recommended   reading
Yes, from time to time we also read books—some good, some less so. Here are a few we think every marketer should have on their shelf. Sure, some of them are old, but so is Shakespeare and he's considered a classic! Check back here regularly as we add to this list with new titles that we've found!
Selling the Invisible:
A Field Guide to Modern Marketing  
by Harry Beckwith
It’s been around for a while now, but this remains the best book we’ve ever encountered on the unique challenges of selling professional services. Harry points out that the client buying your services can't see, hear, touch, smell, taste or try out your services before they buy. And they can’t return them for a refund if they’re not happy either. The only thing they’ve got to go on is the strong, trust-based relationship they have with you. A must-have for every AE marketer’s library.
How to Win Friends and Influence People 
by Dale Carnegie
For more than sixty years the rock-solid, time-tested advice in this book has carried thousands of now famous people up the ladder of success in their business and personal lives. Learn:
* 3 fundamental techniques in handling people
* The 6 ways to make people like you
* The 12 ways to win people to you way of thinking
* The 9 ways to change people without arousing resentment
22 Immutable Laws of Marketing
by Al Ries and Jack Trout
Another classic. After reading this book, you'll be thinking like a marketer. Far too many AE professionals are under the impression (fostered in the formal education process) that if you simply do your work well enough, everything will be fine. This book shows you what differentiation is all about.
Dig Your Well Before You're Thirsty :
The Only Networking Book You'll Ever Need
by Harvey Mackay
If you don't have this book (or any of Harvey Macay's books) in your library, you can hardly call yourself a networker or a business developer. This guy knows how it's done and he's willing to teach you. Full of the best techniques, backed up by stories and anecdotes that you can relate to. It's all about the relationship.
How to Work a Room:
The Ultimate Guide to Savvy Socializing in Person and Online
by Susan RoAne
If you think walking into a room full of strangers is worse than pulling out your own nails, this book is for you. Everybody is involved in business development in one way or another and if you label yourself as introverted, the very useful tips and techniques RoAne provides just might turn you into a Master Networker. Or at least make your time at that reception much less like torture and more like the pleasant and useful event it's supposed to be.
Presentation Zen:
Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery
By Garr Reynolds
Presentation designer and internationally acclaimed communications expert Garr Reynolds shares his experience in a provocative mix of illumination, inspiration, education, and guidance that will change the way you think about making presentations with PowerPoint. Presentation Zen challenges the conventional wisdom of making "slide presentations" and encourages you to think differently and more creatively about the preparation, design, and delivery of your presentations. If you’ve had enough ‘death by PowerPoint’ this book is for you.
Made To Stick:
Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
By Chip Heath & Dan Heath
The brothers Heath—Chip a professor at Stanford's business school, Dan a teacher and textbook publisher—offer an entertaining, practical guide to effective communication. Drawing extensively on psychosocial studies on memory, emotion and motivation, their study is couched in terms of "stickiness"—that is, the art of making ideas unforgettable. AE marketers need to master the art of communication. This book goes a long way to explain that it’s not just what you say, it’s how you say it.
Never Eat Alone: And other secrets to success, one relationship at a time 
by Keith Ferrazzi
Do you want to get ahead in life? Climb the ladder to personal success? The secret, master networker Keith Ferrazzi claims, is in reaching out to other people. As Ferrazzi discovered early in life, what distinguishes highly successful people from everyone else is the way they use the power of relationships—so that everyone wins.