Sales are hard.
It’s nearly impossible to stay motivated when constantly meeting rejection after rejection. According to well-being experts, almost a quarter of salespeople were diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder or depression in the past year. Today, anxiety is the most common mental illness in the United States, affecting around 40 million people – almost 20% of all adults.
But as the saying goes, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” This is why having an arsenal of motivational sales quotes is essential to help your sales team push through the tough times.
Here are 58 of the best sales quotes to keep you motivated:
Motivational sales quotes on mindset
1. “The only way to do great work is to love what you do.” – Steve Jobs
2. “Quality performance (and quality service) starts with a positive attitude.” – Jeffrey Gitomer
3. “The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus.” – Bruce Lee
4. “You can’t limit how much you can improve and how much you can do. There are no limits on what you can be, do, or have in life.” – Tony Robbins
5. “90% of selling is conviction, and 10% is persuasion.” – Shiv Khera
6. “The mind is everything. What you think, you become.” – Buddha
7. “Don’t find customers for your products, find products for your customers.” – Seth Godin
8. “The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary.” – Vidal Sassoon
9. “Success depends upon previous preparation, and without such preparation, there is sure to be a failure.” – Confucius
10. “I have failed again and again throughout my life. That’s why I’ve been successful.” – Michael Jordan
11. “You can never quit. Winners never quit, and quitters never win.” – Ted Turner
12. “The man who has no imagination has no wings.” – Muhammad Ali
13. “Don’t watch the clock; do what it does. Keep going.” – Sam Levenson
14. “Buyers do business with you, not with your company, and not with your technology.” – Joanne Black
15. “Sales success comes from the right balance of quality human interaction and appropriate use of supplemental tools.” – Deb Calvert
16. “People buy for their reasons, not yours.” – Orvel Ray Wilson
17. “The goal of selling is to make selling superfluous. The key is in understanding the customer so well that the product or service fits him and sells itself. Ideally, marketing should result in a customer who says, ‘I have to have this!'” – Peter Drucker
18. “Success is the culmination of failures, mistakes, false starts, confusion, and the determination to keep going anyway.” – Nick Gleason
19. “I had to make my own living and my own opportunity. But I made it! Don’t sit down and wait for the opportunities to come. Get up and make them.” — Madam C.J. Walker
20. “If you really look closely, most overnight successes took a long time.” — Steve Jobs
21. “The key to realizing a dream is to focus not on success but on significance — and then even the small steps and little victories along your path will take on greater meaning.” – Oprah Winfrey
22. “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” — Wayne Gretzky
23. “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” — Thomas Edison
Motivational sales quotes on sales strategy
24. “Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.” – Bill Gates
25. “Don’t try to do everything by yourself, but try to connect with people and resources. Having that discipline and perseverance is really important.” – Chieu Cao
26. “One sales technique is to listen more than you talk. People love to talk about themselves, and if you can be genuinely interested in hearing what they have to say, they’ll be much more likely to want to do business with you.” – Jill Konrath
27. “You need a unique value proposition — a clear articulation of the benefits your company delivers that sets you apart from the competition. Once you have that, craft a concise statement that will serve as your elevator pitch and make sure everyone on your team can recite it verbatim.” – Mark Suster
28. “Selling is ultimately about having a conversation with someone to determine if there’s a mutual fit between what they need and what you have to offer. If there is, then it’s your job to help them see the value in what you’re offering and why it would be beneficial for them.” – John Barrows
29. “The best salespeople are ones who can control the direction of the conversation without being too pushy or overbearing… The ability to read people and understand how they like to receive information is critical. And always remember that people buy from those they like, trust, and respect.” – Dave Kurlan
30. “The best salespeople I know treat selling like a game of chess. They think several moves ahead, always trying to stay one step ahead of the competition. And they’re always looking for that one key move that will give them the advantage.” – Anthony Iannarino
31. “The best salespeople are able to put themselves in their prospect’s shoes and see things from their perspective. They understand what their needs and wants are, and they craft their pitch accordingly. This empathy is what separates the good from the great.” – Jeb Blount
32. “The best salespeople know that it’s not about them or their product — it’s about their prospect and their needs. They understand that it’s not about the features of their product, but about the benefits their prospect will receive by using it.” – Joanne Black
33. “The best salespeople are able to build rapport quickly and easily. They know how to put people at ease and make them feel comfortable talking to them. This is a critical skill, because if you can’t build rapport, you won’t be able to sell anything.” – Mike Brooks
34. “No matter how many customers you have, each is an individual. The day you start thinking of them as this amorphous ‘collection’ and stop thinking of them as people is the day you start going out of business.” – Dharmesh Shah
35. “Most people think ‘selling’ is the same as ‘talking’. But the most effective salespeople know that listening is the most important part of their job.” – Roy Bartell
36. “Opportunities are usually disguised as hard work, so most people don’t recognize them” – Ann Landers
37. “All business is personal… Make your friends before you need them.” – Robert L. Johnson
38. “It’s not about having the right opportunities. It’s about handling the opportunities right.” – Mark Hunter
39. “Sales are contingent upon the attitude of the salesman, not the attitude of the prospect.” – William Clement Stone
40. “Filter everything you’re doing, saying and pitching through the customer point of view, and you’ll improve just about every metric you care about today.” – Matt Heinz
Inspirational quotes for sales success
41. “If you harness the power of innovation, you’ll convert sales complexity into a brutal competitive advantage.” – Tim Sanders
42. “The ability to convert leads to sales is more important than generating leads in the first place.” – Bryan Eisenberg
43. “Don’t settle for average. Bring your best to the moment. Then, whether it fails or succeeds, at least you know you gave all you had. We need to live the best that’s in us.” – Angela Bassett
44. “What differentiates sellers today is their ability to bring fresh ideas.” – Jill Konrath
45. “The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.” – Walt Disney
46. “Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.” – Winston Churchill
47. “Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.” – Dale Carnegie
48. “If you want to make your dreams come true, the first thing you have to do is wake up.” – J.M. Power
49. “People who succeed have momentum. The more they succeed, the more they want to succeed, and the more they find a way to succeed. Similarly, when someone is failing, the tendency is to get on a downward spiral that can even become self-fulfilling.” – Tony Robbins
50. “Growth and comfort do not coexist.” – Ginni Rometty
Quotes to inspire sales leaders
51. “Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.” – Michael Jordan
52. “A successful team is a group of many hands but of one mind.” – Bill Russell
53. “The speed of the leader determines the rate of the pack.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
54. “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader.” – John Quincy Adams
55. “Leadership is a choice, not a position.” – Stephen Covey
56. “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” – John C. Maxwell
57. “If your team is going to achieve greatness, everyone must be committed to doing their jobs to the best of their abilities.” – Babe Ruth
58. “The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority.” – Ken Blanchard
Final word of advice
No matter what sales position you hold, always remember that your success depends on your mindset and approach. The more positive and solution-oriented you are, the more likely you will succeed.
Most importantly, never be ashamed of seeking help to get treated as early as possible. If you don’t know where to start there are a lot of mental health resources you can find online.
Use these sales quotes as inspiration to stay focused on your goals and continue working hard day in and day out. And if you’re ever feeling discouraged, remember that even the greatest salespeople have had their share of rejections. It’s all about how you handle those rejections and continue moving forward!
Meanwhile, sales automation tools like Snov.io will take care of your daily routine tasks 🙂
