If you’re in sales or looking for ways to dust up your skills, Sales books are a great way to learn from the best in the business. Sales books dramatically cut down the time it would take to learn a skill or master certain techniques. But there is a caveat.
Before you choose a book, it’s essential to determine the problem that needs solving. Are you looking for the best sales books for beginners? Do you want to learn an entirely new selling technique? Do you want to understand why your sales pitches aren’t working? Why aren’t your deals closing?
The thing is, you need to have your “why” figured out first. Once you answer these questions, it’s much easier to identify the best sales books you need.
To help you, we’ve put together this list of the seven best sales books to choose from, depending on your needs. Whether you’re looking for a comprehensive guide or specific advice and tips, there’s something here you can use.
Why You Need To Read Sales Books?
Books are a great way to learn. They’re filled with valuable information you can use to make the most of your sales journey. And by investing in yourself, you’ll gain the expertise and experience necessary to bring home those big deals.
Books are also perfect if you’re short on time or want a step-by-step system for success. Plus, they give you guidance and advice from experts who have already been on this path—they know what works and doesn’t.
Books provide new perspectives on how to approach clients or market products effectively. They also provide insight into customer psychology and the consumer mindset – invaluable resources enabling better business decision-making.
High Performers Have an Enthusiasm for Learning
Everyone must strive for success and personal growth to be the best in their field.
If you want to become a better leader, enrich your sales skills, enhance your public speaking abilities, create compelling content, or improve yourself as an individual – there is a book that can provide guidance and direction.
Some of these books have been around for some time but are still relevant today; other texts contain more up-to-date approaches and mindsets that will help further your career.
To Become A Leader, You Need To Become A Reader
You probably know that most CEOs read daily and earn their average annual salary in just a few hours! It’s no coincidence that the most successful people spend their time reading and learning. They want to stay ahead of the game, so they must constantly challenge themselves.
Now that you understand why it’s essential to read sales books, let’s look at some of the best ones.
Let’s dig in!
7 Best Sales Books Every Salesperson Should Read
1. Spin Selling by Neil Rackham
Spin Selling is a must-have book for salespeople and professionals looking to improve their selling skills. Written by Neil Rackham, the founding father of sales science, this book offers invaluable advice on optimizing the sales process and maximizing results.
Neil Rackham’s Spin Selling approach is based on research over 12 years of study. This book provides a comprehensive breakdown of the four stages of sales that you need to be aware of to succeed in sales and offers invaluable tips on how to leverage each stage to your advantage.
Rackham has distilled all his research into a concise and effective strategy – SPIN (Situation, Problem, Implication, and Need payoff) that can assist anyone in becoming proficient in problem identification and problem-solving.
Without a doubt, this book is an essential read for salespeople and managers alike.
Customer review:
“I feel like 99% of self-help books, be it self-help in work, love, friendships, what have you, are useless. They always have fluff chapters of ‘act motivated and be motivated!’ or ‘think like a winner!’ and various platitudes of that nature. You wind up finishing the book and realizing you read nothing but pseudo-motivational dribble that will wind up having zero impact on whatever you were looking to improve upon.”
“Enter’ SPIN Selling’ – this book delivers where all of those other books have failed. In this book is a solid layout of how you should structure your sales calls, and not only that, but data to back up their claims and examples on how to lead. Read this book, take notes, and I guarantee if you weren’t already aware of how to sell in this style, your selling WILL improve.”
2. The Psychology of Selling by Brian Tracy
Brian Tracy is an expert in sales training and development. He frequently speaks to thousands of people annually and has authored 45 books, but none may be more useful for salespeople than The Psychology of Selling.
This book will help you understand your prospects on a deeper level, as well as the personal toll that selling can have upon yourself (e.g., self-confidence, fear of disappointment, or rejection). In addition, this book provides a comprehensive and systematic approach to selling based on psychology, intuition, and knowledge of human behavior.
Customer review:
“I’m loving this reading so much. This book is a must for anybody that is at the sale world. It shows the secret at the end is inside of you.”
3. Little Red Book of Selling by Jeffrey Gitomer
Marketers and salespeople are so focused on fancy sales funnels and emails that they often forget to go back to the basics of selling. In The Little Red Book Of Selling, Jeffrey Gitomer teaches us how to return to our roots by focusing on why people buy in the first place.
In his book, Gitmor helps salespeople get into the buyer’s mind and find out what influences their buying decision. This book is packed with insightful principles and rationale that will help you make successful sales both now and in the future.
The Little Red Book of Selling is an essential resource for anyone looking to increase their sales success. This book teaches salespeople prep techniques and staying focused and encourages them to overcome any obstacles standing in their way.
Customer review:
“I have been in sales for at least seven years full-time as an Executive Search Recruiter in the US, Japan, and New Zealand. I am a big believer in personal development, and so I have read my fair share of sales books.”
“To be honest, there are books that forget to tell you that it will be difficult and take time to grow your business and ability, but Jeff Gitomer’s book does neither of these things. This is not a book for people who need a quick fix to get them out of a slump or to even convince them that a sales career is for them.”
4. To Sell Is Human by Daniel Pink
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, one in nine Americans are formally employed as salespeople; however, author Daniel Pink believes that everyone is a salesman at heart – whether they realize it or not!
Daniel argued in his book that we’re all selling something in some way, shape, or form. Be it ideas and beliefs or products and services.
To Sell Is Human provides a 21st-century look at the art and science of selling. In this book, Daniel H. Pink dives into the eminent power of selling in our day-to-day lives and its actuality and influence. He shockingly discovered that roughly one in every nine Americans works in a sales-related role, and he tries to convince it in his book.
In his book, the author provides a modern viewpoint on the science of selling and explains how traditional selling methods must transform. Also, he educates readers on why extroverts don’t have an advantage in salesmanship and how providing customers options is more effective for convincing them to buy than forcing a quick decision.
Customer review:
“There are many volumes written about sales. There are myriad training courses on sales and how to be efficient, effective and top of the heap at the game of sales. This book is not like any of the ones I have read prior to this nor is Pink espousing any of the usual hype about overcoming objections, how to close and/or how to manipulate folks into buying your product or services.”
“Instead, Pink is proposing something that I have been struggling with for the past five years and suggesting to anyone who would listen: traditional sales isn’t any longer anyone’s job. He further states that sales has changed more in the past 10 years than it had in the previous 100 years.”
5. The Challenger Sale: Taking Control of the Customer Conversation by Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson
The Challenger Sale: Taking Control of the Customer Conversation provides a fresh look at modern sales strategies. Written by marketing experts Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson, this book examines the latest research on why buyers buy and how to become more persuasive with customers.
After a comprehensive study of thousands of sales representatives in differing fields and locations, the authors have discovered that traditional relationship-building practices need to be improved when selling to large B2B companies, as these aren’t relevant today.
The book explains all sales representatives across the globe can be sorted into five distinct profiles. Although these different types of reps can produce typical performance results, only one – the Challenger – is consistently capable of delivering exceptional outcomes.
Once you grasp how to spot the Challengers in your organization, it is possible to replicate their approach and distribute it among your sales team.
The authors explain how, with the correct tools and resources, even a “regular” rep can easily reframe clients’ expectations. This allows them to generate an extraordinary purchasing experience that increases customer loyalty and ultimately leads to greater growth for the business.
Customer review:
“The history of sales has been one of steady progress interrupted by a few real breakthroughs that have changed the whole direction of the profession. These breakthroughs, marked by radical new thinking and dramatic improvements in sales results, have been rare. . . . Which brings me to The Challenger Sale and the work of the Sales Executive Council. . . . On the face of it, their research has all the initial signs that it may be game-changing. . . . My advice is this: Read it, think about it, implement it. You, and your organization, will be glad you did.”
6. Secrets of Closing the Sale by Zig Ziglar
Secrets of Closing the Sale is a timeless classic written by master motivator Zig Ziglar. It contains methods and strategies to close sales effectively and has been helping sales professionals worldwide since its initial publication in 1982.
The book covers topics such as understanding why people buy, including answering questions about price and quality; handling objections; identifying customer buying signals; closing techniques for experienced veterans and novices alike, and more. He also includes stories from successful salespeople that demonstrate the techniques outlined in the book.
Zig Ziglar’s book, Secrets of Closing The Sale, uncovers the tactics for achieving positive results from people and how it can help you close more sales. It comprises various successful closing techniques suitable for any persuasion situation, over 700 insightful questions that will reveal aspects you may have overlooked before – and much more.
Not only does he provide advice on leveraging your imagination to achieve success, but he also offers invaluable insight from some of the leading salespeople in the world.
The strategies outlined in this book are still relevant today because they are based on timeless principles of human behavior. This is an essential read for any salesperson or entrepreneur looking to improve their results.
Customer review:
“Any professional worth their salt realizes that they are in sales. Selling themselves, if nothing else. And anyone who is in sales needs to read this book. Zig Ziglar was an amazing speaker and a very entertaining and informative writer. This book is no exception. Taking the reader through dozens of closes and hundreds of questions in his well-known and folksy style, Ziglar entertains and informs the sales pro of the tips and techniques to be a success as a salesperson and to be a good person as well.”
7. The Ultimate Sales Machine by Chet Holmes
The Ultimate Sales Machine is an essential read for sales professionals, entrepreneurs, and business owners. This book outlines the 12 vital business areas you must master to achieve maximum success. Written by renowned business coach Chet Holmes, it contains practical advice on developing your skills and using them to their fullest potential.
Chet Holmes emphasizes the importance of mastering each area – from goal setting and planning through customer service to hiring and training employees – as knowledge in one field will only get you so far.
At the outset of his book, Holmes discusses a powerful concept: focus! Instead of testing out various strategies or tips provided by other sales experts, he recommends that you concentrate on one and perfect it before exploring other approaches.
By honing in your efforts on just a single strategy at first, you can be sure that — if done properly — it will yield far greater results than any scattered approach.
Customer review:
“This book contains the 12 most powerful foundational pieces of the sales process. What’s more important, though is the way in which they are taught, and the ideas on how to implement them…knowledge is power only when properly utilized! Get this book, read it, learn the lessons, apply them, and reap the benefits and rewards from your work!”
Final Words
There are hundreds of sales books available on the market today, but these seven are great starting points for anyone looking to improve their sales skills and get ahead in their career. From understanding how people think about buying decisions to leveraging psychology for success, each book provides valuable insights that can give you an edge over your competition.
Although each of these titles offers something unique, the common thread is that they provide knowledge about selling and help you understand different aspects of customer psychology. So don’t hesitate to pick up a copy today and start making more sales.