9 Books for B2B Salespeople - Iannarino Sales Guide

Here's my list of the best B2B sales books:

1. The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People - Stephen Covey
2. Mastery - George Leonard
3. The Brand You 50 - Tom Peters
4. SNAP Selling - Jill Konrath
5. SPIN Selling - Neil Rackham
6. Major Account Sales Strategy - Neil Rackham
7. Consultative Selling - Mack Hanan
8. The Discipline of Market Leaders - Michael Treacy and Fred Wiersema
9. What the Customer Wants You to Know - Ram Charan

Find out why these are the absolute best resources for getting started in your sales career.

Why Read the Best B2B Sales Books?

If you are a new B2B salesperson, this list is a curriculum. Outside of actually getting out there and putting in the reps, reading business books is one of the most effective ways to improve your sales knowledge. These 9 essential books  are some of the best books on B2B sales and will help you to build a foundation upon which to build a successful career in business-to-business modern sales.

If you have worked in B2B sales for some time and haven’t read these books, pick them up. You will discover—or be reminded of—some ideas that will make you even more effective.For more insights and recommendations, you might also want to explore my sales blog.

Best B2B Sales Books for Communicating Who You Are and Why They Should Buy From You

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (by Stephen Covey)

This book should be required reading for anyone, regardless of their profession. At the heart of most of your problems, you will find one person: you. Covey’s seven habits will help get you out of your own way when it comes to succeeding in sales because it will help get you out of your own way when it comes to human relationships.

Mastery (by George Leonard)

This little book will teach you how to achieve mastery. Written by a 5th degree aikido master (one of the most frustrating and difficult martial arts to learn), Mastery will help you learn how not to dabble. It will help you understand how to live on the plateau (where it feels like you aren’t making progress) long enough to achieve your next breakthrough to higher performance.

The Brand You 50 (by Tom Peters)

Tom’s little book covers fifty ideas. But it is filled with ideas and checklists that will help you frame your thinking about how to become someone worth doing business with and someone worth buying from.

It’s a small book, but it contains enough ideas and actions items for you to work on for months—maybe years.

Read my interview with Tom.

Best B2B Sales Books for Teaching You How to "Get In"

SNAP Selling (by Jill Konrath)

The greatest struggle for most salespeople, even experienced salespeople, is just getting in. Jill’s book has some simple rules to follow that can make it easy for your dream clients to say yes to your requests for their time.

Four rules: keeping it simple, being invaluable, aligning with your dream client’s objectives, and keeping up the momentum by focusing on priorities. Read the book and follow these guidelines and you will have an easier time getting in.

Also, read my interview with Jill here and here.

Best B2B Sales Books for Learning the Fundamentals of B2B Sales and Process

SPIN Selling (by Neil Rackham)

This is one of the most important business-to-business sales books ever written. The acronym stands for situation questions, problem questions, implication questions, and needs-payoff questions is a formula for diagnosing and understanding your dream client’s needs—and their motivations for changing.

Most salespeople don’t do well diagnosing because they spend too little time on the implications of their dream client’s dissatisfaction and how they see the solution. This book will improve your needs analysis and make you a more valuable partner in your dream client’s improvement.

Major Account Sales Strategy (by Neil Rackham)

Rackham’s follow-up is in some ways more important than SPIN Selling. This book is more about the strategies and tactics of winning major accounts. The sections on your dream client’s needs at each stage of the buying process alone make it worth reading.

Consultative Selling (by Mack Hanan)

Mack’s recipe works as promised. But it isn’t easy for salespeople to execute.

Consultative selling doesn’t mean what most people think it means. It isn’t about being soft, or about not really selling. It’s about selling effectively, and it is about shifting the decision criteria from price to cost.

Even though it isn’t easy, the sooner you get your mind around the idea that you have to move past the price to the cost of a real business improvement, the better.

Best B2B Sales Books for Learning How To Create Value

The Discipline of Market Leaders (by Michael Treacy and Fred Wiersema)

Creating value for your dream clients requires business acumen. This little book is an excellent primer on business strategies. When you understand your dream client’s strategies, you better understand what drives their needs and their decisions. You also understand how your company’s strategy choice limits your choices of clients.

What the Customer Wants You to Know (by Ram Charan)

This is another book on using your business—and financial—acumen to create value for your dream clients. In some ways, it is very similar to Consultative Selling but focuses more on demonstrating costs savings. Essential in that it is a serious primer on business acumen.

Reading the Best B2B Sales Books Isn't Enough

Reading these fantastic books is essential to becoming successful in the world of business sales, but just reading books is not enough. To be a successful salesperson, you have to get out there and apply the things you have learned. All the scripts and strategies and tools in these will amount to nothing if you don't learn how to use them properly throughout your process. That's where mentorship comes in. Get with your manager and have him or her walk you through how to implement these strategies in real life. If you don't have a manager or if your manager doesn't have time, check out our free eBook How to Sell Without a Sales Manager. Whatever you do, make sure you're putting what you've learned into action.