No matter what field you work in, continued professional development is a must. This rule is especially true in sales, where the landscape is constantly changing. Regardless of how well we’re doing, it’s worth taking time to regularly review basics and brush up on innovations. Here are seven books you can read this summer that should help you do just that.
#1. Words that Sell by Richard Bayan
Starting small, this little book packs a big punch. Words That Sell, and its companion book More Words that Sell, is a short book with over 6000 key phrases that will help you shift product and increase sales. The book gives suggestions for creative ways of addressing customers, adjectives that allow you to mix things up a bit more when describing your cars and much more. Words that Sell is an especially useful resource if your role within your dealership is coming up with wording that will attract customers.
#2. The Sales Bible, New Edition: The Ultimate Sales Resource by Jeffrey Gitomer
A classic that’s been updated numerous times to keep it up with marketing trends, The Sales Bible and Jeffrey Gitomer have been advising sales people for quite some time now. This book is full of down-to-earth examples that will help you learn, or review, basic sales techniques. Â
#3. Sales Management. Simplified. by Mike Weinberg
This book is a read you don’t want to skip if you’re a manager of a sales team. From the author of bestseller New Sales. Simplified., Sales Management. Simplified. examines how leaders can build successful teams. Through practical advice, Weinberg shows how you can create a positive, profitable sales force.
#4. Social Selling: Techniques to Influence Buyers and Changemakers by Tim Hughes and Matt Reynolds
As mentioned above, the landscape of sales is a rapidly shifting one. Social Selling helps salespeople address one of the largest changes in the industry: technology. While at the end of the day, customers will eventually have to set foot in your dealership and meet face-to-face if they want to make a purchase, getting them there is a becoming a challenge. Increasingly, customers look more to social media ads, websites and other online presences to influence purchase decisions. If you haven’t already begun to think digitally, it’s important to start, and this book is a step in that direction. Â
#5. How to Sell Anything to Anybody by Joe Girard
Turning towards more industry specific books, Joe Girard’s How to Sell Anything to Anybody is a unique perspective on car sales from a man who set a Guinness World Record selling over 13,000 cars over his fifteen years in the business. Useful advice interspersed with colorful tales from the trenches, this is a classic for those who wish to make car sales their career.
#6. Top 7 Revenue & Profit Sources in Your Dealership by Joe Verde
Another dealership-focused resource, Joe Verde has authored a number of car sales titles and runs workshops aimed at helping you hit, and surpass, your sales goals. This particular book looks at how to increase your dealership’s income without having to spend extra.
#7. How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie
This last book is a classic for a reason. While helpful to all people who want to work on relationships, salespeople and managers have been finding this book to be worth its weight in gold since the 1930s. Full of advice on how to form connections with others, you can use this book to better your sales persona or work on your leadership within your dealership.
