What's the best book on how to become a successful salesman?

December 3, 2005 7:16 AM

Can anybody recommend a particularly good generic book (or video) on how to become a successful salesman?

It's for my son, who is considering a career in sales. I've searched Amazon for their best-sellers, but would prefer to hear from anybody with personal experience.

posted by booksprite to Work & Money (14 answers total)

How to Win Friends and Influence People.
posted by jellicle at 7:55 AM on December 3, 2005

The Accidental Salesman - by Chris Lytle. It is pretty good at explaining the necessary work involved in sales. It is written for people (like me) who fell into sales careers. I found it to be very helpful and somewhat inspirational.
posted by eggerspretty at 8:00 AM on December 3, 2005

The Little Red Book of Selling is really good, and from a fiction perspective get The Company when it comes out
posted by dial-tone at 8:30 AM on December 3, 2005

Two suggestions:

The Greatest Salesman In the World - Og Mandino. Recommended to me by a 40-year sales veteran, great book.

Guerilla Selling - not as good, but still helpful, depending on the type of selling he's considering doing. Teaches you that there are, in fact, certain rules you can break.
posted by TeamBilly at 9:09 AM on December 3, 2005

Ditto Gitomer's Little Red Book. I don't happen to think Gitomer is a particularly good writer, but the content is great.
posted by cribcage at 10:08 AM on December 3, 2005

How to Master the Art of Selling by Tom Hopkins is an older book, but the advice in there is solid/timeless.

I second Little Red Book, which I also own - not as in-depth but great highlights and good content.
posted by parma at 11:44 AM on December 3, 2005

Strategic Selling - this is the standard reading material for a Miller/Heiman-based sales course taught here in Boulder. It's oriented toward higher-priced sales "solutions" for larger firms.
posted by masymas at 12:12 PM on December 3, 2005

Any of the ones above are good (+ Zig Ziegler's stuff), but the key is not to focus on one book. Rather, most successful salespeople keep reading as much as possible continueously
posted by growabrain at 12:46 PM on December 3, 2005

I took the Miller/Heiman training in London. It's a mixture of common sense, practical techniques for approaching and analysing client firms, combined with a standardised system to capture "state"; where are we now in the sales pipeline, where do we want to be, who are we talking to, what can they do/not do for us, etc.

Probably most of what a natural sales critter would do without thinking twice.
posted by Mutant at 2:48 PM on December 3, 2005

In a share house a came across a tattered abandonded book, How to Sell Anything to Anybody, written by this character.

Maybe it was just the mood I was in, but I found it unputdownable. And I'm not in sales.

He has some good, solid theories.
posted by uncanny hengeman at 5:09 PM on December 3, 2005

I just read a scathing (and funny) review on Amazon so maybe give it a miss.
posted by uncanny hengeman at 5:16 PM on December 3, 2005

Definitely the classic, I must second, How to Win Friends and Influence People. It's very basic, but oh so true. I have to admit, cheesy as it sounds, that the book changed my life.
posted by Dag Maggot at 8:23 PM on December 3, 2005

In The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People (which I haven't read from cover to cover) the author, Stephen Covey, singles out How to Win Friends and Influence People for a bit of criticism.

I'm paraphrasing here, but an example was the latter book's superficial emphasis on smiling and pretending to be interested in other people.

(Stephen Covey's words, not my words. Just sayin'.)
posted by uncanny hengeman at 10:08 PM on December 3, 2005

an example was [Carnegie's] superficial emphasis on smiling and pretending to be interested in other people...

How To Win Friends and Influence People is kind of like The Elements of Style: Both are old chestnuts that remain poignant; and both have become popular targets for shallow, hipster criticism from the peanut gallery, usually accomplished by exaggerating or misrepresenting what the books actually say.

It's been a few years since I last read Carnegie's classic, but I don't recall him saying anything about being fake or phony, or using the word "pretend." He says that people like to talk about themselves, which is true; and he says that you can create a favorable impression by being interested in other people, which is also true. He doesn't suggest that people are stupid or gullible, and he doesn't advocate pretending to be interested.

...Duh. People who are interested in others have more friends. Simple, and true. The veneer of insincerity has been tacked on by modern critics, motivated mostly by desire to appear hip by "knowing better."

Having said that, the book's most valuable offerings are:

1. Smile.
2. Call people by name.
3. Ask people about themselves.

It's sort of like The Four Agreements, in that, once you've found the few insightful morsels, the rest of the book is mostly filler. So I just saved you a few dollars.
posted by cribcage at 11:40 PM on December 3, 2005