There is no book on this list that I recommend more often than this book from Guy Kawasaki. Since I work with so many engineers, inventors and entrepreneurs—all of which want to know how to sell their “killer app”—Art of the Start lays out all the fundamental principles needed for getting the Killer App off the ground.

Because of all of the terrific Guy has done for start-ups, I am grateful for his [huge] endorsement of my book, The Marketing-Playbook.

For additional reference, I encourage you to subscribe to Guy’s blog, blog.guykawasaki.com

All marketers and sales people need to remember that it's almost impossible to convince someone to change their mind. However, it's much easier to tell compelling stories that people can relate to. Call it preaching to the choir or reaching your "base," Seth has created the formula for solid messaging that simply, works!

I have a first edition of this book and still find myself referencing it often. I remember getting not long after my MBA and wondering why I didn’t learn this stuff in school. It’s really a straightforward read and recommend that any marketer have copy in their library.

This is a copy of the review I posted on Amazon for John Warrillow’s book: Drilling For Gold: How Corporations Can Successfully Market to Small Businesses

If you’re selling to small and midsize businesses (there are 27 million of them in the U.S. and Canada) this is a very important book to own. Devour it.

Here’s the secret to this book and John Warrillow’s success: Research. Not someone else’s research. Not a rehashed or reworked version of a previously published work. No, Warrillow gets his own facts and draws conclusions for us (the readers) from these facts alone. No skillful contrivance to get us to believe something that isn’t true. This book is the real deal.

So that’s the foundation. What do we learn from the book? Well for starters, we first learn there really isn’t a “small business market.” For me, it was like finding out there wasn’t a Santa Claus. How he came to that conclusion is obvious (once you read the book, that is). We also learn about Mountain Climbers, Freedom Fighters and Craftspeople—their motivations and how to target them.

But Warrillow doesn’t stop there. He gives us the words and the guidelines for reaching out to small businesses. He also goes out of his way to tell us how not to talk to small business owners. I liken it to advising a friend how to avoid putting their foot in their mouth. You get the idea John is one of us—someone who’s on our side who wants to prevent us from doing something embarrassing (like something that could be career-limiting).

And that’s just the first half of the book. The second half is just as deep and pragmatic. The discussion of aggregators and networking, alone, is worth the price of the book.

If you’re selling to small businesses—pick this book up and keep it within an arm’s reach.

Ever read an illustrated sales coaching book? Well, this is one that gives you all the pictures and diagrams to guide your thinking. Great read, especially for engineers turned into sales people (like me!).

This is the ultimate reference for good copywriting.

Grab your reader’s attention by telling them what they stand to lose—not by what they stand to gain. It’s Aspirin vs. Vitamins, folks, and people are much more likely to take action when they believe they have something to lose by not giving you the business.

Like my other Robert B. Cialdini recommendation, this audio gives you the scoop on connecting with customers through a message of loss vs. gain.

In Play K-01: Customer Testimonials I specifically make reference to Creating Customer Evangelists: How Loyal Customers Become a Volunteer Sales Force.

All too often we’re consumed with winning new clients and forget to properly care and feed our existing customers, many of whom would love to recommend us to their friends.

Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba outline a six-point process that any company, even companies with one employee, can put in place to gain an evergreen forest of prospects. It’s no wonder that people like Guy Kawasaki and Jay Conrad Levinson endorsed the book.

This is a very quick-read and worthy of your time once you’ve mastered the basic skills and gotten over the jitters of getting up in front of an audience. There are some real nuggets in this book.

This is the book I said should be purchased in a box-set with mine. It’s all about having the right strategy and carrying it out into your customer profile and then applying that discipline to your customer database.

Here’s a classic text on high tech sales, written by Ken Pedersen. He tells you how to create your own Sales Toolkit, very similar to my Marketing Playbook concept. I had the opportunity to meet with Ken last year…great guy. There are gems of wisdom in this book. Things like proposal writing and preparing for your first telephone call. Never goes out of style.