The 15 Best Sales Books to Win Sales

Look, selling isn’t easy.

There’s a lot of mixed information, and half of what people say seems to conflict with what the other half of people are saying.

So how do you figure out what actually works, so you can confidently use it for your business or job?

First? Relax.

The next step is to find the best sales books written by people who have tried, failed, and learned the best ways to sell. (Learn from their mistakes and save a lot of time in your life’s journey).

This article is my best effort to provide you a reading list of high quality, actionable books; not a huge list of irrelevant ones.

The best strategy for mastering sales skills is simply to start.

Let’s get to it.

What is a sales book?

A sales book is a collection of ideas, studies, methods, or techniques on how to better succeed in the world of sales. These books vary a lot in their application, ranging in topics from finding leads and closing customers to building great processes and training new sales reps.

Sales books are massively helpful for finding an approach that you understand and works for you. Most authors of sales books didn’t start their careers with the secrets they share with you. Usually, they had to seek answers that no one else was providing, and struggle a lot on the way.

That said, not all sales books are made equal. Some are written just to help build their personal brand. Some are otherwise written with good intentions, but contain less useful information (despite great-sounding buzz words).

Here’s what you should consider before reading:

• The author
• The evidence supporting their conclusions
• Who the book is written for
• What information you’ll discover
• If there are concrete examples
• If the book will really help you improve and become successful in sales

Pro-tip: Consider your situation and what you need to do — then pick a book that best suits your situation.

You can most often find these books online, or in books stores.

What are the best sales books?

The best sales books are the ones that help you achieve results. The results you need depend on your sales role and business processes. I’ve broken up the categories into more specific cases.

Find the one best suited to you, and enjoy!

The best 4 big picture sales books

These books are to give you a good overview of the whole subject of selling. I’d recommend them to anyone that wants to understand how everything fits together.

Here’s the list:

• New Sales Simplified – Mike Weinberg
• Never Split The Difference – Chris Voss
• How to Win Friend and Influence People – Dale Carnegie
• No B.S. Time Management for Entrepreneurs – Dan S. Kennedy

I’ve summarized quick points for each book below.

Feel free to get an idea of what the book is about, and pick it up if you aren’t familiar with the concepts inside!

New Sales Simplified – Mike Weinberg (Summary):

• Avoid the pitfall of self-focus – focus on your prospect.
• Ask yourself “so what?” for each point you want to mention in your sales conversation – why should a prospect care?
• Craft a sales story that you can reuse in your outreach and pitches
• Don’t deceive prospect; use phrases like “let me steal a minute” to level with the prospect and own up to the fact it’s a sales call
• Work backward from your quota or goals to figure out your every day activities
• Be unattached to deal – people have a hard time saying, “no.” They might string you along.

Never Split The Difference – Chris Voss (Summary):

• Negotiation and closing a deal is about making people feel heard and understood.
• Use “mirroring” to help the other person feel engaged and that you’re listening
• Use “tactical empathy” to draw out emotional obstacles the other person is facing
• “Label” emotions and obstacles, so it’s easier to overcome them
• When someone says “no,” you can begin finding what they really want.

How to Win Friends and Influence People – Dale Carnegie (Summary):

• When you’re genuinely interested in someone, they can feel it.
• Don’t forget to smile.
• A person’s name is their favorite word.
• Be a great listener.
• Make the other person feel important – be sincere.

No B.S. Time Management for Entrepreneurs – Dan S. Kennedy (Summary):

• Calculate your earning goals.
• Get rid of “time vampires.”
• Get rid of interruptions before they’re an issue.
• Good enough is good enough.
• Tie everything to your goals when possible.

These books help to put the macro concepts into place and will help you succeed massively in any sales or entrepreneurial role.

Next up: books that help frontline sales people.

The 6 best sales books for frontline salespeople

These books are best for developing the individual skills you need to be great at selling. The skills covered in these books range from filling your sales pipeline to negotiating and closing deals.

Here’s the list:

• Fanatical Prospecting – Jeb Blount
• People Buy You – Jeb Blount
• Objections – Jeb Blount
• Inked – Jeb Blount
• SPIN Selling – Neil Rackham
• Ultimate Sales Letter – Dan S. Kennedy

I’ve summarized the books in quick pointers below:

Fanatical Prospecting – Jeb Blount (Summary):

• Prospecting is the most important part of the sales process – that’s where you find people.
• Some salespeople spend 80% of their day prospecting to keep their pipeline full.
• If you have a lot of options, you’ll be less desperate, and prospects will like you more.
• Calling has a higher response and conversion over email.
• Overcome your fear of rejection, and call as many people as possible.

People Buy You – Jeb Blount (Summary):

• Being likable is key for building relationships.
• Really connect with people – not just small talk.
• Genuinely be interested in solving people’s problems.
• Trust is critical for keeping a relationship in the long term.
• Create positive experiences for people.

Objections – Jeb Blount (Summary):

• Prospecting objections can be overcome with good scripts, and turnaround frameworks.
• Red herring objections usually don’t have substance, acknowledge them, but ignore it unless the prospect brings it back up again.
• Micro-commitment objections are when prospects hesitate to take the next step. Use timelines and genuine understanding to get past them.
• Avoid overwhelming prospects, but don’t be afraid to stand out!
• Listen deeply and follow-up on interesting points of “self-disclosure.”

Inked – Jeb Blount (Summary):

• Use leverage, motivation, and your power position in negotiation.
• It’s important to plan out your communication and negotiation strategy.
• There are powerful negotiation psychology frameworks that help keep you in control of the conversation.

SPIN Selling – Neil Rackham (Summary):

• Ask questions to identify key sales information.
• Situation questions are about a prospect’s day-to-day, tools, goals, etc.
• Problem questions are about what difficult things they are facing.
• Implication questions are about how those problems negatively impact a prospect’s life.
• Need payoff questions are about potential solutions to the problems and implications.

Ultimate Sales Letter – Dan S. Kennedy (Summary):

• Find out your buyers’ biggest problems and pains.
• Start talking in the way your prospect is already thinking.
• Tie your product or service into the priorities your prospect would have.
• Use “damaging admissions” to build more trust with a prospect.
• No one is waiting to read your sales letter; grab their attention, and give them a reason.

These are a solid starting point for anyone looking to get into sales. Remember, it’s one thing to learn, and another thing altogether to actually put it into practice. Keep trying, and it will click for you.

Now, let’s get into sales leadership.

The 5 best sales books for leaders

These books are best for anyone in a sales leadership role, or aiming to be in one. They build on the individual skills and outline how to coordinate a team to hit your targets every month.

Here’s the list:

• People Follow You – Jeb Blount
• Sales Management. Simplified. – Mike Weinberg
• Sales Truth: Debunk the Myths – Mike Weinberg
• The Sales Acceleration Formula – Mark Roberge
• The Sales Leader Problem Solver – Suzanne Paling

I’ve summarized all 5 below for a quick scan:

People Follow You – Jeb Blount (Summary):

• You need people more than they need you.
• Treat them incredibly, and they’ll return the favor.
• People will follow your lead and watch what you do.
• Don’t be too harsh on people’s mistakes. They happen.
• You are not normal. Your drive and ambitions are likely quite different. Don’t have expectations.

Sales Management. Simplified. – Mike Weinberg (Summary):

• Sales managers and teams need to avoid distractions and irrelevant work.
• You need to break the habits you learned as a salesperson.
• Have a good understanding of whom you need in your team, and what it takes to create a rock star environment.
• You need to train your team the right way.
• Sales team culture starts with you.

Sales Truth: Debunk the Myths – Mike Weinberg (Summary):

• The “truth” is that there isn’t some grand new secret. The principles of sales stay the same, but the tactics and mediums might change.
• Be wary of self-proclaimed experts.
• The best salespeople create new opportunities.
• Your calendar and time is sacred – lose the unimportant tasks.
• Trust in the process. Often, that’s your sales process.

The Sales Acceleration Formula – Mark Roberge (Summary):

• Use a consistent, modern sales hiring formula. Pushy sales are making way for problem-solvers.
• Train your sales people consistently with the best practices, and daily habits.
• Hold everyone on your sales team to the same accountability in the process.
• Provide a consistent, high quality, and high volume stream of leads each month.
• Use tech to optimize the process from start to finish.

The Sales Leader Problem Solver – Suzanne Paling (Summary):

• There are a variety of problems that are your responsibility to solve.
• Use training to better address lack of skill.
• Should a rep consistently underperform, it’s time to fire them.
• It’s important to have a well-defined sales cycle.

These books should give a solid overview of what professional sales leaders need to do to help their team of sellers and company be successful. I recommend taking the concepts one at a time, and putting small steps into practice until they are habit.

You got this.

How to get the most value from the sales books

It’s one thing to read about how to do something and another to achieve the results. You can get the most value from what a book has to offer by putting into practice. That said, you might not see results immediately. However, if you repeat and keep practicing the tips in these books, you will get better at it until you succeed.

Here are the steps to follow to get the most value from sales books:

1. Create a list of books that might help you out.
2. Read the first chapter of any book you choose.
3. Decide if the topic is relevant to your situation.
4. Decide if the quality of the book is high enough to be useful.
5. If it’s good, read two more chapters. If it isn’t good, move onto the next book in your list and repeat from step 2.
6. After each 1-3 chapters, try out something you learned at least 5 times.
7. Repeat this process until you master a subject and its sub-topics.

In general, you should spend 20% of your time learning, and 80% of your time trying. In reality, that’s 100% learning, but it can be very easy to learn something without implementing it. That’s the best way to lose or never gain a skill in the first place.

Pro-tip: Most online books offer a sample to download before buying. Bookstores, you are free to browse before buying too. Evaluate a book before buying to save yourself time and money.

How do you book sales?

Booking sales is easy when you know the following:

• What your prospect or lead needs.
• The value of your product.
• The value of meeting you.

Then, it’s about running your sales process and reaching out to a reasonable number of people. A “reasonable number of people” varies depending on your

What is the psychology of selling?

The psychology of selling is understanding what motivates someone to act, and making it all about them. For example, high-pressure sales tactics can work in the short term, but, according to studies, can result in negative outcomes long term.

In a nutshell: People love to buy, but they don’t like being sold to.

How can I make good sales?

You can make good sales by learning and implementing the strategies listed in these best-selling sales books. If you start today, dear reader, you will quickly become proficient in sales and wonder why success didn’t find you earlier.

Is psychology a good degree for sales?

Psychology is a great degree for selling. Of course, understanding psychology is more important, but the degree itself can help boost your position of expert authority. There are many well-known psychology programs, but it’s best to choose based on your preferences and location.

Here’s a list of the top 10 ranked Universities for Psychology programs:

1. Harvard University
2. Stanford University
3. University of Oxford
4. University of Cambridge
5. University of California, Berkeley (UCB)
6. University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
7. Yale University
8. University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
9. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
10. UCL

Explore the rest here.