The books and papers this guide leans on, and what to take from each.
Scientific AdvertisingClaude C. Hopkins, 1923Short, blunt and free to read: the case that an ad is a salesman and should be judged like one.
The Theory and Practice of Selling the AGA CookerDavid Ogilvy, 1935A door-to-door salesman’s manual by the future adman. Read it for preparation, objections and knowing when to leave.
SPIN SellingNeil Rackham, 1988How large sales differ from small ones. Take investigating, advances and objection prevention; remember it’s the firm’s own research.
Ending the War Between Sales and MarketingPhilip Kotler, Neil Rackham and Suj Krishnaswamy, Harvard Business Review, 2006Why the two functions fight and how companies move from undefined to integrated. The founder-sized version is chapter 10.
How Brands GrowByron Sharp, 2010The “many” side at its most rigorous: mental and physical availability, and why reach matters. Read it with its critics.
How to Handle Opposing Arguments in Persuasive MessagesDaniel J. O’Keefe, Communication Yearbook 22, 1999The meta-analysis behind answering objections on the page: raise them only to refute them.
The Challenger SaleMatthew Dixon and Brent Adamson, 2011Why the best sellers teach the buyer something. Read Noel Capon’s 2015 critique alongside it.
Full references, including the research on response time, interviews and replication, are in Appendix C.