Reading the right thing on the right day makes all the difference to some people.
Inspirational quotes are one of those ‘right things.
They give us a quick and timely dose of insight exactly when we need them.
We’ve collected a whopping hundred quotes from sales greats who have tried and tested selling before us, who have learned lessons the hard way–by making mistakes, by failing, and have left us breadcrumbs to pick up and follow.
These breadcrumbs have been strewn all over podcasts, webinars, books, and blogs.
So we sifted through them and handpicked some of the most wonderful things they said over time and shared it here.
The quotes have been segregated for an easier reading experience. You can go through some funny quotes, then some motivational quotes, then some more quotes to inspire discipline and dedication.
Thought we were finished? There’s more!
There are also quotes that shed light on how communication and listening form the foundation of a salesperson’s skill set.
Ready.
Set.
Go.
Sales Quotes for Different Scenarios
#1 Funny Sales Quotes
For all of us, nothing works greater than a funny take on a serious business. Share your favourites with friends and colleagues and have a good laugh.
1. “Contrary to what you've heard, selling is the oldest profession, because ‘In the beginning’ the serpent sold the apple to Eve. You might say she bought wholesale and then sold the apple retail to Adam. And as we now know, that was one expensive transaction.”
- Jim Blasingame, President Small Business Network
- “A salesman minus enthusiasm is just another clerk.”
- Henry Banks, Author
- “Every sale has five basic obstacles: no need, no money, no hurry, no desire, no trust.”
- Zig Ziglar, Author, and Salesman
- “Most of what we know about sales comes from a world of information asymmetry, where for a very long time sellers had more information than buyers. That meant sellers could hoodwink buyers, especially if buyers did not have a lot of choices or a way to talk back.”
- Daniel H Pink, Author
- “I design, manufacture, distribute, and sell elevator buttons. I specialize in the fourth floor. And I don’t mean to brag, but I’m such a good salesman that I could sell one of my fourth-floor elevator buttons to the owner of a three-story building.”
- Jarod Kintz, Author
- “The enduring mantra of the fanatical prospector is: One more call.”
- Jeb Blount, Author
- “There's no lotion or potion that will make sales faster and easier for you - unless your potion is hard work.”
- Jeffrey Gitomer, Business Trainer
- “Pretend that every single person you meet has a sign around his or her neck that says, ‘Make me feel important’.”
- Mary Kay Ash, American Businesswoman
- “It is not your customer’s job to remember you. It is your obligation and responsibility to make sure they don’t have the chance to forget you.”
- Patricia Fripp Presentation Skills Expert
- “The buyer is always tuned in to one radio station: WIIFM (What's In It For Me). The rest is filtered out as noise.”
- Steve Woodruff, Author and Speaker
- "My sales objective is to get my prospects to look at my products the same way I look at bacon."
- Kurt Mortensen, Author
- “The sales department isn’t the whole company, but the whole company had better be the sales department.”
- Philip Kotler, Marketing author
- “Selling through social channels is the closest thing to being a fly on the wall in your customers, prospects and competitors’ world.”
- Jim Keenan, founder, and CEO of A Sales Guy Inc
- “Before LinkedIn and other social networks, in the sales world, ABC stood for Always Be Closing. Now, it means “Always Be Connecting”.
- Jill Rowley, Fund Advisor, and Ex-Chief Growth Officer, Marketo
- “A journey of a thousand miles all begins with one good cold email.”
- Heather R.Morgan - Partner, Demandpath
- “Timid salesmen have skinny kids.”
- Judge Ziglar, Author
- “On any given Monday I am one sale closer and one idea away from being a millionaire.”
– Larry D. Turner, CEO of Roundhouse Advisors Inc.
- “Business opportunities are like buses, there’s always another one coming.”
– Richard Branson, Businessman
- “The first part of success is ‘Get-to-it-iveness’; the second part of success is ‘Stick-to-it-iveness’.”
- Orison Marden, Author
#2 Sales Quotes to Boost Your Drive
It's about drive, it's about power
We stay hungry, we devour
Put in the work, put in the hours and take what's ours.
(Thank you, Rock.)
If this isn’t blasting in your ears right now, are you even selling?
It's hard when facing rejections is literally part of your job description. But remember, it’s what awaits at the end of the line that matters, not the number of times the prospect didn’t pick up the call or said ‘no’ to you.
Here are some quotes to remind you to sell even when the tides are not in your favour.
- “Before anybody is going to buy from you or your company, they’ve got to ‘buy’ the idea that you’re somebody worth working with. In other words, just like a job candidate, your first task is always selling yourself.”
- Geoffrey James, Author
- “Salespeople who are willing to jettison stale sales scripts and tired sales presentations in favor of something new and creative have a much better chance of cutting through the clutter and attracting the attention of prospects and customers. In many ways, they are thinking exactly like entrepreneurs as they develop new sales pitches.”
- Aron. B. Schrier, Director of Business Development, Cushman and Wakefield
- “Don’t forget the human side of sales. People buy from those they know, like, and trust.”
- Cynthia Barnes, Founder, NAWSP
- “How you sell matters. What your process is matters. But how your customers feel when they engage with you matters more.”
- Tiffany Bova, Growth and innovation evangelist at Salesforce
- "Keep your sales pipeline full by prospecting continuously. Always have more people to see than you have time to see them.”
- Brian Tracy, Motivational public speaker and self-development author
- “The questions you ask are more important than the things you could ever say.”
- Thomas Freese, Author
- "It's about caring enough to create value for customers. If you get that part right, selling is easy."
- Anthony Iannarino, International speaker and sales leader
- “Sales are contingent upon the attitude of the salesman – not the attitude of the prospect.”
- W. Clement Stone, Author
- “Be empathetic. Focus on understanding the other party — what they need to accomplish and how they measure success.”
- Scott Edinger, Consultant, and author
- “People buy for two reasons. They either have a business problem that needs to be solved or they have a personal need, such as a desire to move up in the organization that your idea helps accelerate.”
- Thomas Steenburgh professor at the University of Virginia
- “In a world of digital selling, it is the personal relationships that will become a differentiator.”
- Alisha Lyndon, Founder, and CEO at Momentum
- “Customers don’t care at all whether you close the deal or not. They care about improving their business.”
– Aaron Ross, Author
- “How you sell is more important than what you sell.”
– Andy Paul, Author and Speaker
- “80% of sales are made by 20% of salespeople. The winners sell to the prospects the losers give up on.”
- Bill Corbin, Chief Value-Storyteller in Leader Success
- “In our digital world where buyers vet sales reps online, you must be mini-marketers. Ignore this at your own peril.”
- Darell Amy, Chief Innovation Officer, Convergo
- “It's not just about being better. It's about being different. You need to give people a reason to choose your business.”
- Tom Abbott, CEO, and Cofounder, SOCO
- “Keep yourself positive, cheerful and goal-oriented. Sales success is 80% attitude and only 20% aptitude.”
- Brian Tracy, Motivational public speaker, and self-development author
- “For every sale missed because you're too enthusiastic, you miss a hundred because you're not enthusiastic enough.”
- Zig Ziglar, Author, and Salesman
- “Great sales people [don't] have the ability to feel sorry for themselves.”
- Barbara Corcoran, Founder, Corcoran Group
- “Finding a top salesperson, one who will bring in hundreds of big customers for years to come, helps win the war.”
- Mark Roberge, Managing Director, Stage 2 Capital
- “Best way to sell something - don't sell anything. Earn the awareness, respect, & trust of those who might buy.”
- Rand Fishkin, CEO & Co-Founder of SEOmoz
- “90 percent of selling is conviction, and 10 percent is persuasion.”
- Shiv Khera, Author
- “The modern day seller has to be part psychologist, part tech enabled, and totally process driven, and has to be a master of content marketing. There’s so many demands now that a seller needs to be that just didn’t even exist like 10 years ago.”
- Belal Batrawy, Founder, Death to Fluff
- “I have always said that everyone is in sales. Maybe you don’t hold the title of salesperson, but if the business you are in requires you to deal with people, you, my friend, are in sales.”
- Zig Ziglar, Author, and Salesman
- "Sales success comes after you stretch yourself past your limits on a daily basis.”
- Omar Periu, President, Omar Periu International
- “Don't sell life insurance, sell what life insurance can do.”
- Ben Feldman, Master Life Insurance Salesman
- “Make a customer, not a sale.”
– Katherine Barchetti, - Legendary Retailer
- “The top salespeople are usually the ones with the most activity; it doesn’t guarantee you will close more deals, but if you have no activity, you won’t be closing any deals.”
- Colleen Honan, Chief Sales Officer, Brainshark
- “When it comes to leadership in sales, I first think of self-leadership, self-accountability, and the willingness to remove all the excuses. When you make excuses, you aren't giving yourself a shot to succeed.”
- Larry Levine, Author
- “Prospects are making their purchase decision based on whether they think you understand their problems and you have the knowledge, resources, and commitment to solving them.”
- Trish Bertuzzi, Author
- "There is no prize in sales for second place. It's win or nothing. The masters know this and strive for - they fight for - that winning edge."
- Jeffrey Gitomer Speaker and Sales Trainer
- “People don't buy what you do, people buy why you do it.”
- Simon Sinek, Author and Speaker
- “Treat objections as requests for further information”
- Brain Tracy, Motivational public speaker, and self-development author
- “It is not your client’s job to remember you. It is your obligation and responsibility to make sure you’re unforgettable.”
- Patricia Fripp, Sales Presentation Expert
- “Nobody likes to be sold to, but everyone likes to buy”
- Earl Taylor, Sales Trainer
- “Great sellers go into a meeting with multiple next-steps; this allows them to proactively respond if a plan does not unfold as planned.”
– Tibor Shanto, Chief Sales Officer, Renbor Sales Solutions
- “If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.”
– Anne Bradstreet, Poetess
- If you’re going through hell, keep going.”
- Winston Churchil, Statesman and Writer
#3 Sales Quotes to Boost Your Self-Confidence
"Get your mojo back"
Ever wondered how successful salespersons often walk out the winners in highly competitive deals in spite of higher prices and average products? The answer to this puzzle is confidence.
However, salespeople don’t become masters of this craft overnight. It has to be cultivated like all things that are great. Here are some handy lessons from the masters of the trade.
- “Sales is about the transfer of confidence. You're transferring your confidence in your solution, and that you're the best option, from yourself to the client.”
- Ray Makela, CEO and Managing Director at Sales Readiness Group
- “The importance of sales confidence can’t be understated. You can know everything about your product and possess significant experience in the field, but if potential buyers don’t perceive you as confident, you’ll never succeed.”
- Tony Robbins, Author, and Coach
- “It's not what you say, it's how you say it. No matter how nonsensical, if delivered with enough confidence, people will often buy the message.”
- Steli Efti, Cofounder and CEO of Close.io
- “Practice, practice, practice: If I could give one piece of advice to any salesperson who lacks confidence and wants to build up the courage to sell, it would be to practice, practice, practice.”
- Greg Martinelli, Sales Coach
- “When you are more detached, you have more confidence as your confidence isn’t riding on the outcomes of a specific call, meeting, or sales process. More confident sales professionals tend to attract more conversations as they aren’t eager or over-the-top to make a sale.”
- Bill Caskey, Sales Trainer
- "Confidence, like art, never comes from having all the answers. It comes from being open to all the questions."
- Earl Gray Stevens, Author
- “Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear.”
- George Addair, Real-estate developer
#4 Motivational Sales Quotes About Discipline
"Shed blood, sweat and tears"
It is a common thread that connects Taylor Swift, Jeff Bezos, and Simon Biles. And that is discipline.
Whether it’s cold emailing your prospects or following up after a demo, discipline moves a successful salesperson to get the job done and that too on time. Pay attention to it.
- “Some people think of discipline as a burden, but smart salespeople see it as a tool that keeps them from sabotaging their future achievements.”
- John Rosso, Founder, Peak Performance Management
- “Be an example. Are you prompt? Are you professional? Are you engaged? As sales leaders, we have to set the bar high for ourselves as well as our teams.“
– Lori Richardson, Sales Influencer
- “Practice is just as valuable as a sale. The sale will make you a living; the skill will make you a fortune.”
– Jim Rohn, Author
- “Success as a professional athlete or as a sales professional is simply a consequence of practice and repetition. There are no shortcuts. It's based on pushing yourself to do better and better.”
- Larry Levine Author of Selling From the Heart.
- “There is no easy button in sales. Prospecting is hard, emotionally draining work, and it is the price you have to pay to earn a high income.”
– Jeb Blount, Author of Fanatical Prospecting
- “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
- Aristotle, Philosopher
- “I think self-discipline is something, it’s like a muscle. The more you exercise it, the stronger it gets.”
- Daniel Goldstein, Psychologist
- “Opportunities are usually disguised as hard work, so most people don’t recognize them”
– Ann Landers, Newspaper advice columnist
- “I have never worked a day in my life without selling. If I believe in something, I sell it, and I sell it hard.”
-Estée Lauder, Businesswoman
- “If you really look closely, most overnight successes took a long time.”
– Steve Jobs, Founder, Apple Computers
#5 Sales Quotes on Communication
"Get out of the shell"
To talk or to not talk. Sales calls need to be navigated like a ship in stormy weather. Some appreciate the excitement, some don’t. Some would talk on forever. Sometimes it’ll just be …crickets. Do you really know how much communication is good communication? Find out what the greats have to say.
- “If you sound confident and comfortable, it’s going to make me feel like I should stay on the phone and keep listening."
- Steli Efti, Cofounder and CEO of Close.io
- “We need to get back to basics and acknowledge that sales is a communication process and communication is a basic human experience.”
- Julie Thomas, CEO of ValueSelling Associates
- “Many conversations fail because the seller talks too much and doesn’t give the prospect a chance to communicate their needs and desires. Other discussions fail because the seller talks too little and depends on the customer to keep the conversation going without adding value and expertise to the pitch.”
-Priya Sachdeva, Chief Customer Officer, Vengreso
- “Conveying tailored information correctly could make or break a transaction when it comes to closing a deal, and is probably the most difficult stage to come back from as a salesperson when there’s been a misunderstanding.”
- Lloyd-Townshend, CEO of Frank Recruitment Group
- “When you present the value of your products and services in a clear, compelling way, then you’ve tackled 90% of objections.”
- Nancy Marmolejo, Keynote Speaker, and Trainer
- “The best sales conversations present the customer with a compelling story about their business first, teach them something new, and then lead to their differentiators.”
- Brent Adamson, Author
- “In a time when consensus is more important than ever to get the deal done, it’s no surprise that the rep who wins in this environment is the one who can effectively tailor the message to a wide range of customer stakeholders in order to build that consensus.”
- Matthew Dixon, Author
- “To succeed in sales, simply talk to lots of people every day. And here’s what’s exciting: There are lots of people!”
- Jim Rohn, Author
- “The biggest communication problem is we do not listen to understand. We listen to reply.”
- Stephen Covey, Author and Professor
- “Communication is the soul of all relationships. More than any other skill, it is the heartbeat of success in sales, marketing, marriage, business, friendship, communities, and beyond.”
- Susan C Young, Keynote Speaker
- “Talking isn’t selling and selling isn’t closing.”
– Steli Efti, Cofounder and CEO of Close.io
- “Filter everything you’re doing, saying and pitching and you’ll improve just about every metric you care about today.”
- Matt Heinz, President of Heinz marketing
- “Think twice before you speak, because your words and influence will plant the seed of either success or failure in the mind of another.”
– Napoleon Hill, Self-help author
- “The story is the heart of the sale.”
– Matthew Pollard, Author
#6 Sales Quotes To Master the Art of Listening
"Be all ears"
How many of you launch into a templated pitch first and then listen later?
A successful salesperson knows better. They solve a problem instead of selling a product. And they pull out the biggest weapon in their sales arsonal to do that - active listening.
- “The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn’t said.”
- Peter Drucker, Management Consultant and Educator
- “It's no longer about interrupting, pitching and closing. It's about listening, diagnosing and prescribing.”
- Mark Roberge, SVP Sales and Services at Hubspot
- “So, it’s now time. It’s time for sales professionals to take charge and be Chief Listening Officers. Social media just made that job a whole lot easier!”
- Amar Sheth, COO, Sales for Life
- “We think of negotiation as being about talking. In fact, it’s really about listening. If you study the behavior of successful negotiators, you find that they listen far more than they talk. After all, we’re given two ears and one mouth for a reason. We should listen at least twice as much as we speak.”
- William Ury, Author and Negotiation expert
- “Listen for the emotion. You see, people don't buy something because of their satisfaction. They usually buy something because of the emotion behind the dissatisfaction. We are emotionally driven creatures.”
- Jeff Shore, Sales Trainer
- “There is no greater critical competency for a salesperson than mastering the art of perceptive listening.”
Ryan Estis, Founder of Estis & Associates
- “I would say that curiosity is key. You need to always be asking questions. The risk of a conversation going nowhere is strong if you aren’t listening.”
- Francois Carle, Strategic account executive at Schneider Electric
- “You know you are running a modern sales team when selling feels more like the relationship between a doctor and a patient and less like a relationship between a salesperson and a prospect…It’s no longer about interrupting, pitching and closing. It is about listening, diagnosing, and prescribing.”
- Mark Roberge, Senior VP of Sales and Services at HubSpot
- “One of the best ways to persuade others is with your ears – by listening to them.”
Dean Rusk, US Secretary of State
- “Sellers who listen to buyers carefully and then give them the missing ingredients – those are the ones who stand out.”
– Deb Calvert, President - People First Productivity Solutions
- “Prospects are making their purchase decision based on whether they think you understand their problems and you have the knowledge, resources, and commitment to solving them.”
– Trish Bertuzzi, Novelist
- “Sometimes the most influential thing we can do is listen.”
– Bob Burg Autor
Top Picks
- The real problem with closing is not adequately defining or diagnosing the prospect’s problems in the first place - Keith Eades
- Persistence is very important. You should not give up unless you are forced to give up - Elon Musk
- You can't turn a no to a yes without a maybe in between." –Francis Underwood
- Don’t sell life insurance. Sell what life insurance can do
- If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair
- Don't watch the clock; do what it does. Keep going.
- I never lose. I either win or learn.
- “Leaders must get across the why as well as the what.” – John Doerr
- Success is a science; if you have the conditions, you get the result.” – Oscar Wilde
- “Every email is an opportunity to test a different benefit or angle.” – Heather R Morgan
Wrapping Up
Undoubtedly, you have one of the hardest jobs in the world. The bright side is, you’re also sitting on one of the highest paying jobs in the world.
So when you hit a wall, give yourself a nudge, a pat on the back, a little boost of motivation now and then, to remind yourself why you’re here in the first place. And remember, as The Rock once said, it’s about power, it’s about drive.
The quotes in this post are also a great place to start.
So bookmark them.
Or email them to your sales team.
Or print your favourite quotes and stick it somewhere where you can see them multiple times a day.
Or simply do whatever it takes to keep the cameras rolling.
