3 best sales books

Sales is often looked upon with a certain level of disdain. People conjure up a whole host of images of stereotypical cheesy salespeople. The first thing that comes to my mind is the infamous Kirby vacuum cleaner salesperson.

But selling in the digital era is very different. It's now called customer acquisition. Let's not forget that this is still sales. Acquiring a customer from Hacker News is still selling. You're just using sales copy instead of sales oratory to land the customer.

Here are the 3 best sales books I've read in the last few years. They helped me grow my previous business to $25K MRR and I'm using a lot of the principles in these books to grow my new venture SmartOutreach.

1. Influence by Robert Cialdini

An excellent read on the psychology of persuasion. You'll learn how principles like scarcity, reciprocity and social proof and can influence sales in a big way.

2. To Sell Is Human by Daniel Pink

Pink looks at how the rise of "non-sales selling" sits at the confluence of both art and science. He drills down into the key principles which comprise this type of selling.

3. Advertising Secrets of the Written Word by Joseph Sugarman

A masterclass in how to write effective sales copy. Sugarman is one of the greatest living copywriters. He is famous for his mail-order company, JS&A which he grew through the power of the pen.