Written by Sean McPheat | 

We all love inspirational and motivational sales quotes to keep us going…
Whether itâs to help us get over a sales slump or to help keep us motivated when on top, I personally, always find great sales quotes very useful.
A lot of managers use quotes to motivate their sales teams and we use them during our Sales Training events too. Bottom line is that they get us to think. They get us to think about what weâre currently doing and what we should be doing.
Some motivate us better than others. Anything by Sylvester Stallone or Steve Jobs for example and Iâm all over them. I love clips from motivational sales movies too. My favourite is Al Pacinoâs inspirational speech. Others just donât seem to resonate as well with me.
Iâve put 69 inspirational sales quotes together for you via different categories. Look at them, select the best and keep them. Who knows? One might just make the difference between where you are now and where you want to be.

These quotes are all about out with old and in with the new. As a quality salesperson you need to think creatively about your solutions and not be happy with the status quo.
âCreativity is intelligence having fun.â
Albert Einstein
âCreativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didnât really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while.â
Steve Jobs
âThe most talented, thought-provoking, game-changing people are never normal.â
Richard Branson
âHave no fear of perfection, youâll never reach it.â
Salvador Dali
âYou canât use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.â
Maya Angelou
âIf you want something new, you have to stop doing something old.â
Peter F. Drucker

I donât think Iâve ever met someone working in sales who does not have their eye on the prize! Most are committed to sales excellence in all that they do so they can attain more, more often.
âSuccess is not final; failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.â
Winston Churchill
“Successful people do what unsuccessful people are not willing to do. Don’t wish it were easier; wish you were better.”
Jim Rohn
“The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus.”
Bruce Lee
“The secret of success is to do the common thing uncommonly well.”
John D. Rockefeller Jr.
âIf you want to achieve greatness stop asking for permission.â
Anonymous
âLife is not about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.â
Lolly Daskal

As salespeople we face adversity and challenges daily. You must overcome sales objections, deal with difficult customers, youâll have an ever increasing workload and constantly under pressure to make your sales targets.
âThere is no education like adversity.â
Disraeli
âI hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.’â
Muhammad Ali
âHard times donât create heroes. It is during the hard times when the âheroâ within us is revealed.â
Bob Riley
âHad I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena I believed I truly belonged.â
J.K. Rowling
âLife keeps throwing me stones. And I keep finding the diamonds.â
Ana Claudia Antunes
âIt’s not about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward.â
Sylvester Stallone as Rocky Balboa

Your sales mindset will make or break your career. Iâve seen salespeople who have had all the skill you wish youâd had but a bad attitude â they fail. A positive mental attitude is essential for your sales success.
âA positive attitude may not solve all our problems but that is the only option we have if we want to get out of problems.â
Subodh Gupta
âDo not allow negative thoughts to enter your mind for they are weeds that strangle confidence.â
Bruce Lee
âHard work keeps the wrinkles out of the mind and spirit.â
Helena Rubinstein
âYou need an attitude of survive. Youâre not just serving yourself. You help others to grow up and you grow with them.â
Oprah Winfrey
âAttitude and enthusiasm play a big part in my life. I get excited about the things that inspire me. I also believe in laughing and having a good time.â
Dwayne Johnson
âIn every day, there are 1,440 minutes. That means we have 1,440 daily opportunities to make a positive impact.â
Les Brown

Salespeople like to make money. Iâm not talking about setting up a sales budget here! Iâm talking about making commission. The famous coffeeâs for closers speech is a classic spin on the make money or your are out approach.
âAn investment in knowledge pays the best interest.â
Benjamin Franklin
âRich people have small TVs and big libraries, and poor people have small libraries and big TVs.â
Zig Ziglar
âMoney is only a tool. It will take you wherever you wish, but it will not replace you as the driver. â
Ayn Rand
âMoney canât buy friends, but you can get a better class of enemy.â
Spike Milligan
âMoney canât buy happiness, but it will certainly get you a better class of memories.â
Ronald Reagan

Change is the only constant. Youâve got to get used to it. Your company, your products and services and even you need to change to keep ahead of the competition.
âNot everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.â James Baldwin
âPeople wish to be settled; only as far as they are unsettled is there any hope for them.â Ralph Waldo Emerson
âProgress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.â
George Bernard Shaw
âStop being afraid of what could go wrong, and start being excited about what could go right.â
Tony Robbins
âChange is inevitable. Growth is optional.â
John C. Maxwell

We must all do what we love or whatâs the point. Itâs pointless being an unhappy salesperson. These quotes will give you some perspective on life and give you some drive to make your life the best.
âLife is what happens when youâre busy making other plans.â
John Lennon
âTurn your wounds into wisdom.â
Oprah Winfrey
âThe way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain.â
Dolly Parton
âYou never really learn much from hearing yourself speak.â
George Clooney
âThe secret of happiness is freedom; the secret of freedom is courage.â
Carrie Jones

What have you been doing to improve your skills and your selling? It could be simply critiquing your sales meetings after each encounter. Think about what you can be doing to get better. Here are some professional sales skills you must master.
“What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.”
Jane Goodall
“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”
Thomas Edison
âWe don’t grow old. When we cease to grow, we become old.â
Ralph Waldo Emerson
âIf you put good people in bad systems, you get bad results. You have to water the flowers you want to grow.â
Stephen Covey
âLearn to work harder on yourself than on your job.â
Jim Rohn

Donât give up and donât throw in the towel. Youâll need a thick skin and high levels of determination to make a successful sales career. If your last sales pitch sucked then pick yourself up, practice some more and ace it next time. If youâre a sales manager and you fluffed your lines at that sales director interview then learn from it.
âI am not judged by the number of times I fail, but by the number of times I succeed: and the number of times I succeed is in direct proportion to the number of times I fail and keep trying.â
Tom Hopkins
âWhat counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight â itâs the size of the fight in the dog.â
General Dwight D. Eisenhower
“Desire is the key to motivation, but it’s determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal – a commitment to excellence – that will enable you to attain the success you seek.”
Mario Andretti
“I’ve always made a total effort, even when the odds seemed entirely against me. I never quit trying; I never felt that I didn’t have a chance to win.”
Arnold Palmer
âWhen obstacles arise, you change your direction to reach your goal, you do not change your decision to get there.â
Zig Ziglar

Whether itâs overcoming the fear of cold calling or just having the courage of your convictions to take a risk and get out of your comfort zones, youâll need a high level of courage to be great at what you do.
âYou can choose courage, or you can choose comfort, but you cannot choose both.â
Brene Brown
âBravery is being the only one who knows youâre afraid.â
Franklin P. Jones
âIt takes guts and humility to admit mistakes. Admitting weâre wrong is courage, not weakness.â
Roy T. Bennett
“Courage is being scared to death and saddling up anyway.”
John Wayne
“Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.”
Steve Jobs

These quotes are to make asking for the sale a little easier and to ensure you appreciate the value of your sales follow up! My favourite is the one from Zig Ziglar â I just love that one.
“Winning isnât everything, but wanting to win is.”
Vince Lombardi
“You just can’t beat the person who never gives up.”
Babe Ruth
“Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them yourself.”
Eleanor Roosevelt
âEither You Run The Day Or The Day Runs You.â
Jim Rohn
âTimid Salesmen Have Skinny Kids.â
Zig Ziglar

If you want to be really good at telesales or want a little more motivation to get past those gatekeepers then these quotes about life will give you some perspective to drive forward.
âNever let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game.â
Babe Ruth
âWhen you cease to dream you cease to live.â
Malcolm Forbes
âThe greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.â
Nelson Mandela
“Love the life you live. Live the life you love.”
Bob Marley
âThe journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.â
Lao Tzu

We all need a pick me up from time to time. If youâve lost a valuable customer or if youâre going through a tough period with your figures, an uplifting inspirational quote can give you that impetus to get back on that horse and ride again.
âBelieve in yourself. Stay in your own lane. Thereâs only one you.â
Queen Latifah
âLiving is the art of getting used to what we didnât expect.â
Eleanor C. Wood
âYour dreams donât have to be lofty; they just have to be lived.â
Kelly Bouchard
âAt the end of the day, whether or not those people are comfortable with how youâre living your life doesnât matter. What matters is whether youâre comfortable with it.â
Dr. Phil
âWake up determined, go to bed satisfied.â
Dwayne âThe Rockâ Johnson
As a Sales Training Provider, we can help you develop further check out our wider range of Sales Courses that can help you.
I hope those inspirational sales quotes will help you. Pick a couple out and make them your mantra.
If youâre interested in some of our courses our Selling Skills Training for sales reps and Sales Manager Training for leaders can help.
Happy Selling!
Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Sales Training
Updated on: 20 December, 2021
Originally published: 10 August, 2017
Related Articles

Search For More
