With physical distancing efforts, we know many of you (including us, guilty as charged) have been consuming Netflix shows like there’s no tomorrow. So, maybe it’s time to mix things up with some good old-fashioned reading- and perhaps even pick up some new skills while you’re at it! Considering Mark Cuban states that he spends three hours reading daily, it can’t help to try! Here are the top 10 best sales books on how to sell that I recommend you read right now to help you fine-tune your sales skills during these quickly evolving times:
1. Changing the Sales Conversation
In this era of iPods, iPhones, and apps, sales communications may be growing, but sales conversations are dying–and so are too many sales. Globalization, the explosion in competition, the slow economy, and fast-emerging technologies all have changed buying habits. Salespeople can no longer rely on traditional sales methodologies. They must change the conversation.
2. Insight Selling
Selling value to B2B buyers today can feel like trying to stop a freight train that’s hurtling towards the sales graveyard of commoditisation and discounting. Today, an empowered buyer has done the research, has a clear idea of his or her firm’s needs, and how much the firm is willing to pay. This type of buyer does not want a salesperson to talk about features and deliver a series of open-ended questions that deliver no value. What this buyer wants is insight.
3. Lead, Sell or Get Out of the Way
In today’s sales world there’s no room for followers. But there’s plenty of room for leaders. Competition is intense, and if you don’t take a leadership role in producing results for your clients, someone else will. In Lead, Sell, or Get Out of the Way, Ron Karr outlines a repeatable process based on the powerful idea that great sellers lead relationships in the same way that great leaders sell ideas.
4. New Strategic Selling
The Book That Sparked A Selling Revolution In 1985 one book changed sales and marketing forever. Rejecting manipulative tactics and emphasizing “process,” Strategic Selling presented the idea of selling as a joint venture and introduced the decade’s most influential concept, Win-Win.
5. The Challenger Sale
What’s the secret to sales success? If you’re like most business leaders, you’d say it’s fundamentally about relationships and you’d be wrong. The best salespeople don’t just build relationships with customers. They challenge them.
6. To Sell Is Human
To Sell Is Human offers a fresh look at the art and science of selling. As he did in Drive and A Whole New Mind, Daniel H. Pink draws on a rich trove of social science for his counterintuitive insights. He reveals the new ABCs of moving others (it’s no longer “Always Be Closing”), explains why extraverts don’t make the best salespeople, and shows how giving people an “off-ramp” for their actions can matter more than actually changing their minds.
7. Sell or Be Sold
In Sell or Be Sold, Grant Cardone breaks down the techniques and approaches necessary to master the art of selling in any avenue. You will learn how to handle rejection, turn around negative situations, shorten sales cycles, and guarantee yourself greatness. Watch our interview with Grant Cardone here
8. What Great Salespeople Do
This groundbreaking book offers extraordinary insight into the greatest mystery in sales: how the very best salespeople consistently and successfully influence change in others, inspiring their customers to say yes.
9. Predictable Revenue
When it comes to understanding Outbound Sales, Predictable Revenue is your bible on building an outbound team that doesn’t revolve around cold calling. Written by Aaron Ross who built the outbound team at SalesForce.com
10. Social Selling
It wouldn’t be a complete list without including my own book “Social Selling: How to Prospect, Position and Present Using Social Media”. In this book I cover how to adapt your selling techniques to incorporate social media and modern technology.
Have you read any of these books? What else should I add to the list?
Also read:
- Business and Sales Books for Businesses
- 19 Of The Best Sales Podcasts To Listen To Right Now!
- Learn To Sell Like A Pro: 19 Best FREE Online Sales Training Videos
Accelerate your sales career and master assessing the needs of customers
Sales skills need to be learned, practiced, and mastered. In our Sales Accelerator pack, we teach you the skills all sales professionals, entrepreneurs, and small business owners need to sell effectively. Join us in mastering the sales process, starting with getting the right mindset, differentiating from the competition, building strong relationships, and delivering compelling sales presentations using stories.
Hi Tom, how about SNAP Selling, by Kill Konrath? All look like great reads here that will have to finish working my way through. Thanks for sharing Tom.
Hey Adam, I have SNAP Selling on my iPad mini. It’s in the queue hahaha.