John's Recommended Reading List
THE MTS BLOG
"Life happened because I turned the pages"

There are a number of books I would recommend to be in the library of
any Sales Engineer. Some of them are Pre-Sales specific, some deal
with demos and presentations, and others are just business books.
Having these books in your library can only serve to make you a
stronger, smarter and successful  Pre-Sales Engineer. Start reading!

Download the Reading List in PDF format or Word format.
The distinctive “Do the Last Thing First” concept generates a “Wow!” response from customers.
Cliff shares his innovative three-step method that helps you unlock the amazing story buried in those bullet-riddled slides
Riefstahl 's book is all about doing demos; what works and what doesn't for doing software demos in front of prospects. You won't find a lot about the overall sales process found in so many other books, just giving good demos and closely related information
Written to provide SEs with proven behaviors, techniques, skills and mindsets that will enable them to excel given these emerging expectations. Generally a little dry and abstract.
Please don't buy this book! Once people start making better presentations, mine won’t look so good
Blink is about the first two seconds of looking--the decisive glance that knows in an instant
This grandfather of all people-skills books was first published in 1937. It was an overnight hit, eventually selling 15 million copies. How to Win Friends and Influence People is just as useful today as it was when it was first published, because Dale Carnegie had an understanding of human nature that will never be outdated.
Solution Selling refined for the salesrep. Common sense stuff for the SE
Geoffrey Moore makes the case that high-tech products require marketing strategies that differ from those in other industries. His chasm theory describes how high-tech products initially sell well, mainly to a technically literate customer base, but then hit a lull as marketing professionals try to cross the chasm to mainstream buyers.
In seven chapters, the two consultants for the Gallup Organization debunk some dearly held notions about management, such as
Details on Lencioni's
Jim Collins asked the question,
Godin argues that businesses can no longer rely solely on traditional forms of
As the legendary retired CEO of General Electric, Welch has won many friends and admirers in high places. In this latest book, he strives to show why. Winning describes the management wisdom that Welch built up through four and a half decades of work at GE
The classic of all Sales Methodologies. Worth reading just to pick up the sales terminology
Rackham's original methodology - based upon experiences at IBM.
Goldsmith, an executive coach to the corporate elite, pinpoints 20 bad habits that stifle already successful careers as well as personal goals like succeeding in marriage or as a parent.
SE BOOK OF
THE MONTH