9 Sales Books Really Worth Reading

Sales is one of those fields where the saying adapt or die fits perfectly. Constant development and readiness to upgrade your skills, regardless of seniority, are the requirements of a dynamically growing and changing market. How do you keep up with it all? There is no shortage of practical inspiration. Today we present 9 sales books really worth reading, because they inspire and help organize your existing knowledge at the same time.

Crossing the Chasm

Geoffrey A. Moore

A must-read especially for startup founders - it describes, step by step, the process of bringing a new product to market. And as it goes with novelties, while some go crazy about them, others stay reserved. Moore describes 5 models of reaction to market novelties, suggesting what actions to take, and when, to effectively reach clients from each segment. An extra advantage - case studies and an enjoyable narrative.

Go for No! Yes Is the Destination, No Is How You Get There

Richard Fenton, Andrea Waltz

Fewer failures does not mean greater success. Contrary to most publications, the authors focus on showing that it is precisely a higher number of failures that brings us closer to the desired destination: success. Go for No! is not a typical guidebook. It tells the story of a salesman who meets his future self - 10 years older and enjoying a pile of successes. For that vision to come true, however, the hero's present self must overcome his fear of failure and his limitations.

Objections

Jeb Blount

Let's stay on the subject of turning failures into successes. All salespeople face client objections, regardless of experience. A no from the client's mouth does not have to mean the end of the road - nothing new for sales veterans, but for beginners it can effectively clip their wings. A book worth recommending to both groups: as a summary of existing knowledge and an inspiration for new actions. Blount explains, among other things, how to understand objections from the client's perspective, where the fear of rejection comes from, where buyers' objections originate and, of course, how to overcome them.

The Sales Bible

Jeffrey Gitomer

People don't like to be sold, but they love to buy. Well, admittedly Gitomer has a point here, and in his Sales Bible he teaches exactly how to sell so that others love buying from us. He bets on relationships, loyalty and customer service built on respect and a sincere will to find the best solution. The advice in the book is universal - it applies at every stage of the sale.

The Introvert's Edge: How the Quiet and Shy Can Outsell Anyone

Matthew Pollard

A quiet, shy introvert salesperson who successfully wins client after client. Isn't that an oxymoron? As Matthew Pollard argues, succeeding in sales does not require being a go-getter with an answer to every question. What is more, he considers sales a discipline anyone can learn, introverts included. All they need is to discover their strengths and learn to use them. In his book, Pollard helps them do exactly that: he advises how to find your inner confidence, prepare for every possible situation and effectively handle client objections. Additional inspiration comes from the success stories of salespeople and entrepreneurs who would be the last to be called bold extroverts.

SPIN Selling

Neil Rackham

Practice makes perfect. That is how you could summarize Rackham's SPIN model, built on scientific research that analyzed and measured the behavior of sellers and buyers - over 35 thousand sales conversations were analyzed across twelve years. Neil Rackham drew attention to the quality of sellers' questions - it was the key factor deciding whether the sale was closed or not. The SPIN model is therefore a sequence of questions which, asked in the right order, form the foundation of a successful sale. Besides applying the SPIN method and its benefits, the book also explains what decides success in large-scale sales and why traditional sales models fail there.

The Challenger Sale

Matthew Dixon, Brent Adamson

Another book based on prior research - this time the authors analyzed the actions of thousands of salespeople across industries. The result was a set of five salesperson profiles, one of which is special: belonging to it means above-average results. That is the Challenger. So what exactly does the Challenger do to sell better than others? The authors see the key to success in moving away from classic relationship building towards more assertiveness and taking control of the sales process.

Coaching Salespeople into Sales Champions

Keith Rosen

Keith Rosen sees the secret of building a team of top-performing salespeople not in ever more training sessions, but... in better coaching. In his book he presents a practical, step-by-step coaching system aimed at, among other things, supporting managers in increasing sales and team performance, teaching salespeople to motivate themselves and solve problems on their own, and hiring and retaining exceptionally skilled salespeople. Besides theory, Rosen also prepared numerous case studies and templates of training scripts and questions.

From Impossible to Inevitable

Aaron Ross, Jason Lemkin

If you feel that everyone around you is growing their business successfully while only your company has hit a wall of stagnation, Aaron Ross and Jason Lemkin rush to the rescue with their book From Impossible to Inevitable. As they claim, there is a pattern followed by the biggest and fastest-growing companies in the world - and it is exactly what guarantees them that hypergrowth. Ross and Lemkin present 7 ingredients of fast growth and advise, among other things, how to define your own niche, build a scalable sales team and effectively generate new leads.