TOP 30 Sales Management Books (That Are Still Relevant)

Customers love good storytelling. If you still don’t know how to use it in your business, you can learn it from this book. First, select the right story to tell your potential customers. Then, craft a narrative that will resonate with them. If you use the formula by Paul Smith, you’ll find out soon enough that personality beats technology every single time.

While it’s not about sales management specifically, this book by Michael Port is a great handbook for self-promotion. What can you learn from it? For a start, how to build your reputation and make potential clients see you the way you want them to. Then, you’ll know how to sell your service to them – that’s why self-promotion is something every salesperson should learn.

Is your sales organization sustainable? If you’re constantly fighting to keep it in check, you might want to try a different approach. Sure, managing a team of salespeople will always be chaotic and unpredictable. You can make it better, though. John Treace knows just the way to identify and solve the unique problems your company faces and empower your sales force.

Do you agree that sales leadership is what makes the difference between a stagnant company and a growing one? If you doubt it, let Krista Moore convince you through her book. She identifies common problems – such as the lack of resources or promoting salespeople too quickly – and shows you how to race to amazing with her winning approach.

The future of your sales depends on how you hire, train, and manage people. Act like the sales boss from the beginning. Select the highest performers to make up the team, then bring them together by balancing their strengths and weaknesses. Finally, they’ll need you to constantly empower them to achieve more. Dive into psychology with Jonathan Whistman and see the results for yourself.

How to survive as a sales manager? The moment you stepped into this position, everything fell onto your shoulders. Sometimes you need to coach without knowing for sure what will work. Other times you might be drowning in interviews, trying to pinpoint top talent among the mediocre. Mr. David Brock’s decades of experience in sales management will guide you through the chaos.

The world never stops changing, so why should your methods stay the same? However, not every brand-new strategy will yield the desired fruit. Instead of jumping on hype trains, follow the fact-based strategies worked out by Frank Cespedes, Harvard Business School professor. They will help you create an effective sales model and improve ROI from training programs.

Are you pouring lots of money and effort into sales training, only to see average results at best? That’s because your team (probably) doesn’t need more training. It needs better coaching. With the right approach, centered on the best practices and core competencies, you’ll make champions out of your salespeople. Keith Rosen’s step-by-step playbook will help you do just that.

If you want to learn or refresh the basics of sales management, Butch Bellah’s book will be your friend. It’s not a boring textbook but a fun and accessible guide. Learn how to train and coach salespeople so that your efforts aren’t in vain. Soon, you’ll be empowering your sales force to reach its full potential at every stage of the sales pipeline.

John McMahon was asked to write this book because already existing works didn’t satisfy the needs of enterprise SaaS sales forces. With a shortage of solutions to implement in real life,  scary statistics came true – over a half of sales reps failed. Become a qualified sales leader that knows how to coach and motivate their salespeople.

Written for sales managers and executives, Jason Jordan and Michelle Vazzana’s book was a breakthrough. Why? Firstly, they drew upon new research into how world-class sales forces operate. Secondly, they focused on identifying the activities and metrics that drive business results.

Have you discovered that the psychology of selling is more important than methods and techniques? Brian Tracy has. The book was born of his best-selling audio program about sales training. It’s a wellspring of knowledge for salespeople who want to work more effectively and gain self-confidence. Sales managers will also benefit from the advice.

Does the phrase ‘hyper sales growth’ sound tempting to you? It’s not an empty slogan. It’s a promise that Jack Daly makes based on his observations of unprecedented growth in companies that started looking out for their employees and customers. The best sales organizations are all about people. What about yours?

Follow Kevin Davis’ advice on sales management, and you’ll get straight to the top. You’re probably aware that replacing salespeople won’t fix all the problems. It could even generate more. Instead, believe in yourself as a sales leader and optimize your own performance. Focus on the right goals and beat the instincts that are holding you back. Good news: you’ll be able to apply the outlined strategies immediately.

How to sell in a world where everything is digital? The saying that the customer always comes first is more true than ever. Chances are, your prospects have already done their research. The main job of a salesperson is to communicate value and build relationships with customers. Donal Daly’s book will teach you how to transform your sales digitally and achieve peak performance.

Nikolaus Kimla’s book on sales management might not be very famous. However, it delivers what it promises, and that is the fundamentals of the subject. In less than a hundred pages, it covers the biggest pain points of management, technology, and people. Keep it nearby to always have ready solutions on hand.

How about a one-day course in sales management? Mark Nelson provides it in the form of a book. It will help you outline a revenue strategy, motivate your sales team, and manage it to achieve top performance. There are also insights about sales territories and forecasting so you can take advantage of the best opportunities for your business.

Are you a sales manager wondering how to conquer mess-ups and handle difficult team members? Suzanne Paling’s book can help you with that, especially if you suffer from a lack of formal training. Read it to discover practical solutions to the problems you’re facing right now or will face in the future.

Do you think building relationships with customers is the secret to successful sales? That’s not the whole truth. In their book, Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson write about what makes the best salespeople stand out from the crowd.

There are three main steps to a successful sales organization. What you need to do as a sales manager is find the right people, assign the right activities to them, and monitor the outcomes. This book will teach you how to look for the right attributes and skills in salespeople, hold them accountable, and supercharge your business with continuous recruiting.

If you haven’t mastered inbound selling yet, Brian Signorelli’s book will assist you on the journey. In today’s world, consumers make more than 60% of their buying decisions before talking to a sales rep. However, the role is still very relevant – it only requires a new mindset. Find out how to lead a team of inbound sellers successfully.

Do you want to learn from the best to grow your revenue and succeed as a leader? Lisa Magnuson wrote 16 ‘plays’ for ambitious sales leaders. They’re based on research and 41 interviews with Sales VPs. Follow the advice of Top Line Sales’ founder to generate and win massive deals every day!

Emotional intelligence is a must in the sales world. Prospects will always have their doubts at every stage of the buyer journey. They might challenge or pressure you, which often triggers a fight-or-flight response. In her book, Colleen Stanley shows how salespeople can build their emotional intelligence to have more successful sales conversations.

David Wallace’s handbook will support you in managing and executing sales, no matter how big or small your team is. A successful sales organization relies both on the people and the process. You need to develop a system that works, communicate the right strategies, and put helpful tools in place. Find out how!

Use these actionable sales playbooks to boost your company’s growth. Cory Bray and Hilmon Sorey wrote them to keep you company on the journey from hiring new people to entering into new markets. They’ll also help you create top performers more quickly and consistently.

Whether you’re a sales manager or business owner, you’re tasked with building or maintaining a successful sales team. Steve Stauning’s book is a gold mine of advice and tips that will help you with that. Don’t wait to put the best practices into action – implement the lessons in your business and watch your sales team beat the competition.

Finally, someone has addressed the challenges that sales managers encounter all the time. Are your salespeople struggling to overcome their fears? Do you pour time and energy into interviews yet still can’t find the right people to hire? Read Mark Wilensky’s book to learn more about sales psychology to overcome these struggles.

We’ve already mentioned Sales Playbooks written by this duo of authors. This title is more about coaching. Read it to learn how to measure performance, pinpoint challenges, and empower your salespeople to achieve better results.

Yes, this one is an academic textbook. It’s made for instructors to teach their students about modern sales management. It covers sales enablement technology, CRM, ethical selling, and other topics that are now more relevant than ever.

Chris Lytle’s book equips sales managers with skills that are critical to developing sales superstars in their teams. It’s beneficial for those who have recently been promoted and haven’t received adequate training from their companies. Escape the ‘sales management trap’ and excel in your new role as much as you did as a salesperson.