The new VP Sales has the opportunity and responsibility to achieve aggressive growth targets, and make a deep impact on company-wide culture. That’s why we’ve hand-picked these 25 sales books (in no particular order) from the best in the field and organized them into the 5 key responsibilities of the new sales executive.

1. THE TOP 25 SALES BOOKS
EVERY NEW SALES VP NEEDS TO READ

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The Straight Truth About Getting Exceptional Results from
Your Sales Team
1. SALES MANAGEMENT. SIMPLIFIED.
BY MIKE WEINBERG (2015)
This book tops our list for the new VP Sales because it encourages
leaders to take full responsibility for the performance of their sales
teams, gives no-nonsense tips for world-class sales management,
and roots it all in real-life stories.
Readers will learn the 16 basic sales management flaws and how to
create a healthy culture in their sales organization, match high
performers with the right roles and coach underperformers, run
meetings their teams actually look forward to, and structure the
best compensation plan. “Long on solutions and short on
platitudes,” Weinberg’s guide for sales executives is a must-read.

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Build Repeatable Pipeline and Accelerate Growth with Inside Sales
2. THE SALES DEVELOPMENT PLAYBOOK
BY TRISH BERTUZZI (2016)
This book’s focus on teambuilding and recruiting makes it
particularly useful for sales executives who need to scale their sales
teams, recruit with urgency, and get deep and practical advice on
retention through engaging, motivating, and developing their best
talent. Also helpful is its strategic guidance on building new pipeline
for your specific market. This is a highly actionable, step-by-step
guide divided into 6 sections.

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The Sales Managers’ Success Guide
3. 52 SALES MANAGEMENT TIPS
BY STEVEN ROSEN (2012)
52 Sales Management Tips presents 52 concise and clear-cut tips
for the sales executive who’s strapped for time yet knows they
need to develop their team. It’s an easy read at a short 60 pages,
and the tips are bite-sized and standalone, so readers can pick it up
and read in small pieces here and there, rather than all in one go
(one tip a week for a 52-year week).

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4. YOUR SALES MANAGEMENT GURU’S GUIDE TO
LEADING HIGH-PERFORMANCE SALES TEAMS
BY KEN THORESON (2011)
Ken Thoreson of Acumen Management provides a practical guide to
managing sales teams, with hundreds of specific tactics and techniques
a new VP Sales can experiment with immediately.
This book is easy to digest because it is broken into 39 chapters.
Readers will learn:
• How to Build a High-performance Sales Culture
• How to Make Monday Morning Sales Meetings Count
• Why Leadership Matters
• How to Create Your Own Sales Certification Plans
• How to Develop Sales Compensation Plans that Work
• How to Lead Sales Contests that Increase Sales and Build Teamwork
• How to Measure and Manage Sales Activity
• How to Uncover Leading Indicators that Predict Revenue
• How to Build a Self-managed Sales Team
• Time Management Techniques for Sales Managers

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A Tactical Playbook for Managers and Executives
5. COACHING SALESPEOPLE INTO SALES CHAMPIONS
BY KEITH ROSEN (2008)
Keith Rosen argues that sales executives need to focus on
coaching, not sales training, in order to develop a team of high
performers in the cutthroat sales environment. This sales coaching
handbook teaches how to create a thriving internal coaching
program, and broader culture where coaching is woven into
everyday activity. It teaches how to recognize the different
management styles you’ve encountered in your sales career and
how to steer your own style away from a tyrannical one to a
coaching-oriented one.
This book is a winner of five International Best Book awards. It
provides immediately actionable tips on how to coach anyone in
any situation, This book fights general advice and platitudes by
providing proven coaching scripts, questions, and templates, as
well as real-life stories and deep dives into mistakes coaches make.
It even offers a 30-day intervention strategy to turn around poor
performers.

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6. AGILE SELLING
BY JILL KONRATH (2014)
The only constant in the sales world is change, and this book helps
the new Sales VP assimilate into their management role quickly. It’s
also widely applicable framework for their own reps to get up to
speed in new situations, like pivots, promotions, and industry
changes. The no-nonsense book presents “meta-skills” to quickly
absorb tons of information, ramp up on new skills nearly overnight,
manage a busy calendar, keep motivation high, and gamify sales
work. Readers will carry these habits throughout their careers and
benefit long after they finish the last chapter.

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Using Data, Technology, and Inbound Selling to Go from $0 to $100 Million
7. THE SALES ACCELERATION FORMULA
BY MARK ROBERGE (2015)
An engineer from MIT, Mark Roberge took HubSpot’s sales through
the company’s first 10,000 customers. He pioneered a new method
of scaling sales through metrics, process, and inbound selling.
Roberge argues that sales can be taught; that there is a science
and process behind it that one can distill into a replicable formula.
This book is that formula, teaching readers a practical approach to
bringing prospects from lead gen to sales in a combined sales and
inbound marketing collaboration. “Readers will learn how to apply
data, technology, and inbound selling to every aspect of
accelerating sales, including hiring, training, managing, and
generating demand.”

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12 Proven Strategies for a Customer-Driven World
8. BEYOND THE SALES PROCESS
BY STEVE ANDERSEN AND DAVE STEIN (2016)
Steve Andersen and Dave Stein argue that sales professionals who
focus on just getting the sale are making a fatal mistake: what one
does before and after the sale is just as important. The average
executive spends less than 5 percent of their time engaged in the
buying of products and services, so sales teams need to make sure
they’re engaging these executives the rest of the time as well. This
book divides 12 strategies into three sections: how to drive success
before the sale, during the sale, and after the sale. It teaches how to
create value for customers at all times and not just being reactive to
requirements in an RFP. The book is backed by research and
illustrated with case studies from companies like Hilton and
Siemens, making it one of the most captivating sales books of 2016
and one we recommend all emerging sales leaders read.

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Winning Moves for Growing Companies
9. THE BUSINESS BATTLECARD
BY PAUL O’DEA (2009)
This book is a field guide to sales strategy for senior executives of
growing companies. The Business Battlecard helps the reader “craft
a winning strategy that will win you the war on several fronts: the
battle against competitors, the battle for customers’ minds, the
battle for investors’ wallets, and the battle for employees’ hearts.” It
covers how to devise a clear strategy, align the team, align other
executives, and execute. The book includes a one-page visual
summary (a “battlecard”) for what you need to focus on and guides
the reader through five key questions.

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The Unique Sales System Proven Successful by the World’s Best Companies
10. THE NEW STRATEGIC SELLING
BY ROBERT MILLER AND STEPHEN HEIMAN (2008)
The Miller Heiman sales strategy and the classic book Strategic
Selling became a cornerstone for salespeople and non-sales
businesspeople alike with the introduction of the “Win-Win”
concept in 1985. The authors revised the book in 2008 for modern
complex sales, covering strategic topics like creating steady
revenue (avoiding boom and bust), understanding competitive
offerings and substitutes, identifying the four real decision makers
in even the most vexing corporations, and closing the right
business, not business you’ll regret later.

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Powerful Strategies to Drive Consistent Growth Year After Year
11. NONSTOP SALES BOOM
BY COLLEEN FRANCIS (2014)
This book teaches sales executives how to avoid boom-bust cycles
and create a sales system to smooth out erratic highs and lows
each quarter. Francis introduces the Sales Radar concept, which is
a holistic way to characterize prospects alongside the sales funnel.
This is divided into four sections which she argues each deserve
attention and work in harmony to create a steady supply of wins
throughout the year: Attraction (filling the pipeline), Participation
(turning leads into customers), Growth (picking the best clients and
investing in them), and Leverage (generating referrals).

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Surprising Research on What Sales Winners Do Differently
12. INSIGHT SELLING
BY MIKE SCHULTZ & JOHN DOERR (2014)
This book helps B2B sales teams adapt to the new paradigm, in
which, the authors argue, buyers see products and services as
replaceable. Schultz and Doerr interviewed over 700 B2B
purchases and found that the #1 winners sold radically differently
than the #2 finishers. They share their new data, as well as a three-
level Insight Selling model that helps sales executives parse out
which advice to follow, which to discard, and what parts of their
existing processes aren’t working anymore. This is an important
read for the new VP Sales and for members of their team.

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The Sales Professional’s Guide to Improving Customer Profits
13. BOTTOM-LINE SELLING
BY JACK MALCOLM (2011)
Jack Malcolm’s philosophy to selling focuses on the bottom line
— of your customer. This book helps the new VP Sales and their
team navigate their prospects’ business goals and problems to
cultivate a deep understanding that leads to value creation. “The
only way to add measurable value to your customers—the kind that
gets the attention of high-level decision makers—is to understand
how their business generates cash, bring solid ideas for improving
their cash flow engine, and speak the language that resonates with
them,” says Malcolm.

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The Ultimate Guide to Opening Sales Conversations and Filling the Pipeline by Leveraging Social
Selling, Telephone, Email, Text, and Cold Calling
14. FANATICAL PROSPECTING
BY JEB BLOUNT (2015)
A key responsibility of the VP Sales is to inspect pipeline and make
sure it’s being filled in a healthy, sustainable way. This book is a
well-loved, must-read basic guide to prospecting that’s well worth a
revisit for leadership hoping to train their team to improve lead
generation.

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How to use the magic of metaphors to sell, persuade & explain anything to anyone
15. METAPHORICALLY SELLING
BY ANNE MILLER (2009)
Some of the best sales executives infuse their sales tactics with
metaphors (and teach their teams how to call on metaphors for
better selling). This is particularly important for companies selling
visionary solutions or complex technologies that are difficult to
articulate, as well as to cut through the noise of content overload
online. In four steps, this book teaches readers how to “weave the
magic of metaphor into your business arguments to sell an idea,
clear up confusion, shake up indifference, close a sale, vaporize
objections, wow an audience, inspire action and make your point.”
This is an entertaining read, with over 250 real-world examples,
opening with the “Sorry Seven” — the seven types of speakers who
put even the most willing listeners to sleep.

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How to Master the RFP System Once and for All to Win Big Business
16. RFPS SUCK!
BY TOM SEARCY (2009)
In industries where RFPs are a required component of dealflow,
new sales executives should read this book for ideal strategies and
tactics to contend with the RFP world. It teaches how to navigate
the time-consuming, expensive, and often unfairly balanced RFP
process — as well as advice on when to quit or to double down and
win the deal.

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17. STRATEGIC SALES PRESENTATIONS
BY JACK MALCOLM (2012)
Presentations to senior decision makers are high stakes: sales
teams have a clear shot to win, but if they fail, they’ll be sent home
quickly. Malcolm presents an end-to-end guide for creating and
delivering world-class pitch presentations to high-level prospects. It
covers with planning and positioning, presentation crafting, and
delivery for 30- to 60-minute pitches.

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18. THE TRUTH ABOUT LEADS
BY DAN MCDADE (2011)
A successful VP Sales knows how to work closely with the heads of
marketing and demand generation in their company to create a full
pipeline of highly qualified leads. Dan McDade, CEO of PointClear,
provides a guide to excellent B2B lead generation. The Truth About
Leads a must-read for sales executives who are new to the lead
generation world or want to solidify their foundation to prospect
development as they scale their business.

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The Choices, Systems, and Behaviors that Drive Effective Selling
19. ALIGNING STRATEGY & SALES
BY FRANK CESPEDES (2014)
Harvard Business School professor Frank Cespedes helps
executives close the gap between its strategy and sales efforts.
The book provides new research, examples, and an actionable
framework to show how sales fits in the broader context of the rest
of the business and how it affects value creation for the customer.

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The Secret Weapon That Can Solve Your Toughest Sales Challenges
20. DEALSTORMING
BY TIM SANDERS (2016)
Tim Sanders argues that “sales genius is a team sport,” and puts
forth a structured, scalable, and repeatable brainstorming-type
process called “Dealstorming” to problem-solve complex sales
deadlocks. It involves everyone who touches a sale (especially
those outside of sales teams) and taps into the team’s wisdom and
creativity to generate truly innovative ideas, with success at
companies like Yahoo! and Condé Nast. This recent release is a
good read for a VP Sales who needs to get a lucrative and complex
deal unstuck by collaborating with cross-functional teammates.

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21. HOW TO WIN FRIENDS AND INFLUENCE PEOPLE
BY DALE CARNEGIE (1937 ORIGINAL, 2016 NEW EDITION)
We all saw this one coming. How to Win Friends and Influence
People is a 1937 classic that remains one of the most widely-read
self-help books in the world. It takes on new meaning for a VP
Sales, who now has to collaborate with a new set of executive
counterparts in marketing, product, and engineering (and has to
manage people — who might have once been their peers, in the
case of an internal promotion). The publishers recently released a
new edition with some updates; the core of the book remains
applicable to this day.

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22. SELLING TO BIG COMPANIES
BY JILL KONRATH (2012)
Jill Konrath focuses on how to get your foot in the door with larger
enterprises in “Selling to Big Companies.” It covers how to target
the prospects where sales teams have the highest chances of
success, find the right names, get a meeting with a corporate
decision maker, create value propositions that catch their eye, and
more. This book is one of Fortune Magazine’s 8 must-read sales
books and a Gold Selling to Big CompaniesMedal Winner of the
Sales Book Awards.

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How to Land Big Sales and Transform Your Company
23. WHALE HUNTING
BY TOM SEARCY & BARBARA SMITH (2008)
This book is for the VP Sales who plans to grow their business by
going after larger enterprises and contracts. As the authors put it,
“Stop wasting time with little accounts and start landing monster
accounts.” While many books focus on the individual salesperson,
this one focuses on collaboration and teamwork. It provides a nine-
step method to find and land big deals, and is particularly useful for
answering higher-tier RFPs. (No whales were harmed in the writing
of this book.)

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What You Need to Know to Sell Successfully to Top Executives
24. THE KEY TO THE C-SUITE
BY MICHAEL NICK (2011)
Author Michael Nick argues that as budgets tighten, purchasing
decisions land in the hands of the C-suite — and that sales teams
need speak their language. This requires gathering a specific type
of advance intel and crystallizing the value proposition in a way that
high-level decision makers can understand. It is more practical and
tactical than most, teaching how to:
• Find key financial information on a prospect
• Determine a corporation’s financial stability
• Clearly define the value of the product or service they are selling
• Calculate the value impact of their offerings in financial metrics
• Clarifying how sales packages fit into metrics such as return on
asset, return on equity, operating costs, net profit, and earnings

26. B 2 B S A L E S R E C R U I T I N G S P E C I A L I S T SW W W.PEAKSALESRECRUITING.COM
What Every Executive Wants You to Know About Successfully Selling to the Top
25. SELLING TO THE C-SUITE
BY DR. STEPHEN J. BISTRITZ AND NICHOLAS A.C. READ (2009)
With 60 years of combined experience selling to corporations
around the world, the authors conducted in-depth interviews with
executive-level decision makers of more than 500 companies and
government organizations to provide concepts and strategies that
have been proven through repeated application. They demystify
the executive’s role in the buying process — when they step in, and
how they affect the deal. They cover how to gain access to
executives, establish trust, and create value that resonates at the
C-suite.

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We hope you enjoy this reading list.
Please leave a comment below with a
book that has changed the way you think
about your approach to sales,
management, and helping your customers.

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