Coaching Success · Reading with purpose

Sales & Marketing Books

← Joel’s Business Library

For owners and sales leaders who want to understand customers, communicate value and make growth more repeatable. Choose a book for the part of the customer journey that needs attention.

10 selections · Reading notes from Coaching Success · Updated September 2026

Start with one book. Choose the situation closest to your own, try the suggested action and review what you learn. The exercises are original application prompts from Coaching Success, rather than quotations from the books.

Three places to start

01

Cover of SPIN Selling

SPIN Selling

Neil Rackham

Best for: Salespeople handling considered purchases and complex conversations.

Reading notes & one action to try

Why it belongs on this shelf

Better discovery can reveal the problem a customer actually wants to solve. Read this for the structure of the conversation and the discipline of understanding consequences before jumping to a product explanation.

Try this

Review a recent sales call. Write three questions that would have helped you understand the customer’s problem and its impact more clearly.

Keep in mind

Adapt to the purchase and the person; a framework should not make a conversation feel like an interrogation.

02

Getting Everything You Can Out of All You’ve Got

Jay Abraham

Best for: Owners overlooking opportunities in existing customer relationships.

Reading notes & one action to try

Why it belongs on this shelf

This encourages attention to the value already present in a business: customers, relationships, knowledge and ways of serving people better. It connects naturally to examining repeat business and customer value alongside finding new leads.

Try this

Choose one customer group you already serve well. Identify a useful follow-up or complementary service, and test the idea with three customers before promoting it.

Keep in mind

An extra offer should solve a real need. More transactions are not the same as more customer value.

03

Cover of Contagious

Contagious

Jonah Berger

Best for: Marketers trying to understand why people share an idea.

Reading notes & one action to try

Why it belongs on this shelf

Word of mouth is easier to discuss when you examine the reasons someone would pass something on. Use the book to sharpen the practical or emotional relevance of your message, not merely to chase attention.

Try this

Ask three customers what they would tell a colleague about your business. Compare their words with the message on your website.

Keep in mind

No set of ingredients guarantees that a campaign will spread. Test with a real audience.

Explore the rest of the shelf

04

Cover of The Ultimate Sales Letter

The Ultimate Sales Letter

Dan S. Kennedy

Best for: Owners improving a sales page, letter or direct response message.

Reading notes & one action to try

Why it belongs on this shelf

A persuasive message begins with the reader’s priorities. The useful discipline is to connect a specific problem, a credible explanation and a clear next step without expecting the audience to do the translation.

Try this

Rewrite the opening paragraph of one sales message around the customer’s problem. Remove a claim you cannot support and clarify the next action.

Keep in mind

Use truthful, proportionate claims and avoid artificial urgency; effectiveness should not come at the cost of trust.

05

Cover of To Sell Is Human

To Sell Is Human

Daniel H. Pink

Best for: People whose work involves influencing, explaining and gaining commitment.

Reading notes & one action to try

Why it belongs on this shelf

Selling extends beyond a job title. This broadens the discussion to how people help others consider a change, making it useful for managers, consultants and owners who would not describe themselves as salespeople.

Try this

Think of one proposal that stalled. Rewrite it from the other person’s viewpoint: what changes, what improves and what concern remains?

Keep in mind

Understanding another person is more useful than treating every interaction as a transaction.

06

Cover of Quantum Marketing

Quantum Marketing

Raja Rajamannar

Best for: Marketing leaders questioning familiar assumptions in a changing environment.

Reading notes & one action to try

Why it belongs on this shelf

This is a prompt to revisit how marketing choices connect to the experience of the customer. Use the wider perspective to ask which established activities still deserve attention and which need evidence of their value.

Try this

List your three main marketing activities. For each, write the customer behaviour it is intended to influence and how you know whether that happens.

Keep in mind

Technology examples age quickly; verify any platform or tool recommendation against current conditions.

07

Never Split the Difference

Chris Voss & Tahl Raz

Best for: Owners and managers preparing for difficult negotiations.

Reading notes & one action to try

Why it belongs on this shelf

Listening closely and understanding the other party’s perspective can change the quality of a negotiation. The book is useful for slowing the rush to argue your position before you have understood the concern behind theirs.

Try this

Before a negotiation, list the other party’s likely concerns. Prepare one open question that helps them explain what matters most.

Keep in mind

High-stakes negotiation stories are not a script for every relationship. Preserve trust and adapt the approach to the context.

08

Cover of Little Red Book of Selling

Little Red Book of Selling

Jeffrey Gitomer

Best for: Salespeople working on credibility, value and consistency.

Reading notes & one action to try

Why it belongs on this shelf

The selection puts attention on the person doing the selling as well as the offer. It is useful when the next improvement is clearer value, stronger preparation or a more reliable follow-up habit.

Try this

Replace one generic claim in your pitch with a concrete, supportable example of customer value. Ask a colleague whether it is convincing.

Keep in mind

Confidence cannot compensate for a poor fit between the offer and the customer’s needs.

09

Cover of This Is Marketing

This Is Marketing

Seth Godin

Best for: Owners clarifying who they want to serve.

Reading notes & one action to try

Why it belongs on this shelf

Starting with the people you seek to help can make marketing decisions more coherent. This is useful when a business is trying to appeal to everyone and its message has become difficult for anyone to recognise as relevant.

Try this

Describe a specific customer group, the change they want and why your offer fits. Remove one audience from your message if you cannot serve it well.

Keep in mind

A narrow focus is a strategic choice to test, not a reason to ignore the economics of the market.

10

Cover of Building a StoryBrand

Building a StoryBrand

Donald Miller

Best for: Businesses whose website makes the customer work too hard.

Reading notes & one action to try

Why it belongs on this shelf

Clear messaging helps a reader understand the problem you address and the next step available. Read this alongside your homepage: an internal description of the company is not always a useful explanation for a prospective customer.

Try this

Ask someone unfamiliar with your business to look at the homepage briefly. Can they explain what you offer, who it helps and what to do next?

Keep in mind

A tidy message still needs an offer you can deliver and evidence that makes the promise credible.

Turn reading into progress

Pick one idea, one action and one date to review it. For a related perspective, explore Niche.

Explore ProfitCLUB

These notes help you choose and apply a book; they are not substitutes for the complete work. You can borrow or buy the edition that suits you. Choose the ideas that fit your circumstances and test them thoughtfully.

Browse all six reading sections