The 4 Best Books For Enhancing Your Sales Productivity

Top Reads For Salespeople

Something we talk about a lot here at Rainmakers is the importance of continued education. There are so many masters out there that put all of their successes, lessons, and even mistakes in their books. Why make mistakes when you can learn from the mistakes of others? Books are excellent capsules for the human mind. There is almost no excuse for not learning from the greats who have made their knowledge immortal.

Sales is not something anybody can pick up and do; there is a ton of human psychology involved that the layperson cannot possibly comprehend at first glance. Nobody wants to spend their money. Most people have a tight budget and don’t want to ‘waste’ their hard-earned cash. That’s why you need to know how to give value to your customers while getting them into a buying mindset.

For beginners, the first thing you must master is how to be productive. If you can’t keep yourself busy for the workday, you will have no career in sales. Any decent salesperson is constantly generating leads, following up, making cold calls, networking, and closing deals. There is no room for slack in this industry; here are the four books that will help you keep up.

1. How to Win Friends & Influence People, by Dale Carnegie

This book is an absolute classic and a must-read for any sales professional. You are already behind if you haven’t heard of this book yet. Maintaining a productive work day means keeping potential and existing clients in the loop at all times. You can achieve this by understanding the dynamics of human communication and social etiquette. The stronger your connections, the bigger your network will become. This will open you up to all kinds of opportunities that will keep you busy. If you haven’t yet, pick up this book immediately.

Check it out – How To Win Friends And Influence People

2. The UltraMind Solution, by Mark Hyman M.D.

The UltaMind Solution is not a sales book at all; in fact, it has absolutely nothing to do with sales. However, the issue here is productivity, and Mark’s book will unlock a level of energy within you that you would never have thought possible. By making a few simple changes to your diet, you can achieve almost superhuman levels of energy in your day-to-day life. Any salesperson willing to commit to their career needs all the power they or they can get. Mastering this book will put you head and shoulders above even the most experienced salespeople in your field.

Check it out – The UltraMind Solution

3. Secrets of Closing the Sale, by Zig Zigler

A critical part of staying productive is understanding how to close your sale quickly. You don’t want to spend weeks or even months tracking down a client to get them to buy. Learning how to close will free up your time so you can use it to generate more leads and close more deals.

This is the first book on the list that starts to dip into the psychology of what makes a person buy. As discussed above, people just going about their day aren’t necessarily ready to part ways with their money. But when you understand the psychological factors that get people to buy, you will save a ton of time and energy during the sales process. Even if you get a hard NO, you push your client to the point where you know ultimately that they will not buy. Then, instead of them just being nice to you and leading you on for who knows how long, you’ll get your answer so you can move on to people who potentially will buy.

Check it out – Secrets of Closing the Sale

4. To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others, by Daniel H. Pink

‘To Sell Is Human’ is another must-read book to understand the link between human psychology and selling. This book made a list because it is one of the most recent books that have achieved classic status on this topic.

Within its pages, Pink talks about the correlation between persuasion and selling. He also outlines that regardless of your profession, a challenge that comes up quite frequently in life is the ability to effectively persuade someone else of an idea. Whether it’s getting children to do their homework or convincing a significant other to eat at a restaurant of your choosing, there is always an element of persuasion or selling necessary. Thus, Pink can derive the name of his book from this basic principle.

Check it out – To Sell is Human

Conclusion

You can read tons of books on this topic, but these four are absolute must-reads. Increasing your productivity means getting smarter, being healthy, being motivated, and closing as many deals as possible. Of course, you will make mistakes and hit roadblocks, but committing to success will pull you through. Once you build momentum, you will forget what it was like to be unproductive in your field.