#30: 4 Sales Books Every Startup Founder Should Read

Read time: 3 min

Today, I’m going to discuss 4 books I believe every founder should read, and why.

Those of you who know me, know that I am not a big advocate of sales or business books. Most are garbage. However, there are quite a few nuggets you have to sift through — but once you find them they can have a massive lift on your mental and operational game.

The goal of this issue is to discuss them.

“If you want to make the wrong decision, ask everyone.”

~Naval Ravikant

Let’s take a look at the 4 books. I’m going to classify them in 4 categories.

1. Sales / persuasion

2. Identifying problems

3. Self Inquiry

4. Psychology

Sales / Persuasion
Hands down the best book written on the topic is “Influence,” by Robert Cialdini. The book is based on the work of Robert Cialdini who is/was a social psychologist at Stanford. He did a study over several years on how the best salespeople are able to influence and persuade people to say yes to buying products and services. He ultimately boiled these influence and persuasion techniques down to six principles. This is a must read for anyone in business. I read this book deep into my career and was blown away by how true it was, and how, without consciously knowing I incorporated these principles into my selling framework.

Identifying Problems
My recommendation here would be a “$100 Offers,” by Alex Hormozi. This is one of the books I wanted to hate, simply because of the clickbait / spammy title. It was recommended to me numerous times by people who were both very successful and I respected, so I bit the bullet and bought it. I’m so glad I did. It’s an incredible book filled with nuggets on how to identify problems when thinking about building products, and how to structure offers and sales in a way where you eliminate a lot of the friction in the buying journey. Every startup founder, especially at the pre-product level should read this book. You will learn a ton and cut your learning curve in half.

Self Inquiry
A book that has had a profound impact on my life is, “The Body Keeps The Score,” by Bessel Van Der Kolk. The book discusses the effects of trauma on the body and how it is stored in both our mind and physical body. It shares different ways trauma can impact mental and physical health, and various therapeutic approaches and techniques that can help you overcome trauma. Why this book? Because as an Entrepreneur you need to understand where your holes exist, and recognizing the impacts trauma can have on you, and how that can contribute and make you a better leader with higher emotional intelligence (EQ). This is imperative.

Psychology
If you want to understand sales, don’t study sales, study human psychology. Understanding why people do what they do is fascinating. Understanding people’s limited beliefs and wrong thinking, and how people justify these limited beliefs is how you get good at selling. A book that examines this deeply is, “Mistakes Were Made But Not By Me,” by Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson. The book discusses the psychology of self-justification and cognitive dissonance. The theme is how people tend to rationalize their own mistakes and justify their actions, even when faced with evidence that contradicts their beliefs. The goal of a discovery call is to identify a lot of this and educate them throughout the process and convey what life will look like after using your product.

All four recommendations aren’t your traditional sales books, but as discussed throughout the issue, sales is not about selling it’s about studying and understanding human behavior. They’re all terrific at helping you do so.



That’s it for today folks.

See you all next week!

Darren

P.S. If you’re ready to level up you can book a call with me here.