Resources

Shekhar Varma, managing partner at SDV Training, says: Challenging Coaching by John Blakey and Ian Day contains very useful models and ideas for anyone who coaches the sales force, and Resonate, by Nancy Duarte is a brilliant book about making presentations and storytelling.” He adds: “Although out of print, Neil Rackham’s Account Strategy For Major Sales is still an unrivalled… 

Andy Buck, Sales and Marketing Director at CPM (UK) recommends two books he describes as “priceless”. He explains: The Hidden Agenda by Kevin Allen, one of the original Mad Men, is a go-to book for me on a regular basis. Allen’s whole concept of knowing the clients’ credo and shaping the story give you a real competitive edge when approaching… 

Dr Philip Squire, CEO at Consalia says: “The one book that provoked my early interest in sales was How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie, published in 1936. It’s still a good read today.” He also mentions The Trusted Advisor by David Maister, Charles Green and Robert Galford; Global Account Management Creating Value by David Hennessey and… 

Carl Day, Sales Director at Toshiba TEC UK Imaging Systems singled out Cracking the Sales Management Code by Jason Jordan and Michelle Vazzana, which he read as part of the core reading in his latest Masters module. He says: “While it has split opinion in our group it is a good reminder of all the pointless things we do in… 

These pages aim to keep readers informed of recent published research on sales-related topics, by including abstracts of a selection of peer-reviewed academic material published in a range of journals. We have grouped them in the following broad themes: sales performance; customer management; capability development; behavioural studies; leadership; and systems and processes. Sales Performance “Salespeople as knowledge brokers: a review…