Each of these books below informed me on at least one enormous principle that I’ve used to succeed at the most critical parts of my career. Without having read these books, the decisions I made would have been different.
I’ve assembled the SWP Book Club so you can do the same without having to weed through all the sales books that don’t really help you.
Winner: Best All-Around Sales Book
- New Sales Simplified: The Essential Handbook for Prospecting and New Business Development: This is the best all-around sales book for Individual Contributors to brush up on their skills. It is also updated for the way sales works in today’s age, and not completed dated. If you’re looking to only read one book specific to sales, this is the right one.
Winner: Best “This Will Actually Change Your Life Book”
- Difficult Conversations: This book is invaluable. Buy 10 copies now and give out to everyone in your life. I literally bought 30 copies of this book, kept them on my bookshelf, and handed them out to people who are having a hard time with a boss, coworker, spouse/partner, or a friend. This book gives you a framework to understand why you are having problems with another individual, where the breakdown in perspective is, and how to have a difficult conversation with them that actually affects change.
Winner: Best Book for Career Transitions
- The First 90 Days: If you change roles, change companies, even if you get a new boss/something changes around you, The First 90 Days is the best book that tells you exactly what you need to do in the first 90 days. The book opens with illustrating how one of the best things you can do for you or your team would be to establish small wins and hit them in the beginning of the transition. The team then associates the change with wins, the vibe in the transition period is positive and builds momentum, and it gives you time to adjust and get grounded on the bigger goals you will have to accomplish over time. This book is fantastic and tells you how to win early on, especially when you feel like you don’t know what you’re doing.
Winner: Best Sales Management Book
- Sales Management Simplified: This is the same guy who wrote Sales Simplified; I found Sales Simplified after reading this book when I transitioned into Sales Management and had literally no resources on how to manage Sales People well. This book along with The First 90 Days were CENTRAL in my transition, and I mean, I built EVERYTHING around the framework of these two books. The First 90 Days told me how to not be a schmuck basically and manage the political piece of the transition, and Sales Management Simplified taught me all the Sales Management principles that I sorely needed to know and I did not know previously. If I didn’t have this book, I’m not sure I would have made it out of my first year of Sales Management. The skill set in Sales vs. Sales Management is entirely different. Buy this if you’re managing salespeople, no matter how tenured you are, it will help you.
Winner: Best Leadership Book
- Start With the Why & Leaders Eat Last: There are a million Leadership books I love, as there is always a new way of thinking about how to lead, and you have to remind yourself of these principles and your values constantly to summon the energy each day to lead however, Simon Sinek is my favorite. He explains the chemical reactions in the body to when Leaders lead well, and how their team feels and what it creates over time. He uses analogies from the military and the literal battlefield and relates those life or death leadership skills to business and why it’s so important. He helps you understand leadership is about trust and empathy and caring, and not ruling with an iron fist and fear. He has a uniquely human and eloquent way of explaining these principles, so I couldn’t pick just one. Either or both of these books will help you understand his values and framework to be a better leader.