The Psychology of Selling

What Hacker News says

1. 1659447091Dec 2025
   Having spent some time in outbound sales (after tech burn-out), the most important aspect (as many comments say) is "relationships". The best training for that is to go out and make them. We had sales training every single day, so it's really not something you can pick up a book or go to a weekend class and walk away being effective. That said, books and classes are a good way to find your footing.

   Never Eat Alone - Keith Ferrazzi (networking & relationship building)

   Never Sit in the Lobby - Glenn Poulos (sales & relationships)

   Getting to Yes - Roger Fisher (negotiation, particularly "principled negotiation")

   The Joy of Selling - Steve Chandler

   The Psychology of Selling - Brian Tracy

   In one of our quarterly division training, our office manager gave us Dale Carnegie How to Win Friends and Influence People and were told if we learned nothing else, to study that book.

   It's been over a decade since my sales time, but the 2 sales techniques I haven't forgotten are: "selling ins't telling" and "feel, felt, found". As you can imagine, they are about relating to people, not giving technical/spec speeches.

   It's something you have to practice everyday, make sales a part of your job title -- not simply something you do on top of running the company. An integrated layer no different than other software maintenance task, except the maintenance is the relationships with people you want to sell to.

   For any other tech types that may someday find they need sales skills, I highly recommend actual job experience in outbound sales (with a company that provides frequent sales training). It was a massive culture shock that gave me the professional people and relationship skills I struggled with.

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2. amit9guptaSep 2020
   The audible book: The Psychology of Selling - The Art of Closing Sales, by Brian Tracy, is very good in helping overcome the fear that some of us might have before the sales call/meeting, handling the rejections, and moulding your approach/attitude towards selling. There are many more great tips in this book. Recommend the audible, not the print.
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3. jkuriaJan 2018
   Sales: The very best books/resources on the subject are:

   1. The Ultimate Sales Machine by Chet Holmes 2. Zig Ziglar's The Secrets of Closing the Sale 3. Brian Tracy's The Psychology of Selling

   Copywriting: The 3 Best Books (All out of print):

   1. Tested Advertising Methods by John Caples 2. Scientific Advertising by Claude Hopkins 3. Breakthrough Advertising by Eugene Schwartz

   If I could add a fourth it would be: 4. The Ultimate Sales Letter by Dan Kennedy

   If you want to get even deeper, here is a longer list:

   https://capitalandgrowth.org/questions/627/what-are-some-goo...

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4. brnd4nDec 2017
   Listen to the Psychology of Selling by Brian Tracy. Best sales training I've material I've seen. There's a book too but skip that and get the CD set.
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