Hacking Sales

The world of sales is a $500 billion industry that employs more than 15 million people in the United States alone. Surprisingly, only a handful of colleges offer degrees in sales, and most MBA programs don't offer a single sales class. For everyone who depends on sales—from entrepreneurs building a sales process to individual reps focused on hitting their numbers, Hacking Sales is your degree in modern sales.

The most successful business executives and investors know a good sales team makes and breaks a business, which is why CEO and founder of Sales Hacker Max Altschuler put together this pioneering guide to building a fully streamlined sales engine that uses the newest, most innovative techniques and technologies. Whether you’re bootstrapping a start-up, running a publicly traded company, or operating somewhere in between, an organized sales process that effectively tracks and measures with a focus on improvement is critical to surviving.

This comprehensive resource goes in-depth into the human aspect of sales, as well, because there is a point where you have to let go of technology and rely on your ability to sell; automating your process gives you more time to do it. It goes beyond prescribing a cookie-cutter methodology for everyone, and instead guides you through a sophisticated range of options, based on exclusive advice from a diverse group of highly accomplished professionals in sales training, global leadership, psychology, and more. From the soft skills of interpersonal relationships to the nuts and bolts of fitting the best customer relationship management software to your team, this everyday reference shows you how to do everything with step-by-step clarity, including:

• Build highly targeted lists of potential buyers, complete with potential targets at all levels within the companies — and their contact information
• Use scraping, crawling, artificial intelligence, and big data analysis to boost your lead research to enlightened levels
• Gain competitive advantage with virtual assistants who can do all your sales development right up until the actual call

Whether you're working in an antiquated sales process, crushing it but working too hard, or have product-market fit and need to know what’s next, Hacking Sales has the plays you need.

• Introduction
• Why Sales, Why Now?
• Who This Book Is For
• Where This Book Fits In
• What This Book Is Not

1. Developing Your Sales Stack
• Where Do I Start?
• Qualifying Leads
• What's Your Sales Stack?
2. List Building: Part 1: Finding and Defining Your Ideal Customer Profile
• Easy, Nontechnical Web Scraping
• Deeper Insights into Your Competitors' Customers
• Targeting Key Executives, Influencers, and High-Potential Buyers
3. List Building; Part 2: Defining Your Total Addressable Market (TAM)
• Enrich Your Customers
• Meet Your Future Customers
• Make It Actionable
• Refine and Optimize the Entire Process
• Company Databases
4. List Building: Part 3: Getting in the Door
• Top-Down and Bottom-Up Targeting
• Lean on Your Industry Allies
• Using Twitter to Generate Warm Leads
5. Uncovering Contact Information
• Remove Duplicates Early On
• Pulling Contact Information Directly from LinkedIn
• E-mail Verification and Enrichment
6. Lead Research
• Trigger Events, Alerts, and Researching
• LinkedIn Advanced Settings and Sales Navigator
7. Segmenting
• Where to Start Segmenting
• But What about Whales?
8. Outbound E-Mailing and Messaging
• A/B Testing and Optimizing E-mails
• Determining Your Perfect Cadence
• The Services That Power Outbound Sales
• Sales and Customer Success
• Quick Tips on Messaging Psychology
9. Sales Outsourcing
• Preparing to Hire Virtual Assistants
• Hiring Virtual Assistants
• Strictly Sales Development Support
• Training Your Virtual Assistants
10. Customer Relationship Management Software
• Integration Software
11. Nurturing Leads and Sparking Engagement
• Using Social Media to Trigger Buyer Activity
• Make Sure to Follow Up
• Reactivating Leads
12. Preparing for and Holding Your First Sales Call
• Getting and Staying Prepared
• Properly Qualifying the Prospect
• Scripting Calls
• Forget PINs and Access Codes
• Quick Tips in Sales Psychology
• Set the Agenda and Stay in Control
• Let the Passion Out
13. Navigating the Buying Process and Closing the Deal
• Rules of Negotiating
• Creating Equality in Negotiations
• Don't Jump to Discounting
• Handling Objections
• Demos, Proposals, and Collateral
• E-Signature Solutions
14. Business Development
• The Art of the Introduction
• Asking for Referrals
15. Bonus Sales Hacks
• E-mail Signature
• Out-of-Office Replay
• Mix in Some Humor
• Frenemies
• Stay Relevant on Twitter and LinkedIn
• Other Unique Solutions for Hacking Sales
16. The Wrap-Up

• Resources and Programs
• Sales Hacker Programs
• Suggested Reading for Sales Hackers

This is a book for people working (or wish to work) in B2B Sales. It is not really a book on HOW to sell, nor on HOW to create clients or close dealss, but more on what is needed to understand to be in this sector (regardless of industry).

I am not sure it will age well, as it is full of advise on current technological tricks (SalesForce, Zoho, etc.), but in general, I really liked it. As the author says in the beginning, there are a lack of MBA courses on sales, and this book may be a good starting point, to learn the vocabulary and the basic knowledge so that you don't look like an idiot the first time you encounter more seasoned sales persons.

In short, I rather liked it, as a starting point.