What are some of the best books, resources and training available for direct B2B sales?

"Spin Selling" by Nei...

I know you're looking for books on sales... But I will offer you another approach. I think that the best thing you can be doing for your sales team (if you're about to build one) is to make sure that you have totally understood your market segment (your customer sweet spot); have totally understood what prospects in the segment consider their pain point (related to your solution); have totally understood how your prospects want to be marketed to and through what marketing channels; and that you totally understand how your prospects would want to buy and deploy your product. If you can't answer these questions, then you have a market segmentation issue you need to address asap. In that case, here's the list of books I suggest you stock up on: - Start with my blog post on the topic for a quick read http://bit.ly/c06yJP - Jeffrey Moore's "Crossing the Chasm" is a basic must read - Inspired by Marty Cagan to understand how best to get organize a product management function that is customer focused - The Art of Product Management by Rich Mironov for more tidbits For pure sales process books, you may want to read up on solution selling. There's a bunch of books on the topic http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solution_selling Ultimately, all the sales process books are the same... They all have slight variations on methodologies. Good luck.

I'm not really a sales-person, but rather an entrepreneur with a technology background, who is working on learning just enough salesmanship to get a startup over the hump, until we hire real sales professionals.  But based on my learning and experience to date, some books that seem like good options include: Influence by Robert Cialdini The New Solution Selling by Keith M. Eades The Ultimate Sales Machine by Chet Holmes SPIN Selling by Neil Rackham Conversations That Win The Complex Sale by Erik Peterson Mastering The Complex Sale by Jeff Thull Exceptional Selling by Jeff Thull The Prime Solution by Jeff Thull The Challenger Sale by Matthew Dixon Selling To the C-Suite by Nicholas Read A Seat At The Table by Marc Miller Getting To VITO (The Very Important Top Officer) by Anthony Parinello Selling To VITO (The Very Important Top Officer) by Anthony Parinello Five Minutes With VITO by David Mattson

The sales profession has changed tremendously in the past decade. Buyers who once had time to discuss their problems now expect sales professionals to already know and understand those problems before they arrive. More importantly, these buyers will only listen to and buy from salespeople who can provide them with solutions that are both convincing and workable. The New Solution Selling shows you how to apply a proven methodology and approach. The result is a logical and practical process for sales success. You will improve both your productivity and your organizational return on investment. This important book features: Completely updated Solution Selling philosophies, management systems, and architecture for today’s environment New tools designed to increase the quality and velocity of sales pipeline opportunities Improved methods for overcoming the situation when your product is not your buyer’s first choice New techniques for dramatically improving your prospecting accuracy and success Effective strategies for shifting an organization’s focus from selling products to selling solutions The original edition of Solution Selling changed the face of selling by transforming the rules for one-to-one selling. The New Solution Selling comprehensively updates this proven effective approach for winning business with today’s no-nonsense markets and buyers. A practical guide designed to provide hands-on value to salespeople as well as sales managers and executives. Learn how to: Understand your buyers, their situations and their needs Supply mutually defined solutions to your customers’ recognized problems Ensure "Eagle" sales performance that can be measured and replicated

Just to get you covered on books look at this thread: When it comes to training i highly recommend that you will find people who has already done what are you want to do and talk to them. If you will ask right questions then you will get answers that will get you further. There is no better training than been-there-done-that stuff. Stay awesome!

Some of my favorites: http://www.saleshacker.com/ http://predictablerevenue.com/ by Aaron Ross http://www.jillkonrath.com/ http://asalesguy.com/ Anything by Malcolm Gladwell http://www.insidesales.com/Our content made at HubSpot: http://www.hubspot.com/sales/sales-training?utm_source=social-media&utm_campaign=quora-exp&utm_medium=referral http://blog.hubspot.com/salesHope this helps!

All sales books borrow from each other. "How to master the Art of Sales" by Tom Hopkins is my favorite. The best resource for any company trying to increase revenue, whether that company has A VP of Sales or not, is to regularly have an independant sales expert to assess the revenue generation efforts (Yes, shameless plug) and develop/implement a revenue generation action plan not limited to just books and training.

The Challenger Sale by Mathew Dixon probably one of the most important modern day sales books and Predictable Revenue: Turn Your Business Into a Sales Machine with the $100 Million Best Practices of http://Salesforce.com by Aaron Ross