When you understand the power of a great prospecting strategy, you’re always looking for techniques to get better at it.
If you feel like you’ve exhausted your resources, we may just have something you haven’t tried yet.
Books.
That’s right, in this article we’re kickin’ it old school by recommending and reviewing some of the best books on B2B sales prospecting.
Some are newer, some are classics, and some dive deep into specific niches.
Whether you’re a sales leader or on the ground selling day in and day out, we’re sure you’ll find something on this reading list that will reignite your passion and spur your productivity when it comes to prospecting.
First Up: Revisiting Sales Prospecting
Before we stick into the best reading on the topic, we want to quickly brush up on the concept of B2B prospecting to make sure all our readers are on the same page (pun intended!).
Whereas leads are pretty much any potential customer for your company, prospects are qualified leads — meaning you have reason to believe they’re a great fit because of their behavior or role. And, that they’re in a good place to purchase your product or service.
Because prospects are further down the sales funnel, they typically fall under the purview of sales teams, versus marketing.
So a huge part of being a sales development representative (SDR) or even a small business owner or early-stage founder is identifying, engaging with, and converting prospects.
Why is the act of prospecting in particular so central to sales?
Let’s discuss.
Why Conduct Sales Prospecting?
Prospecting is a vital piece of the sales puzzle because it can help with three very important things:
👀 Getting you in front of more qualified eyeballs
🔬 Crafting hyper-personalized messaging that lands
🏎️ Revving up the revenue engine
Create Better Personalized Sales Messaging
The more you know about each potential customer’s needs and pain points, the more you can tailor your pitch and your offer in a way that’s irresistible.
This is called personalization.
And it’s important because the vast majority of customers are more likely to purchase from companies that personalize the experience directly to them.
This is why it’s pivotal to think of prospecting as a way to gather information while you build relationships — not as a hard and fast sales tool.
Get in Front of Way More Potential Buyers
This is pretty cool — the RAIN Group Center for Sales Research found in their Top Performance in Sales Prospecting report that salespeople who rank as “top performers” at prospecting generate 300% more meetings compared to low performers.
When you consider that sales will always be at least partially a numbers game, there’s no denying that prospecting is a way to be successful at sales.
Arrive at Revenue Rapidly
The truth is it’s nearly always more likely you’ll close a sale with a prospect than you will with an unqualified lead, no matter the quality of your pitch.
Prospecting lays the groundwork for a sales process that is full of ease and speed. Easy and speedy? Sounds like faster time to revenue for companies as well as sales folks who work within some kind of commission model. Win, win!
Pro tip: If you’re interested in even more benefits of prospecting, don’t miss Why Is Prospecting Important for Effective Selling?
How to do Sales Prospecting (Old School Edition): Reading!
So why don’t more salespeople develop really great sales prospecting plans if it’s so good for their careers — and why don’t more higher-ups coach on it?
Because honestly it can be an arduous task that’s difficult to learn about and navigate without any solid guidance.
So guidance we shall provide.
The following sales books focus on different aspects of prospecting, and many of them come complete with actual tactics you can put into place and measure to see how you’re improving.
Our hope is that you will walk away from this article with a list of books you’re excited to read that help you improve your prospecting skills and workflows.
Ready to read?
All-Time Essential Sales Prospecting Books
Chances are you’ve heard of the books and/or authors in this section.
That’s on purpose.
Some books and strategies are so fundamental to sales and prospecting that they stand the test of time and continue to hold their own against new releases.
If you’re new to reading books on sales, we’d start with any of these.
Zig Ziglar’s Secrets of Closing the Sale: For Anyone Who Must Get Others to Say Yes!
Author: Zig Ziglar
First released in the ‘80s, Secrets of Closing the Sale is a true classic in sales and prospecting.
This book remains relevant after all this time by focusing on a core idea: Understanding the human nature and psychology behind why people buy is key to ensuring success in sales.
And there’s another belief underscored throughout his writing, which is that the best selling strategies revolve around helping clients meet their needs, not convincing them of what they need.
Among its many nuggets of wisdom are tips on how to create persuasive presentations, build trust, identify buying signals, and deal effectively with price resistance — all skills crucial for any salesperson.
Many themes from Secrets of Closing the Sale still echo strongly today amidst some of the modern prospecting books we’ll discuss later.
How to Win Friends and Influence People
Author: Dale Carnegie
Also from the ‘80s, How to Win Friends and Influence People has become iconic.
Though not strictly a sales book, it’s become critical to the list of the best books on modern prospecting because of its messages on human communication and relationship building.
A fundamental lesson from Carnegie is this: Become genuinely interested in other people. Layered among it are related tips on fostering relationships, understanding other perspectives, and resolving differences — all of which are important in the setting of B2B prospecting.
Dale Carnegie’s book may help sales folks bring everyday communication skills into their professional work for more empathetic but still effective sales.
SPIN Selling
Author: Neil Rackham
In the realm of sales books, SPIN Selling stands out for its analytical and research-based approach.
Rackham conducted years of research to develop his revolutionary selling method. The acronym “SPIN” that they developed in the ‘80s reflects the four categories of questions that Rackham found most effective for developing a consultative sales-prospect relationship: situation, problem, implication, and need-payoff.
At the time, it helped revolutionize cold calling and sales processes by suggesting that successful selling isn’t about pushing customers but about becoming an essential solution provider for them.
High-Profit Prospecting: Powerful Strategies to Find the Best Leads and Drive Breakthrough Sales Results
Author: Mark Hunter
While this publication from Mark Hunter isn’t as old as the others (originally published in 2016), it does focus on classic strategies that shouldn’t be forgotten as the internet age progresses.
In this book, the author offers readers strategies for finding high-quality prospects and turning them into profitable customers — including both tried-and-true and innovative approaches to cold calling.
The author emphasizes that new sales largely start with efficient prospecting, which in turn starts with identifying potential buyers who are genuinely interested or in need of your offering.
Something that sets this sales book apart is its focus on practical insights and calls to action. No matter how experienced you are in sales — chances are if you actively engage in this book you’ll actually level up your prospecting game.
Sales Prospecting Books on Cold Calling
One of the secrets behind successful prospecting is educated cold calling — with the intent of gathering intel and building relationships, not making a hard pitch right out of the gate, of course.
Although calling a stranger for the first time may be intimidating for many salespeople, when done correctly, it is one of the most effective B2B prospecting strategies available.
Meet the books that will help you become great at it.
Smart Calling: Eliminate the Fear, Failure, and Rejection from Cold Calling
Author: Art Sobczak
Smart Calling provides action-oriented tactics to make your cold calls, well, smarter — aka, more effective all while being less intrusive.
Sobczak starts the sales process before the dialing even starts by placing emphasis on gathering intelligence about prospects so that outreach is always personalized and strategic.
This book helps reframe what is often seen as an intimidating part of the selling process into something manageable and maybe even enjoyable.
Fanatical Prospecting: The Ultimate Guide to Opening Sales Conversations and Filling the Pipeline by Leveraging Social Selling, Telephone, Email, Text, and Cold Calling
Author: Jeb Blount
There is a powerful premise at the center of this sales read: Consistent, maybe even to the point of being fanatical, prospecting is key.
Blount attempts to help readers gain that consistency with tactics, scripts, and formulas to improve various sales tactics from cold calling to social media, email, and beyond. Like many of the books that made it to this list, a great feature of this book is its relentless focus on that kind of actionable advice.
But it doesn’t stop there. To round things out with the psychological approach, the author also explores how our own attitudes and perceptions impact our interactions with prospects, and how to confront those as needed to become more successful.
The Challenger Sale: Taking Control of the Customer Conversation
Authors: Matthew Dixon, Brent Adamson
While it’s not explicitly focused on cold calling, The Challenger Sale may help people in sales overcome some of the anxiety that sales calls can induce by way of its main theme: taking an active, somewhat daring approach with prospects.
The book posits that a challenger in the sales world is a salesperson who brings a new perspective to the sale, addresses money and objections straight on, pushes back when necessary to lead prospects toward a sale — and does it all based on a deep understanding of the pain points of the customer in front of them.
It teaches folks in sales to offer prospects unique insights they might not have considered before, pushing their thinking about how they can solve their problems or improve their situation. This novel methodology offers a compelling argument for proactive problem-solving and value creation — not only engaging with prospects when they already know what they want.
Dixon and Adamson also explore the other four types of salespeople (the hard worker, lone wolf, relationship builder, and problem solver) and how they can become challengers to close more sales and become high performers.
If you’re interested in sales archetypes and seeing what it takes to become a challenger yourself, or create them on your team, check out this popular read.
Ready for more cold calling tips that you can implement today while you’re waiting to receive your fave sales book in the mail? Look no further than our guide to 15 Cold Calling Tips to Boost Your Prospecting.
Sales Prospecting Books by Women
To make sure you get a well-rounded variety of perspectives on sales and prospecting, we present to you a selection of just some of the great books on the topic penned by women.
Agile Selling: Get Up to Speed Quickly in Today’s Ever-Changing Sales World
Author: Jill Konrath
As buyers become more informed and competition more intense, this title from Konrath argues that agility is key to staying ahead and closing deals effectively.
To this end, the author emphasizes the importance of continuous learning and adaptability, and offers tips on how to stay educated and adjust with changing market conditions.
Speed is of course a huge element of agility, so Agile Selling also touches on tactics for getting and staying up to speed as product knowledge and buyer personas shift underneath our feet.
For anyone seeking guidance through the maze of cold calling and other complex dynamics of modern-day selling — Agile Selling could be an invaluable resource.
Predictable Prospecting: How to Radically Increase Your B2B Sales Pipeline
Authors: Marylou Tyler, Jeremey Donovan
This dual-author book outlines an approach for creating and deploying a predictable system that generates high-quality leads.
Always taking the data-backed approach, it also explains how to identify ideal customer profiles by building quantified personas — taking out much of the guesswork associated with prospecting.
Then there are the tactical tips on pipeline management, which are meant to help you understand precisely when and why deals fall apart and how to reduce these losses by optimizing your engagement processes at every stage.
For those interested in taking a studied, analytical, detail-oriented approach — this is your pick.
Prospecting Books That Center The Sales Team
For so many organizations, the sales team is the core of the revenue machine. If it doesn’t run well, neither does the business.
Need to tune up your team?
The tricks are within.
The Sales Acceleration Formula: Using Data, Technology, and Inbound Selling to go from $0 to $100 Million
Author: Mark Roberge
In The Sales Acceleration Formula, a significant highlight is its emphasis on hiring successful salespeople.
Roberge provides an in-depth look at finding the right talent, which is a crucial factor when building a dynamic team capable of effective B2B prospecting.
The author goes on to stress the importance of training and managing teams based on personalized performance metrics, rather than standardized quotas. This concept empowers every member of the sales team to become a contributor in sales acceleration — boosting morale, impact, and efficiency.
The Sales Acceleration Formula should be on the bookshelf of every sales leader who wants to build and scale successful sales teams.
New Sales. Simplified.: The Essential Handbook for Prospecting and New Business Development
Author: Mike Weinberg
As its subtitle would indicate, New Sales. Simplified. is an instructive guide that takes readers through contemporary prospecting techniques that are easy to grasp yet highly effective.
We appreciate how the book breaks down complex aspects, carving out a clear roadmap for those keen on enhancing their prospecting skills.
Weinberg’s approach is direct. Their writing presents readers with an uncomplicated framework which focuses squarely on how to identify prospects and then engage them effectively.
If it’s the essential elements of selling that you wish to master all in one place, pick up this book.
Take Sales Prospecting Digital with Datanyze
Yes, reading some of the best sales books on the market is an effective tool for boosting your prospecting approach and success.
But if you’re looking for something digital, or even supplemental, Datanyze can connect you with B2B prospects in just a few minutes and clicks.
With millions of B2B contacts and data points in our database, enriching prospects has never been simpler or faster than with Datanyze. And remember, speed like that is critical to business and sales rep success.
When Datanyze is enabled in Google Chrome, your days spent prospecting with LinkedIn will be more effective than ever.
When you find a business that fits perfectly into your target market, use the Datanyze Chrome Extension — no new page or tool to jump to — to find every employee on LinkedIn as well as information that will help you qualify and build a connection with them.
Build prospect lists, organize them using advanced tagging, and even export them into your CRM so you can dive right into nurturing and closing deals.
Datanyze offers all of this for affordable and simple pricing as well as a free 90-day trial.
The art of reading is an excellent one for growing your sales skill set. To hit the ground running and bring all those prospecting skills you’re learning to life today, take it online with Datanyze.
