15 Best Books on Business Development
A library full of books on business development can teach you lessons on improving your sales skills.
If you’re a business development rep or a manager, you know learners are earners. Each book and each chapter unlocks a best practice, a refreshed mindset, and new sales technique.
Reading books is a great way to learn how to consistently improve your sales. Each book will help you engage prospects, build pipeline and close more deals.
Read below for the best 15 books for business development. Get in the habit of reading because knowledge is key to sales success!
1. Hacking Sales by Max Altschuler
Discover how to close more deals and increase your win rate with Max Altschuler’s book, Hacking Sales: The Playbook for Building a High-Velocity Sales Machine. Salespeople of all experience levels can benefit from reading this book. However, it is beneficial for those in business development.
It gives a comprehensive overview of what it takes to successfully build a sales engine using sales technology and modern techniques. In addition, it includes a wide variety of tips and techniques to improve sales performance.
Experienced salespeople may already be familiar with some of the material in the book.
You can get your copy of Hacking Sales here.
2. The Sales Acceleration Formula by Mark Roberge
The Sales Acceleration Formula is the bible for learning how to build a winning sales team through a scalable and predictable approach.
Get the strategies, techniques, and practice on how Mark Roberge grew HubSpot from $0 to $100 million and is on the path to being a unicorn today.
The book on business development covers various topics, from scaling sales teams using metrics, demand generation, hiring training, and how to apply inbound selling. It’s a must-read for anyone working in a startup with responsibilities for generating revenue.
Mark provides a ton of lessons learned from the early days of HubSpot – both successes and failed experiments. The book also helped me to understand the importance of creating an ideal candidate profile for hiring high-performing sales reps.
It is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in driving inbound sales. It’s simple, actionable, and provides both strategic and tactical recommendations. Overall, I recommend this book to anyone who wants to build a systematic sales methodology.
You can get your copy of The Sales Acceleration Formula here.
3. Predictable Prospecting by Marylou Tyler and Jeremy Donovan
If you’re in B2B sales, then Predictable Prospecting is a great book to help you improve how you target, qualify and close new business opportunities. Whether you’re new to sales or well experienced, his book will provide valuable techniques for business development.
Prospecting is one of the most important parts of sales. Without prospects at the top of the funnel, you won’t have any deals to close. Predictable Prospecting by Marylou Tyler and Jeremy Donovan is an important book that will teach you how to kickstart your B2B sales prospecting intelligently and predictably.
This book for business development contains actionable insights and techniques to optimize your outbound business development motion. You’ll learn to target the ideal prospect, implement account-based sales development strategies, and land meetings with prospects through targeted campaigns.
You can get your copy of Predictable Prospecting here.
4. Rejection Proof: How I Beat Fear and Became Invincible Through 100 Days of Rejection by Jia Jiang
Although Rejection Proof is not a traditional sales book, it’ll teach you the hard lessons of conquering your fear of rejection and techniques for turning a no into a yes. If you’re in sales, this book will help you develop your confidence and deal with setbacks.
Rejection Proof shares the entrepreneurial story of author Jia Jiang, who feared rejection. Through his journey, he realized he needed a better way to deal with rejection, or it would destroy him. Through his lessons, he came up with the “100 days of rejection” experiment, which he discussed during a TedTalk. This challenge forced him to seek out rejection to build resilience, such as requesting Krispy Kreme doughnuts in the shape of Olympic rings.
If you’re facing hesitation or fear during a cold call or shared about a prospect rejecting you, this book provides terrific advice on approaching rejection and becoming fearless. The hard truth about sales is that you must be mentally tough and not take rejection personally. Through this book, you’ll surely build confidence and be willing to challenge yourself.
You can get your copy of the Rejection Proof here.
5. Influence: The Psychology Of Persuasion By Robert Cialdini
Influence: The Psychology Of Persuasion thoroughly researches and documents the significant factors influencing decisions. This book is the holy grail for salespeople on using science-backed techniques to influence people. It is an excellent read for salespeople looking to influence a prospect’s decision process.
This book reviews the six ways people can be persuaded and shares different stories and examples of how you can use them. Cialdini’s book looks at what he calls the six weapons of influence:
- Reciprocation
- Commitment and consistency
- Social proof
- Friendship/liking
- Authority
- Scarcity
Although the concepts covered in this book may seem like common sense, it is undoubtedly surprising to learn how human psychology plays a role in people’s decisions. What makes this book a must-read is the in-depth research.
You can get your copy of Influence: The Psychology Of Persuasion here.
6. Building a Story Brand by Donald Miller
Building a Story Brand is one of the best messaging, storytelling, and branding books. Written in a simple yet effective way, this book is essential for salespeople, marketers, and entrepreneurs looking to write their own brand stories.
If you’re unsure how to tell a compelling brand story, this book provides a framework called the SB-7 to help you craft your narrative: character, problem, guide, plan, calls to action, failure, and success. Not only is this perfect for marketers, but salespeople would also benefit from these concepts.
Building a Story Brand is written straightforwardly and clearly with numerous actionable techniques, such as simplifying a website and establishing a tagline. Author Donald Miller writes clearly and succinctly. He gives readers simple tips on how to have a breakthrough when creating messaging for customers.
You can get your copy of Building a Story Brand.
7. Fanatical Prospecting by Jeb Blount
Fanatical Prospecting provides a comprehensive approach to how salespeople and sales leaders can successfully prospect today. If you want to impact business development activities immediately, this book will hit you with the brutal truth of what works and what doesn’t in the sales world.
Written by Jeb Blount, Fanatical Prospecting provides specific examples of utilizing cold calls, voice mails, emails, and social selling to engage prospects. He shares powerful techniques and his experience with what successful prospecting looks like. In his tell-it-like-it-is manner, he breaks down prospecting frameworks such as the 30-Day Rule, The 5 C’s of Social Selling, and 4 Step Email Prospecting Framework.
If you’re looking to fill your sales pipeline, make an effort to read this book multiple times. It’ll push you outside your comfort zone, but you’ll be confident with the business development methods outlined in this book.
You can get your copy of Fanatical Prospecting here.
8. The Sales Development Playbook by Trish Bertuzzi
There is no better book for sales development reps and SDR Managers than The Sales Development Playbook. It is the bible for building a repeating pipeline through inbound and outbound prospecting.
Written by Trish Bertuzzi, shares her three decades of practitioner experience in building pipelines and accelerating revenue through a sales development team. Without a doubt, this is the best book on sales development available. It details how to recruit, build, measure, compensate and retain a high-performance sales development team. It is an excellent source with how-tos such as crafting buyer-based messaging, designing a sales cadence, and recruitment tactics.
This is a go-to reference for anyone who wants to lead sales development and build pipeline through a predictable approach. Both practical and valuable, it’ll provide you with the framework to start and refresh your business development efforts.
You can get your copy of The Sales Development Playbook here.
9. Prospect The Sandler Way by John Rosso
Prospect The Sandler Way is for sales professionals looking to implement the Sandler selling system. This book is for you if you want to generate warm leads, harvest referrals, and build a pipeline.
Instead of the traditional way of pushy and aggressive selling, this book on business development teaches you how to modernize your sales approach. John Rosso’s book covers many Sandler concepts, such as pre-call research, pain funnel, using LinkedIn to generate a referral, upfront contracts, and warm calling.
Salespeople familiar with Sandler sales training will find that his good is an excellent reinforcement of those lessons. Using these techniques through practice, it’ll make a significant impact on your sales performance. You’ll be able to call prospects confidently, book meetings, fill your pipeline, and generate sales. If you’re serious about growing your sales, check out this book.
You can get your copy of Prospect The Sandler Way here.
10. Traction: A Startup Guide to Getting Customers by Gabriel Weinberg
Traction is an excellent book for startup founders, entrepreneurs, and salespeople looking for effective and practical hands-on techniques for sales. This business development book provides the scope and methodology for identifying the most impact ways to gain traction for a new company.
Written by Gabriel Weinberg, who is the CEO and Founder of DuckDuckGo, he shares valuable and insightful approaches to building a killer go-to-market strategy. You’ll be able to identify the concrete traction channels to generate revenue.
What’s great about this book is the practical tips on how to bring in millions of customers. This book is a must-read to gain traction at your startup.
You can get your copy of Traction here.
11. The Challenger Sale by Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson
If you’re selling complex products to larger enterprise organizations, The Challenger Sale is a must-read book on business development. Contrary to popular belief, it’s not enough for effective salespeople to build relationships. Instead, they have to challenge them. Backed by research, this book shares what matters most for high-performance sales in the modern day.
The Challenge Sale is based on studies explaining why the conventional sales approach is a losing approach. Authors Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson challenge the status quo of relationship selling and share the characters of an actual challenger sales rep:
- Offer customers a unique perspective
- Have excellent two-way communication skills
- Know the customer’s value drivers
- Identify economic drivers of the customer’s business
- Comfortable discussing money
- Apply pressure on the customer
Known for the mantra of teaching, tailoring, and taking control, the Challenge Sale is broken long-held assumptions on how to be an effective salesperson. Based on research and accurate data, this book tells you what you need to change, why, and what actionable techniques you’ll need to be a challenger sales rep.
You can get your copy of The Challenger Sale here.
12. SPIN Selling by Neil Rackham
SPIN Selling is an essential book for sales leaders and salespeople interested in the science of consultative selling through a powerful questioning method. This book on business development will explain why proper questioning is a significant factor in increasing sales success.
Neil Rackham shares his findings and the principles of SPIN (Situation, Problem, Implication, Need-payoff). By asking potential customers the right questions, it helps customers realize their most profound problems and how to position your solution effectively.
- Situation Questions: Getting the facts about the customer’s business.
- Problem Questions: Understand what the customer’s problems are.
- Implication Questions: Determine the consequences of the problem and its impact
- Need-Payoff Questions: Ask about the value and importance of the right solution.
SPIN Selling is a highly recommended book for anyone keen on improving their sales skills and implementing a proven process. It’s packed with comprehensive research. You’ll walk away with a proven process and winning approach.
You can get your copy of SPIN Selling here.
13. New Sales. Simplified by Mike Weinberg
New Sales. Simplified is an excellent book that will help you improve sales prospecting and business development. Written for sales leaders and salespeople, this book will share excellent techniques and examples for bringing in new customers.
This a practical and helpful book to help your sales strategy. It walks through the basics of new business development in a straightforward, simple, and easy-to-understand manner. You’ll learn concepts such as identifying a strategic list of ideal prospectings, creating a compelling sales story, and effectively using channels like voicemail, calls, and social selling.
Prospecting and new business development are the lifeblood of a successful sales team. If you’re looking to achieve quota, check out this book on business development.
You can get your copy of New Sales. Simplified here.
14. How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
How to Win Friends and Influence People is a classic self-development book that has stood the test of time. It is a must-read book for all salespeople looking to reach their maximum potential.
Dale Carnegie shares his philosophies on human interaction within his best-selling book, How to Win Friends and Influence People. He talks about the emotional aspects of people and how you can influence their behavior. It’s an easy-to-read book for improving relationships with people in all aspects of life.
You can use Carnegie’s words of wisdom in your day-to-day sales interactions with prospects. Learn from examples of how successful people through history have effectively communicated and built relationships. This book for business development is not just about tactics and tricks. Instead, it teaches you the concepts behind influencing people as a genuine part of life. It’ll help you undoubtedly help many people build your confidence and self-esteem.
You can get your copy of How to Win Friends and Influence People here.
15. Gap Selling by Keenan
Gap Selling is a business development book for salespeople dealing with issues such as long sales cycles, objectives, and prospects going dark. If any of those challenges resonate with you, then this book will give you a strong understanding of how to change the sales game in your favor.
Written by Keenan, Gap Selling brings a sales methodology for the modern buyer. This book is fast-paced and will uplevel your skills in no time. This book isn’t about how to close a deal. Instead, it walks through how to identify your customer’s problems in their current state and help them realize their future state with your solution. This book touches on key concepts such as problem identification, impact on business, and the root cause.
By asking the right questions during a sales process, you can better understand your customer;’s problems and eventually see your pipeline increase.
You can get your copy of Gap Selling here.
Final thoughts – learners are earners
Reading is the answer if you want to gain an edge in business development.
The 15 books on business development will help you learn new techniques and best practices that can be applied directly to your sales process.
Not only will these books teach you about what it takes to achieve quota attainment, but they will also help you build an effective mindset that impacts your life in a positive way. So go ahead and add them to your library – your future self will thank you!
Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions remain my own.
