Secrets of Closing the Sale
by Zig Ziglar, Kevin Harrington · first published 1984
88% recommend13% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Practical, old-school sales guide that prepares readers for objections and reframes selling as helpful and honorable; often suggested as a starting point for people new to sales.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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Sales: The very best books/resources on the subject are: 1. The Ultimate Sales Machine by Chet Holmes 2. Zig Ziglar's The Secrets of Closing the Sale 3. Brian Tracy's The Psychology of Selling Copywriting: The 3 Best Books (All out of print): 1. Tested Advertising Methods by John Caples 2. Scientific Advertising by Claude Hopkins 3. Breakthrough…
on “Ask HN: Best way to learn copywriting and sales?” ↗…dad passed on to me, which I often re-start when I feel I'm loosing it: 0. "How to win friends and influence others" by Carnergie 1. "Zig Ziglar on Selling" 2. "Unlimited Power" by Tony Robbins 3. "Secrets of closing the sale" by Zig Ziglar 4. "Influence psychology of persuasion" by Caldini Really made the difference for me when feeding the kids became a challenge.
on “Ask HN: How to Get Good at Sales?” ↗Our selections from The 100 Best Business Books of All Time were: -Selling The Invisible by Harry Beckwith (great look at selling services) -Secrets of Closing The Sale by Zig Ziglar (gets you prepared for objections) -How to Become A Rainmaker by Jeffrey Fox (shortcuts to better sales techniques) -The Little Red Book of Selling by Jeffrey Gitomer (best first book for…
on “Ask HN: Best books or videos to get better at sales?” ↗I love Zig Ziglar's Secrets of Closing the Sale. Another great one is Little Red Book of Selling (https://www.amazon.ca/Little-Red-Book-Selling-Principles/dp/...) but it might not be suitable in your current situation given the time crunch.
on “Ask HN: What did I do wrong in my SaaS B2B startup?” ↗It may be that you haven't come across a mental model that makes sense to you. There are honest sales people, even ones selling used cars. Zig Ziglar's Secrets of Closing the Sale is a good model for thinking about sales.
on “Learn to sell” ↗- SPIN selling - The Challenger Sale - The Little Red Book of Sales - The Charisma Myth - Rules of the Game (Neil Strauss... and yes it is also a sales book) - Secrets of Closing the Sale (transactional sales, but still fun)
on “Best Sales Books/Resources?” ↗…here, but the author who got me to re-think what sales was and to see it as honourable and helpful was Zig Ziggler. His books are old-school, but reading them will make you enjoy selling. I'd recommend "Secrets of Closing the Sale" to start, but all of his early work is good. His later books get a bit self-helpy.
on “Ask HN: How to learn sales?” ↗…should be able to land a sale or two right away to get a vibe on a basic process. As far as literature here are a couple of classics: - Influence - the little red book of selling - SPIN selling - Secrets of closing the sale - The challenger sale - The presentation secrets of steve jobs (for presentation skills) - The rules of the game (neil strauss) - Nudge Once you get your feet under you go find a strong team…
on “Ask HN: How did you learn sales?” ↗Zig Ziglar's 'Secrets of closing the sale': http://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Closing-Sale-Zig-Ziglar/dp/080...
on “Why Startups Need to Focus on Sales, Not Marketing” ↗