SEO is one of the most in-demand businesses right now. Establishments and companies of all sizes are cramming to set up online stores left and right. After setting up shop, they’re all gradually seeing the value of investing in SEO services. That’s the reason starting an SEO business is turning out to be a logical and smart move for many entrepreneurs.
Still, selling SEO seems to be a challenging endeavor for most agencies. Why is that? Well, it boils down to two reasons: 1. You have a lot of competition in the market 2. Although more people see the value of SEO, most prospects still ask ‘what is SEO?‘ and you need to know how to pitch SEO services to them effectively.
If you’ve felt overwhelmed or frustrated thinking of ways on how to sell SEO effectively, you’re not alone. Many entrepreneurs have come across this challenge before. For most of your customers, SEO is a fairly new concept. You know why it’s important, you know it’s value to a business, however, some of your future clients don’t know what you know– yet. That is a challenge.
The good thing is you now have resources, and from the most respected names in the industry too. A lot of millionaires, heck, even billionaires, have gone through where you are right now. The good news is, they’ve written all about their own experiences in detail and how they overcame problems.
There are a ton of SEO online courses, SEO blogs, articles, videos on it, but most still go for books. Successful people and high achievers tend to be readers because they tend to aim for constant self-improvement. Most successful people are also mentors at heart and for this reason, many write books to share how they got to where they are.
Here are the top 7 sales books that are worth reading when it comes to guiding you in your sales journey. These books were written by successful entrepreneurs who have gone through pretty much every challenge you’re going through right now and will be going through in the future.
These will straighten out your perspective, provide you a psychological angle in approaching your sales strategy, and will shorten the time you need to close deals, leading to more productive days selling.
Excited? Let’s get started.
1.The Little Red Book of Selling by Jeffrey Gitomer
Jeffrey Gitomer has a way of spicing things up in a way that everyone just gets. If you’re new to sales or you need to relearn the art of sales, this book is a must-read. Also called the ‘King of Sales’, Jeffrey Gitomer wrote this book to educate while keeping it brutally honest and straightforward. The in-depth 12.5 Principle coupled with the very visual storytelling will keep you turning the pages.
Creative, no BS while teaching tried and tested advice, it’s a great read for anyone who’s selling SEO or web design services, especially to leads who are not clear on the concept of optimizing a website for search engines. It expounds on selling an idea. It helps to make it easier for you as a salesperson to make those clients who are not aware of their pain points understand the idea of SEO.
This book will inspire you and leave you wanting to sell right after you close the book (or a sale!).
Who is it for:
This is great for those who are just starting an SEO business or s selling SEO services. This book will show you how to get past obstacles like cold leads, dead ends, or dealing with difficult SEO clients. A great read for the entire sales team.
2. The Psychology of Selling by Brian Tracy
How do you set your SEO sales goals and how do you achieve them? Why do people need to buy SEO? What are the keys to success in selling?
This book, from the sales legend himself, will get you the answer to these questions. Brian Tracy is hell-bent in making you understand what goes beyond the methods, techniques, and strategies of selling. The mindset and behavior that will make you re-evaluate yourself and your workflow for a more productive approach. You will get the nitty-gritty details on how to close your SEO lead and turn them into paying clients.
The book explains every aspect of selling, from prospecting, building rapport, developing a keen eye for detecting unspoken needs, right up to presenting, pitching, closing a sale, and turning your lead into your best advocate.
Develop your intuition, know when to offer a free SEO audit to a client, and when to spot the right time to send them an SEO proposal.
Who is it for:
This is a must-read for all sales professionals.
3. No Excuses by Brian Tracy
Success doesn’t come from luck or enormous talent. One doesn’t easily close an SEO client because lady luck was there, success is achieved in a more practical way and a lot less complex than that — through self-discipline.
This book addresses the art of self-discipline and what makes it the key attribute to success. It may come as no surprise to most entrepreneurs but what Brian Tracy skillfully did was go outside the box to demonstrate the factors that influence self-discipline and apply it in different scenarios.
An easy read for a book that gives brilliant advice in the key areas of life (career, finance, leadership, sales, decision-making, courage, happiness, time-management, peace of mind, personal excellence, goals, and more). This is a goldmine for any salesperson who aims for success in all aspects of life.
From the three-percent formula to investing in yourself to persistence, there is just no excuse for you not to read this book.
Who is it for:
If you’ve been selling SEO services for a while or you’re planning to start one and would like to optimize your productivity by breaking down every aspect of your life, then, this book is for you. It’s an impactful read that will remind you or open your eyes to what sets apart successful people from everyone else.
4. Ultimate Sales Machine by Chet Holmes
From the author of the Business Growth Masters Series, Chet Holmes once again shows his sales and marketing prowess in the Ultimate Sales Machine. He starts with focus and how it can blow away both your competition and expectations.
This is a powerful sales book that will show you how to elevate and change areas you want to improve with his clear and practical advice.
You will learn strategies for management, marketing, and sales. The book provides lots of examples from successful people in sales. From improvement strategies, pitching techniques, and those little habits you might not notice you’re doing (but have a huge effect on how you sell SEO) you will learn the difference between how to work on sales and not just in sales.
Even if you’ve read hundreds of sales books, there’s no doubt you will still discover one or more strategies you can use to improve how you sell SEO.
Who is it for:
This book is for SEO professionals or SEO experts who need a new perspective in selling. For those who like to read sales books but want something new, whether it’s a new point of view or a new idea, this one will get you thinking and propel you to act at once.
5. How To Close Every Sale by Joe Girard
How do you make an SEO prospect feel obligated to buy your service?
What do you say when an SEO lead tells you they want to look around for other SEO services?
This book has the answers.
Dubbed as the world’s greatest salesman, Joe Girard writes a full sales guide from shaping up for sales, selling yourself, overcoming procrastination, controlling the sale, different closing techniques to the dangers of overselling. Even though this book was written way before smartphones, or laptops (for that matter), your SEO business will learn a dozen tips from this book. A master of sales, Joe has fluently translated the sales language into thirteen chapters of art.
Who is it for:
Whether you’re a B2C or B2B company selling a range of digital marketing services like local SEO services, web design services, PPC management services and others, this book offers very simple tips and advice that will make you spot those small things which you didn’t realize, were the ones making selling hard for you.
6. Never Split The Difference by Chris Voss
Coming from the mind of a master negotiator, this book will teach you how to gain a competitive edge in any discussion – whether it’s sales or in your personal life.
This book answers some overlooked yet very important questions you should be asking yourself before selling SEO.
How do you talk to people and how do you rate your self-awareness? Do you know enough about SEO services or digital marketing to be able to sell it? How good are you in negotiating? What are the most effective ways for you to get your customers’ trust?
You might be wondering how this book is different from the others you’ve read so far. Well, it’s because of the writer himself. Chris Voss is a leading kidnapping negotiator. He began after his police stint in Kansas City. He then joined the FBI and started his career as a hostage negotiator.
This brought him face-to-face with different criminals, from different backgrounds. Including robbers and terrorists. He then became, FBI’s lead international kidnapping negotiator. Everything he learned from his experience is in this book. He shares nine effective and practical principles you can use to become more persuasive in your SEO sales career.
Business is a series of negotiations and this book prepares you for it. Whether it’s selling SEO, or buying a car, or even discussing with your partner what house to buy.
This book will elevate your emotional intelligence so that you can use them to read and affect people. It will also sharpen your intuition, so you can spot bluffs and make sure that your target SEO prospects follow-through. This book takes persuasion to a whole other level.
Who is it for:
This is a great material to learn from if you have been running your SEO business for a while and want to gain a deeper understanding of what SEO clients really need. It tackles areas in behavioral science that will make you understand what’s going on in your prospect’s head. This book is also for those who want to learn how to read client behavior and see-through speech. Having these skills will make it easier to decipher client motives which in turn, will make it easy for you to offer them the right services.
Improving Sales Skills: A Never-Ending Journey
No matter the business you’re in, one of the most important skills that you need to keep on developing is your sales skills.
‘Do What The Top People Do’
Knowledge is indeed power, and we are blessed that we have all these people to learn from. All these mentors — who experienced the challenges in business that we are facing right now — are willing to share the techniques, methods, and insights that made them win over these sales problems.
Take what you can get from their success and emulate them. You can also develop their methods to suit you, improve whatever you think is possible to improve to make selling more efficient.
Selling SEO, like any business, will never be a walk in the park. But with the right arsenal beside you, the right SEO software, the right SEO strategy, outsourcing SEO services to the right company, and with the wisdom from successful people you can emulate — you can now achieve your sales goals in a hundred different ways.
