Best Books for Sales Professionals
Posted on 10/27/2008 in Sales Management
A recent issue of Fortune magazine focused on the "…deepest secrets of great selling” and had several valuable articles, one of which was featured on our most recent sales training blog.
Another article in that same issue titled "Shelf Help" listed 8 books that Fortune feels should be in "…everyone’s briefcase”. I think you’ll enjoy skimming their entire list of recommended books, but I thought a couple things were very interesting about the list:
- 2 of the 8 books were on influence skills, which matches STAR’s experience as a sales training provider
- Getting To Yes, by Roger Fisher and William Ury, was another book on the list, and happens to be the book that we recommend the most in our sales and negotiation training workshops
Many of you already know this, but STAR’s original two workshops for sales professionals were Influence Skills and Sales Negotiation Skills, so I was thrilled to see that Fortune magazine cited those same competencies in their list of best books for sales professionals.
The two influence books mentioned by Fortune were the classic one from Dale Carnegie titled How to Win Friends and Influence People, as well as a newer book by Robert Cialdini titled Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. I have read both books and like them both. After all, a sales professional must be influential to do his or her job well.
I also agree with their recommendation about Getting To Yes, which cover to cover is the best single book that I’ve found in my 19 years as a sales training consultant. Sales professionals must excel at negotiation. Otherwise, they end up conceding too much to customers in their desire to make a deal.