3 Reasons Your Salespeople Need to Stop Reading Books on Sales
Author: Keith Rozelle
Fact: Salespeople Should Stop Reading Books on Sales
Picture this. You’ve wrangled a meeting with the CEO of a booming fintech firm. You’ve polished your pitch until it shines brighter than your Platinum card. You’ve rehearsed your features, your benefits, your closing line. And then, just as you’re about to blow the b****** doors off, their CEO leans back and asks:
“So, what’s your take on the MPC’s current interest rate position?”
Cue panic. You’ve just discovered why salespeople should read fewer books on sales. All of a sudden, your pitch is about as useful as an umbrella in a hurricane. Because here’s the thing: CEOs are rarely dazzled by your features or bullet points. They’re more likely to engage with someone who understands their world, with what’s happening in the economy, their sector, or even the latest FT front page.
That’s why salespeople should read fewer sales manuals; you know, the “how to close” guides. But the best books for salespeople go way beyond sales itself.
Deepens Knowledge
Books are passports to other worlds. The best books for sales don’t just tell you how to pitch, they show you how the world works.
Take Daniel Priestley’s Oversubscribed. It’s not about cold calling techniques; it’s about building so much demand that customers line up for you. That’s the sort of mindset shift a client CEO respects, because it’s about strategy, not just tactics.
And don’t just stick with sales books. Read economics, psychology, even history. By reading widely, you’re better able to understand a customer’s industry and align your solutions with their goals.
Sharpens Communication
Want to be a better storyteller? Read more stories.
The best books for sales aren’t always about closing deals; sometimes they’re novels or biographies that sharpen your sense of character and narrative. Reading boosts your vocabulary, tunes your ear for rhythm, and gives you metaphors to drop into conversation like sprigs of mint into a mojito.
Instead of saying, “Our solution improves workflows,” you might say, “It clears bottlenecks the way a snowplough clears the M62.” See? Memorable 😉
Inspires Creativity
Sales is problem-solving. And problem-solving requires fresh thinking.
Books provide that spark. Read Atomic Habits by James Clear, and you’ll spot ways to redesign your follow-up routines. Dip into Robert Cialdini’s Influence, and you’ll rethink how you handle negotiations. Explore Oversubscribed and you’ll start viewing demand creation as an art form.
Even fiction fuels creativity. A detective novel might sharpen your ability to connect dots during discovery calls. Reading diversifies your toolkit, making you inventive rather than repetitive.
Broadens Perspectives
Customers aren’t spreadsheets. They’re people. Complex, occasionally maddening, but fascinating people.
Fiction forces you to walk in someone else’s shoes. Travel writing gives you cultural context. A biography of a business leader shows you what CEOs really care about (hint: it’s rarely the features page of your slide deck).
The best books for sales are often the ones that have nothing to do with sales at all. They cultivate empathy, which builds rapport—and rapport builds trust.
What to Read (Beyond Sales)
Of course, read the classics of business and psychology: Jim Collins’ Good to Great, Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking, Fast and Slow. And yes, Priestley’s Oversubscribed should be on every salesperson’s shelf—it’s hands down one of the best books for sales because it shifts your thinking from “chasing” to “attracting.”
But don’t stop there. Pick up novels, histories, even poetry. Because CEOs won’t remember your “slide six”. But they will remember the salesperson who could chat about the Booker Prize, the geopolitics of supply chains, or even the latest FT Lex column.
On that note—read the Financial Times at least once a week. Better yet, subscribe to FT.com. It costs about the same as a cappuccino and a sandwich, and the return on investment? Being able to hold your own in boardroom conversations. That’s priceless.
Today’s Sales Professional: Trusted Advisor
The best salespeople today aren’t mere product-pushers. They’re trusted advisors. They’re the person a client calls to sanity-check a new market entry. They’re the sounding board for industry gossip.
That trust is earned not by being the smoothest closer in the room, but by being well-read, articulate, and genuinely interested in the wider world. The kind of person who reads the best books for sales and keeps a finger on the pulse of current affairs.
Three Top Tips for Reading (Without Feeling Like Homework)
- Read a chapter a day. Don’t pressure yourself into “a book a week.” Ten minutes with your morning coffee adds up to twelve books a year. That’s a PhD in customer conversations.
- Mix and match. Alternate between the best books for sales (like Oversubscribed) and completely unrelated genres—novels, biographies, travel writing. Variety fuels both creativity and credibility.
- Steal with pride. Highlight quotes, metaphors, and nuggets of insight. Slip them into pitches and conversations. Suddenly, you’re not just selling—you’re sparking conversations worth remembering.
So, the next time someone insists success is all about “perfecting your pitch,” smile politely and slide them a copy of Oversubscribed.
Because the real secret? Salespeople who read aren’t just closing deals—they’re opening doors.