TOP SALES WORLD’sTop 50 Sales Books

2015TOP SALES WORLD

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Top Sales World’s Top 50 Sales Books 2015 2

Introduction“When a man (or woman) is tired of reading, he/she is tired of life.”

With apologies to the great Samuel Johnson - (1709-1784) -one of the most quoted men of the 18th century.

Here then are our – as in the Top Sales World’s editorialteam’s – favorite 50 books for your edification and delight.

Are they the best 50 sales and marketing related books everwritten? We cannot claim that, but certainly many of themwould be right at home if such a list existed.

TSW’s contributing team is the largest group of salesexperts ever gathered in one location, and they share theirpearls of wisdom daily – for free. If you have yet to discoverthe most popular and significant sales-related location onthe planet, please join the orderly queue, and make yourway there immediately. HERE

I do hope you enjoy our selection, and when you find yourself at a loose-end or in a state ofinvoluntary ennui this summer, do refer back to this document as often as you wish!

Jonathan Farrington CEOwww.topsalesworld.com

PS: One of the aforementioned TSW contributing team members, Nancy Bleeke, produces herown excellent list every year, which you will find HERE

Summer Selling Shape Up!

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Get your kit at: http://www.livehive.com/summerselling today.

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Top Sales World’s Top 50 Sales Books 2015 4

ACT Like a Sales Pro by Julie HansenActing is the ultimate form of persuasion. Now you can learn the methods thatgreat actors use to engage and inspire clients and win more sales than youdreamed possible! Act Like a Sales Pro shows you how acting and improve skillscan enhance your own selling style, make you stand out in an increasinglycompetitive marketplace, and create a memorable buying experience. Easy-to-follow steps, exercises, and real-world coaching sessions help you moveconfidently from cold-calling to closing. Buy Here8

Agile Selling by Jill KonrathSales people who are promoted, switch jobs or face new conditions need tolearn lots of new information and skills quickly. It’s a daunting task, compoundedby the fact that they’re under intense pressure to deliver immediate results. Agileselling is the ability to quickly learn all this new information and then leverage itfor maximum impact, as revealed in this book’s strategies for establishingsituational credibility with your targeted or existing customers. Buy Here8

Aligning Strategy & Sales by Frank Cespedes The most crucial connection, in an organization seeking to grow, is betweensales and strategy. But if your company is like most, instead of a strongconnection there is a widening gap and too little bang for the buck. This brilliantbook will help turn the tide for your organization. Buy Here8

Baseline Selling by Dave KurlanThis book dramatically changes the way we approach the sales process,replacing the gratuitous complexity commonly advocated with an elegant andvery effective simplicity. Studies have shown that selling techniques of the lasttwo decades have had little impact on most of the sales population because ofthe complexity, learning curve and difficulty in applying the concepts in thesesystems. Baseline Selling reemphasizes the fundamentals of selling in a fresh,memorable way that modern sales professionals can relate to. Buy Here8

Be Bold and Win the Sale by Jeff ShoreThe most common challenge every sales professional must overcome is notindecisive customers, inferior products or innovative competitors. It's thediscomfort you feel when initiating calls, dealing with difficult customers andasking for the sale. This indispensable, inspiring and humor-filled guide for allsales professionals maintains that boldness – a skill that can be learned – isrequired to embrace this discomfort and to leverage it to land the sale. The bookincludes self-assessments tools and case studies. Buy Here8

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Business Without The Bullsh*t by Geoffrey JamesBusiness Without the Bullsh*t explains how to clear the clutter from your work life,so you can achieve real and lasting success. You'll learn how to earn the respectof your peers, use layoffs to build your career, give unforgettable presentationsand nail that all-important email. Full of the bluntest secrets from the mostsuccessful workers, this book provides the essence of what you need to know toachieve a successful and meaningful career in the business world. Buy Here8

Bushido Business The Fine Art of the Modern Professional by Stephen Covey, Tom Hopkins, and Brian Tracy“Bushido” was the traditional code of the Japanese samurai, stressing seventraits: honesty and justice, heroic courage, compassion, polite courtesy,complete sincerity, honor, and duty and loyalty. These ancient concepts havebeen brought to life by the authors in this book. Buy Here8

Changing the Sales Conversation by Linda RichardsonIn this era of iPads, iPhones and apps, sales communications may be growing,but sales conversations are dying – and so are too many sales. Globalization,competition, the economy, and fast-emerging technologies have changedcustomer buying habits. Many of the sales methodologies successful in the pastare obsolete. In this book, Linda Richardson moves Consultative Sellingforward with five new conversation strategies and tools needed to deliverbusiness outcomes and close deals with today's new buyer. Buy Here8

Conversations That Sell by Nancy BleekeWhen it comes to sales, there's no such thing as "small talk." Today's buyerswant more from sellers than a consultation. They demand meaningful,collaborative conversations that result in a Win3... where they, the seller and theorganization, achieve a winning outcome. Conversations That Sell outlines thewhat, how and why of collaborative conversation skills needed to captureattention and close business. It is packed with valuable tools and examples, sosalespeople can keep the conversation focused on the buyer. Buy Here8

Coaching Salespeople Into Sales Champions by Keith RosenHow many salespeople (and managers) are not realizing their fullest potential?What stands in the way to greater performance isn’t something they don’t have,but something they don’t get consistently: Effective coaching. CoachingSalespeople into Sales Champions provides a proven coaching framework usedby the world’s leading sales organizations so that managers can confidentlyfacilitative powerful, engaging coaching conversations to help reach businessobjectives faster and to win more sales today. Buy Here8

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Creating a Million Dollar a Year Sales Income by Paul McCordDeveloping a solid referral base is the single most important – and difficult – taskyou face as a salesperson. This book sets out a detailed, yet flexible, course ofaction that has been proven to generate referrals in virtually any sales system orenvironment and in any industry. It features compelling real-world examples ofcommon mistakes and solutions that will transform lost opportunities into realprospects. This book teaches you how to create the referral base thatguarantees success. Buy Here8

DISCOVER Questions® Get You Connected by Deb CalvertMake every sales call count and be the one seller buyers want to talk to! Withthis bestseller, you will be able to differentiate yourself from the pack, createvalue for your buyers and connect in ways you never knew were possible. Theresearch and anecdotes from actual sales calls will show you exactly how tobecome more effective in all stages of your sales process. You will advance thesale more efficiently when you use DISCOVER Questions® and the salesapproach buyers prefer. Buy Here8

Do YOU Mean Business? by Babette Ten HakenToday’s global marketplace brings success to those able to collaborateproductively in cross-functional teams. Yet many engineers, marketing and salesprofessionals still operate in silos, missing opportunities for leadershipdevelopment and professional advancement. This is the ultimate Cross-Functional Playbook to catapult you and your team out of the status quo.Especially if you work with, for, or sell to technical decision makers, or are anengineer in a sales role, learn how to leverage your functional value and driverevenue generation. Buy Here8

Edgy Conversations by Dan WaldschmidtYou work your butt off, but at the end of the day, you're no closer to success thanyou were yesterday. It's not what you're doing that is holding you back, but thebaggage between your ears... EDGY Conversations is a gut-wrenchingly honest,no-holds-barred discussion about what it takes to be successful today, based onthe stories of 1,000 ordinary people in business, math, politics, sports and sciencewho achieved mind-blowing feats of extraordinary greatness. Buy Here8

Emotional Intelligence for Sales Success by Colleen StanleyOne of the biggest reasons for failure in sales is because sales organizationsrarely understand how emotional intelligence skills impact success in business.Often salespeople know what to do. However, in tough selling situations, they letnonproductive emotions take over. They discount too soon, write proposalswithout proper qualification and continue to meet with non-decision makers.Their inability to execute the right selling behaviors under stressful situationslead to missed revenue goals. Soft skills do produce hard sales results. Buy Here8

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52 Sales Management Tips by Steven RosenThis book is written for sales managers who struggle within a corporateenvironment that doesn't always support them or their development needs.Frontline sales managers are facing unprecedented change, facing increaseddemands to do more with less, while driving sales performance. Whether youare a sales executive, senior sales leader or a new, experienced or aspiringsales manager, you will find this book to be a valuable guide to consult wheneveryou are experiencing problems. Buy Here8

From Bud to Boss by Kevin Eikenberry & Guy HarrisPerhaps the most challenging leadership experience anyone will face isn't oneat the top, but their first promotion to leadership. They must deal with the changeand uncertainty that comes with a new job, requiring new skills when they'vebeen promoted from peer to leader. While the book addresses the needs of anymanager, supervisor, or leader, it pulls from the best leadership andmanagement thinking, and puts the focus on the difficulties that new leadersexperience. Buy Here8

How to Master the Art of Selling by Tom Hopkins It's difficult to overestimate the enormous influence that Tom Hopkins has had onthe world of sales. He was the first to recognize that what's now consideredcommonplace: that selling is primarily a process of managing your own fearsand focusing on what the customer needs. Buy Here8

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie Dale Carnegies classic best seller was first published in 1937. More than 70years later, it is still the go-to-guide for developing advanced “people skills.”Carnegie’s key message was that only 15% of business success comes fromprofessional ability, the rest from your “ability to express ideas…and to arouseenthusiasm.” Buy Here8

How Winners Sell by Dave Stein How can you outsell your competition and win the big sale in today'shypercompetitive marketplace? Sales master Dave Stein's 21 strategies - alongwith lots of proven tactics - provide "in the trenches" coaching on how to + retoolyourself to win by strengthening your skills, attitude, and knowledge + leveragethe Internet for information about your prospects and competitors + develop andqualify leads higher up the value ladder, plus so much more... Buy Here8

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Insight Selling by Mike Schultz & John DoerrWhat do winners of major sales do differently than the sellers who almost won,but ultimately came in second place? The authors of this book studied more than700 business-to-business purchases made by buyers who represented a total of$3.1 billion in annual purchasing power. When they compared the winners to thesecond-place finishers, they found surprising results. Here they share thoseresults outline exactly what you need to do to transform yourself and your teaminto insight sellers. Buy Here8

Leading High Performance Sales Teams by Ken ThoresonIn this book you'll gain skills and techniques for leading and managing your salesteam to the next level of success. Its 39 chapters literally are jammed withhundreds of proven ideas that address every aspect of sales management, plusa bonus section provides a prescriptive approach to building predictive revenue.Topics include making sales meetings count, developing successful salescompensation pans, building self-managed sales teams and measuring andmanaging sales activity, and much more. Buy Here8

Lemonade Stand Selling by Diane HelbigAs a small business, owner the growth of your business rests squarely on yourshoulders. Like many business owners, you may not be comfortable with selling.But it's tough to grow a business if you don't master the sales process. The goodnews is sales doesn't have to be complicated. This book is a no-nonsense, easy-to-understand resource for everything sales – from defining the value of yourproduct or service to successfully closing deals. Buy Here8

Mastering the Complex Sale by Jeff Thull Prior to this book, much of the business world believed that a good salespersoncan "sell anything to anyone." Author Jeff Thull, however, lays out the gradualprocess by which a salesperson can help customers clarify their needs,understand their alternatives, and make the internal changes required to buy asolution that will change their entire business. Buy Here8

Metaphorically Selling by Anne MillerBillions of dollars are left on the table, and hundreds of ideas fail to get off theground every day, because of the over-communicated society in which we live.Salespeople, Managers, Consultants, CEOs, even the President of the U.S. areconstantly challenged to pierce through this information clutter to get others tosee the unique value of their services, explanations, and propositions.Metaphorically Selling provides a unique Four Step Model to show anyoneeasily and quickly how to become a master of metaphor. Buy Here8

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No More Cold Calling by Joanne Black Your days of wasting countless hours calling people who don’t know you, aren’texpecting your call, and don’t want their workdays interrupted are over! NOMORE COLD CALLING™ is a one-of-a-kind selling guide that shows you how toboost your close rate to more than seventy percent, send your commissionssoaring, work less, and enjoy it more—all without ever making another cold call.Joanne shares her proven Referral Selling Methodology to get every meeting atthe level that counts and ace-out the competition. Buy Here8

Nonstop Sales Boom by Colleen FrancisDo your company's sales results lurch between highs and lows — with the end ofeach quarter reduced to a mad scramble to meet quota? Nonstop Sales Boomexplains how to break this unhealthy cycle and achieve strong, steady resultsevery quarter, from every member of the team. Packed with enlightening examplesof sales disasters and standouts, this practical guide brings balance to the sellingprocess, reliability to revenues and booming sales all year long. Buy Here8

People Smart in Business by Tony Alessandra & Michael O'ConnorEver wondered why your natural behavior sometimes seems to alienate people?It is because that same behavior may not be natural for others. If you want to getalong with your colleagues, employees and bosses, it's essential to becomeaware of your natural tendencies — and their natural preferences! People Smartin Business is a unique blend of scientific research on human behavior and 34+years of teaching people smart through The Platinum Rule®. Buy Here8

Perfect Selling by Linda Richardson In this quick read, author Linda Richardson encapsulates in a clear process andthe elements of a winning sales dialogue from the opening to the close. Shesimplifies where other sales books complicate, making it clear how to engagecustomers in sales conversations they value and motivate them to change thestatus quo. It is the perfect book for salespeople, sales leaders as coaches, andentrepreneurs. Buy Here8

Pick Up the Damn Phone by Joanne BlackTechnology has certainly changed the way we gather information aboutprospects. It’s also changed how they gather information about us and what theyexpect of us. Sales success comes from real conversations with real people.The trick is leveraging the invaluable sales intelligences that new technologiesprovide, and knowing when to put away the toys. Pick Up the Damn Phone!explains why we should be tweeting less and talking more to the customers andcontacts who really matter. Buy Here8

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Relationship Selling by Jim CathcartRelationship Selling maintains that the purpose of business is to make life betterfor people, and the purpose of selling is to build profitable business friendships.Every salesperson's road map to superstar success, the book offers ways toproduce big results without hard-sell tactics and advises how to select andpenetrate key markets, generate an endless flow of prospects, identify keydecision-makers and keep accounts active. It includes checklists, charts, formsand specific how-tos on each phase of selling. Buy Here8

Secrets of Closing the Sale by Zig Ziglar There's a reason why Zig Ziglar's death generated an outpouring of tributes fromnearly every corner of the business world. It's been said that all successfulpeople "stand on the shoulders of a giant." For the world of sales, Zig was theultimate giant, the pioneer who laid out the basic principles on which all salestechniques and training is based. Buy Here8

Selling Fearlessly by Robert TersonSelling Fearlessly specifically targets the one-call-close simple-salesalesperson, addresses all the elements of selling and spotlights the paralyzingfear factor that 80% of the 16 million salespeople in the United States must faceevery time they make a call or give a presentation. The author's purpose is toenlighten and inspire you to become a salesperson, or be a far bettersalesperson than you are now. The book is a salesman's instructional manualdown to the grayest subtleties. Buy Here8

Selling to Big Companies by Jill Konrath One of the biggest mistakes in the business world is assuming that allcompanies are alike, and therefore should be approached in the same way. Inthis instant classic, Jill Konrath explains how to manage the often-Byzantinepolitics of large companies in order to help them make intelligent decisions. Buy Here8

SHIFT! by Tibor Shanto & Craig EliasThere is a silver bullet in sales – when you get to highly motivated decisionmakers at exactly the right time: After they experience a “Trigger Event,” butbefore they call your competition. With the right timing, the sale almost happensby itself – there are few challenges getting to the prospect, understanding theirdissatisfaction, presenting a solution, or closing the sale. This book presents thisconcept in such a way that it can be understood and implemented almostimmediately. Buy Here8

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Slow Down, Sell Faster! by Kevin DavisThe biggest mistake salespeople make is equating a faster pitch with a fasterclose. Customers are going to buy at their pace, not yours. Kevin showssalespeople how to Slow Down to get in sync with their customer’s buyingprocess. Developing more and bigger customer needs helps reps Sell Faster!—close more and larger deals. Includes chapters on selling to multiple decisionmakers and advice for sales managers on coaching the sales process. Buy Here8

The CEO’s Guide to Getting More Out Of the Sales Forceby Greg AlexanderInterest in sales force effectiveness from the CEO office is rising, because thetop sales jobs in the United States turn over about every 18 months. The primarycause of this short tenure is the inability of the sales leader to deliver on revenueresults. Yet, improving sales force performance can be internally disruptive andexternally visible to customers. This book helps CEOs, who are caught betweenuneasiness and the impatience for better sales performance, escape thisunproductive bind. Buy Here8

SPIN Selling by Neil Rackham This is the book that turned selling from an art into a science. While other salesbooks are heavy with anecdotes and assumptions, Neil Rackham examinedhard evidence of actual sales performance and codified what works--and whatdoesn't — in real world sales situations. A must read for everyone who sells. Buy Here8

Strategic Selling by Robert Miller and Stephen Heiman This is the masterwork when it comes to understanding how a company's salesstrategy — and the execution of that strategy — can make or break a businessmodel. Authors Robert Miller and Stephen Heiman (along with their amanuensisTad Tuleja) detail the best practices of successful firms, showing how and whytheir strategies have worked. Buy Here8

Smart Calling- Eliminate the Fear, Failure, and Rejection fromCold Calling (Second Ediiton) by Art Sobczak"Cold" calling for new business is pretty much dead, as many "social selling"pundits profess. The "cold" part is, but the calling is not. Top salespeople whoare doing Smart Calling are proving that every day. Smart Calling is simplycombining abundantly-available relevant sales intelligence with Art Sobczak’sproven process to get through, get in, and sell to prospects who are interested inwhat you have. See the proven methods and the word-for-word examples youcan use today to get more new business. Buy Here8

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The Platinum Rule for Sales Mastery by Dr.Tony Alessandra Scott ZimmermanThe Platinum Rule for DISC Sales Mastery challenges you to master one of themost reliable methods for identifying the Behavioral Style of your customers, andhow to sell to them the way they would like to be sold — not the way you want tosell them (which is based on your own natural style). Buy Here8

The First Sale is Always to Yourself by Bernadette McClellandThis book is a call to action! It invites you to begin to see the commercialabundance with which to make more money, to be able to tap into and createyour own levels of certainty in order to ensure your customers are served at thehighest level. It is all about making that first sale to yourself. It will ensure thatyou understand how to differentiate between selling and clicking, and how oneattracts and one repels. Buy Here8

The New Handshake: Sales Meets Social Media by Barbara Giamanco & Joan C. CurtisWith over 1 billion active users on Facebook alone, today's social media-orientedclimate has redefined the way people communicate and interact – and howconsumers operate in the marketplace. Unfortunately, as a whole, salesprofessionals have been slow to embrace the new technology. This book presentsSales 2.0, a significant expansion from selling via the traditional face-to-face ortelephone sales methods. It examines the impact of the communications revolutionon sales and creates a roadmap for a social media sales strategy. Buy Here8

The Key to the C-Suite by Michael NickWith budgets more stringent than ever, important purchasing decisions havemoved up the ladder to the C-suite. These days, it is crucial for salesprofessionals to understand the financial metrics senior level executives use tomake strategic buying decisions and be able to communicate the positive effecttheir products or services will have on a company's financial statements. Thisbook shows readers how to build a convincing business case and present it to C-level executives. Buy Here8

The Little Red Book of Selling by Jeffrey GitomerSalespeople hate to read. That's why Little Red Book of Selling is short, sweetand to the point. It's packed with answers that people are searching for in orderto help them make sales for the moment — and the rest of their lives. The bookaims to demystify buying principles for salespeople. From the red cloth cover tothe small trim size, to the amusing (but not cloying) cartoons on almost everypage, this is an appealing read. Buy Here8

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The Truth About Leads by Dan McDade The Truth About Leads is a practical, easy-to-read book shedding light on thesecrets that help you focus your B2B lead-generation efforts, align your salesand marketing organizations and drive revenue. Written by prospectdevelopment expert and PointClear founder and CEO Dan McDade, The TruthAbout Leads debunks traditional thinking while uncovering the truths that lead toadditional, larger and more profitable wins for your organization. Buy Here8

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven R Covey The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People is recognised as one of the mostinfluential books ever written. In this seminal work, Stephen R. Covey presents aholistic, integrated, principle-centred approach for solving personal andprofessional problems. With penetrating insights and pointed anecdotes, Coveyreveals a step-by-step pathway for living with fairness, integrity, honesty andhuman dignity. Buy Here8

The Psychology of Selling by Brian Tracy Selling is more that just strategy and politics — it's the practical application ofpsychology in a business context. In this seminal work, Brian Tracy lays out theinner motivations of both buyers and sellers, explaining how they interact tocreate opportunities for both parties. Insightful and essential. Buy Here8

The Sales Acceleration Formula: Using Data, Technology, and Inbound Selling to Go from $0 to $100 Million by Mark RobergeThe Sales Acceleration Formula provides a scalable, predictable approach togrowing revenue and building a winning sales team. Everyone wants to build thenext $100 million business, and author Mark Roberge has actually done it usinga unique methodology that he shares with his readers. Buy Here8

Whale Hunting by Tom Searcy & Barbara SmithUsing the ancient Inuit whale hunt as a metaphor for big sales, Whale Huntinggives you a clear nine-phase model for successfully finding, landing andharvesting whale-sized sales accounts — the kind of sales that transform yourbusiness. Here, you’ll learn how to turn the dangerous endeavor of selling tolarge companies and big contracts into a strategy for continued success andgrowth. Stop wasting time with little accounts and start landing monsteraccounts! Buy Here8