The Art of Selling: Top 5 Ultimate Books on Sales

There is no guide or book that can make you the best salesperson or a millennial in the field of sales. However, there are certain books that can bring you closer to your goal each passing day.

Just glancing through them can make you gain complete knowledge and open your mind to a new sales perspective.

The Art of Selling comes from within. People can be trained, true! However, only to a certain level. Reading and learning from the experience of true salesmen will help you know if you’ve got the knack for selling or not. And further, why would you do something you will perform mediocre in?

On a positive note, if you find out that you are made for sales. Kudos to you! Now, you can confidently go on to learning new aspects in the sales arena via these five top books on Sales.

‘The Psychology of Selling’ is written in the form of short stories. We all like reading stories, don’t we? Imagine working 8-9 hours a day and then relaxing with a story in the evening. Adding to that, the story is going to build your intellect for selling. And the stories are so easy to read and understand.

These short tales are written by Brian from his own experience and some of them are even hilarious. The most important thing he talks about is having a ‘Self- concept’. Every sales person must have a belief he/she abides by, whatever the situation.

Mr. Tracy encountered the ‘Pareto Principle’ early on in his career. The rule says, ‘80% of your company’s revenue will come from 20% of your effort and vice versa’. Completing your daily, weekly and monthly targets is also suggested by the author. I know that every day your productivity won’t be the same.

But think of it this way. Even the days you are not giving your 100%, you are still moving forward. Just don’t stop in the middle. Keep going! In all, it can be referred to as the Bible for people who are just getting into the sales profession.

This book will take you through so swiftly, you won’t even feel the pressure. Probably, your manager has suggested this one! Hence, go on. Buy your copy.

This book has been 19 on Time Magazine’s 100 most influential books. With around 15 Million copies sold worldwide, this book took the audience by a hailstorm.

One of the best-selling novels of the 20^th Century and almost moving on to the 21^st century too. In the book, Mr Carnegie talks about the key steps to be followed to become the biggest influencer in every group of people.

The book will increase your ability to talk to new people, initiate contact with the existing contacts, create an influential personality, sell your product in a smooth manner, get you, new clients and customers, increase your confidence and prestige and bring your selling level to another edge.

The book will also make it easier for you to apply whatever tactics you have been thinking of implementing. For instance, maybe it is difficult for you to get a command over people. Some employee of yours has not been performing well and you need to criticize him/her rationally. After reading this book, you would know how to go about it.

You will also notice an increase in your popularity as now you know how to talk to people in the best tone. Once, somebody likes your conversational energy, they will keep coming back. And you need to gain all the support you can from your clients as well as from other people. In all, the book will make you a better salesman and a worthy executive in just two conscious reads.

Zig Ziglar was an American Author, salesman and motivational speaker. Around 15 books have been published by him and this one is a best seller. The book has been divided into every stage of selling very wisely. Either you can read the whole book at once or keep reading each chapter and implementing the same one by one.

Again, go back to the chapter you’ve read and judge if the execution was good enough. This technique will give you the most balanced experience with this book. The book even describes how technology influenced sales and brought it to a broader platform.

E-commerce, online marketplaces and other techniques of selling that are famous today have been discussed in the book. Mr Ziglar gives a detailed look into the image you need to put into the ‘Art of Selling’.

The decisions you need to make hypothetically and the various brain tactics you need to imbibe into your subconscious so that you can bring them out when required. In all, reading this book can bring out the sales knack in even the most laymen.

A housewife, perhaps, who has no experience in selling, after reading this book might decide to start her own career in sales. Written in simple English, this book deserves a 5-star rating for its teaching capabilities. It might take a substantial amount of time due to more number of pages but will prove its worth at the end.

This book does not include any rules for selling or for bringing the Art of selling into your profession. Mr Devdutt talks about the power to take one’s own decisions.

Explained by the Hindu Mythology stories, the author gives it an Indian touch. He says a person who is capable of taking his own decisions can be called a ‘Karta’. He is the one who follows nobody and goes on without getting influenced.

He is an influencer, perhaps. The next character is a ‘Yajamana’, who is one who gets influenced by the ‘Karta’ for taking certain decisions. Now, ’Karta’ might have pure intentions and offer credit free services.

He/she might also be a bad influencer. This needs to be figured out by the ‘Yajamana’. The ‘Art of Selling’ is somehow connected to constant decision making and this book teaches us that. After reading and implementing the same stories in your work life, you will realize how much confidence is granted by this book to you.

Mr Pattanaik is an acclaimed business thinker and strategist. His written word can be trusted for some excellent tips and tricks. One of the top 5 sales books, this book is definitely a must-read for sales freshers. It is the shortest book on sales with just 51 pages. I mean, even E-book is available easily. So, what’s the hold-up?

By the end of 2015, this book sold more than 100 million copies worldwide. The book describes how to be best at anything, particularly at increasing income.

Mr Hill studied the habits of a few successful individuals for 20 years and eventually came up with this book. So, you can imagine the amount of experience you will be getting from this, one book. 20 years is a long time!

The amount of rejections in the sales job leads to numerous negative thoughts. How one can suppress those negative thoughts and move on with the desire to make the next positive lead is what this book tells you.

Adding to that, it also enlightens you on more than 100 ways of doing that. Each trick a fair amount of work in its own. The book is more inclined towards personal success and growth. Not so much on team building and working together towards the sales targets.

With desire, faith and persistence, anyone can learn how to become a better individual every passing day. This is the gist of the book. Mr Hill also claims that sixth sense plays a vital role in the betterment of an individual.

Once you know yourself truly from within, then you can start to make better decisions consciously. As soon as you start deciding what’s best for you and the person sitting across from you, you create a win-win situation. Now, that’s what sales is all about! Something for all individuals!

Every one of these books is unique in its own style. However, these are connected by on common string – ‘The Art of Selling’. There are other books available too and those are equally readable.

But to start with, these five are the ones with the core ethics and values about sales. They serve as a starting booster in your sales career. Hope you try reading all of them. Let us know if this review helped you gain some insight into top sales books.