100+ motivational sales quotes to reignite your fire in 2025

Whether you are breaking down your sales goals into smaller, manageable tasks or diving head-first into tasks, here are some quotes to give you the sales motivation you need to crush that quota.

1. Top motivational sales quote: “Expect the best. Prepare for the worst. Capitalize on what comes.” – Zig Ziglar, American author

2. “When obstacles arise, you change your direction to reach your goal; you do not change your decision to get there.” — Zig Ziglar, author

3. “Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you.” — Oprah Winfrey, talk show host and philanthropist
4. “Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.” — Henry David Thoreau, essayist, poet, and philosopher
5. “Things never go as planned, so you need to always be ready to think on the fly. Always know that if you have a certain plan, it most likely won’t end up that way.” — Blaise Bevilacqua, GTM lead at Glue
6. “If you’re walking down the right path and you’re willing to keep walking, eventually you’ll make progress.” — Barack Obama, 44th president of the United States
7. “The way you ask a question—and how you follow through in the conversation—has an impact on the result you get. It might not change the outcome, but it can take a lot of the sting out of hearing no.” — Jia Jiang, entrepreneur and author
8. “Finally, I learned rejection is a compass. It teaches you what you don’t want so you can learn what you do.” — Cam Adair, speaker and entrepreneur
9. “Rejection is one of life’s most painful experiences, especially if you are used to being successful. It doesn’t have to be debilitating. Underneath rejection’s disappointment, there are lessons and growth awaiting us if we have the courage and humility to uncover them.” — Ron Carucci, consultant and author
10. “There will be obstacles. There will be doubters. There will be mistakes. But with hard work, there are no limits.” — Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian of all time
11. “If you learn from defeat, you haven’t really lost.” — Zig Ziglar, author
12. “The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits them and sells itself.” — Peter Drucker, consultant and educator
13. “A small daily progress adds up to large results over time.” — Brian Tracy, motivational speaker and author
14. “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” — Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States

Sales can be a helpful and fulfilling field where you make real connections with customers and actively work to make their lives better. The following quotes will help inspire and remind you that sales can be financially and ethically sound.

1. Top inspirational sales quote: “You can close more business in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in 2 years by trying to get people interested in you” – Dale Carnegie, author and educator
2. “Stop selling. Start helping.” — Matt White, author
3. “If you work just for money, you’ll never make it. But if you love what you’re doing and you always put the customer first, success will be yours.” — Ray Kroc, entrepreneur and businessman
4. “Trust is the glue of life. It’s the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It's the foundational principle that holds all relationships.” — Stephen R. Covey, educator and author
5. “The man who will use his skill and constructive imagination to see how much he can give for a dollar, instead of how little he can give for a dollar, is bound to succeed.” — Henry Ford, founder of Ford Motor Co.

6. “I stopped caring so much whether I got a yes or a no. Which meant, I supposed, that I was starting to care a bit less about what other people thought about me. And it felt liberating.” — Jia Jiang, entrepreneur and author

7. “If you wait for certainty, you will spend your whole life standing still. And if you grow discouraged and give up when things get rough, you’ll miss out on your best possible destiny. So the secret is to be excited about what is in your power to control, be accepting of what’s not in your power to control, and then move with certainty into an uncertain future.” — Kevin Hart, comedian and actor
8. “You don’t learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing, and by falling over.” — Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group
9. “For every failure, there's an alternative course of action. You just have to find it. When you come to a roadblock, take a detour.” — Mary Kay Ash, business leader and entrepreneur
10. “Success is not final; failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” — Winston Churchill, former prime minister of the United Kingdom

11. “Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude.” — Zig Ziglar, author

Here are some positive sales quotes to get you in the right headspace and help you tackle your sales goals with an optimistic attitude.

1. Top positive sales quote: “Quality performance starts with a positive attitude” – Jeffrey Gitomer, salesperson, author, and speaker
2. “Escape competition through authenticity.” — Naval Ravikant, entrepreneur and investor
3. “Sales is about helping others and making a difference in their lives.” — Mark Hunter, consultative selling expert
4. “You only need one ray of light to chase all the shadows away.” — Fredrik Backman, author

5. “Love of sales + love of life = a happy result.” — Jeffrey Gitomer, salesperson, author, and speaker

6. “We must build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear.” — Martin Luther King, Jr., minister and social rights activist
7. “Think of your emotions as messages that give you the freedom, rather than the obligation, to respond. Fear protects. Regret teaches. Sadness releases. Joy uplifts. Empathy unites.” — Chip Conley, hotelier and hospitality entrepreneur
8. “Sales rarely get better by just waiting around.” — Colleen Francis, consultant and speaker
9. “You can’t connect the dots looking forward. You can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.” —Steve Jobs, former CEO of Apple
10. “The best salespeople are the ones who care the most.” — Joe Girard, salesperson and motivational speaker
11. “Treat each customer as if they're the only one in the world.” — Catherine Pulsifer, author

12. “Make your smile change the world, but don't let the world change your smile.” — Mary Kay Ash, business leader and entrepreneur

13. “Become the person who would attract the results you seek.” — Jim Cathcart, entrepreneur and speaker

With these prospecting sales quotes, you can learn how to address sales objections, form a connection with prospective buyers, and use sales techniques to interest leads.

1. Top prospecting sales quote: “Always deliver more than expected” – Larry Page, Former CEO of Google
2. “People don’t ask for facts in making up their minds. They would rather have one good, soul-satisfying emotion than a dozen facts.” — Robert Keith Leavitt, writer
3. “A salesperson tells, a good salesperson explains, and a great salesperson demonstrates.” — Harvey Mackay, businessman and author
4. “Sales are contingent upon the attitude of the salesman, not the attitude of the prospect.” — William Clement Stone, businessman and philanthropist

5. “The real test is not whether you avoid this failure, because you won’t. It’s whether you let it harden or shame you into inaction, or whether you learn from it; whether you choose to persevere.” — Barack Obama, 44th president of the United States

6. “If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time.” — Zig Ziglar, author

7. “I’m convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance.” — Steve Jobs, former CEO of Apple

8. “The number one reason for failure in sales is an empty pipeline, and the root cause of an empty pipeline is the failure to consistently prospect.” — Jeb Blount, keynote speaker

9. “You don't have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great at prospecting.” — Zig Ziglar, author

As you continue in your sales career, you should always be looking towards your sales goals and focused on closing the deal. Read these quotes for great advice, closing sales techniques, and perspectives on how to win sales.

1. Top closing sales quote: “Don’t celebrate closing a sale; celebrate opening a relationship” – Patricia Fripp, Keynote speaker and coach

2. “This is not hard sell—it’s heart sell. Good questions get to the heart of the problem or the need very quickly, and the buyer doesn’t feel like he or she is being pushed.” — Jeffrey Gitomer, salesperson, author, and speaker

3. “The only way I can get you to do anything is by giving you what you want.” — Dale Carnegie, author and educator

4. “People don’t buy for logical reasons. They buy for emotional reasons.” — Zig Ziglar, author

5. “In every sales conversation, the person who exerts the greatest amount of emotional control has the highest probability of getting the outcome they desire. You must first gain control of your emotions before you can influence the emotions of other people. Getting past no in all its various forms, begins and ends with emotional control.” — Jeb Blount, keynote speaker

6. “Goals aren’t enough. You need goals plus deadlines: goals big enough to get excited about and deadlines to make you run. One isn’t much good without the other, but together they can be tremendous.” — Ben Feldman, actor
7. “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, beautician and business executive
8. “Life’s battles don’t always go to the stronger or faster man. But sooner or later, the man who wins is the man who thinks he can.” — Vince Lombardi, professional football coach

9. “If you don’t see yourself as a winner, then you cannot perform as a winner.” — Zig Ziglar, author

Use your sales skills and these sales success quotes to close deals and make quotas.

1. Top sales success quote: “Opportunities don't happen. You create them.” – Chris Grosser, Real estate agent
2. “Don't wish it were easier, wish you were better.” — Jim Rohn, entrepreneur and author
3. “The secret of getting ahead is getting started.” — Mark Twain, writer and humourist

4. “Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” – Winston Churchill, former prime minister of the United Kingdom

5. “Don't be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.” — John D. Rockefeller, industrialist and philanthropist
6. “The questions you ask are more important than the things you could ever say.” — Thomas Freese, founder and president of QBS Research, Inc.
7. “If you're not taking care of your customer, your competitor will.” — Bob Hooey, keynote speaker and sales coach
8. “Nobody counts the number of ads you run; they just remember the impression you make.” — Bill Bernbach, advertising executive and copywriter
9. “Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.” — Bill Gates, former CEO of Microsoft

10. “Great salespeople are relationship builders who provide value and help their customers win.” — Jeffrey Gitomer, salesperson, author, and speaker

11. “Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.” — Henry David Thoreau, essayist, poet, and philosopher

The customer experience (CX) you provide can make or break sales. Read these CX sales quotes to see just how important experiences are to the sales process.

1. Top customer experience sales quote: “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel” – Maya Angelou, author, poet, and civil rights activist
2. “Make a customer, not a sale.” — Katherine Barchetti, author and former owner of K. Barchetti Shops
3. “The customer's perception is your reality.” — Kate Zabriskie, president of Business Training Works
4. “Every contact we have with a customer influences whether or not they'll come back.” — Jan Carlzon, Swedish businessman and former CEO of Scandinavian Airlines
5. “Customers don't expect you to be perfect. They do expect you to fix things when they go wrong.” — Donald Porter, former VP of British Airways
6. “The sole reason we are in business is to make life less difficult for our clients.” — Matthew Odgers, partner and co-founder of Opelon LLP
7. “A satisfied customer is the best business strategy of all.” — Michael LeBoeuf, business author and former management professor
8. “The goal as a company is to have customer service that is not just the best, but legendary.” — Sam Walton, founder of Walmart and Sam’s Club
9. “People do not buy goods and services. They buy relations, stories, and magic.” — Seth Godin, author and entrepreneur
10. “Every great business is built on friendship.” — James Cash Penney, businessman and entrepreneur

11. “There is only one boss: the customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.” — Sam Walton, founder of Walmart and Sam’s Club

12. “Always give people more than what they expect to get.” — Nelson Boswell, author

These sales quotes can help you uncover the benefits and best practices for direct sales — and meeting quotas.

1. Top direct sales quote: “Face-to-face selling is still the most powerful human communication tool” – Brian Tracy, motivational speaker and author
2. “Success in direct selling is simply a matter of working with enough people in the right way.” — Mark Yarnell, author, speaker, and businessman

3. “Direct selling is better than a graduate degree when it comes to developing skills for success.” — Jim Rohn, entrepreneur and author

4. “The beauty of direct selling is that it teaches you to close your own deals.” — Mary Kay Ash, business leader and entrepreneur

5. “Direct selling offers what people need most: a chance to take control of their lives.” — David Bach, author and motivational speaker
6. “The direct sales model is the great economic equaliser – anyone can succeed through hard work.” — Robert Kiyosaki, businessman and author
7. “Direct selling is not about selling products – it's about selling possibilities.” — Jordan Adler, business professional
8. “The person who talks to the most people wins in direct sales.” — John Maxwell, author, speaker, and pastor

9. “Direct selling gives you the opportunity to face rejection head-on and turn it into acceptance.” — Dale Carnegie, author and educator

A little humour can brighten your mood and give you a boost to get through the workday with a positive outlook. Enjoy these funny sales quotes that also impart some solid business advice.

1. Top funny sales quote: “My sales objective is to get my prospects to look at my products the same way I look at bacon” – Kurt Mortensen, author

2. “Business opportunities are like buses; there’s always another one coming.” — Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group

3. “The difference between ‘try’ and ‘triumph’ is just a little ‘umph.’” — Marvin Phillips, singer and songwriter

4. “‘If you have to eat two frogs, eat the ugliest one first.’ This is another way of saying that if you have two important tasks before you, start with the biggest, hardest, and most important task first.” — Brian Tracy, motivational speaker and author (via Mark Twain)

5. “Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.” — Napoleon Bonaparte, former emperor of the French
6. “When you’re good at something, you’ll tell everyone. When you’re great at something, they’ll tell you.” — Walter Payton, professional football player
7. “I design, manufacture, distribute, and sell lift buttons. I specialise 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-storey building. … My motto in life: You can’t push my buttons if you don’t buy them.” — Jarod Kintz, author
8. “Hustle until your haters ask if you’re hiring.” — Steve Maraboli, veteran, author, and philanthropist
9. “There’s no secret about success. Did you ever know a successful man who didn’t tell you about it?” — Kin Hubbard, cartoonist and humorist

From sales advice to inspirational ideas, these sales leadership quotes will help you motivate your sales reps and keep your team moving forward, even when times are challenging.

1. Top sales leadership quote: “The true price of leadership is the willingness to place the needs of others above your own. Great leaders truly care about those they are privileged to lead and understand that the true cost of the leadership privilege comes at the expense of self-interest.” — Simon Sinek, author and inspirational speaker

2. “Remember, you are not in charge; you are responsible for those in your charge.” — Simon Sinek, author and inspirational speaker

3. “One way to encourage people to perform better is to let them take the lead in setting their own goals, rather than dictating the terms and manner of their development.” — Jonathan Farrington, keynote speaker and business coach
4. “While it is the sales team’s job to bring in business, simply cranking up the heat to get the numbers you want can produce an environment where stress backfires.” — Scott Edinger, business growth consultant and author
5. “Great salespeople are not born; they are made. They are continually coached to flex their smarts and inquisitive nature. “Training should encourage them to be hungry and to have the confidence to show their true colours.” — Ed Calnan, president and CRO of SOCi, Inc.
6. “It’s easier to manage by metrics (e.g., ‘How come you only did 15 demos this week?’) than to lead the whole person. Great sales leaders think of themselves not as managers but as coaches. A coach who develops each salesperson to their full potential.” — Kevin Kruse, founder and CEO of LEADx
7. “Teaching people doesn’t subtract value from what you do; it actually adds to it. When you teach someone how to do your work, you are, in effect, generating more interest in your work. People feel closer to your work because you’re letting them in on what you know.” — Austin Kleon, author
8. “If you don’t have a defined process that moves your people forward so they can achieve greater results, then what is it you are managing? You’re managing the status quo.” — Keith Rosen, coaching thought leader and author
9. “Good is the enemy of great.” — Jim Collins, Socratic adviser and author