Books are a window into the minds of world-class authors. The best sales books will make you smarter like Brian Tracy or Jill Konrath who are masters in their field.
You’ll get food for thought on, “How can I become the most successful salesperson on my team?” While the gift of gab is necessary for salespeople, you can mitigate your shortcomings with the help of the written word.
Here mentioned are the books about sales psychology, sales skills, negotiation, secrets of sales success, mindset, and much more.
Top 20 best sales books to become smarter
- #1 Never Split The Difference
- #2 Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
- #3 To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others
- #4 Secrets of Closing The Sale
- #5 The Little Red Book of Selling
- #6 Snap Selling
- #7 Mindset: The New Psychology of Success
- #8 The Ultimate Sales Machine
- #9 Solution Selling
- #10 The New Strategic Selling
- #11 Book Yourself Solid
- #12 The TOP Sales Leader Playbook
- #13 The Psychology of Selling
- #14 Gap Selling
- #15 Pitch Anything
- #16 The Challenger Sale: How to take control of Customer Conversation
- #17 The Sales Acceleration Formula
- #18 Fanatical Prospecting
- #19 New Sales Simplified
- #20 Cracking the Sales Management Code
#1 Never Split The Difference
Author– Chris Voss
Category– Business & Money
Why should you read it?
Chris Voss was a former international hostage negotiator for the FBI. The book outlines his methods that helped save lives during critical hostage situations. The insight-filled book with practical strategies is considered one of the best sales books of all time. The book teaches you about negotiating from a point of strength.
#2 Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
Author-Dr. Robert Cialdini
Category– Business Culture
Why should you read it?
One of the best sales psychology books. The ability to influence prospective customers is one of the most powerful skills that a sales professional can have.
The book talks about the importance of psychological triggers that drive people to make purchasing decisions. Dr. Robert has outlined six guiding principles in his book (reciprocity, scarcity, authority, consistency, liking, and consensus), that lead to a better sales conversation.
#3 To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others
Author: Daniel H. Pink
Category: Psychology
Why should you read it?
Daniel is a New York Times bestseller, who, in this book, breaks down the common myths associated with selling. The book outlines six successors to the elevator pitch, the three rules for understanding someone else’s perspective, and the five frames to make your message clearer.
#4 Secrets of Closing The Sale
Author: Zig Ziglar
Category: Marketing & Sales
Why should you read it?
Zig Ziglar is one of the most popular names in the sales industry and has closely worked with clients and corporations of all sizes. This book deals with creating a positive selling response, you learn how to project warmth and sincerity, and ooze professionalism. There are more than 100 creative closes that increase the productivity of your sales pitch.
#5 The Little Red Book of Selling
Author: Jeffrey Gotimer
Category: Marketing & Sales
Why should you read it?
Another sales classic, Jeffrey’s book shows you how to sell more in less time using a variety of techniques and selling strategies. The book brims with ideas that can inspire sales professionals. The book’s readers will gain practical methods to qualify prospects, how to make them feel comfortable, how to respond to objections, and achieve their sales goals.
#6 Snap Selling
Author: Jill Konrath
Category: Business & Money
Why should you read it?
The award-winning book is a great read for experienced sales professionals. It teaches you proven strategies that will expedite the buying process. You will know the right words to use, get closer to busy prospects, enthrall them with storytelling, and more. Think of Konrath’s book as an easy-to-use guide for sales professionals.
#7 Mindset: The New Psychology of Success
Author: Carol Dweck
Category: Psychology
Why should you read it?
One of the most important reasons why average salespeople remain that way is because of their mindset. A psychologist and a professor at Stanford University, Dweck, in his book, provides ample evidence that people with growth mindsets are the ones who go out of their way to get things done.
Working on the strategies outlined in this book will put your sales team miles ahead of their peers. The book can help you streamline the sales process and incorporate elements that can give you that “extra” factor that makes all the difference.
#8 The Ultimate Sales Machine
Author: Chet Holmes
Category: Marketing & Sales
Why should you read it?
The author asks salespeople to focus on 12 key strategies that are outlined in his book, instead of running after every viral sales trend. Many comments from the book’s readers opine that Holmes’ book is something that they keep visiting every year. The book promises to teach salespeople to work smarter, not harder.
#9 Solution Selling
Author: Michael Bosworth
Category: Marketing & Sales
Why should you read it?
Solution Selling is a handy book for amateurs and sales mavens. It shows why you must emphasize business issues rather than focusing on the product. The step-by-step approach offered in the book can be used to sell anything. The book effectively captures ten issues that make the lives of salespeople difficult and Bosworth comes up with solutions for each of these issues in detail.
#10 The New Strategic Selling
Author: Robert B. Miller and Stephen E. Heiman
Category: Marketing & Sales
Why should you read it?
The book is filled with real-world examples, strategies for dealing with confrontation, finding a common ground for rapport, and so on. If your selling involves dealing with complex cases every time, this is the book that you need to pick up. It shows how you must focus on ideal, best-fit customers, how to use the sales funnel to predict work, speaks about account-based marketing, and how to create win-win deals.
#11 Book Yourself Solid
Author: Michael Port
Category: Psychology & Sales
Why should you read it?
It focuses on self-promotion as a critical tactic that salespeople must find time for. Salespeople can learn the following from Port’s book– you will learn to come up with unique pricing models and sales strategies, invest in outreach strategies at regular intervals, discover new product launch strategies, and how to leverage them with existing and new customers. His simple strategies have changed the lives of salespeople who followed his mantras. No wonder he has the moniker “an uncommonly honest author.”
#12 The TOP Sales Leader Playbook
Author: Lisa D. Magnuson
Category: Selling
Why should you read it?
The book is written based on inputs from 41 sales VPs. Think of the book as a playbook that you can use to refer to whenever you come across a situation that you aren’t familiar with. Lisa focuses on four key areas: leadership, methodology, execution, and culture. If you are looking for ways to change the outcome of your sales efforts, Magnuson has delivered a book that comes with actionable methods.
#13 The Psychology of Selling
Author: Brian Tracy
Category: Psychology
Why should you read it?
An author of more than 80 books, Brian Tracy is one of the most popular names in the motivational speaking field. If there is one skill that such trainers never stop talking about, it is the art of selling. He believes that it is the “psychology’ of selling that is more important in selling than techniques and strategies. The book is dotted with insights that can make you become a successful seller.
#14 Gap Selling
Author: Jim Keenan
Category: Marketing & Sales
Why should you read it?
Keenan is a celebrated sales consultant and an author whose sole focus is on debunking false belief systems that he has seen over the years. Gap Selling provides a framework for salespeople to get the attention of their prospects and make them trust you enough to share their pain points.
#15 Pitch Anything
Author: Oren Klaff
Category: Selling
Why should you read it?
Pitching is an art that salespeople must be extremely good at. A bad pitch never translates into a sale. The author applies the latest findings in the neuroeconomics field in the book. Pitching clients for a new business, negotiating terms, setting the frame, storytelling, providing a hook, etc., are all skills that you will learn more about, once you are done with the book.
#16 The Challenger Sale: How to take control of Customer Conversation
#17 The Sales Acceleration Formula
#18 Fanatical Prospecting
#19 New Sales Simplified
#20 Cracking the Sales Management Code
Wrapping up
If someone were to ask, “What are the best sales books?” we truly hope that you will direct them to this article. While there is no dearth of sales books, you must choose ones that resonate with your goals. The above 15 books on sales are great to start with, in your reading journey. These books on sales strategies and methodologies are a must-read for all salespeople.