As a sales rep or the manager of a sales team, it’s imperative to have a positive attitude for consistent sales success. Unfortunately, we all have our bad days that can bring us down and discourage us.
Even the most successful people had moments when they feel unsure and unmotivated. But as legendary NFL coach, Vince Lombardi, said, “It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up.”
This is why motivational quotes are so helpful: they remind you of important principles and can elevate your spirit in just a few words.
Here are 10 great motivational sales quotes that will help you regain your focus and get back in the game next time you feel like you're in a slump.
1) “Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” – Thomas Edison
Persistence is the key to success. Most innovations, like the light bulb, failed hundreds or thousands of times before they succeeded.
Remember, success often comes right after you think you’ve hit rock-bottom. There’s always an opportunity to keep moving forward. Even when you feel like your day is hopeless, remember to try one more time.
Be the person who’s willing the push further than the rest, even when the seas get rough.
2) “Don’t sell life insurance. Sell what life insurance can do.” – Ben Feldman
People don’t buy what you sell. People buy what it can do for them.
In other words, people buy benefits, not features.
Use this to your advantage by selling the dream and solving people’s problems. Show how others have benefited from your product through stories, and help them imagine what their life would be like if they become your customer.
A good salesman doesn’t use facts to sell and neither should you, so speak to your prospect's emotions.
3) “Take action every day - some small dose at a time.” – Jeffrey Gitomer
The best way to build good habits is to do them every day.
Having off days is inevitable, and it’s easy to take a break for a few days. But it will also kill momentum and make it difficult to get back into the flow of things.
To prevent this from happening, start by setting goals that require effort every day. Here are a couple of our favorite routines we like to do regularly:
- Read for 20 minutes every morning to expand your sales education.
- Don't do any administrative work until after cold-calling 20 people.
Success doesn’t come from big, insurmountable actions. Success comes from slowly chipping away at your goals in a consistent manner.
Don’t worry about how much you get done. Just make sure you work towards your goals every day.
4) “Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right.” – Henry Ford
It’s imperative that you believe in yourself, even when everything seems to be going against you.
You don’t have to believe that you’ll make every sale you attempt. But you need to believe that you’re capable of selling to people and build slowly from there. Take every failure as a learning opportunity rather than a sign of failure.
Failure is just a sign that you’re finding new ways of thinking and testing different ideas. It's also the fastest way to learn.
If you want to be successful, you need to realize that you can make sales regardless of what the past shows.
5) “You don’t close a sale, you open a relationship.” – Patricia Fripp
Every salesperson needs to hear this quote at least once every year. “Closing the sale” is such a common term and promotes selling in the wrong way.
Selling is about building relationships. Although you want to turn your prospects into customers, you want your customers to be happy and turn into repeat customers. You don’t do that by ending the relationship once you make the sale.
To form a better relationship with customers, follow up with your customers asking:
- Are they satisfied?
- Do they have any questions?
- Do they need additional help?
Developing happy customers is the best way to build goodwill for your company. Keep this in mind every time you try to make a sale.
6) “If you want to reach a goal, you must ‘see the reaching’ in your own mind before you actually arrive at your goal.” – Zig Ziglar
Visualization is a powerful tool. It helps you build the neural connections necessary for accomplishing your goals.
Set goals, then review them at the beginning of each week to determine whether you want to make any changes or leave them the same. Then, spend a few minutes each morning visualizing your success.
Here are some questions to consider after each interaction:
- Did you bring focused, positive energy?
- Did you laugh and have a good time?
Do your best to visualize your sales conversations the way you want them to happen, and over time you will start bringing that idea to life.
7) “Every defeat, every heartbreak, every loss, contains its own seed, its own lesson on how to improve your performance the next time.” – Og Mandino
If you want to be successful, you need to learn how to handle failure and rejection. If you believe that your failures are a reflection of your abilities, you’ll internalize the story that you’re not a good salesperson.
On the other hand, if you understand that every great salesperson gets rejected more times than they can count and can always learn something new, you will give yourself a much better chance to grow and succeed.
How you view failures will make or break your success. Learn to embrace rejection as a learning opportunity – without changing your belief in yourself – and you’ll improve faster than you can imagine.
8) “Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak. Courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.” – Winston Churchill
During any sales call you must remember that you aren’t just selling to people. You’re building relationships.
When you slow down and listen to the needs and wants of your prospects, you’ll better understand how you can help them. This will improve your sales skills because you can provide value that they actually want.
Although it’s important to speak confidently and positively about your product or service, it’s equally important to listen to your prospects and find out how you can help them best.
9) “Develop an attitude of gratitude. Say thank you to everyone you meet for everything they do for you.” – Brian Tracy
Every prospect is giving you their time and attention when you try to sell to them. Be thankful for that and let them know it.
One of the leading causes of frustration in the workplace is a lack of gratitude and recognition. People love hearing that they did a good job and having their bosses thank them for their hard work. Unfortunately, it doesn’t happen nearly enough.
Apply this principle to your sales approach. Anytime you have an opportunity to thank your prospects, do it. They will be very appreciative and much more likely to buy from you because of it.
10) “Sales is an experiment - there’s no right or wrong, just varying degrees of effectiveness. Our job is to constantly seek ways we can increase our effectiveness.” – Jill Konrath
Sales is an art. What works for some won’t work for others. The best way to improve is to continually test and track what works for you. Trial and error is a great approach to take in sales. But it only works if you track and pay attention to what is and isn’t working.
You don’t have to change your entire sales approach at once. Make a small tweak to one benefit you explain and examine the results. Change one aspect of a story to see if it gets a better reception.
If you want to improve in sales, you need to be willing to try new things and accept some failure. In the end, it will make you a much better salesperson.
Everyone has a favorite sales quote. Tell us yours in the comments below!
