SNAP Selling and Some Other Important Sales Books
If you spend any time on sales blogs these days, you can’t miss the news that Jill Konrath’s new book, SNAP Selling, is out and doing very well. Here’s the endorsement I wrote for the book: “Having a unique perspective on the sales performance and sales training business, I see Jill Konrath at the top of the heap when it comes to practical ideas, loyal followers, understanding of the critical selling issues today, and most important, relevance. I not only recommend her books, I recommend her.”
This blog is written for sales leaders, not sales people. So let me say that, as good as this book is, it’s not a replacement for taking a strategic approach to selling within your organization. That includes, of course, building (or rebuilding) your sales methodology, its constituent processes, tools, messaging, infrastructure, compensation and incentive approaches, measurement systems, learning curriculum, reinforcement mechanisms, and delivery systems, technology-enabled learning platforms, hiring methodologies, and all else that is required for sales effectiveness.
The best use of this book is in integrating into your team’s documented sales methodology the best of the many ideas, tactics, approaches, and tips that are relevant, as determined by a comprehensive and objective assessment of your selling environment. Now that’s a winning combination.
With SNAP Selling on my desk, and several others close at hand that I regularly recommend, I thought I’d post this list. It’s not in any particular order, and it is not all-inclusive. There are other books that I really like that, for one reason or another, I didn’t include.
Here’s the list:
| Title | Author(s) |
| Fortify Your Salesforce | Renie McClay |
| Hope is Not a Strategy | Rick Page |
| Let’s Get Real or Let’s Not Play | Mahan Khalsa and Randy Illig |
| Mastering the Complex Sale (2nd Edition) | Jeff Thull |
| Perfect Selling | Linda Richardson |
| Power Base Selling | Jim Holden |
| RFP’s Suck | Tom Searcy |
| Sales Coaching | Linda Richardson |
| Selling to Big Companies | Jill Konrath |
| Selling to the C Suite | Stephen Bistritz |
| Smart Selling on the Phone and Online | Josiane Feigon |
| Spin Selling | Neil Rackham |
| The New Solution Selling | Keith Eades |
| The New Strategic Selling | Miller and Heiman |
| The Sales Manager’s Mentor | Jeff Lehman |
| The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People | Stephen Covey |
| The Trusted Advisor | David Maister and Charles Green |
| Trust-Based Selling | Charles Green |
Let us know which book(s) contributed to your sales success by leaving a comment.
Kindle 2 photo source: Amazon.com
Filed under: Book Recommendation
Hi Dave a great list.
I’d add two more:
Steve Marx wrote a great book called close like the pros – its all about how interactive selling increases sales success.
Keith Rosen’s “Coaching sales people into sales champions” is also well worth a read if you are a sales manager who needs to coach a team.
Regards John
Thanks for sharing your list of recommended books – a good reading list is very valuable!
Let’s Get Real or Let’s Not Play was a very important book for me. It was the first approach that actually inspired me (to be frank I had found most sales content very dry and uninteresting).
I applied the ideas from the book (and also did the course and listened to the audio multiple times) and ended up using the principles and part of its process.
For the business I was in I found I needed to extend the methodology to make something that was really appropriate to my industry and business. This customised process included concepts not just from sales but other arenas.
I have had a lot of success with this customised approach & Mahan Kalsa’s insights made a great contribution to successes I have had.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Jill Konrath, Dave Stein. Dave Stein said: SNAP Selling and Some Other Important Sales Books http://ow.ly/1VJl1 [...]
I would add Rackham’s “Major Account Sales Strategy” and Jeff Thull’s third book, “Exceptional Selling: How the Best Connect and Win in High Stakes Sales “, to your list.
Thanks Davd, great post. One of the issues I’ve always had with books was retaining/applying details at the point of engagement. Your list is great because reading just a few of the references helps to drive behavior and strategy. What I’m also finding these days are smartphone applications that force the right behavior and makes the information available in real time and any time. One great example is an iPhone app called OrgChart. Using this app ensures that I ask the right questions that help me complete the organization profile and identify the individuals in the decision making process. The smartphone will ensure all sales engagements are strategic.