Doerr share the surprising results of their research on what sales winners do differently, and outline exactly what you need to do to transform yourself and your team into insight sellers. If you want to find yourself and your team in the winner's circle more often, this book is a must-read.
You can also check out Mike’s episode on the Outside Sales Talk podcast, where he discusses how to leverage consultative selling to build trust with buyers and win sales.
Jeffrey Gitomer's Little Red Book of Selling: 12.5 Principles of Sales Greatness: How to Make Sales ForeverJeffrey’s episode on the Outside Sales Talk podcast
By Jeffrey Gitomer
The Little Red Book of Selling is a playful book that aims to demystify buying principles for salespeople. In this short and straightforward book, salespeople will learn to focus on why people buy and why it matters to the sales process. This book is easy to return to for specific helpful tips when you need them most.
You can also check out Jeffrey’s episode on the Outside Sales Talk podcast, where he and Jennifer Gitomer share their secrets on how to build and maintain a positive attitude.
Sell Or Be Sold: How to Get Your Way in Business and in Life
By Grant Cardone
Grant Cardone is an international sales training expert and multiple-times New York Times best-selling author. In this book, he breaks down the techniques and approaches necessary to master the art of selling in any avenue.
The book will teach you how to fill your pipeline with new business, handle rejection, turn around negative situations, shorten sales cycles, and even how to succeed in a bad economy.
Rebirth of the Salesman: The World of Sales is Evolving. Are you?
By Cian McLoughlin
As buyers become increasingly self-educated and better-informed, the balance of power shifts from the seller to the buyer, creating new challenges for salespeople. In this book, Cian explores the skills salespeople need to remain competitive in this new environment.
If you’re committed to developing your sales skills, anticipating the needs of your customers, or building a long-term career in sales, then Rebirth of the Salesman is the book for you!
The Only Sales Guide You'll Ever Need
By Anthony Iannarino
Anthony Iannarino is a highly respected international speaker, bestselling author, entrepreneur, and sales leader. In this book, Anthony boils down everything he's learned and tested. He explains that all successful sellers, regardless of industry or organization, share a mindset of powerful beliefs and a skill-set of key actions. These actions include self-discipline, accountability, competitiveness, resourcefulness, storytelling, and diagnosing.
Once you learn Iannarino's core strategies, picking up the specific tactics for your product and customers will be that much easier. Whether you sell to big companies, small companies, or individual consumers, this is the book you'll turn to again and again for proven wisdom, strategies, and tips that really work.
You can also check out Anthony’s episode on the Outside Sales Talk podcast, where he talks about how you can differentiate yourself and outperform your competitors.
Conversations That Sell: Collaborate with Buyers and Make Every Conversation Count
By Nancy Bleeke
Today's buyers are hungry for meaningful, collaborative conversations built on mutual value and trust. Based on the author's five-step sales conversation system focused on What’s in it for Them during every interaction, the book provides salespeople with all they need for collaborative conversation skills that capture the buyer's attention and convert sales.
Packed with valuable tools and examples, salespeople will discover how to increase their sales success by keeping the focus of every conversation where it belongs - on the buyer.
Triangle Selling: Sales Fundamentals to Fuel Growth
By Hilmon Sorey and Cory Bray
In this sales book, Sorey and Bray spell out the fundamentals of selling. Triangle Selling empowers salespeople to adopt the fundamentals necessary to fuel consistent growth and remain agile in an ever-evolving profession.
You can also check out Hilmon and Cory's episode on the Outside Sales Talk podcast, where they reveal how to achieve long-term success in your sales team by using tactical frameworks that drive repeatable results.
Secrets of Successful Sales
By Alison Edgar
Alison Edgar MBE brings together psychology and sales to help you develop a winning strategy for increasing sales and growing your business. Using her 25+ years of experience, she has developed her ‘Intrapreneurship’ methodology, which she uses to help enhance the development of sales leaders and teams by encouraging them to think like entrepreneurs.
This book is centered around Alison's Four Key Pillars of Sales methodology, and enables you to understand customer behaviors, provides you with a foolproof process, explains how to create an effective strategy, and close with confidence. This book focuses on learning to love sales and is an essential read for any salesperson who wants to make selling easy and fun.
Hacking Sales – The Playbook for Building a High Velocity Sales Machine
By Max Altschuler
Author Max Altschuler has dedicated his business to helping companies build modern, efficient, high-tech sales processes that generate more revenue while using fewer resources. In this book, he shows the most effective changes you can make, starting today, to evolve your sales.
This book will teach you critical hacks throughout the entire sales cycle. You’ll learn to build, refine, and enhance your pipeline over time, close deals faster, and use the right tools for the job. This book is a roadmap to fast and efficient revenue growth.
You can also check out Max’s episode on the Outside Sales Talk podcast, where he explains how salespeople can build engagement with a prospect to ‘be on the same team’.
How to Say It: Business to Business Selling: Power Words and Strategies from the World's Top Sales Experts
By Geoffrey James
Selling to other businesses involves an entirely different process than selling to consumers. This means B2B sales reps need to master a specific set of skills to find success. This book provides tips and strategies tailored especially for the unique B2B selling process. You'll find everything you need to know to sell to top executives, build sales partnerships, and accelerate your sales!
SPIN Selling
By Neil Rackham
This is one of the classic sales books that no one in sales should miss.
You’ll learn all the details about SPIN (Situation, Problem, Implication, Need-payoff) strategy, which consists of a number of simple, easy-to-apply techniques.
Rackham explains why traditional sales methods, which were developed for small consumer sales, won't work for large sales and why conventional selling methods are doomed to fail in major sales.
How to Master the Art of Selling
By Tom Hopkins
Although Tom is the author of 18 great books, we think this book is his masterpiece. Through practical and applicable techniques, Tom shares his secrets to sales success and explains effective sales tips throughout the entire sales cycle.
From creating the perfect selling climate to master sixteen powerful closes, this book includes top selling techniques such as referral and non-referral prospecting, effective phone techniques, how to finesse the first meeting, and how to handle objections.
Hope Is Not a Strategy: The 6 Keys to Winning the Complex Sale
By Rick Page
This book is one of the best books for sales consultants and trainers.
Page has taught his 6-step selling process to thousands of salespeople in more than 150 companies. This process is broken down in this book.
It has some great tips, like how to identify and sell to a prospect's business pain, how to qualify your prospects, and how to build competitive preference. It also helps you understand how the decision-making process works and how to always close the sale, no matter how complex it looks.
Why Reading Makes you Better
These books on selling will help you master your persuasive and influential skills, outperform your current negotiation results, build you a winning sales team, and grow your revenue. Besides taking your sales strategy to the next level, reading provides many other benefits for salespeople.
Reading can make you feel more relaxed and improve your health, as a matter of fact, researchhas shown that reading for six minutes can reduce stress by 68%. Actually, reading is even more effective than listening to music (61%) or drinking a cup of hot tea (54%). It has also been proven that reading helps you sleep better.
By reading you not only develop your IQ, but you also improve your EQ. To be precise, people who read for only 30 minutes a week have a stronger sense of empathy than those who don’t. This ability to understand and relate to others it’s crucial for leadership and management roles.
Finally, reading improves your memory and ability to concentrate, helping you make more analytical decisions and improve your problem-solving skills.
How to Read when your Time is Limited
As a salesperson, you’re probably too busy to spare time to read every day. Keep in mind, to start reading you don’t necessarily need to find a quiet room with a comfortable couch. Below are some alternatives to this ‘ideal’ setting, that will allow you to read from anywhere at almost any time:
- Listen to sales podcasts on your commute.
- Check out an engaging sales blog for a quick read.
- Read Quora answers from top salespeople between meetings.
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