We are all sales people. If there is one thing I have learned from my study of sales books, periodicals, and online articles, that is it. Selling is not just about pushing products. It is an essential aspect of what it means to be human. We sell our ideas. We sell our character. We sell our skills. We sell ourselves. When we attempt to communicate with each other, we are selling the importance of what we have to say.
There are enough sales books that have been written over the past several decades to justify “sales” as a literary genre distinct from its more general “business” category. Hundreds of highly notable and effective works have been written to encourage sales people. How do I choose only twelve? How about something arbitrary like what’s in the title?
Some of these books focus on strategy; some are more philosophical in nature. But, in either case, each of the books on this list have principles that will help you become a better sales person, regardless of your profession. Read, learn, and grow!
Bettger shares experiences in his life as an insurance sales person and offers tips on persistence, presentation, and developing relationships with colleagues. Masterfully told story!
Tracy explores how changing the way you think can make you more successful than you’ve ever dreamed. Packed with insight on positive thinking, goal setting, and principles to live by, this book is a classic!
In perhaps the most exhaustive sales book ever written, Hopkins explains the sales process from top to bottom and offers dos and don’ts for each step of the way.
A short book on the basics of selling from one of the most well-known sales people of all-time. New to the business or finding yourself in a situation that needs basic sales skills? This is for you.
This book is a classic for those in complex sales. Where a long-term relationship will exist between you and your client, you need to be about to be consultative. We hear that term a lot, but none has ever come as close to its meaning as its originator, Mr. Hanan.
Probably the most unique book on this list due to the fact that Rackham had done exhaustive research to come up with his findings for this book. Over a course of 10 years and after observing of 35,000 sales transactions, Rackham and his team come up with the sales process of Situation, Problem, Implication, and Need-Payoff. Looking for something proven to add to your repertoire? This is it!
Certainly a book for our time, Konrath explains how to sell in a time of short attention spans. Clients are pressed for time and need to make snap decisions. The acronym, Simple-Aligned-iNvaluable-Priority, addresses the approach that sales people need to take with clients who are racing against the clock.
The foundation of selling is trust. If a sales person cannot be trust, there is not hope for a sale, let alone a relationship. In this book, Green lays out the process to becoming a more trustworthy person in business. “The relationship,” he says, “is the customer.”
Most of the time, selling is merely about asking the right questions. Buyers will sell themselves if you can ask the right questions to bring their needs to the surface. Freese shows us how and when to ask those questions in the sales process.
One of the most difficult problems sales people have dealt with for years is the telephone. Call reluctance prevents sales people from being productive and, when calls are made, they are often disorganized and a waste of the prospect’s time. Richardson shows us how to use the telephone the way it was meant to be used.
If you can’t sell yourself, you can’t sell anything. In a business relationship or any relationship for that matter, people need to know that you are competent and trustworthy before they even care about what you are offering. Beckwith and Clifford show us how to make ourselves more appealing and presentable in business transactions.
Gitomer, one of the greatest sales professionals of our time, offers advice on personal motivation in selling and principles on interacting with clients. Networking, engaging prospects in conversations, and making people laugh are all simple little things that make a big difference in selling. Gitomer shows us how to incorporate these into our own processes.
Which of these books have you read? Do you have any on your reading list for 2012? What would you add to the list? Let us know in the comments below!
Featured image courtesy of TXBiz Center licensed via Creative Commons.
Doug Rice is the Small Business Storyteller, a writer who helps small business people develop content for web pages, blog posts, newsletters, white papers, and more. He is an avid reader, a coffee snob, and a lover of all things business and marketing. On his blog, Doug writes regularly on issues related to small business marketing.
We're just stopping by and showing some love for the 12 Most team! Too bad there's no "selling" in the DragonSearch Online Marketing Manual title, or we'd be trying to find a way onto this list! Thanks for providing the great list, Doug! Perhaps @ricdragon could pick up a few more books for the collection from here.
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Doug, Always enjoyable going down memory lane with these titles. Most of these are on my shelf and have been read, some several times over the years and they each added value to me when I read them.
After reviewing your list, I was struck with the fact that these are mostly "old" books. The average publish date on the entire list is 2002. And that includes both Mack Hanan's "Consultative Selling" update, "You, Inc." from @HarryBeckwith & Christine Clifford from 2011 and @JillKonrath and her "Snap Selling" from 2010. Take those out and the publish date drops back to 1999.
Do you think that the selling environment has changed substantially over the last twelve years? Selling by Phone was published in 1994 and after looking through my copy, I do not believe it is relevant today. Excellent points when written, but will you follow her techniques today?
I believe that 2012 will require all of us in sales to step up our learning efforts in order to succeed. Growth in sales will be achieved by keeping in mind the foundations of the past but also embracing the new thinking, the new realities that we find ourselves in. Bring on the new thinkers, the new practitioners that are making it happen in today's environment.
Just thought I'd stir the pot. Your thoughts?
@milesaustin@jillkonrath Wow, excellent comment, Miles! I agree that it's all about "keeping in mind the foundations of the past but also embracing new thinking." When we read old stuff, I think that what we need to hang onto are the principles, not the tactics. Selling by Phone may be totally irrelevant in years to come from a tactical standpoint, as the "phone" may become replaced with something like video conferencing. Certainly now, with email and social media, it isn't as important as it was in the 90s--and should be used differently. But the principles of communicating with clients with whom you do not have the luxury of face-to-face contact are something we can hang on to.
@milesaustin@jillkonrath
I've had this discussion time and again with other business folks as to whether or not we should waste our time reading the "classics." We want to be cutting-edge and I agree that we've got to be relevant. But new ideas are often old ideas reborn. I think we've got to know our history to better shape our future. All sales books I've ever read are, at least in part, a study of communication and human nature. Many principles in those arenas, I think, are resistant to change.
It's possible I'v missed some great titles that have come out in recent years, simply due to my ignorance. What are some newer titles that you think should be on the list?
The only one I read on the list is #9, but I enjoyed it. Leading with the question is great for selling as well as management/leadership, personal relationships, etc. Of course, I love the Sandler-based stuff, but they do not have Selling in the title ;)
I would be curious to hear your thoughts on Sandler. Folks seem to either love or hate the program.
@jpJeremy I haven't done the program, but I did read both "You Can't Teach a Kid to Ride a Bike at a Seminar" and "Close the Deal". Both were excellent, and the second book consisted of checklists to help you through each step in the sales cycle.
I do not agree with all of Sandler's conclusions, but that is because social media puts a higher priority on relationship/trust. You have to Pay It Forward in social media before you can expect to reap any rewards regarding referrals or endorsement. In the sales cycles that Sandler points out ,he makes it clear that friendship doesn't put money in your pocket.
If you want some humor, you can see me poking fun at myself with a 12Most post where a lot of the fundamentals I mention come right out of Sandler's way of thinking: http://12most.com/2011/10/11/12-obvious-reasons-suck-sales/
#5 is probably the best on this list, at least it is the only one I have read more than once. (To be fair, some of these I read the flaps and a few random pages.)
The problem with consultative selling is that the concept has been bastardized by all of the "engagement" nonsense of the last decade. I am all for both, but they are not the same thing.
@jpJeremy I'm with you. I think most serious sales people feel the same way about the evolution of the term "consultative" as Hanab originally intended to the fly-by-night, smile-and-act-interested way it's used today.
@guykawasaki Always selling. Gotta love the effort from Guy, and yes, it deserves to be on the reading list for Sales People and Sales Leaders in 2012
@guykawasaki Whoa, Guy! I hadn't even realized you had written a book by that title! You've actually written a lot more than I realized. Looks like I've got a lot to add to the reading list for 2012! Check out "Selling the Dream" everyone: http://www.amazon.com/Selling-Dream-Guy-Kawasaki/dp/0887306004/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325039669&sr=1-1
