10 Social Selling Books To Help You Close Deals in Digital

Social selling is a powerful weapon in the modern sales professional’s arsenal, and many are debating if digital prospecting beats old-school methods like cold calling. The truth is, social selling is a vital component of any digital sales strategy. Millennial customers in particular are on social media in droves, and stats show they are also the most likely generation to buy from brands they follow.

Modern sales professionals must be fluent in social media, but for this they need training. You can obviously look to social selling courses and training, but for your solo study sessions we’ve made a list of the best social selling books to help you master the art of the tweet.

Social Selling Mastery: Scaling Up Your Sales and Marketing Machine for the Digital Buyer

Jamie Shanks

“Social Selling Mastery” teaches the art of creating and nurturing one-to-one relationships with your potential customers. It also shows the means to reach customers online, where they are often doing their due diligence. The book will teach you how to reach ad engage customers online, provide value and insight and develop the relationships that lead to sales.

Jamie Shanks, CEO of Sales for Life, has built social selling strategies and training for companies like Microsoft, Intel, Xerox, Sprint, Oracle and many more and is established as one of the most respected voices in the realm of social networks. He also revealed the 5 must-have skills for social sellers on an XANT virtual summit a couple of years ago, you can see what these are here.

Sales for Life also offers social selling training and certification, in case you want to take the course.

Social Selling: Techniques to Influence Buyers and Changemakers

Tim Hughes and Matt Reynolds

Social Selling by Tim Hughes and Matt Reynolds provides a practical, step-by-step guide for developing online communities, as well as building relationships and trust online. It has everything you need for social selling strategy, investment models, as well as technology platforms. The book also has tips, checklists and examples to make it easier to understand digital selling.

The authors, Tim Hughes and Matt Reynolds, are founders of Social Sales Lounge, providing social selling coaching and training.

 

Fanatical Prospecting: The Ultimate Guide to Opening Sales Conversations and Filling the Pipeline by Leveraging Social Selling, Telephone, Email, Text, and Cold Calling

Jeb Blount

Successful sales professionals work their prospecting muscle constantly, and social selling is just one part of this effort. “Fanatical prospecting” by Jeb Blount offers a guide to all sales channels, with social media being first on the list. The book reveals five secrets of social selling that will allow you to build better relationships, faster.

Jeb Blount of Sales Gravy has 25 years of experience with Fortune 500 companies, SMBs, and start-ups. He a skilled advisor on the impact of emotional intelligence and interpersonal skills on sales, leadership and customer experience.

Jeb has also been a guest on the XANT Playmakers Podcast, so you can hear his musings on successful prospecting here.

Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy Social World

Gary Vaynerchuck

“Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook” is a guide to fine-tuning your social media strategy so that you bring down resistance from your customer and knock out your competition. Gary offers a blueprint on creating sales content which is perfectly adapted to social network channels. He also offers tips on how to adapt your content to the context of communication in order to land that much-coveted sale.

Gary Vaynerchuk is a four-time New York Times best selling author and social media expert. After growing his family wine business from a $4 million to a $60 million business, he developed and now runs VaynerMedia digital agency.

Successful Social Selling

Matt Heinz

“Successful Social Selling” offers a mix of strategies, tactics and tools for finding qualified prospects and conversion opportunities on social media. The book educates on identifying buying signals and organizing information in the social media landscape for building pipeline easily.

Matt Heinz, president of Heinz Marketing Inc, is a keynote speaker, author and host of Sales Pipeline Radio. Matt has over 15 years of experience in marketing, business development and sales experience. He helps clients focus their business on market and customer opportunities.

The LinkedIn Sales Playbook: A Tactical Guide to Social Selling

Brynne Tillman

The LinkedIn Sales Playbook by Brynne Tillman offers a guide for salespeople to understand social media and its link to traditional selling. It offers tactics for lead generation, connecting with targeted buyers, warm introductions, nurturing prospects and converting more connections to phone calls.

Brynne Tillman is an expert on social selling and is Chief Learning Officer for Vengreso, the social selling company. She specializes in helping businesses and entrepreneurs with digital sales strategies, tactics, and tools. She can also help with personal branding, social selling training, and content for sales.

If you want to hear Brynne’s thoughts on building pipeline with LinkedIn Sales Navigator, listen to our Playmakers Podcast.

The LinkedIn Code: Unlock the largest online business social network to get leads, prospects & clients for B2B, professional services and sales & marketing pros

Melonie Dodaro

It’s ideal that a seller has a good foundation of working with all social networks. However, mastering LinkedIn specifically is vital to B2B selling. Stats show that LinkedIn is by far the most effective lead generation channel of them all. This is why we’ve included another book which specializes on LinkedIn social selling on our list.

“The LinkedIn Code” from Melonie Dodaro is a great training resource for social sellers. It shows why LinkedIn is not just another social network, and how to tap into the opportunities it offers. Salespeople can learn how to connect and build rapport with hundreds of potential customers.

Melonie Dodaro is the CEO of Top Dog Social Media and regarded worldwide as a leading expert on LinkedIn marketing and social selling. If you like The LinkedIn Code, check out her other book as well – LinkedIn Unlocked.

27 LinkedIn Inside Sales Tips

Ken Krogue and Jamie Shanks

In 2012, XANT co-founder Ken Krogue partnered with Sales for Life CEO Jamie Shanks and wrote the popular eBook, 42 LinkedIn Inside Sales Tips. More than 52,000 sales and marketing leaders have downloaded this powerful resource.

The updated version of the eBook has the latest social selling secrets.

Amp Up Your Sales: Powerful Strategies That Move Customers to Make Fast, Favorable Decisions

Andy Paul

“Amp Up Your Sales” is a great guide for social sellers when customers are overloaded with information. The book shows how you can become a valuable consultant, rather than just another salesperson. Learn how to guide a potential customers to a purchase that will address their needs, even if you’re only chatting on social.

Andy Paul, the author, is a reputed keynote speaker and advisor and hosts the Accelerate podcast for professionals looking to increase profitability and growth.

 

The Art of Social Selling: Finding and Engaging Customers on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Other Social Networks

Shannon Belew

“The Art of Social Selling” is another guide for sales professionals looking to engage with prospects in digital. Sales reps can learn how to work with content and conversations and execute sales strategies for each social media platform. The book also reveals how to leverage social trends that might influence their buyers. The book also includes chapters on how to track influencers or closing a deal on mobile.

The author has over 20 years of experience in sales, marketing and Public Relations she has worked in industries ranging from national franchises in the restaurant and retail industries to start-ups and mature companies in the high-tech and space & defense sectors.

Hope this helps you get started with social selling. Let us know what other social selling resources and training you have found useful!

If you want to know how the old-school tactic of cold calling squares up against digital prospecting, join the webinar with Mario Martinez and Gabe Larsen.