Sales books
Bookshop > Sales
books
General sales |
Prospecting | Cold calling | Closing the sale
| Relationship sales | Sales psychology | Motivation
| Classics
Note that the star ratings here are much stricter than
Amazon's
General sales
Buy Me |
 |
Lisa Earle McLeod, Selling With Noble Purpose, Wiley, 2013
An
excellent book for sales managers and senior business people that challenges
traditional models and shows why and how to put purpose at the centre of how
and why you sell. |
=UK= |
=USA= |
=CAN= |
Buy Me |
 |
Josiane Feigon, Smart Sales Manager, Amacom, 2013
An
excellent and much-needed book on managing 'inside sales' (an evolution of
'telesales') in the modern era. All you need to know about handling the new
generation of customers and employees to create an effective connected sales
team. |
=UK= |
=USA= |
=CAN= |
Buy Me |
 |
Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson, The Challenger Sale: Taking
Charge of the Customer Conversation, Penguin, 2011
A
challenge in itself to relationship selling, this is a research-based but
highly practical breakthrough book that shows a new and powerful way of
business-to-business selling.
|
=UK= |
=USA= |
=CAN= |
Buy Me |
 |
Brian J. Bieler, The Sales Operator: Insider's Guide to Successful Selling,
Little Falls Press, 2008
A
book of wisdom from an experienced sales professional. Good, honest value,
from cover to cover. |
=UK= |
=USA= |
=CAN= |
Buy Me |
 |
Lee B. Salz, Soar, Despite Your Dodo Sales Manager, WB Books, 2007
A
book for real sales people who not only need to sell every day but also need
to handle a sales manager who somehow sees the world differently. |
=UK= |
=USA= |
=CAN= |
Buy Me |
 |
Mark Benedict, The Method of Selling, CCB Publishing, 2007
A
comprehensive practitioner book covering 70 different techniques that can be
used in selling, from classic methods to unusual tips the author has
discovered that even experienced sales people will find useful. |
=UK= |
=USA= |
=CAN= |
Buy Me |
 |
Anne Miller, Metaphorically Selling, Chiron Associates, 2004
A novel cut on sales, adding something new to the literature. Sales
consultant Anne Miller has written a highly practical and readable book that
will be of interest to sales people everywhere. |
=UK= |
=USA= |
=CAN= |
Buy Me |
 |
Michael Bosworth, Solution Selling: Creating Buyers
in Difficult Selling Markets, McGraw Hill, 1994
A solid
book on selling in high-value situations, where the rewards are great but
the buyers are very discerning.
|
=UK= |
=USA= |
=CAN= |
Buy Me |
 |
Josh Costell, The Science of Sales Success: A Proven
System for High Profit, Repeatable Results, Amacom, 2003
A
surprisingly good book, different in its approach to many others with its
focus on measuring the real value that you are getting from your sales
activities, as opposed to a people-based focus. Particularly relevant for
complex B2B relationship selling situations. |
=UK= |
=USA= |
=CAN= |
Buy Me |
 |
Kevin Daley, Socratic Selling: How to Ask the
Questions That Get the Sale, McGraw-Hill, 1995
Not the
whole sales show, but a very useful addendum on the use of questioning
methods that will lead your customer in the right direction. A handy
addition for those of you who are looking for something new. |
=UK= |
=USA= |
=CAN= |
Buy Me |
 |
Joe Girard, Stanley Brown and Robert Casemore, How to Sell
Anything to Anybody, Warner Books, 1986
Sound
advice from rags-to-riches practitioner famed for his Guiness Book of
Records entry for car sales. One of the original classics. |
=UK= |
=USA= |
=CAN= |
Buy Me |
 |
Jeffrey Gitomer, The Sales Bible: The Ultimate Sales
Resource, Wiley, 2003
A
comprehensive encyclopedia of selling, full of tips, tricks and sage lessons. Useful
as a learning book or to dip into for ideas and inspiration. |
=UK= |
=USA= |
=CAN= |
Buy Me |
 |
Tom Hopkins, How to Master the Art of Selling, Warner Books,
1988
The
classic on selling from the master sales trainer. Lots of fundamental stuff.
As with most classics, the style is a little dated, but the basic message is
sound.
|
=UK= |
=USA= |
=CAN= |
Buy Me |
 |
Donald Moine, Unlimited Selling Power: How to Master Hypnotic Selling
Skills, NYIF, 1990
Describes the use of Eriksonian hypnotic language (popular in NLP circles)
in selling situations. It raises an ethical question, of course, but so also
do many other methods used. In the end, it's up to you. |
=UK= |
=USA= |
=CAN= |
Buy Me |
 |
Dan Kennedy and Daniel Kennedy, The Ultimate Sales
Letter: Boost Your Sales With Powerful Sales Letters, Based on Madison
Avenue Techniques, Adams Media, 2000
Sales
letters can be door openers or closers, so it is important to get this
remote persuasion right. The Kennedys offer a 28-step (!) methodology for
writing effective sales text. |
=UK= |
=USA= |
=CAN= |
Buy Me |
 |
G. D,. Kittredge III, There's a Fine Line Between a Groove and a Rut,
WME Books, 2005
A
straightforward and delightful book from sales educator George Kittredge
III. Fundamental stuff for new people, a stern warning for experienced
people and useful ideas for sales managers and trainers. |
=UK= |
=USA= |
=CAN= |
Buy Me |
 |
Stephen Schiffman, The 25 Sales Habits of Highly Successful Salespeople,
Adams Media, 1994
A handy
little book of tips from this prolific author (only 130 pages). Particularly
good for people new to selling and for those who are not keen on longer
reads. |
=UK= |
=USA= |
=CAN= |
Buy Me |
 |
Thomas Stanley, Selling to the Affluent, McGraw-Hill, 1997
A niche
sales market, but potentially very lucrative (yet watch out for the misers
who got rich by driving a hard bargain). The author of other books on how
rich people think now turns his attention to how they buy. Very long but
also very dippable and unique in its intelligent focus. |
=UK= |
=USA= |
=CAN= |
Buy Me |
 |
Harry Washburn and Kim Wallace, Why People Don't Buy Things: Five Five
Proven Steps to Connect with Your Customers and Dramatically Improve Your
Sales, Perseus, 2000
An
alternative study that looks first at why people don't buy and thence how to
sell to them. Includes a derivation of three buyer types and how to respond
to them.
|
=UK= |
=USA= |
=CAN= |
Buy Me |
 |
Dave Kurlan, Baseline Selling, Authorhouse, 2006
A
solid and readable book about selling, based in the metaphor of playing
baseball. Even if you're not a baseball fan, this offers very helpful
information. If you love baseball and you sell, then this book is a must! |
=UK= |
=USA= |
=CAN= |
Prospecting
Buy Me |
 |
Richard Fenton, Go for No!, Fenton, 2005
A
small book that is easy to read, but with a powerfully simple message: If
you can enjoy rejection and hence make lots of sales calls, then you will
win, big time. Delightfully contradictory sense.
Note: The book can also be obtained from
http://goforno.com |
= US = |
|
|
Buy Me |
 |
Paul McCord, Creating a Million Dollar a Year Sales Income: Sales Success
Through Client Referrals, 2007
Quite simply the best book on gaining and using referrals. Detailed steps
are given for an innovative process that takes referrals to a new and far
more successful level. Highly recommended for everyone in sales, consultancy
and any customer-interactive profession. |
=UK= |
=USA= |
=CAN= |
Buy Me |
 |
Bob Burg, Endless Referrals: Network Your Everyday Contacts
Into Sales, New & Updated Edition, McGraw-Hill, 1998
A handy
practitioner book based on the key principle that the best recommendation is
a recommendation from a friend. Useful also for general networking outside
of sales. |
=UK= |
=USA= |
=CAN= |
Buy Me |
 |
Jeffrey Fox, How to Become a Rainmaker: The Rules for
Getting and Keeping Customers and Clients, Hyperion, 2000
Commonsense and straightforward advice packed into short and to-the-point
chapters about getting and staying close to your customers. |
=UK= |
=USA= |
=CAN= |
Buy Me |
 |
Anthony Parinello and Denis Waitley, Selling To VITO
(The Very Important Top Officer), Adams Media, 1999
A very
helpful book on that most awkward of tasks: getting to the person with real
buying power. The first step on this path is, of course, getting past the
determined and defensive PA. Then of course you have to persuade the
impatient and distracted executive. Many helpful methods are offered in
these difficult pursuits. |
=UK= |
=USA= |
=CAN= |
Cold calling
Buy Me |
 |
George Dudley and Shannon Goodson, The Psychology of Sales
Call Reluctance: Earning What You're Worth, Behavioral Science Research,
1999
Many
sales people find problems in making effective sales calls, whether they are
cold calls or in calls to known customers. Dudley and Goodson have studied
this phenomenon and developed ways to overcome it..
|
=UK= |
=USA= |
=CAN= |
Buy Me |
 |
Paul S. Golner, Red-Hot Cold Call Selling: Prospecting
Techniques That Pay Off, Amacom, 1995
Good
coverage of the full range of activities around cold-calling from an
experience practitioner.
|
=UK= |
=USA= |
=CAN= |
Buy Me |
 |
Stephan Schiffman, Cold Calling Techniques:
(That Really Work!), Adams Media, 2003
Relatively simple book on cold-calling getting appointments, plus other
detail on various sales activities. Good for beginners and those of us who
hate cold calling.
|
=UK= |
=USA= |
=CAN= |
Closing the sale
Buy Me |
 |
Sam Deep and Lyle Sussman, Close the Deal: 120 Checklists for Sales
Success, Perseus, 1999
Not
just about closing but also covers the whole sales cycle. Useful in
particular for its lists of things to remember. The books is associated with
the Sandler Sales Jump Start training. |
=UK= |
=USA= |
=CAN= |
Buy Me |
 |
Joe Girard, Robert L. Shook, Robert Casemore, How to Close Every Sale,
Warner books, 2002
Traditional selling methods from one of the traditional authors plus a
couple of his friends. Straightforward and solid. |
=UK= |
=USA= |
=CAN= |
Buy Me |
 |
Tom Hopkins, Sales Closing for Dummies,
For Dummies, 1998
It
might be easy to dismiss this book until you see the author. In fact it is a
nice balance of the 'Dummies' easy-to-read style and Hopkins expertise. Lots
of excellent stuff with a real focus on closing. |
=UK= |
=USA= |
=CAN= |
Buy Me |
 |
Gary Karass, Negotiate to close: How to make more successful deals,
Fireside, 1987
A
sales book that uses negotiation methods in the closing process. Useful
crossover text. Easy style.
|
=UK= |
=USA= |
=CAN= |
Buy Me |
 |
Anthony Parinello, Getting the Second Appointment : How to
CLOSE Any Sale in Two Calls!, Wiley, 2004
An
excellent book that focuses on that difficult step of going from call one to
call two, and in particular moving to a close in this step.
|
=UK= |
=USA= |
=CAN= |
Buy Me |
 |
Linda Richardson, Stop Telling, Start Selling: How to
Use Customer-Focused Dialogue to Close Sales, McGraw Hill, 1997
Comprehensive and straightforward toolkit for sales people from this
big-company sales trainer. Particularly useful for people new to
relationship selling. |
=UK= |
=USA= |
=CAN= |
Buy Me |
 |
Stephan Schiffman, Closing Techniques: (That Really Work!), Adams
Media, 1999
A
concise book on intelligent closing of sales from this prolific author and
trainer. Straightforward in style. Includes variations such as cold calling. |
=UK= |
=USA= |
=CAN= |
Buy Me |
 |
Stephan Schiffman, Getting to 'Closed': A
Proven Program to Accelerate the Sales Cycle and Increase Commissions,
Dearborn Trade Publishing, 2002
Prolific author Schiffman describes his 'Prospect Management' system for
managing sales and sales information. It uses a structured approach to
persuade all of the different types of decision-makers that sales people
meet. This is good one.
|
=UK= |
=USA= |
=CAN= |
Buy Me |
 |
Zig Ziglar, Zig Ziglar's Secrets of Closing the Sale, Berkley
Publishing, 1985
One of
the original greats, with many different approaches to selling and closing. Although Ziglar's style may seem dated these days,
there's much gold in these hills. |
=UK= |
=USA= |
=CAN= |
Buy Me |
 |
Gavin Ingham, Objections! Objections! Objections!, Gavin Ingham , 2004
A
helpful and highly practical little book focused on objection-handling, stuffed full of practical ways of handling sales objections.. |
=UK= |
=USA= |
=CAN= |
Relationship sales
Buy Me |
 |
Jeff Beals, Selling Saturdays, CCB Publishing, 2007
A
splendid and different book about selling. Beals spent three years
interviewing college coaches and researching how they attract talent from
high schools. It's a new take for sales people and a useful reference for
any recruiters with a focus on top talent. |
=UK= |
=USA= |
=CAN= |
Buy Me |
 |
Jim Cathcart, Relationship Selling: The Key to Getting and
Keeping Customers, Perigree, 1990
A
simple and readable book on getting close to customers. Not new but still
solid and straightforward stuff..
|
=UK= |
=USA= |
=CAN= |
Buy Me |
 |
Josh Costell, The Science of Sales Success: A Proven
System for High Profit, Repeatable Results, Amacom, 2003
A
surprisingly good book, different in its approach to many others with its
focus on measuring the real value that you are getting from your sales
activities, as opposed to a people-based focus. Particularly relevant for
complex B2B relationship selling situations. |
=UK= |
=USA= |
=CAN= |
Buy Me |
 |
Todd Duncan, High Trust Selling : Make More Money-In
Less Time-With Less Stress, Nelson, 2003
Duncan focuses in on the core area that is needed in relationship selling in
particular (though it is useful in all sales). A solid practitioner
book that includes a number of 'laws' for high-trust selling. |
=UK= |
=USA= |
=CAN= |
Buy Me |
 |
Robert L. Jolles, Customer
Centered Selling, New York: Free Press, 1998
A marvelous book for business-to-business sales people giving
full details of the selling system used by Xerox. It challenges many of the more
traditional sales techniques and even goes beyond modern approaches such as Neil
Rackham?s SPIN Selling (which Jolles acknowledges as a significant influence). See also
the review of this book.
|
=UK= |
=USA= |
=CAN= |
Buy Me |
 |
Stephen Heiman and Diane Sanchez, The New Strategic
Selling : The Unique Sales System Proven Successful by the World's Best
Companies, Revised and Updated for the 21st Century, Warner Books, 1998
Although not so 'new' now, this is an excellent and detailed book on
relationship selling. Useful for large-company selling and particularly so
as a sales book for non-sales people who find them in selling situations. |
=UK= |
=USA= |
=CAN= |
Buy Me |
 |
Jim Holden, Power Base Selling: Secrets of an Ivy
League Street Fighter, Wiley, 1999
Solid
book on selling in tough sales environments, with a focus on the
interpersonal and selling skills needed to develop strong relationships and
'power bases' within customer companies. |
=UK= |
=USA= |
=CAN= |
Buy Me |
 |
Sharon Drew Morgen, Selling With Integrity:
Reinventing Sales Through Collaboration, Respect, and Serving, Berkley
Publishing, 1999
A good
practice in one-off sales and a necessity in relationship sales, working
with integrity is an increasing necessity. Discusses the 'Morgen Buying
Facilitation Method' whereby the goal and approach of the salesperson is to
help people get what they want, rather than sell them what the salesperson
wants to sell. |
=UK= |
=USA= |
=CAN= |
Buy Me |
 |
Rick Page, Hope Is Not a Strategy : The 6 Keys to Winning
the Complex Sale, McGraw-Hill, 2003
Good
sense on big sales for B2B salespeople from established sales trainer,
including discussions on account management, organizational politics, etc. |
=UK= |
=USA= |
=CAN= |
Buy Me |
 |
Anthony Parinello and Denis Waitley, Selling To VITO
(The Very Important Top Officer), Adams Media, 1999
A very
helpful book on that most awkward of tasks: getting to the person with real
buying power. The first step on this path is, of course, getting past the
determined and defensive PA. Then of course you have to persuade the
impatient and distracted executive. Many helpful methods are offered in
these difficult pursuits. |
=UK= |
=USA= |
=CAN= |
Buy Me |
 |
Neil Rackham, SPIN Selling, McGraw Hill,
1996
An absolute classic (originally
published in 1987 as 'Making Major Sales' which shows through massive research
how classic sales techniques fail miserably in big-business, and that you can
get greater success by asking a sequence Situation, Problem, Implication and
Need-Payoff questions. See also the review of this book.
|
=UK= |
=USA= |
=CAN= |
Buy Me |
 |
Neil Rackham, The SPIN Selling Fieldbook,
Gower, Aldershot, UK, 1996
Leveraging the popularity of SPIN
Selling, this helps you use the approach in practice with exercises and
deeper tools and techniques around the famous four questions.
|
=UK= |
=USA= |
=CAN= |
Buy Me |
 |
Tom Reilly, Value-Added Selling : How to Sell More
Profitably, Confidently, and Professionally by Competing on Value, Not
Price, McGraw Hill, 2002
This is
a confident book from this sales trainer on selling through focusing on the
value for customers, which of course is a basic for most, if not all,
relationship selling situations.
|
=UK= |
=USA= |
=CAN= |
Buy Me |
 |
Linda Richardson, Stop Telling, Start Selling: How to
Use Customer-Focused Dialogue to Close Sales, McGraw Hill, 1997
Comprehensive and straightforward toolkit for sales people from this
big-company sales trainer. Particularly useful for people new to
relationship selling. |
=UK= |
=USA= |
=CAN= |
Buy Me |
 |
Jerry Vass, Soft Selling in a Hard World: Plain Talk
on the Art of Persuasion, Running Press, 1998
A
straightforward, easy book on friendlier approaches to selling in various
situations, with some interesting explanations of buying psychology.
|
=UK= |
=USA= |
=CAN= |
Sales psychology
Buy Me |
 |
Benson Smith and Tony Rutigliano, Discover Your Sales
Strengths: How the World's Greatest Salespeople Develop Winning Careers,
Warner books, 2003
Based
on the long-running Gallup 'strengths' study, this is a research-based book
rather than the more usual ones written by experienced sales people. The
result is perhaps less 'motivational' but still extremely credible and adds
valuable new insights even for hardened sales people and sales manager.
Includes access to 'strengthsfinder' questionnaire on the web. |
=UK= |
=USA= |
=CAN= |
Buy Me |
 |
Anthony Parinello, Getting the Second Appointment : How to
CLOSE Any Sale in Two Calls!, Wiley, 2004
An
excellent book that focuses on that difficult step of going from call one to
call two, and in particular moving to a close in this step.
|
=UK= |
=USA= |
=CAN= |
Motivation
Buy Me |
 |
Frank Bettger, How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling,
Simon and Schuster, 1992
One man
tells his story about transitioning from struggling beginner to successful
salesperson. Fundamental nuggets that a new salesperson would benefit from
learning. First published in 1947. |
=UK= |
=USA= |
=CAN= |
Classics
Buy Me |
 |
Frank Bettger, How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling,
Simon and Schuster, 1992
One man
tells his story about transitioning from struggling beginner to successful
salesperson. Fundamental nuggets that a new salesperson would benefit from
learning. First published in 1947. |
=UK= |
=USA= |
=CAN= |
Buy Me |
 |
Joe Girard, Stanley Brown and Robert Casemore, How to Sell
Anything to Anybody, Warner Books, 1986
Sound
advice from rags-to-riches practitioner famed for his Guiness Book of
Records entry for car sales. One of the original classics. |
=UK= |
=USA= |
=CAN= |
Buy Me |
 |
Tom Hopkins, How to Master the Art of Selling, Warner Books,
1988
The
classic on selling from the master sales trainer. Lots of fundamental stuff.
As with most classics, the style is a little dated, but the basic message is
sound.
|
=UK= |
=USA= |
=CAN= |
Buy Me |
 |
Brian Tracy, Advanced Selling Strategies: The Proven System of Sales
Ideas, Methods and Techniques Used by Top Salespeople Everywhere,
Simon and Schuster, 1996
A
400+ page classic from the master, covering all parts of the selling process
in detail, including the mental state of the sales
person (which is a remarkably important part of the story). |
=UK= |
=USA= |
=CAN= |
Buy Me |
 |
Zig Ziglar, Zig Ziglar's Secrets of Closing the Sale, Berkley
Publishing, 1985
One of
the original greats, with many different approaches to selling and closing. Although Ziglar's style may seem dated these days,
there's much gold in these hills. |
=UK= |
=USA= |
=CAN= |
|