These are my book recommendations. They would suit you if your role involves building relationships but you cringe at the word ‘sales.’
1) To Sell is Human: Daniel Pink
This book does what its title suggests, namely to humanise sales and demystify it. It is useful in that it will take the fear and loathing of the process away and replace it with some sound principles and action to move you forward without feeling your toes curling.
2) Start with Why: Simon Sinek
A classic that explores how most companies start from the wrong end of their proposition- namely what they do and then explain how they do it, without really getting to why. Useful if you are looking for a different approach to presenting your purpose as a way to sell your work.
3) Selling with Integrity: Sharon Drew Morgen
A useful take on where selling has been, from the 80s through to the 90s and what selling should be about now, namely: great questions, listening and that there is no sale without a buyer and the principle that, before a buyer has all of their resources organised, your sales message is simply not useful or required. Your sales role becomes how you can be useful to your prospective client in helping them organise their thoughts. A great methodology for anyone looking to develop business conversations rather than simply responding to tenders.
4) Influence: Robert Cialdini
A bestseller over and over this book is worth a read for the six principles of influence that Cialdini advocates, many of which apply to the social media tools available to build relationships today.
5) Show and Tell: Dan Roam
A great read for what to do when you have to present, based around three simple principles: Tell the truth. Tell it with a story. Tell the story with pictures. The author boils presentations down into four storylines: the Report, the Explanation, the Pitch and the Drama and then explains each.
6) Divorce Busting: Michelle Wiener-Davis
Tell your other half if you order this on Amazon to avoid any misunderstandings! This is a great book on how to save relationships that are teetering on the edge of divorce. The author argues that divorce is a last resort and describes how, by using some powerful techniques derived from solution orientated therapeutic circles, couples can circumvent the need to split and get their relationships back on track. It contains much that can be transferred over to a business context.
7) Time to Think: Nancy Kline
The ultimate book on listening. This will blow your mind and prove that the quality of your listening can improve the quality of the thinking of the person you are listening to. Buy this book. It will make you re-evaluate the way you listen in ways that will benefit you, your relationships and every aspect of your life.
8) Persuading Aristotle: Peter Thompson
A good text to dip into when building a presentation. Peter Thompson looks at the structure of presentations and also offers a useful and very accessible guide to the different personality types you may encounter and how to appeal to them in their own language.
What do you think? What book on communication and sales has had an impact on you?
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