Ask HN: What are some good books/resources about sales?

[some1else]

I met up with a young aspiring entrepreneur the other day, to give some pep-talk and guidance. After about half an hour of explaining leads, relationships & a-ha moments, it dawned on me that I don't have a solid book on sales to recommend.

Would love to hear what your favorites are. Obviously, blogs are also a great place to start. Thank you for sharing.

[mindcrime]

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19878274

My recommendations are the same as they were then:

~~~~

Mastering The Complex Sale -- Jeff Thull

Exceptional Selling -- Jeff Thull

The Prime Solution -- Jeff Thull

The Challenger Sale -- Matthew Dixon, Brent Adamson

Selling The Wheel: Choosing The Best Way To Sell For You Your Company Your Customers -- Jeff Cox, Howard Stevens

And while it's not exactly about "sales" alone, I'd recommend The Four Steps to the Epiphany by Steve Blank as well. It touches on aspects of selling in an enterprise setting, especially for new products.

The Salesman Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCL5m7amy0FXEAe9WxhXTI_A

~~~~~

But I'd now also add:

The Ultimate Sales Machine - Chet Holmes

Customercentric Selling, 2nd Edition - Michael T. Bosworth, John R. Hollandd, Frank Visgatis

[some1else → mindcrime]

Awesome list by the looks of it. Thanks for linking the previous thread, I should have used the search. Let's hope we still get some new entries in this one.

Here's a video lecture by Nate Gilmore I found:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42cOaRjRw8E

[t34543]

Unorthodox advice if your someone like me: take improv classes and study comedy. The saying goes if you can make someone laugh (more accurately: associate you with positive emotions) you can make them do anything. Including buying whatever your selling.

[wil421 → t34543]

Someone once told me to make any sales process as bland and unemotional as possible. The more emotion or perceived “friendliness” I had with the sales person would tip the scale in their favor.

[t34543 → wil421]

Sounds reasonable. I think a lot of it has to do with the industry and whether it’s b2b or direct to consumer.

[wil421 → t34543]

It’s especially the case with direct to consumer, car salesman come to mind.

[Terretta]

Selling Microsoft: https://www.amazon.com/Selling-Microsoft-Secrets-Successful-...

Quoting an Amazon reviewer:

> As opposed to most "hot new" sales approaches which focus on changing your personal style, this book does a great job of providing a strategic step-by-step plan from A-Z. It's void of fluff and gets right to the point of outlining the nuts and bolts of the process including pre-sales planning, performance tracking, maintaining growth, and time management. It's worth reading in general and especially for those migrating into tech sales.

[me_bx]

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28815.Influence.

Check also the "Solution selling" methodology developped by Xerox: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solution_selling

[QueensGambit]

The Ultimate Sales Machine by Chet Holmes, which talks about "dream 100" - who your 100 dream clients are. You can find 3 more books recommended by Eric Siu here: https://www.collectoral.com/collection/101397753425638859326...

[verdverm]

In addition to the great recommendations before these...

To Sell is Human

The little red book of selling

Challenger Customer (now that they know about the Challenger sale)

Fanatical Prospecting

Something like "major account sales"

[verdverm → verdverm]

Also found this last night, not exactly sales, but helpful none the less

https://brianbalfour.com/essays/hubspot-growth-framework-100...

[ajcarpy2005]

Sell or be Sold

10X

Both by Grant Cardone

[mindcrime → ajcarpy2005]

I second this recommendation. I'm a big fan of Grant's material. Some of it blurs the line between actual, technical "sales advice" and a more generic sort of almost "self help" kind of thing, but I have found it valuable in either case.

In addition to Sell or Be Sold and The 10x Rule, I'd also suggest Be Obsessed or Be Average.

[clay_the_ripper → ajcarpy2005]

I third that recommendation. Grant Cardones stuff is great for sales mindset. Less about the nuts and bolts and more about addressing underlying beliefs that are holding you back from selling.

[exolymph]

This has been discussed about 2932874923874 times on this exact website. Google the past threads. The fundamentals of sales have not changed.