My Favorite Sales Books
I’m often asked about my favorite book on sales, and as you can imagine there is no single book. Finding success over time is about our experiences, our successes and failures, and trying a lot of things to see what works and what doesn’t. Books are always a wonderful source of new ideas, and there are plenty of lightbulb moments I’ve experienced in reading.
Below is a list of some of my favorites that really made an impact on my view of working with customers, and managing a business in general. These are in no particular order, so this isn’t a ranking. Here you go:
To Sell is Human - How to connect with people in a genuine way.
Good to Great - Loved this book to better understand business in general and characteristics of successful companies and those that made the leap from good companies, to true breakthrough businesses. The Flywheel concept is particularly powerful and what most all of us are seeking!
Awaken the Giant Within - I read this a LONG time ago but it had a big impact on me. We all call into ruts at times, and this book was the first “motivational” book I read and helped me realize that we are all capable of so much more than we often give ourselves credit for.
Perfect Selling - A really simple way to break down the sales process, specifically how to run a meeting. This book never got all that much attention, but I found it incredibly helpful and easy to read.
7 Habits of Highly Effective People - Another older on, and a classic, but solid principles on how to connect with people.
Think and Grow Rich - Another older book with basic concepts of how to look at life and build a plan and mindset of success. I read this a long time ago, but again remember it had a real impact.
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion - A lot of this book is more consumer oriented and kinda cheesy at times, but I learned broad concepts around persuasion and influence and adapted them to B2B selling and found great success. The key is that it’s not about manipulation… it’s understanding how people make decisions.
Ultimate Sales Machine - More designed for high volume/velocity selling, and a little old school (especially now) but I liked the general concepts of building a machine and system that’s repeatable.
Cracking the Sales Management Code - Sales management focused and great for any new sales manager. So often top sellers are promoted to management, but never get solid training on what sales management is all about. This book helps you solve that.
Big Little Breakthroughs - I love this concept of the accumulating impact of small innovations. This is one I read start to finish as the reinforcing stories are just interesting and entertaining.
The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team - Remarkable book about how to get teams to work better together. When I was a first time manager, I used concepts of this book to help us run a highly effective, and cohesive team.
I hope your Amazon wishlist is now filled… happy reading!!!!