Recommended reading

For students of sales, storytelling and psychology, here’s a list of books that have influenced the structure and content of this book and influenced me over my sales career.

B2B Selling – Classic textbooks

The Challenger Customer: Selling to the Hidden Influencer Who Can Multiply Your Sales Results (2015) Adamson, Dixon, Spenner and Toman, Penguin Books

The Challenger Sale: Taking Control of the Customer Conversation (2011), Matt Dixon and Brett Adamson, Penguin Group

New Sales Simplified: The essential Handbook for prospecting and new business development (2013), Mike Weinberg, Amacom

The Secrets of Question-Based Selling: How the Most Powerful Tool in Business Can Double Your Sales Results (2000), Thomas Freese, Sourcebooks

Solution Selling: Creating Buyers in Difficult Selling Markets (1995), Michael T. Bosworth, McGraw Hill

SPIN Selling: The best validated sales method available today. Developed from research studies of 35,000 sales calls. (1988), Neil Rackham, McGraw Hill

Storytelling

Putting Stories to Work: Mastering Business Storytelling (2016) Shawn Callahan, Pepperberg Press.

Tell to Win: Connect, Persuade, and Triumph with the Hidden Power of Story (2011), Peter Gruber, Crown Business

What Great Salespeople Do: The Science of Selling Through Emotional Connection and the Power of Story (2012), Michael Bosworth and Ben Zoldan, McGraw-Hill.

Business development

Crossing the Chasm, Edition: Marketing and Selling Disruptive Products to Mainstream Customers (1991), Geoffrey A. Moore, Harper Business

Brain science and psychology

The Elephant in the Brain: Hidden Motives in Everyday Life (2018), Kevin Simler and Robin Hanson, Oxford University Press

How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain (2017), Lisa Feldman Barrett, Houghton Mifflen and Harcourt

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion (1984), Robert. B. Cialdini, Quill

On Intelligence (2004), Jeff Hawkins with Sandra Blakeslee, Times Books