Ok, so you have (or have developed) the most important characteristics of successful salespeople. How do you go about getting the knowledge and skill? Candidates, new salespeople, and even experienced salespeople often ask for the best sales books they should read to really get ahead–which are actually worth the time? Which have good, useful information? The lack of really good information about SaaS selling is one of my pet peeves—and why I starting this site, to begin with.
There are a ton of great sales books–but also a ton of fluffy, repetitive junk. Too many time-wasters. How do you pick ones that will deliver? Fortunately, I’ve read over a hundred in my 15 years selling. I’ll break down the 5 that you should definitely read, no matter your tenure (with a bonus near the end).
I’m going to assume two things:
- You want to learn more about the skill of selling—as opposed to motivational books. There are a ton of motivational books and it probably doesn’t matter what you pick, as long as it motivates you.
- You are selling to small and medium businesses. That’s where I’ve built my career, so if you’re doing something different, my relevant experience might be limited.
Here are the top 5 sales books I recommend to reps on my team. If you read and apply them in this order, they will build on top of each other and you’ll see yourself improve.
(All links go to Amazon Smile—a portion of your purchase supports my favorite charity.)
The 5 Best Sales Books
- The Secret of Selling Anything by Harry Browne. (You can read my summary here.) This is a great book no matter what you’re selling or to whom. He does a great job describing the sales process in a way that’s useful to new and experienced salespeople alike. Pay particular attention to the chapter where he teaches you to develop great questions to elicit your prospects needs. Do the exercises!
- You Can’t Teach a Kid to Ride a Bike at a Seminar by David H. Sandler. The Sandler selling methodology is one of the better ones I’ve encountered. Consequently, if you’ve been selling for a while, some of it may be new, but some of it will sound familiar. I believe that this is because Sandler popularized many of these ideas decades ago. The cornerstone (as I understood it) was that you should only spend time with prospects that are interested. He reviews methods for ensuring that you’re not being led on by a prospect.
- Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini Ph.D. Once you read a few books about how to ask questions and find good prospects, it’s time to learn about how people make decisions. Dr. Cialdini literally wrote the book on how to influence people. He’ll take you through the research he did to identify the concepts (in story form, not data form, as you’d expect from an expert influencer).
- Pre-Suasion: A Revolutionary Way to Influence and Persuade by Robert Cialdini. His second book is about the things you do before you deliver your message so that your prospect is more open to listening. Excellent read.
- Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It by Chris Voss. Every company I’ve ever worked for has had prospects who either try to negotiate a fair price down or asked for free work–or both (and why wouldn’t they?). Who better to teach you how to handle these situations than a former FBI hostage negotiator?
- The bonus: Once you get through these and apply their lessons in an intentional way, I recommend you learn copywriting. Copywriting is selling through the written word. Kopywriting Kourse blog is a great place to start—and is free. This is last because email is much less effective than in-person sales (but scales better!).
5 books and a blog aren’t that much. But remember, the real value comes from the application of knowledge. It’s ok to read a chapter each week and apply the lessons while on the phone. Track your results and you’ll see real improvement.
I hope this helps! What are the best sales books, articles, or blogs that you’ve read to help you sell better?
