Non-Sales Books That Transformed My Selling Techniques
Unlocking Personal and Professional Effectiveness with Seven Habits of Highly Effective People
The first book that helped me sell was not a sales book, but a book about how to interact with people effectively. That book was Stephen Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. The chapter on being proactive did much to improve my ability to sell effectively. If you want to improve your effectiveness, this book will provide you a master class in getting things done. You may add First Things First, Covey’s follow-on book.
Embracing Business Excellence in a Disruptive Age with Tom Peters' Re-Imagine!
The second book that helped me sell was Tom Peters’ Re-Imagine! Business Excellence in a Disruptive Age, published in 2003. The book was about the changing business environment. Soon after that, Peters published three little books called Brand You. They were easy to consume and act on. But my favorite is Thriving on Chaos, the book that helped me think differently about business and our world.
Mastery by George Leonard: The Path to Sales and Business Mastery
Mastery by George Leonard, a seventh belt in Aikido. The book was about mastery and how not to be a dabbler, or what I would call a poseur, someone that pretends to be something they are not. You find a lot of this ilk on LinkedIn. Of all the books I have read, this book opened my eyes to the fact that I needed to master sales and business.
Achieving Peak Productivity with The Effective Executive and Getting Things Done
Peter Drucker’s The Effective Executive is one of two books that helped prioritize my work. The book was about getting the right things done. I have re-read that book several times. If you buy this book, get the version with the foreword by Jim Collins.
Another book that helped me prioritize was Getting Things Done (GTD) by David Allen, which provided an elegant approach to organizing your work and your life. I still practice a modified version of GTD. This book improved my work and home life. Give it a try if you need to wrangle all your tasks and projects.
Essential Sales-Related Books for Elevating Your Selling Game
Hard Ball and the Foundation of Resilient Selling Techniques
The first book I read on sales was called Hard Ball. It was already an old book when my mom gave it to me, and while it helped me to learn to ask, it isn’t a book for this time. However, it did help me sell better, in its own way.
SPIN Selling: Acquiring Advances and Enhancing Sales Conversations
The second sales book I remember reading was SPIN Selling. I loved it, and Neil Rackham is still one of the people that have had a profound impact on how I learned to sell. The acronym of SPIN was helpful, but what I took away from the book was the imperative to acquire an advance, a next meeting that would move the conversation forward. Eventually, I wrote my own book on the idea called The Lost Art of Closing.
Major Account Sales Strategies: Maximizing Commissions through Strategic Enterprise Sales
The third book that taught me to sell was Rackham’s Major Account Sales Strategies, which he published after SPIN Selling. This was the book that increased my commissions more than anything else. This was my introduction to the fundamentals of enterprise sales, and I read it at the same time I was making enterprise sales. I would argue that Major Account Sales Strategies is more powerful than SPIN, even if it isn’t nearly as popular.
Navigating Sales Processes with Miller and Heiman's The New Strategic Selling
Miller and Heiman did excellent work during their time working with large sales organizations. I can’t remember which Miller and Heiman book I read first, but my best guess is The New Strategic Selling. (Since Miller and Heiman update their books frequently, it’s impossible to know.) The edition I read was mostly about decision makers, managing territories, and sales as a process. This made sense when I read it, but since then I’ve given up on the process, instead viewing the conversation as dynamic.
Enhancing Sales Authenticity with Let’s Get Real or Let’s Not Play
This next book is and always will be one of my favorites: Let’s Get Real or Let’s Not Play by Mahan Khalsa. This book will help you to be candid, something that requires diplomacy and the ability to ask hard questions in a soft way. I adopted Khalsa’s approach and applied it in my own way by asking to share something with the client, making it easier to help them open to something new or something they have rejected in the past.
My Personal Contributions to Sales Knowledge and Strategy
The Only Sales Guide You’ll Ever Need: A Success Framework for B2B Sales
The Only Sales Guide You’ll Ever Need is a sales book masquerading as a success book. This should be the first book a salesperson reads. It describes the traits and skills a salesperson needs to succeed in B2B sales, so readers can begin developing themselves to be more effective in their work and in life. People report they are better in all kinds of ways after using this book.
The Lost Art of Closing: Mastering Sales Commitments
The Lost Art of Closing: Winning the 10 Commitments That Drive Sales is about gaining commitments to the conversations a client needs to pursue their change initiative. I recommend that the salesperson lead the client to ensure they will succeed in improving their results. By the time I was writing this book, the linear sales process had died, and this book provides a nonlinear approach to the sales conversation. People report they make more money after practicing this methodology.
Eat Their Lunch: Competitive Strategies for Customer Acquisition
Eat Their Lunch: Winning Customers Away from Your Competition is based on my experience selling a true commodity, I documented how my team and I stole clients from our competitors. This is a critical skill set in the current B2B sales environment. This book will help you understand value creation in the sales conversation and a version of the insight-based approach I developed in 2001.
Elite Sales Strategies: A Guide to Consultative Selling Excellence
Elite Sales Strategies: A Guide to Being One-Up, Creating Value, and Becoming Truly Consultative will change much about how you sell by helping you understand how to create value and practice a more consultative sales approach. This book will allow you to see something others can’t.
Leading Growth: Strategies for Sales Leaders to Drive Revenue
Leading Growth: The Proven Formula for Consistently Increasing Revenue is for sales leaders and sales managers who need to generate net new revenue. The book is a comprehensive approach to revenue growth. This book will help you with the changes you need to make to succeed in sales leadership.
