My hand-picked reading and listening list for solution engineers and presales: books, a podcast, articles and research papers that help with demos, discovery and sales. Not all of them are about sales, far from it. I like to read across disciplines and bring new approaches into our world.
This intentionally isn’t the traditional presales or solution engineering reading list. You can find that yourself with a quick search. Instead, you will find books on negotiation, learning, trust and customer conversations, because a good demo borrows from all of them.
The list is not ranked, so the order means nothing. Pick whatever looks interesting. And yes, some of the links are affiliate links. If you buy through them I may earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you.
To turn reading into practice, start with the ENGAGED demo method or the demo preparation checklist.
Sixteen books I would put on a solution engineer’s shelf, from negotiation and discovery to presenting and learning.
Erin Meyer
Chris Voss
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Stephen O’Grady
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Matthew Dixon
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Richard Smith, Mark Ackers, Stuart Taylor
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Jonah Berger
Matthew Dixon, Ted McKenna
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Matt Dahlia
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Neil Rackham
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Rasmus Ankersen
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Oliver Lovell
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Rob Fitzpatrick
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Carmine Gallo
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David Maister
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Martin Giese, Matthias Hilpert
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Bob Circosta
View on AmazonShorter reads for the days when a whole book is too much.
Podcast
Two studies from outside sales that explain how buyers decide, with my takeaways for demos and RFPs.
The paper looked at parole decisions and found that judges were much more positive early in the day and right after breaks. Later in the day they mostly said no, even in similar cases.
For demos: For demos and RFPs, the lesson is about timing. Present important messages early in the day or right after a break, when people have the most mental energy and are most open to deciding.
Read the paperThe study measured how long it takes a person to choose between options. Hick found that decision time grows with the number of choices, roughly in proportion to the logarithm of how many there are. This is known as Hick’s law.
For demos: For demos and sales, fewer choices make it easier and faster for buyers to decide. Too many options slow them down and increase hesitation.
Read the paperWhat people usually ask about this reading list.
There is no single best book. This list has 16 and deliberately skips the standard presales reading list. It mixes negotiation (Never Split the Difference), customer conversations (The Mom Test, SPIN Selling), selling (The Challenger Sale, The Jolt Effect), presenting (Talk Like TED, Life’s a Pitch) and learning (Sweller’s Cognitive Load Theory in Action).
Two studies are on the list. Hick’s law shows that decision time grows with the number of choices, so fewer options in a demo make decisions easier. A study on parole decisions found that people decide more positively early in the day and after breaks, so important messages belong there.
The list includes 30 Minutes to President’s Club, a podcast for sales professionals. For live exchange with other presales professionals, see my overview of presales events and meetups.
Some of the book links are Amazon affiliate links. If you buy through them I may earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you. The list is not ranked and I only include what I find useful.
Books give you ideas, and a demo method helps you use them. See the ENGAGED method I teach, or find out which presales events are worth your time.
