1. SPIN Selling by Neil Rackham, McGraw Hill. Used by hundreds of firms to train salespeople. Based on research of over 35,000 sales calls over 12 years. Excellent. Needs identification is claimed most important for success. See what it says about closing.
2. Getting Partnering Right: How Market Leaders Are Creating Long-Term Competitive Advantage by Neil Rackham, Lawrence Friedman, Richard Ruff, McGraw Hill. Excellent how-to book on developing strategic partnering relationships with key important customers.
3. Major Account Sales Strategy by Neil Rackham, McGraw Hill. Sophisticated strategies for dealing with key accounts.
4. Rethinking the Sales Force: Redefining Selling to Create and Capture Customer Value, by Neil Rackham and John R. DeVincentis, McGraw-Hill. Thought-provoking discussion on how to restructure sales forces for maximum profits.
5. Selling: Building Partnerships, 6th edition by Bart Weitz, Stephen B. Castleberry, and John F. Tanner, McGraw-Hill. Textbook on selling. A shameless attempt to sell my selling textbook! Sad!
6. Strategic Selling: The Unique Sales System Proven Successful by America's Best Companies by Robert B. Miller and Stephen E. Heiman, Morrow Books. A classic on how to sell strategically.
7. The SPIN Selling Fieldbook: Practical Tools, Methods, Exercises, and Resources by Neil Rackham, McGraw-Hill. More insights on how to use SPIN to discover customer needs.
8. Stop Selling: Start Partnering by Larry Wilson. Ways to think about and keep customers.
9. How to Sell with a Laptop by Andy Jenkins, Dick Elder, and Dave Thomas, McGraw-Hill. The title says it all.
10. Consultative Selling by Mack Hanan, AMACOM. Another classic on how to establish a consultative position with your buyers, how to quantify your solution and how to develop partnerable objectives and strategies.
11. Win-Win Negotiating by Paul Gillette and Fred Edmund Jandt. A classic book on how to negotiate anything. Full of examples and case studies.
12. Nonverbal Communication: The Upspoken Dialogue by Judee K. Burgoon, David B. Buller, and W. Gill Woodall, Boston: McGraw Hill.
13. Business Communication: Building Critical Skills by Kitty O. Locker, and Stephen Kyo Kaczmarek, McGraw Hill Irwin.
14. Know Your Customer: New Approaches to Understanding Customer Value and Satisfaction by Robert B. Woodruff and Sarah Fisher Gardial, Cambridge, MA: Blackwell Publishers, Inc. A good book on understanding and increasing customer value.
15. Beyond Selling Value: A Proven Process to Avoid the Vendor Trap by Mark Shonka and Dan Kosch, Chicago: Dearborn Trade Pub.
16. Selling to VITO: The Very Important Top Officer by Anthony Parinello, Holbrook, Mass: Adams Media.
17. Selling the Invisible: A Field Guide to Modern Marketing by Harry Beckwith, Warner Books. Book argues that customers today want relationships, not product features.
18. The Loyalty Effect: The Hidden Force Behind Growth, Profits, and Lasting Value by Frederick F. Reichheld and Thomas Teal, Harvard Business School Press. Recommends loyalty-based management, with an emphasis on developing strategies for attracting those (customers, employees, and investors) that are most likely to stay loyal over the long-term. See also Loyalty Rules! How Leaders Build Lasting Relationships by Fredrick F. Reichheld Harvard Business School Press.
19. Customer Experience Management: A Revolutionary Approach to Connecting with Your Customers by Bernd H. Schmitt, John Wiley & Sons. Book describes a five-step process for managing customer experiences, a tool for connecting with customers at every point.
20. Secrets of Question Based Selling: How the Most Powerful Tool in Business Can Double Your Sales Results by Thomas A. Freese, Sourcebooks Trade. How to ask questions effectively.
21.High Trust Selling: Making More Money -- In Less Time -- With Less Stress by Todd Duncan, Thomas Nelson Publishers. Discusses such issues as attitudes, aptitudes, and abilities required for successful selling as well as communication, courtship, camaraderie and commitments between a seller and his or her customers.
22. Winning Moves by Ken Delmar. An old book, but helpful. Talks about the body language of selling.
23. Attitude 101: What Every Leader Needs to Know by John C. Maxwell. A great, easy little read that reminds salespeople that having the proper attitude is critical.
24. How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. A classic on how to develop relationships. Here's a link of a summary of that book: http://www.westegg.com/unmaintained/carnegie/win-friends.html
25. Dimensional Selling, by Victor R. Buzzotta and Robert E. Lefton, McGraw Hill Books. "The salesperson who has total focus on the customer -- who sells to each customer differently -- will have the competitive edge." This book tells you how to do that.
26. The Mind of the Customer, by Richard Hodge and Lou Schachter, McGraw Hill. Tells how to "accelerate the rate at which salepeople's customers realize tangible business results," and thus achieve greater business.
27. The Sales Success Handbook: 20 Lessons to Open and Close Sales Now, by Linda Richardson, McGraw Hill. Says that selling features/benefits isn't enough. You need to add value.
28. No Lie: Truth is the Ultimate Sales Tool, by Barry Maher, McGraw Hill. Tell both pros and cons of your product.
29. Secrets of Top Performing Salespeople, By DelGaizo, Lunford and Marone. Title says it all.
30. Passport to Success: The Essential Guide to Business Culture and Customs in American's Largest Trading Partners, by Jeanette S. Martin and Lillian H. Chaney, Westport, CT: Praeger Publications. Looks at customs in the top twenty US trading partners.
31. Power Questions: Build Relationships, Win New Business and Influence Others, by Andrew Sobel and Jerold Panas, Wiley Books. 337 essential questions to help you succceed at work and in life.
32. Presentations in Action, by Jerry Weissman, FT Press. Lessons from the master presenters.
33. Evangelist Marketing by Alex L. Goldfayn, BenBella Books. See what Apple, Netflix and Amazon know about how to use their best customers to sell more items.
34. Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss. Excellent book by someone who has negotiated in some very high-stakes situations!
35. Let’s Get Real or Let’s Not Play: Transforming the Buyer/Seller Relationship Transforming the Buyer/Seller Relationship by Mahan Khalsa, Randy Illig, Stephen R. Covey. Ask hard questions in a soft way. Close the deal by opening minds.
36. Getting Naked: A Business Fable About Shedding The Three Fears That Sabotage Client Loyalty by Patrick Lencioni. Offers a key resource for gaining competitive advantage in tough times. Shows why the quality of vulnerability is so important in business.
37. Four Thousand Weeks: Time Managment for Morals, by Oliver Burkeman. A great read. Looks at time management from an entirely different viewpoint. I challenge you to read it! For a summary of the book's contents, see https://www.sloww.co/four-thousand-weeks/.
38. Outwit the Workplace Bully, by Dawn M. Johnson. Tells you how to spot a bully (there are many different types who use a variety of methods!), and how to recover from being bullied and reclaim your professional life. Sorry that we need this resource, but there are bullies out there. Learn about them!
39. Selling with Noble Purpose by Lisa Earle McLeod. This is a MUST READ! "Drawing on two decades of consulting with leading sales organizations, sales leadership expert Lisa Earle McLeod reveals how a Noble Sales Purpose (NSP) can drive a team to outstanding sales numbers. Using hard data and compelling field stories, Selling with Purpose explains why salespeople who understand earnestly how they make a difference to customers outperform their more quota-driven counterparts. This book shows executives, managers, and aspiring sales leaders how to find your NSP and create a sales force of True Believers who drive revenue and do work that makes them proud." (source: https://www.amazon.com/Selling-Noble-Purpose-Drive-Revenue/dp/1118408098).
1 The Book of No: 250 Ways to Say It and Mean It, by Susan Newman, McGraw-Hill. Some folks need to read this book to stop feeling guilty about saying "no."
2. Building Buzz to Beat the Big Boys, by Steve O'Leary and Kim Sheehan. How small mom and pop local stores can survive against the big box retailers. Says loyal customers must talk about their favorite companies to their friends, including using social networks.
1. The Handbook of Online Marketing Research: Knowing Your Customer Using the Net by Joshua Grossnickle and Oliver Raskin, McGraw-Hill. Everything you need to know to do research on the web.
2. The Focus Group Research Handbook by Holly Edmunds, McGraw-Hill/Contemporary Books. How to book on planning and conducting a focus group.
3. Mail and Internet Surveys: The Tailored Design Method by Don A. Dillman, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. How to plan and conduct survey research.
4. The Market Research Toolbox: A Concise Guide for Beginners by Edward F. McQuarrie, Sage Publications. Title says it all.
5. Marketing Research That Won't Break the Bank: A Practical Guide to Getting the Information You Need, 2nd Edition by Alan R. Andreasen, Jossey-Bass. A complete how-to book.
6. Qualitative Market Research: A Comprehensive Guide by Hy Mariampolski, Sage Publications. This 328 page book tells you about everything you would need to know to conduct focus groups, depth interviews, etc.
7. Focus Groups: A Practical Guide For Applied Research, 3rd edition by Richard A. Krueger and Mary Anne Casey, Sage Publications. Another great source.
1. The Moral Dimensions of Marketing: Essays on Business Ethics, by D. Kirk Davidson, American Marketing Association. Includes essays on most marketing ethics topics.
2. Trust Us, We're Experts by Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber, Putnam Press. Reveals the dark side of the public relations industry.
3. Coercion, Why We Listen to What "They" Say by Douglas Rushkoff, Riverhead Books. Reveals and discusses how we are manipulated by marketers.
4. Marketing Ethics by Bodo Schlegelmiclch, Thomson Learning. Looks at all aspects of marketing ethics from an international perspective.
5. Power Failure: The Inside Story of the Collapse of Enron by Mimi Swartz with Sherron Watkins, Doubleday. A fascinating look at how a well-respected firm operated day-to-day.
6. The Number: How the Drive for Quarterly Earnings Corrupted Wall Street and Corporate America, by Alex Berenson, Random House. Shows that reported eps are often lies.
7. Final Accounting: Ambition, Greed, and the Fall of Arthur Andersen by Barbara Ley Toffler with Jennifer Reingold, Broadway Books. The title says it all.
8. One Market Under God: Extreme Capitalism, Market Populism, and the End of Economic Democracy Anchor Books. Proclaims that free-markets are not where we want to go.
9. Best Business Crime Writing of the Year edited by James Surowiecki, Anchor Books. A compilation of business crimes. Hopefully this won't become an annual edition series.
10. How Companies Lie: Why Enron is Just the Tip of the Iceberg by A. Larry Elliott and Richard J. Schroth, Crown Business Books. Shows "how to think about and measure the candor of corporations."
11. Pigs at the Trough: How Corporate Greed and Political Corruption Are Undermining America by Arianna Huffington, Crown Books. A great book to read.
12. Soros: The Life and Times of a Messianic Billionaire by Michzel T. Kaufman. Theme is that happiness doesn't come from amassing millions (or make that billions) but in giving it away and making a difference in the world.
13. World on Fire: How Exporting Free Market Democracy Breeds Ethnic Hatred and Global Instability by Amy Chua, Anchor Books. If you want to read explicit, often bloody details about how much the world hates us then you might think this is a fun book to read. The author suggests that free markets concentrate "starkly disproportionate wealth in the heands of a resented ethnic minority . . . and these minorities become objects of violent hatred." At the same time, the new-found democracy in these countries gives the repressed people power to express themselves. In terms of business ethics, the book helps explain why many people in developing nations don't really care for multi-national corporations.
14. The Truth About the Drug Companies: How They Deceive Us, and What to Do About It by Marcia Angell, Random House, Incorporated. Dr. Angell was the editor of the New England Journal of Medicine for two decades and gives us her inside view of the corruption of the pharmaceutical industry.
15. The Integrity Advantage by Adrian Gostick and Dana Telford. A great little book with chapter titles like: honesty but modest, little things count, act like you're being watched, you mess up/you fess up, and keep your word.
16. Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal, by Eric Schlosser, Houghton Mifflin Company. Want to know what goes in your fast food? I doubt it. But here you go. Want to know how often are USDA inspectors at plants to inspect the food you eat? I doubt it. But here you go. You get the idea. A great read if you're not in the know about this kind of thing. It's a dangerous world out there. For example, is it true that if the beef isn't good enough to sell at a fast food restaurant, then they sell it to the school lunch programs, and if it's not good enough for that, then they sell it to your supermarket? Really? By the way, a good fast food place is In-N-Out (in California and Nevada) -- wholesome food, pay their workers well, and all this for just a few pennies more a sandwich.
17. The Secret History of the American Empire, by John Perkins. "Disturbing accounts of the American government wreaking havoc around the world in support of American business. In Perkins's view, American presidents willingly comply with their CEO masters, distributing foreign aid to corrupt Third World leaders who keep a share and return the rest to U.S. business for major projects, leaving their nations poor and massively in debt, and requiring more loans and slavish obedience to U.S. policy. If any leader objects, the CIA destabilizes his government, by assassination if necessary." this quoted review by Publishers Weekly as found on Amazon.com.
18. Confessions of an Economic Hitman, by John Perkins. "Perkins spent the 1970s working as an economic planner for an international consulting firm, a job that took him to exotic locales like Indonesia and Panama, helping wealthy corporations exploit developing nations as, he claims, a not entirely unwitting front for the National Security Agency...The story as presented is implausible to say the least, offering so few details that Perkins often seems paranoid, and the simplistic political analysis doesn’t enhance his credibility. Despite the claim that his work left him wracked with guilt, the artless prose is emotionally flat and generally comes across as a personal crisis of conscience blown up to monstrous proportions, casting Perkins as a victim not only of his own neuroses over class and money but of dark forces beyond his control. His claim to have assisted the House of Saud in strengthening its ties to American power brokers may be timely enough to attract some attention, but the yarn he spins is ultimately unconvincing, except perhaps to conspiracy buffs." this quoted review by Publishers Weekly as found on Amazon.com
19. All Marketers are Liars: the Power of Telling Authentic Stories in a Low-Trust World, by Seth Godin. Marketers fail when tehy are selfish and when they abuse marketing tools. Sometimes that leads to a worse world, not a better one.
20. Innovation Corrupted: the Origins and Legacy of Enron's Collapse, by Malcolm S. Salter. Also offers suggestions for how to prevent this type of thing again (board oversight, incentivies for executives, and maintaining ethical discipline even when the legal landscape is unclear).
21. Chain of Blame: How Wall Street Caused the Mortgage and Credit Crisis, by Paul Muolo and Matthew Padilla. Tells how greed wrecked our country.
22. The Rise of the Anti-Corporate Movement: Corporations and the People Who Hate Them, by Evan Osborne. Tries to be an even-handed look at corporations, both pros and cons.
23. Trust Rules: How to Tell the Good Guys from the Bad Guys In Work and Life, by Linda Stroh. Talks about what happens when we trust too much, why we need to have healthy 'mistrust', how to work with untrustworthy people, and when to give someone a second chance.
24. Trust and Honesty: American's Business Culuture At a Crossroad, by Tamar Frankel. American's are becoming more accepting and tolerate of dishonesty and financial shenanigans. Author says that is terrible and we must change.
25. Minimum Wage, by David Neumark and William Wascher. Authors argue that minimum wages do not achieve the goals they are supposed to, and then offer other ways to help the poor and low-skilled workers in our country.
26. Going to Extremes: How Like Minds Unite and Divide by Cass R. Sunstein. " Homogenous groups of like-minded people tend to adopt more extreme positions than groups with a diversity of opinions." This book discusses the implications of that assertion for many realms of life.
27.Elsewhere, U.S.A.: How We Got from the Company Man, Family Dinners, and the Affluent Society to the Home Office, BlackBerry Moms, and Economic Anxiety by Dalton Conley. Discusses the impact of changes in technology, society and the economy have reshaped not only our working world, but our indivdiual lives as well.
28. How Will you Measure Your Life? by Clayton Christensen, James Allworth and Karen Dillon
29. Future Crimes: Inside the Digital Underground and the Battle for Our Connected World by Mark Goodman. Great read on how companies are using big data to learn about us, and the dangers it can create.
30. Integrity by Dr. Henry Cloud. A great book that looks at integrity and business ethics from a broad perspective. Nice use of metaphors (the two wakes behind a boat, etc.).
31. Necessary Endings by Dr. Henry Cloud. Sometimes we need to end jobs, companies, relationships, etc. This book tells how to know that's the case and then tells how to do it (even including how to fire someone). Nice use of metaphors, like the need to prune things (like rose bushes, good things in our lives), and three kinds of people (wise, foolish, and evil).
1. What Color Is Your Parachute?, by Richard Nelson Bolles. Ten Speed Press. An excellent practical manual for job hunters and career changers. It covers aptitudes, the secrets of successful job hunting, rejection shock, a resource list of books, where the best jobs are, etc.
2. The Five Minute Interview, by Richard H. Beatty John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Discusses types of interviews, interview techniques, advance preparation, hundreds of common interview questions, interview strategy, and questions you'll need to ask.
3. Never Work For a Jerk by Patricia King, Dell Books. A very interesting book that describes many types of bosses that you could possibly work for. The chapter titles give a good clue to the book's content: Ignoramuses and Incompetents; Devils, Scoundrels, Liars, Thieves, and Snakes in the Grass; Slave Drivers, Bullies, Tyrants, and Dictators; Cheapskates; etc. Reading the book my help you avoid working for such a boss!
4. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, by Stephen R. Covey, Free Press. Only about 10 million copies of this book have been sold. Helps you determine what your life's mission is and then how to achieve it. Great read!
5. A Life of Being, Having, and Doing Enough by Wayne Muller. (From Amazon.com: “In a world seduced by its own unlimited potential, rather than feeling omnipotent we feel powerless and overwhelmed by impossible responsibilities. This is because we have forgotten what enough feels like...”). And Sabbath: Finding Rest, Renewal, and Delight in Our Busy Lives by Wayne Muller. (From Amazon.com: “In today's world, with its relentless emphasis on success and productivity, we have lost the necessary rhythm of life, the balance between work and rest. Constantly striving, we feel exhausted and deprived in the midst of great abundance. We long for time with friends and family, we long for a moment to ourselves.”). I've not read these books, but I've heard Muller speak.
6. Breaking Free: How to Quity Your Job and Start Your Own Business by Chris Lauer. From Amazon.com: " Featuring real stories about the initial spark that motivated individuals to pursue independence and entrepreneurship, Breaking Free follows a variety of entrepreneurs as they move from their jobs as employees to the ranks of the self-employed. It also covers the nuts and bolts of self-employment—pricing and marketing services, keeping an eye on the bottom line, and growing the business, among other topics. In addition, Lauer focuses on the advances in technology that make self-employment easier today than ever before." see http://www.amazon.com/Breaking-Free-Start-Business-ebook/dp/B002AS9RVI/ref=sr_1_1?s=gateway&ie=UTF8&qid=1285599761&sr=8-1.
1. ESPN: The Story and Lessons Behind the Most Fanatical Brand in Sports, Anthony F. Smith and Keith Hollihan, Wiley.