89 motivational sales quotes to help you crush 2020 revenue goals

Earlier today, our sales team celebrated a big win with the rest of the company — one of our deal-closing rockstar sales reps had closed a deal in a single call with a prospect. We all gave him a well-deserved round of applause (plus a few fist pumps and "whoop whoops!"), because it was a big freaking deal, and we all recognized that.

Here's the thing, though. 

When you're in sales (either on a team or running the show as your company's sales leader), you deal with lots of "no's" and those moments where you have to mark a deal in your deal pipeline as "closed lost."

And, depending on how your pipeline ebbs and flows — especially as we in the last quarter of 2019 and already looking ahead to the first quarter of 2020 — it can be a challenge sometimes to motivate yourself or your sales team to crush their revenue goals for the quarter and the year.

In short, those of you in sales are under a lot of pressure. So, to help you end the quarter (and the year!) on a strong note — and set you up for success in 2020 — here are our favorite powerful, motivational sales quotes.

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Motivational Sales Quotes

1. "Talking isn't selling and selling isn't closing." – Steli Efti
2. “Quality performance (and quality service) starts with a positive attitude.“ – Jeffrey Gitomer
3. “There are no limits to what you can accomplish, except the limits you place on your own thinking.” – Brian Tracy
4. “Before LinkedIn and other social networks, in the sales world, ABC stood for Always Be Closing. Now it means Always Be Connecting.” – Jill Rowley
5. “The story is the heart of the sale.” – Matthew Pollard
6. "The customer doesn’t care about features. They care about solving their problems." – Trish Bertuzzi
7. "Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm." – Winston Churchill
8. “Establishing trust is better than any sales technique.” – Mike Puglia
9. “The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change. The leader adjusts the sails.” – John Maxwell
10. “Sales are contingent upon the attitude of the salesman, not the attitude of the prospect.” – William Clement Stone

11. “Success looks a lot like failure up until the moment you break through the finish line.” – Dan Waldschmidt
12. "Tough times never last, but tough people do." – Robert Schuller
13. “Developing a good work ethic is key. Apply yourself at whatever you do because that work ethic will be reflected in everything you do in life.” – Tyler Perry
14. "Luck is a matter of preparation meeting opportunity." – Oprah Winfrey
15. “Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.” – Tony Robbins
16. “Today is always the most productive day of your week.” – Mark Hunter
17. “The purpose of business is to create and keep a customer.” — Peter F. Drucker
18. “Just because you are the loudest doesn’t make you right.” — Brian Halligan
19. "You just can’t beat the person who never gives up." – Babe Ruth
20. "Ninety percent of selling is conviction and 10 percent is persuasion." – Shiv Khera

21. "Don't be afraid to give up the good to go for the great." — John D. Rockefeller
22. “Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor.” — Truman Capote
23. “Success usually comes to those who are too busy to look for it.” — Henry David Thoreau
24. "Act as if what you do makes a difference — it does." – William James
25. “You miss 100% of the shots you don't take.” – Wayne Gretzky
26. “Focus on being productive instead of being busy.” – Tim Ferriss
27. “Be so good, they can’t ignore you.” – Steve Martin
28. “Victory is sweetest when you’ve known defeat.” – Malcolm Forbes
29. "The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will." – Vince Lombardi
30. "Make a customer. Not a sale." – Katherine Barchetti

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31. "Keep your sales pipeline full by prospecting continuously. Always have more people to see than you have time to see then." – Brian Tracy
32. "Honest and transparent content is the best sales tool in the world. Period." – Marcus Sheridan
33. "Most people think selling is the same as talking. The most effective salespeople know that listening is the most important part of their job.” – Roy Bartell
34. "In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity." – Albert Einstein"
35. "A goal is a dream... with a deadline." – Napoleon Hill
36. "You don't need a big close... you risk losing your customer when you save all the good stuff for the end." – Harvey Mackay
37. "I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have." – Thomas Jefferson
38. "If you really want to do something, you'll find a way. If you don't... you'll find an excuse." – Jim Rohn
39. “Take risks. If you win, you’ll be happy. If you lose, you’ll be wise.” – Anonymous 
40. "Emotional impact is about making absolutely sure that the customer sees themselves in the story you're telling." – The Challenger Sale

41. "It's not what you sell. It's how you sell it." – Dharmesh Shah
42. "Don't find customers for your products. Find products for your customers." – Seth Godin
43. "Address the questions of your clients and prospects or someone else will." – Marcus Sheridan
44. “People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily.” – Zig Ziglar
45. "If you work just for money, you'll never make it." – Ray Kroc
46. "The most unprofitable item ever manufactured is an excuse." – John Mason
47. “Don't bother telling the world you are ready. Show it. Do it." – Peter Dinklage
48. “Opportunities don’t happen. You create them.” – Chris Grosser
49. "If you aren't taking care of your customer, your competitor will." – Bob Hooey
50. "Don't celebrate closing a sale. Celebrate opening a relationship." – Patricia Fripp

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51. "The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus." – Bruce Lee
52. “Business opportunities are like buses. There’s always another one coming.” – Richard Branson 
53. “Care enough to create value for customers. If you get that part right, selling is easy.” – Anthony Iannarino
54. "Don’t wish it were easier. Wish you were better." – Jim Rohn
55. “Never confuse activity with accomplishment.” – Lori Richardson 
56. "It doesn’t matter who you are, where you come from. The ability to triumph begins with you – always." – Oprah Winfrey
57. “The purpose of business is to create and keep a customer.” – Brian Halligan
58. "Focus on your buyers and your buyers' problems." – David Meerman Scott
59. “The path to success is to take massive, determined action.” – Tony Robbins
60. "Success is not final. Failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts." – Winston Churchill

61. "I succeeded by saying what everyone else is thinking." – Joan Rivers
62. "My success just evolved from working hard at the business at hand each day." – Johnny Carson
63. "The only problem is time." – Seth MacFarlane
64. “It’s easier to explain price once than to apologize for quality forever.” – Zig Ziglar
65. "Everyone lives by selling something." – Robert Louis Stevenson
66. “You need to be able to paint a picture in a conversation. The lost part of sales is the storytelling side.” – Richard Harris
67. “You will attract way more buyers if you are offering to teach them something of value to them than you will ever attract by simply trying to sell them your product or service.” – Chet Holmes 
68. "The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain." – Dolly Parton
69. “Please think about your legacy, because you're writing it every day.” – Gary Vaynerchuk
70. "If you aren't moving closer to what you want in sales, you probably aren't doing enough asking." – Jack Canfield

71. “Opportunities are usually disguised as hard work, so most people don’t recognize them.” – Ann Landers
72. “You either walk inside your story and own it or you stand outside your story and hustle for your worthiness.” – Brené Brown 
73. “In an online world, our online words are our emissaries; they tell the world who we are." – Ann Handley
74. "The consumer is not a moron. She's your wife." – David Ogilvy
75. “Every sale has five basic obstacles: no need, no money, no hurry, no desire, no trust.” – Zig Ziglar
76. "Buyers don’t believe anything you have to say to them about your product or service until they first believe in you.” – Deb Calvert
77. "Not matching the idea of success others expect from you is only painful if that’s what you are seeking.” – Nassim Nicholas Taleb
78. "Value the relationship more than the quota." – Jeff Gitomer
79. “Trouble is only opportunity in work clothes.” – Henry J. Kaiser
80. “People don’t buy what you do. They buy why you do it.” – Simon Sinek

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81. "Every brand isn’t for everybody, and everybody isn’t for every brand." – Liz Lange
82. “It’s no longer about interrupting, pitching, and closing. It is about listening, diagnosing, and prescribing.” – Mark Roberge
83. "Find the man with the problem." – Ben Franklin
84. "Know thyself. Know the customer. Innovate." – Beth Comstock
85. “Every strike brings me closer to the next home run.” – Babe Ruth
86. "Help your customers and you help your business." – Leo Burnett
87. “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” – Maya Angelou
88. “Don't watch the clock. Do what it does — keep going.” – Sam Levenson 
89. "The old ways aren't coming back." – Marcus Sheridan