The 15 best books on sales techniques

The books we’ve ranked have helped many sales professionals significantly improve their skill level and increase their own effectiveness. This literature concentrates the maximum useful practice, which can be immediately put into work, the result will not keep you waiting.

Ranking the best books on sales techniques

“SPIN Sales,” Neil Rexham

Rating: 4.9

The first top-rated book to become a bestseller in business literature, SPIN Sales by prominent marketer Neil Wreckham. The author has spent a lifetime researching marketing problems and solutions, has earned the status of a highly regarded subject matter expert, and consults with well-known corporations to improve the success of their operations. This master’s approach can’t be superficial: He shows how the techniques of making large and small deals differ, how they are similar, and answers the main question marketers have: how to improve the saleability of goods at different levels, how the little things affect success. The material presented to the reader is Neil Wrexham’s own experience and analysis of.

The book is focused on improving the skills and effectiveness of sales managers and executives at various levels. The material has been reprinted and supplemented more than 10 times, translated into different languages of the world and is successfully sold around the world.

“Selling the Unseen. A Guide to Modern Service Marketing, Harry Beckwith

Rating: 4.8

Winner of the Effie award from the American Marketing Association, Harry Beckwith, who has worked as the head of major advertising agencies and has shown high performance, is the author of the unique book “Selling the Unseen. The Guide to Modern Service Marketing,” which not only teaches how to sell, but also changes the minds of marketers and sales managers. The material is based on 25 years of experience, it contains a juicy distillation of techniques that the author has mastered and implemented in the activities of corporations.

The book is written in small paragraph blocks, the useful material is presented through the description of real-life examples from large companies, such as Federal Express, Citicorp, the author presents cases from smaller firms, shows the difference between the processes and explains its essence. The information is easy to put into actual work – the proposed methods are clear, simple, and very effective and useful, and it seems that the experts have not thought of it themselves?

Harry Beckwith’s book “Selling the Unseen. Guide to Modern Services Marketing” is actively used by professors of specialized faculties in Russia and Europe, suitable for improving the activities of specialists in the field of strategic marketing and sales of services, goods.

“The 45 Tattoos of a Salesman. Rules for those who sell and manage sales,” Maxim Batyrev (Combat)

Rating: 4.8

The next book in the rating on sales techniques is written by our compatriot Maxim Bogatyrev nicknamed “Kombat”, a well-known marketing analyst, a speaker of large business communities and conferences, who has gained knowledge and practical experience, having worked his way up from the manager to a board member of a consulting company.

The basis of the book – an invaluable practical experience Kombat, real deals and ways to. The key events in his career – these are the same “tattoos”, the lessons that Bogatyryov learned, and now shares them with his readers – managers, leaders of different levels.

Salesmen who are successful in their business are not ashamed of the Russian name of their profession and proudly bear the title of “sellers”. The author, showing the practical experience of such people, teaches the rest of his colleagues to be proud of their work, because this is the only way to reach the top in negotiations, leading and generally working with a client of any size. The book “45 tattoos of a salesman” deserves to be a desk book – each lesson may become a clue to a certain situation that arises daily in the work of managers and salesmen. Using recommendations and implementing experience of the author, any salesman can become an expert, as noted by practitioners who have studied the proposed material. Another important idea that Maxim Bogatyrev shares is that any development of a salesperson is not stress free, and this is normal. We must learn from mistakes, make them and become stronger by improving techniques for dealing with refusals, objections, occasional depression, inadequate behavior of clients, etc. d. “Negotiation,” Brian Tracy

The world-famous Canadian psychologist and business coach Brian Tracy released the book “Negotiation” in 2013, which has been adopted by marketing and negotiation experts around the world; the material has been translated into 40 languages and has been reprinted more than once.

The value of the book in its simplicity – the author offers universal rules based on basic and subtle psychological techniques that will help win in negotiations of any level and complexity. And the advice offered will help you successfully conduct dialogues in any area of life. Note: constant practice and observation of your opponent’s behavior is necessary as you read, and only in that process do you acquire useful skills.

There is no doubt in the effectiveness of the book – it is used by various coaches and business coaches to build their programs, Brian Tracy himself shares this knowledge with specialists in corporations such as Coca-Cola, Johnson Johnson, etc.

I Can Hear You Through. Effective Negotiation Techniques, Mark Goulston

Rating: 4.7

The book “I Hear You Through” contains a lot of information on how to work with clients in a positive way: “break through the wall,” get a positive response, persuade them to do something. One of the secrets of the business is the ability to listen and hear your interlocutor. Not a new postulate, revealed in a new way.

The book is recommended for study by businessmen and human resources personnel who are regularly involved in negotiations.

“Negotiations Without Defeat. The Harvard Method,” Roger Fisher, William Eury, Bruce Patton

Rating: 4.7

Harvard Negotiation Project experts R. Fisher, W. Yuri and B. Patton in his book Negotiating Without Losing. Harvard Method” reveal such complex topics as conducting constructive dialogues with clients in different environments: dealing with objections, illogical behavior of the opponent, conflicts that arise. Equally valuable are the authors’ experiences in defending against client manipulation. Methods suggested by experts, simple and clear, effective in principled negotiations to find mutually beneficial solutions with the interlocutor and solve common problems, bypassing the position of attack.

The book will be useful to all professionals working in the field of communication and negotiation. It is used by wordsmiths around the world and has been translated into 18 languages and sold over 2 million copies. copies. Interestingly, since the publication of the book Negotiating Without Defeat. The Harvard Method” began an active study of the dialogue process and conflictology.

“No thanks, I’m just looking,” by Harry J. Friedman. Friedman

Rating: 4.7

The familiar and so annoying “No thanks, I’m just looking” is a “red rag” for any salesperson, because a customer who is not purchase oriented is wasted labor by marketers and the rest of the team of professionals promoting products and services. Harry Friedman is closely involved in the transformation of a passing visitor into a customer, he teaches how to sell any product unobtrusively, but interestingly and effectively.

The methods suggested by the author allow you to turn a potential customer into a real consumer of retail services and products with humor and ease, using humor and a basic sense of understanding the human problem and being involved in their lives. Putting into practice Friedman’s recommendations, you can not only sell the main product, taking into account customer’s needs, but also offer an additional one, a person will not refuse and will be confident in the necessity of the deal. Using communication techniques, you can not only achieve success in sales, but also advance your career.

“How to Sell Anything to Anyone,” Joe Girard, Stanley H. Brown, Simon J. Brown, Simon J. Brown, Simon J. Brown, Simon J. Brown and Simon J. Brown. Brown

Rating: 4.6

The title of the book speaks for itself – from this literature everyone, even an inexperienced salesman or novice manager, will understand how to effortlessly sell goods and services.

Why the book is worth reading? It contains the practical experience of author Joe Girard, the greatest car salesman in the Guinness Book of World Records – over a fifteen-year career he managed to sell 30001 cars, which translates to about 2000 cars per year or 5-6 units per day! This result was made possible by the author’s five refined techniques for guiding customers from browsing to buying. The authors offer interesting ways to manage transactions, revealing interesting methods of finding out the necessary information about the buyer and his needs, guaranteeing subsequent sales.

Joe Girard and his colleagues assure that if a car salesman was able to put sales techniques into work and made a fortune on it, any reader will be able to repeat the techniques: “Salesmen are not born, but become. If I did it, you can too. I Guarantee You.”.

The book is recommended for anyone involved in any kind of hot and cold direct selling: managers, sales representatives, consultants and their managers.

“The Psychology of Consent. The revolutionary method of pre-convincing, Robert Cialdini

Rating: 4.6

Next in the ranking is the book “The Psychology of Consent. The revolutionary technique of pre-persuasion” – a textbook for the employees of any organization: the author proposes to use pre-persuasion to achieve the consent of your opponent even before the negotiation begins. The method described in the book is called revolutionary and practically fail-safe, and real practice shows that by using it you can get a raise or raise your salary, enlist the support of partners to develop a risky project, cause a desire to buy an expensive product or service without pressure, avoid rejection and arguments in a business dialogue, convince the family to spend time the way you want.

The method of Robert Chaldini, the leader of world social psychology, is interesting versatility and ease of mastering, but before it will work flawlessly, you have to practice. The book presents many years of experience of successful salesmen of the world’s largest corporations on the example of 117 real situations, provides 7 techniques of persuasion and encouragement of the interlocutor.

“Master of the Call. How to explain, persuade, sell by phone, Evgeny Zhigili

Rating: 4.5

The book featured in the ranking, “The Call Master. How to explain, persuade, sell by phone” is required reading for all salespeople working with clients remotely. This kind of contact is complicated by the lack of visual and tactile connection, so you have to hook the potential buyer more skillfully than you would in a face-to-face meeting. The secret of success in telephone conversations – a specially designed system of dialogue, suitable for cold and hot, inbound and outbound calls. The book also examines ways to work with objections and disagreement of the opponent, Evgeny Zhiglinsky gives examples of hundreds of tactics to build productive conversations – they can be used as a script at work.

We recommend the book to make a desktop for such professionals as remote salespeople, managers of different levels, including experienced masters.

“Tough Selling. Get people to buy under any circumstances, Dan Kennedy

Rating: 4.5

For those salespeople and managers who can’t believe in themselves, the book “Hard Selling. Dan Kennedy’s “Make People Buy Under Any Circumstances” will be the starting point of a new professional life. The material changes the way managers and sales executives think: the pages contain only hard-hitting excerpts from the practices of the world’s leading businessmen.

Aggressive negotiating tactics to close lucrative deals, according to psychologist Dan Kennedy, are the best way to promote goods and services without waiting for the customer to give the salesman a hard time. Targeted persuasion, progressiveness and insight, and the ability to anticipate the development of a business conversation are qualities that an effective salesperson, manager and department head must possess. The methods when implemented in practice will help to acquire loyal customers and avoid their rejection in the future.

The book is written in a tough language without too much digression, there are examples of successful businessmen, partially presented other training works and courses of the author. Hard Selling is not like a regular textbook – there are no digressions and abstruse terms, which can make it difficult to read. No motivational appeals, the book is written in thesis, dry and practical. The material will be useful to professional managers and salespeople.

“Building the Sales Department. From Zero to Maximum Results, Konstantin Baksht

Rating: 4.5

The book “Building a Sales Force. From Zero to Maximum Results” was published in 2005 and since then has not lost relevance, only supplemented and republished. Based on the successful experience of the sales departments of varying levels of 40 companies across the country and the near abroad, including the author’s own firm.

Konstantin Baksht developed a strategy for creating a non-ideal, but effective sales department, implementing various technologies for organizing the work process and training personnel. It’s no secret: experience has been both successful, leading firms to large profits, and a failure – some tactics have led only to the nullification of capital and closure of companies.

In the book the author describes the practical experience that can be taken on board the heads of sales departments, but it should not be used as a textbook – the information must be analyzed and taken into account, this is a way not to get on the “rake” that hit the company Konstantin Bakshta. He describes possible risks, some effective dealmaking tactics, and group work.

“Sell or be sold to you,” Grant Cardon

Rating: 4.4

The main idea of the author of “Sell or be sold to you” – the need to master the technique of persuasion of buyers. Grant Cardon offers uncomplicated, practical techniques for leading customers from idea generation to the purchase of the seller’s goods and services. Presented techniques are suitable for use in everyday and business life: to convince friends and family to spend time in a certain way, to get support from sponsors and investors to develop your project, the technique will even help convince the loan officer at the bank to give you a loan, as well as to negotiate with your child to succeed in school or university.

In addition to sales techniques the author presents simple ways to learn interesting communication, and insecure people learn to defend their own point of view and not be afraid to argue with stubborn opponents.

According to the author, after reading the book “Sell or be sold to you” every manager or salesman can succeed in work and daily life, making it bright.

“How I Sold Viagra. The True Story of the Blue Pill the World Knows, the People Who Sell Excitement, and the Secrets of the Pharmaceutical Business, by Jamie Reidy

Rating: 4.4

The book with an interesting title “How I sold Viagra …” written in an unusual for the format of business literature autobiography of the author Jamie Reidy, who ended at 25, a military career, who changed his position to a sales representative of the American pharmaceutical company Pfizer. In the course of the narration, the reader learns the secrets of the company’s production processes, the author does not conceal a number of violations and tricks used by enterprising salesmen to enrich the company’s account, even the work of doctors and medical personnel is revealed from a new side. Despite the seriousness of the subject, Jamie presents the material with humor, ease and simplicity, simultaneously acquainting the reader with the secrets of success of all modern pharmaceutical companies.

Why doctors prescribe certain drugs and drugs do not always show effectiveness? How justified is the price of Viagra, and what is its real effectiveness? These and other related questions are answered in “How I Sold Viagra…”. There are no open management lessons in the material, but there is an important idea – every salesman must have a strong motivation for success and a certain tactic, a model of behavior.

“Squeeze everything out of the business! 200 ways to increase sales and profits,” Nicholas Mrochkovsky, Andrew Parabellum

Rating: 4.3

Fifteenth in the ranking of the book, recommended by marketing experts to be read by every marketer, manager and direct salesperson is a methodical manual “Squeeze everything out of the business! 200 Ways to Increase Sales and Profits”. From the title is clear – the material contains two hundred well-known and exclusive methods and algorithms to increase sales efficiency and the transition of companies to the next stage of development and work with clients, partners. Their uniqueness is in the ease of perception and implementation, the absence of costs for the introduction of tactics in real practice.

According to the authors, the vast majority of competing companies and individual professionals are not aware of the proposed techniques, and this is a unique opportunity to bring the reader’s case forward, leaving the rest behind.