Ask any salesperson, and they’ll tell you that sales are an emotional rollercoaster. One month you’re riding high, closing deals left and right only to bottom out the next month with a fraction of your quota met.
Staying motivated is a crucial part of being successful in sales. And there’s no easier way to keep ourselves, or those around us, motivated than by reading and relating to inspiring sales quotes.
There are tons of roundups of inspirational sales quotes across the web citing influential people like Bruce Lee, Pablo Picasso, and Maya Angelou. However, as inspirational as these people were, they weren’t ever on a modern-day sales team.
Bruce Lee never had to hit a hardcore annual quota. Pablo Picasso didn’t have to make 100 cold calls per day. Maya Angelou didn’t have to self-prospect new leads for a B2B SaaS solution.
Wouldn’t it be better if we got our inspirational and motivational sales quotes from actual salespeople who spend their days in the trenches? We think so.
That’s why we reached out to a wide range of sales reps, team leads, managers, and department heads and asked: “What inspiring sales quotes do you use to get yourself and your teams fired up?”
In many cases, the quotes used are creative sayings these sales professionals have come up with themselves. At other times, they do in fact cite historical figures and influential people.
No matter what form these sales quotes take though, we know for certain that they’re relevant to the grind all salespeople face because they’re actually used on the frontlines, every day, by real people.
This is a list of the best sales quotes, by real salespeople for real salespeople. Check it out.
18 Inspirational Sales Quotes to Motivate Yourself and Your Team
Best Quotes About Teams
“We win and lose as a team. Team selling is very important: it’s the best way to 1) Build value and 2) not to miss something going on in a deal, especially large, complex ones. No spectators. Nothing is more important than being in front of customers."
Adam Carr, VP of Global Sales at Miro
“I try to build all my teams around a team—not a person. One person can’t make a team, but one person can absolutely break a team. Salespeople sometimes think they’re the end-all-be-all, but if you’re not helpful to your team, aren’t positive, don’t share ideas, and keep things to yourself, it doesn’t matter how good you are. You’re negatively impacting the team.”
Nic Hughart, VP of Sales at BuildFire
Motivational Sales Quotes About Success
“One quote that always helps me with long deal cycles, or just the tediousness of day to day sales activities are these two from Robert Collier: ‘You are what you repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.’ ‘Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.’”
Keegan Fitzgerald, Enterprise Account Executive at Instructure
“In sales, you have to celebrate your wins and mourn your losses just as briefly. It’s a very volatile industry, which means maintaining balance is crucial. So, celebrate when you win and be sad when you lose, but don’t spend too much mental energy on either.”
Danielle Heuer, Head of Sales at Welcome
“Our team stays motivated by focusing on this quote from JJ Watt: ‘Success isn’t owned, it’s leased, and rent is due every day.’ It keeps us fired up whether it’s the first day of the month or the last day of the quarter.”
Arianna Zografos, Senior Account Executive at Classy
“One of the concepts I think is the most critical is understanding that jet engines don’t have rear view mirrors. It’s so important to constantly be looking forward. If something good happens, keep going, if something bad happens, keep going. The most important thing is to keep looking forward.”
Mike Granieri, Regional Vice President at Lacework
Best Sales Quotes About Processes
“Always seek to understand before responding. Start with Why. Then, run lean, work hard, don’t break the system, fail often, fail fast, and move quickly. It is not about what you did, it is about what you are going to do now.”
Sarah Jennings, SVP of Sales at Swoogo
“In sales, it's all about outcomes, and what you put into it is what you get out of it. My former VP of Sales used to say: ‘There are three things you can control: your effort, your attitude and what happens next.’ That's something I carry with me to this day. Combine that mantra with grit and I think it's the perfect recipe for success in sales. When you focus on those things within your control and have the determination to succeed anything is possible. Sales is certainly a numbers game but for me, it's the combination of having the right mindset and those three simple things that drives me to succeed.”
Kelcey Teyechea, Manager of Global Sales Development of AMS West at ServiceNow
“I like to remind sales reps to be confident when they dial their prospects, because every call is an opportunity to provide value and solutions. It might sound cheesy but staying motivated in sales always boils down to this simple and strong idea for me.”
Christian Campos, Senior Account Executive at Crexi
“Put your deals at the stage where they truly belong, not where you want them to be. Don’t inflate your pipeline. Be real with yourself. If you’re struggling, that's OK as long as you're honest. And your management will know how to give you the help you need to grow and succeed.”
Nic Hughart, VP of Sales at BuildFire
Motivational Sales Quotes About Leadership
“I don’t consider myself an overly motivational person. I think people follow me because I work hard, I am true to my word, and I am loyal to those that show up with heart and hard work each and every day.”
Sarah Jennings, SVP of Sales at Swoogo
“My favorite leadership quote that helps managing sales teams comes from Antoine de Saint-Exupery: ‘If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.’”
Mason Davis, Director of Customer Growth at Classy
“In sales and leadership, it’s not about you. People who realize and embrace this notion are limitless.”
Olivia Nielsen, Senior Director of Sales Development at Chili Piper
“I always tell my team: ‘I will not give up on you until you give up on you. I’m going to give you everything in my power to make you successful as long as you’re putting in the effort.’”
Nic Hughart, VP of Sales at BuildFire
Inspiring Sales Quotes About Attitudes
“This is a pretty basic quote, but it gets to the root of things: ‘If I believe in something, I sell it.’ A seller’s attitude about a solution, and their belief in that solution, are the single biggest indicators of their success. If you believe that your solution can help others and is better than anything else out there, you’ll be able to get people to talk with you and ultimately buy.”
Mason Davis, Director of Customer Growth at Classy
“I’ve literally got this one from William Jennings Bryan tattooed on my arm: ‘Destiny is not a matter of chance, it’s a matter of choice. It’s not a thing to be waited for, it’s a thing to be achieved.’ I can’t rely on someone else or something else to get me where I want to be. It’s on me. It’s up to me. Yes, there are people who influence my success, but if I sit around and wait it’ll never happen. I’ve got to go get it.”
Nic Hughart, VP of Sales at BuildFire
“Another simple quote I like is from Mike Adenuga: ‘The harder you work, the luckier you get.’ It boils down to simply giving yourself more reps: get in front of more prospects, make more cold calls, and do more work.”
Keegan Fitzgerald, Enterprise Account Executive at Instructure
“There are so many quotes from previous mentors that come to mind like, ‘People buy from people they like’ and ‘Time kills all deals.’ But I find myself focusing on this one from Cameron Kahn, VP of State and Local Sales at DocuSign the most: ‘Have swagger and don’t chase the little fish.’”
Erin Leonard, Corporate Account Executive at Outreach
What’s Your Favorite Motivational Sales Quote?
The best motivational sales quotes are the ones that come directly from the people on the frontlines cold calling, prospecting, working through slumps, hitting quota, and celebrating major milestones. They're on outbound and inbound sales teams, spread across a wide variety of roles.
These are the people who know just what to say, and when to say it, to keep themselves and everyone around them fired up.
If you’re a sales professional of any level and you’ve got other sales quotes to add, we want to hear them. Reach out to us and we’ll include your catch phrase in this ever-growing and never-ending list.
