We recently hired a Sales and Marketing professional so I asked myself, "What are the 3 sales books that influenced me the most in the last year or two?"
So here it is, the three books (well actually it is 5) that will form the core of our initial Sales training program.
The 3 Sales Books You Need Most
The Go-Giver
The Go-Giver by Bob Burg and John David Mann and the 5 Laws of Stratospheric Success should form the foundation of a company's way of thinking. The 5 Laws cover everything from creating value to receiving a sale. This is not just about sales. Everyone in your organization should understand them.
Go-Givers Sell More and Endless Referrals are two books that flesh out the details of how to put it into practice and are also highly recommended.
Disregard one of the Laws at your own peril.
Disclosure: The Go-Giver resonated with me so much that I decided to become a Certified Go-Giver Coach. None of the book links are affiliate links. I only recommend what I believe in.
The Ultimate Sales Machine
Written by the late Chet Holmes, The Ultimate Sales Machine is worth the cost of the book just for the part on Core Stories. Pig Headed Discipline (PhD), Dream 100 Clients and the rest of the focus on how to build out a sales machine are priceless.
Don't try to become Chet or follow his exact methodology. Adapt the materials for your own style but realize you need to do the hard work and have the PhD to make your sales organization and business world class. You have to build the machine (processes, systems, training, coaching and other best practices) to ensure predictability of your team.
Selling with Noble Purpose
Selling with Noble Purpose by Lisa Earle McLeod applies the same key messages in "Start with Why" by Simon Sinek to your sales team. It also gives you a whole lot of tools to implement it. Your purpose needs to serve the customer not yourself, management or shareholders. It ties in nicely to the previous two book recommendations and brings it all home.
Let me be clear, this is not a a touchy feely HR thing. Sales teams (actually entire organizations) that tie their work to a purpose, (strong) mission or "why" outperform those that don't by a very significant margin.
In case I am not being clear enough for the nuts and bolts types; this translates to more revenue and more profit.
Putting It All Together
How you put it together:
- Understand and embrace the 5 Laws from the Go-Giver,
- Reinforce and focus on your mission or purpose as it applies to the customer with your sales team,
- Use Pig Headed Discipline to build your sales machine using the lessons from all 5 books.
I am sure I will be adding to the list over time, but this is a great starting point for any sized organization looking to build a world class sales team.
What books have most influenced your sales team building and success?
