I’ve never had suicidal thoughts, thankfully, but for some years have gone through peaks and valleys. When in my valleys, I can get pretty down and irritable, and sometimes it lasts a while. 

My family feels it the most. My wife recognized I hadn’t been in tip-top shape for more than just a while. I admit I haven’t managed my workload or prioritized the more essential things in life very well recently. That has certainly contributed to my angst. (Not to mention 2020 is the craziest year ever.)

I didn’t want to go to the appointment at first but didn’t have a great excuse not to so I went. 

Now, I’m not going to give any more detail about my mental health, “cause that’s my business” (Tabitha Brown, you are a delight). But the reality is this is not uncommon and unfortunately there’s a lot of stigmatization around mental health.

THE STATE OF DEPRESSION AND BURNOUT

After doing a quick search, I learned, according to the National Network of Depression Centers, “Depression is the leading cause of disability in the United States among people ages 15-44.” (NNDC Research) And the Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA) finds “Almost 75% of people with mental disorders remain untreated.” (ADAA Research) 

Sales can exacerbate the stress. Even before COVID, 64% of salespeople agreed or strongly agreed they were close to burning out. (Thrive Global). 

This isn’t intended to minimize other significant problems in the world. Many people are suffering from significant issues. But it seems there are a lot of us who should take our mental health more seriously. 

WHAT IS XANT DOING

That’s why I appreciate that our CEO, Chris Harrington, on a company all-hands call yesterday, announced a company-wide mandated day off every third Friday of the month beginning September 25. 

The reason? To give employees time to be with our families, to de-stress, and to take care of what’s most important. 

This is huge! It’s not the only thing but it matters. And other companies are doing similar things, which is awesome. 

I told my wife and we’ve already planned a family hike. I’ll tell the kids I’m choosing to take off work and will look like a hero. Everybody wins. 

WHAT CAN YOU DO

Whether or not you’re able to take work off during the week, in whatever spare time you have there are some great things you can do to care for stress and depression.

I’m not an expert, but I can copy and paste stuff from experts. Here’s a list of recommendations I stole from ADAA (there’s a lot more detail on their site so check out the link below):

1. Distract yourself with positively distracting activities
2. Keep a schedule
3. Get outside
4. Stay in touch (with people)
5. Exercise
6. Laugh
7. Limit checking your phone
8. Enjoy time with your immediate family

ADAA Recommendations

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you are struggling with suicidal thoughts, get help. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 800-273-8255. Too many people struggle needlessly. 

A FINAL THOUGHT

Thank goodness for the people in our lives who love and care about us! 

When my twin daughters were 5 years old, one of them observed, while on a family drive and in a moment of unusual silence, “Dad, mommy’s the boss. You’re just the helper of the boss.”

Here’s to all the real bosses who schedule doctor’s appointments or seek help against our wills. 

RELATED: Winning Sales Tips And Sales Strategies From A Hungry Team Who Dared To Dream

In this article:

1. 1. Permission Marketing: Turning Strangers into Friends and Friends into Customer – Seth Godin
   2. How to Win Friends and Influence People – Dale Carnegie
   3. Never Eat Alone – Keith Ferrazzi and Tahl Raz
   4. The Challenger Sale: Taking Control of the Customer Conversation – Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson
   5. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People – Stephen R. Covey
   6. Digital Minimalism – Cal Newport
   7. Secrets Of A Master Closer – Mike Kaplan
   8. The Little Red Book Of Selling – Jeffrey Gitomer

Best Sales Books for Sales Development and Strategies

How Reading the Top Sales Books for Sales Professionals Can Help Reps

The best sales books for reps

Sales reps today can educate themselves on sales best practices with a variety of books available on the subject, but there are so many books out there it’s often hard to know where to start.

We’ve done the work for you and listed our ‘Top 8 Sales Books” to help inside sales reps increase their performance and expand their technique.

This list consists of both classic and recently published sales books, which can help reps get insight into what can help them become more successful salespeople.

Many of the books on this list are best sellers and sales must-reads; even if you have read them, it might be time to pull them off the shelf and review their quality content.

Here are eight best sales books to read, absorb, and share with the entire sales organization for better results in delivering sales pitches, closing deals, and building secured relationships with potential customers.

1. Permission Marketing: Turning Strangers into Friends and Friends into Customer – Seth Godin

What is Permission Marketing? This marketing concept recognizes and respects the consumers’ right to choose if they want to receive marketing materials or not.

While at first glance this book seems to be pointed toward marketers, sales reps can still learn a thing or two from this book. Permission marketing offers great advice and information that sales reps today can use when dealing with leads and prospects.

Also, sales and marketing are converging. By learning how to approach new leads and prospects, reps can build upon the foundations the book suggests to get the sale.

Learning how to gain permission makes sense and can help any rep become a better marketer when pitching to a prospect. This concept respects the consumer’s choice as a valuable part of its sales strategy.

So, instead of pushing a lead into making a purchase, this marketing concept understands the power of a consumer’s choice to listen to your pitch. When a potential client shows interest in sales conversations you initiated, there’s a higher chance for sales success.

2. How to Win Friends and Influence People – Dale Carnegie

This book by best-selling author Dale Carnegie is one of the sales books of all time. It’s a classic for any aspiring sales champions.

The benefit of reading this book is that it can help a sales professional develop the interpersonal skills needed to clinch a sale. The techniques Dale Carnegie teaches not only helps with lead generation, but they are also necessary for closing the sale.

Learning techniques on how to interact with people, becoming likable to others, winning people over, and other helpful information can benefit anyone who works in sales.

It’s great for newbies who want to improve in the business. Experts and sales executives should also re-read this book to refresh themselves when they find themselves in a rut.

RELATED: How To Pitch Anything And Close More Deals

3. Never Eat Alone – Keith Ferrazzi and Tahl Raz

Learning how to network and develop sincere and good relationships with others is something every great sales rep need to know. This book can help sales professionals connect with others at trade shows and in everyday situations over the phone and Internet.

To discover more about the psychology of selling, a salesperson must first learn how to decode human psychology. The book teaches the importance of not asking, “What’s in it for me?” But rather, “What can I do for you?”

This is an essential lesson for successful salespeople to become more compelling to their prospective buyers. By doing so, they can build lasting relationships, opening chances for future sales as they follow their buyer’s journey.

4. The Challenger Sale: Taking Control of the Customer Conversation – Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson

This book is great because it is one of the more current books about the sales industry. It looked at the skills, attitude, behaviors, and know-how of top reps.

The authors did a comprehensive study that involved sales reps across various industries and locations. They discovered that reps fall into one of five profiles. And, while all reps can deliver average results, only one (“The Challenger”) can deliver great results consistently.

For sales reps, it teaches the importance of how to pitch to customers, creating a tailored message, and taking control of the sale.

The Challenger is a great read for sales reps who might be a little out of the game and are trying to learn the modern processes of sales. Salespeople who have been following classic selling tips and techniques will find this book insightful.

5. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People – Stephen R. Covey

The late Stephen Covey was the author of this highly successful book that influenced millions of people and taught them to be their best productive self.

In 7 Habits, Covey showed readers (and sales reps) how to be proactive and take responsibility for their own success and failures. C-level executives have read and followed this book’s to lead their sales organizations towards success.

In fact, people beyond the sales industry read and stand by these habits. Executives of other companies apply the seven habits in their operations.

Sales reps can also learn to not get caught up in the “here” and “now.” Rather, they should start everything off with the beginning in mind and develop a personal mission statement.

By incorporating the lessons learned from this book, a sales rep can become a sales professional if they are able to apply these principles to their daily lives.

At the end of the day, it’s up to the sales rep to determine if they have done everything they can to get the sale. Books can be a great asset to help improve skills and, hopefully, increase performance.

6. Digital Minimalism – Cal Newport

Cal Newport’s best selling book teaches you how valuable it is to focus on the technology that is helping you rather than distracting you. This is the concept of digital minimalism. The concept is not saying no to any technology, but to say no to unnecessary technology.

It’s a modern problem that affects everyone. In the age of multi-platform social media, distraction is everywhere. The constant beeping of your smartphone is taking your focus away from the tasks at hand.

If you think about your smartphone’s development over the last 10 years, you know that there are new apps added to every upgrade. What Newport is proposing is that you take time to think about what the benefit is of all these new apps.

What technology do you need to improve your skill-set, and which ones are just distracting you from your tasks?

The benefits in the workplace of a focused sales team are apparent, but what about your employees’ downtime? Are they fully rested when they arrive at work, or do they binge the latest’ must-see’ until 2 am on their tablet?

This book may not seem like it belongs in the category of best sales book, but it is a top seller for a good reason. Your sales team may resist the idea of editing down the apps on their smartphones, but it has been proven to improve sales revenue and the quality of life away from the office.

It is important to be mentally present at work, and it isn’t easy to do this when your smartphone is dictating your life.

7. Secrets of a Master Closer: A Simpler, Easier, And Faster Way To Sell Anything To Anyone, Anytime, Anywhere – Mike Kaplan

There is a clear, no-nonsense approach to educating you on how to sell in this popular best sales book.

Mike Kaplan sets out an 8-step road map to help the reader understand the nuts and bolts process of sales. Using scripted dialogues between the seller and buyers is a useful guide for beginners and a good refresher for the more experienced.

Kaplan is from the common-sense school of sales. He is critical of the modern trend towards gimmicks for selling and how it can come off as disingenuous to your clients.

Instead, he recommends following the tried and tested path, the fundamentals of selling. This includes understanding your clients and selling to them rather than at them. Taking the aggressive spin out of sales is more likely to endear you to your clients and generate repeat business and referrals.

The book asks you to follow all the steps and not skip over any closely. The ideas behind Kaplan’s book is that once you master these skills, you don’t need to learn anything else, just reapply the rules to every sale and enjoy the rewards. According to reviews by salespeople, this is proven to be very successful in the field.

Kaplan says that you must be a driven and motivated person to sell. Use his techniques, and your mission to succeed will drive home those sales.

8. The Little Red Book of Selling – Jeffery Gitomer

The Little Red Book of Selling is a neat and humorous way to brush up or learn sales skills. Along with the cartoon illustrations, the cover should not deter you from this pocket-sized guide to all things sales.

The appeal is that it is pocket-sized and not sales manual sized. The author realized that most salespeople do not want to pick up a book about sales on their downtime.

Gitomer is a respected business author, and this book wants to take the mystery out of why customers buy what they buy. Using his tips, you should improve your sales figures if you can understand the motivation for customers purchasing decisions.

Another important tip that is covered is learning about who sets the budgets rather than spends the budgets. How do you deal with a client who says ‘my purchasing budget is spent’? This small red book has the answers.

This strange little book is a top best sales book because it is to the point. Designed to be dipped in and out of when needed, it has all the obvious’ work hard, stay motivated’ lines that you hear at every sales meeting, but this book reminds you with a little wit and a funny cartoon.

Then again, all of the best-selling books in the world won’t be of much help if reps don’t apply the lessons properly.

It really comes down to if the sales rep has absorbed what they have read and implemented it into their daily sales strategy.

Which book do you consider your sales bible? Let us know which books can help other salespeople improve their techniques in the comments section below! 

UP NEXT: 

• How To Improve Your Sales Performance With Systems Thinking
• 7 Tips To Build A Successful Sales Strategy Plan
• Amanda Holmes Teaches Time Management Secrets of Billionaires

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on October 6, 2012, and has been updated for quality and relevancy.

RELATED: How to Lead from Home

In This Article:

1. What is a Sales Manager?
2. How Sales Manager Succeed
3. Why Some Sales Managers Fail
4. People Management
5. Management Styles
6. Benefits of a Successful Sales Manager

The Failures and Successes of Sales Management

What is a Sales Manager?

Sales managers have a broad range of responsibilities. You must manage and oversee the sales team, assign and monitor sales territories, and resolve client complaints.
You will also liaise with marketing, HR, and senior management.

The role requires a person who is analytical, flexible, and a good mentor.

Developing new and existing client relationships is an important part of the role of all sales managers.

How Sales Managers Succeed

A good sales manager knows the challenges that the role entails. You are the link between the sales team and management. Your position requires you to filter down the frequent and varied corporate decisions to the sales team.

It is your responsibility to ensure that your territories are gaining maximum returns. To achieve this, you must strategize and manage your team efficiently. You need to hold yourself accountable for your team’s poor performance as well as the successful ones.

If you are a good sales manager, you understand the importance of time management. In addition to your sales team, you have to distill marketing and accounts management into your working week.

It is vital to devote time to analyzing and tracking sales data from the sales team. This allows you to catch any shortcomings sooner rather than later.

Why Some Sales Managers Fail

Confusion is the hallmark of a bad sales manager. While you can advocate for your sales team in meetings with senior management, you are now part of the management structure of your company. Your job is to inform your team, not to ask them.

Mixed messages will negatively affect your team’s performance. You must resist sharing negative narratives such as ‘it’s us against the company’ with your team.

Another common error is fighting losing battles with senior management. You need to choose your fights to ensure you get a share of the marketing budget and training allowances for your team. If you are pushing too hard for changes you may lose the ear of your Manager. This will in turn result in losses for your sales team.

People Management

If you are promoted to manage your former colleagues you may find it difficult to navigate the world of corporate decision-making vs. personal relationships.

While you may enjoy the process of interviewing and building a new sales team, you must also be honest about the possible shortcomings of your existing team. If a sales rep. is continually not hitting achievable targets, or is not a team player, it may be time to let them go.

An exit interview is a worthwhile strategy to allow the former employee to air any grievances they may have, and allowing you to learn how to profile possible red flags with future employees.

Management Style sales managers fail

It is important not to micromanage your sales team. You need to track the top and lower end performers closely, but appreciate that you have to trust your team to do their jobs. You must manage the team, not the individual. Setting clear goals and targets will set clear parameters for your sales team to achieve.

In a large company, decisions are sent down from the top tiers of the company. You may personally view these changes negatively, but it is important to convey them to your team in a positive light. Rather than challenges, discuss opportunities.

Benefits of a Successful Sales Manager

At some point in your sales career, you will have encountered a ‘bad’ sales manager. These are the managers who disrupt rather than improve your working week.

In contrast, a good sales manager can guide and help a team achieve its targets and goals with minimum conflicts. This establishes trust and respect that creates a good working environment that will benefit your team and sales revenue.

Helping your team to grow the client base, and pursue new leads, will increase sales revenue. This will put you and your team in a good position with senior management.

A Sales Manager role is one of many facets.
A great Sales Manager will have opportunities to increase skills, progress in their career, and enjoy the satisfaction of managing and mentoring a successful sales team.

What have good or bad sales managers taught you? Comment below.

Up Next :

• THE #1 MISTAKE SALES REPS ARE MAKING RIGHT NOW
• THE BEST WORDS THAT SELL EVERY SALES TEAM SHOULD KNOW
• HOW TO WIN BACK LOST CUSTOMERS (14 WAYS)

RELATED: How To Keep Your Sales Team Motivated During The Holidays

In this article:

How Music Can Motivate Salespeople

1. You Gotta Want It – Roberta Gold
2. You Get What You Give – New Radicals
3. Lose Yourself – Eminem
4. Eye of the Tiger – Survivor
5. Fighter – Christina Aguilera
6. Live Like We’re Dying – Kris Allen
7. Proud Mary – Creedence Clearwater Revival
8. I Wanna Be Rich – Calloway
9. Don’t Worry Be Happy – Bobby McFerrin
10. We Are The Champions – Queen
11. We Are Family – Sister Sledge
12. How Do You Like Me Now? – Toby Keith
13. Start Me Up – The Rolling Stones
14. Standing Outside The Fire – Garth Brooks
15. Move On Up – Curtis Mayfield
16. Don’t Stop Believing – Journey

16 Pumped Up Songs To Motivate Your Sales Reps

How Music Can Motivate Salespeople

Few things have the power to motivate like music. The combination of an unforgettable hook and soaring lyrics can pump up your team of sales representatives.

We have put together a stellar line up of 16 ‘pumped up’ hits, some familiar, others to take your team on a new musical adventure.

Check out our songs to motivate your sales representative teams to stay motivated and hit those sales targets.

You Gotta Want It — Roberta Gold

Self-belief is at the core of sales. You take that self-belief to work with you every day to be a better sales representative.
If your sales representatives want to close that deal with their customers, let them know they ‘gotta want it’ with this song.

You Get What You Give — New Radicals

Stay focused on your “why” — the reason you do what you do. It will make a world of difference to you and everybody you interact with.
What you put into your sales; you get back. Good sales mean targets hit and job satisfaction. You really can ‘get what you give.’

Lose Yourself — Eminem

This is a song to encourage your sales team to listen to that inner voice that says you can do it. Push yourself to be the best you can be. Take pride in your successes. This is a pumped up hit song to remind your team that they have that inner fire. Take pride in hitting those targets as a team and as an individual.

Eye of A Tiger

No pumped up list can be complete without this Rocky classic. Sometimes your sales representatives need that extra 10% of motivation, and this is the song to do just that.
It’s a fun song, but at its core, it tells your sales representative team what they need to achieve to succeed, the eye of a tiger.

Fighter — Christina Aguilera

Fighter by Christina Aguilera is a pop hit to motivate. What doesn’t knock us down makes us stronger is the message of this song.
The combination of an artist with a powerful voice, amped-up music, as well as motivating lyrics is sure to create the formula for a sales motivation playlist that boosts your sales team’s motivation.

Live Like We’re Dying — Kris Allen

If every second counts, what could you have done with all that time you allowed yourself to be distracted? Kris Allen’s Live Like We’re Dying can remind sales representatives to be more conscious of their actions.
When they listen to the lyrics of the song, they’ll look back on all the time they’ve let pass by. We can’t go back, but we can take the lessons we learned, and move forward with clearer thinking.

Proud Mary — Creedence Clearwater Revival

Big Wheels keep on Turnin’. This is a classic pumped up song. The message of always moving forward is one to keep in the mind of your sales team. A company needs to keep on ‘rolling down the river,’ and it needs the motivation and hard work of its focused, forward-looking sales team behind it to achieve this.

I Wanna Be Rich — Calloway

Wealth comes in many forms; friends, family, and job satisfaction. Hitting targets is the goal of any sales team member. A rich and satisfying work-life can spread happiness in all corners of your life.

RELATED: 5 Must Read Sales Books For Inside Sales Reps

Don’t Worry Be Happy — Bobby McFerrin

We all have rainy days, and a tune like this is the perfect pick me up on a Monday morning when the bed is just too warm. This song can add that spring in your teams’ step to get you up and out to start your week.

We Are The Champions — Queen

You’ll remember this famous pumped up song fondly from all those high school sporting events. This is a hit song for the ages, still as relevant and inspirational today as it was when you were a teen cheering on the local team. It is a great motivational classic to pump up the sales team and undoubtedly one of the most enjoyable to sing-a-long to in a team setting.

We Are Family – Sister Sledge

A company is a family. Like family, you grow by motivating and supporting one another. This hit from Sister Sledge reminds you that a team, like a family, needs to help each other to achieve their goals.

How Do You Like Me Now? — Toby Keith

When you first start to listen to How Do You Like Me Now? by Toby Keith, you’re greeted by a smooth riff that can gently rev you up to conquer the day. A song that will be relevant to everyone everywhere.

Everyone on your team has a strength and a value. Never doubt the inner confidence of any team member. Rejection is part of life; you have to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and get back in the game.

Start Me Up — The Rolling Stones

A pumped up classic by rock and roll legends. This is a great motivational song for your sales representatives, ‘give it all you got, you got, you got.’ Encouraging a team to achieve their own success and feel the satisfaction of doing so time and time again.

Standing Outside The Fire — Garth Brooks

The message of this motivational country classic is that you need to push yourself, take a chance. A good message for any sales representative.

Move On Up – Curtis Mayfield

Some songs are classic hits for a reason. This song by Curtis Mayfield will motivate those who may feel the road ahead is rocky, to keep on going, to move on up.

Don’t Stop Believing – Journey

A classic hit that everyone will recognize, the soaring lyrics and loud guitar make this a rock classic to pump-up your team and keep the foot on the throttle for sales.

Free eBook: How to Use Gamification to Motivate Your Sales Team
Gain access to Ken Krogue and Chuck Coonradt’s best practices to motivate and gamify your sales process.

Get eBook Now

With all of the pumped-up songs listed above, you’ll have a variety of theme songs that can serve as a playlist for your sales representative team. By taking a proactive approach to motivating your sales team, you can help them become more productive throughout the day.

Which of the pumped up songs are on your playlist right now? Let us know in the comments section below!

UP NEXT:

1. 45 Motivational Sales Quotes To Fire You Up
2. Why Sales Gamification + Spiffs = Increased Sales Motivation
3. Sales Metrics Smackdown: Are These 3 Inside Sales Metrics Overrated?

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in May 2013, and has been updated for quality and relevancy

In this webinar, Justin Michael, RVP Sales at YOUAPPI and XANT CEO David Boyce provide tips for managers and reps to keep momentum during the coronavirus pandemic but focusing on three key principles. keep momentum COVID

RELATED: How To Lead From Home

In this article:

1. 1. 1. Meet the Speakers
      2. The Current Situation
      3. Hire for Agility in Industry Shifts
      4. How to Build the Digital Relationship
         
      5. Key Points
      6. Further Information and Support

Ideas for Remote Sales Managers and Reps

Meet the Speakers keep momentum COVID

Justin Michael scales tech companies and is a lifetime revenue leader. You may know Justin from his LinkedIn videos, or from sending 1 million emails to different startup businesses!
“YouAppi is a leading performance-based mobile app marketing and retargeting platform for premium app publishers and brands. From user acquisition to retention via app retargeting and re-engagement, the company delivers a comprehensive range of mobile marketing solutions to grow your business at every stage of the funnel.”  keep momentum coronavirus

The Current Situation keep momentum COVID

As we work from home, we are trying to figure out the new reality.

Part of that has been to work out how to make a professional life that is being conflated with our home life. How should you deal with this new reality in terms of sales?

The shift has been major; salespeople are sheltered in place, working hard to carry on as usual, but now people are wondering why they hadn’t ramped up their remote working practices before this crisis.

Some parts of the economy are still growing, and it’s an excellent opportunity to be more responsible and drive new revenue.

Call connects are high in some industries, but contacts are much more distracted. What is essential is to be more careful about what you do at that moment. A good tactic is not to try and close meetings but to dialogue sequences, and spark interaction.

RELATED: How To Manage A Sales Team While You Work From Home

Focus on Three Principles – Humanize, Personalize, Empathize

Interestingly, and paradoxically, because we’re all forced into this separation mode, we actually have to be more human because we can’t meet face to face right now.

And so, think about humanizing your messaging, like you would if you met someone face to face. What would you do in the real world and translate that to the virtual world?

Look at your prospect’s profile, and consider mentioning links or pick out something pertinent to them to be ahead of the game.

Be empathetic by tailoring how you connect with others. For example, the travel industry is severely impacted, so pull back and retarget different businesses.

To start off interactions, ask people how they are or how they’ve been impacted.

We have shifted from very clinical connections to more personalized ones. Although it takes longer, it’s more personalized and sincere. The intent of the communication is important, and you need to be genuine with how you humanize, personalize, and empathize to build connections.

A proper technique could be to share your own story, how events are impacting you, and then dovetailing that into questions about the prospect.

RELATED: 14 Helpful Tips For Working From Home While Social Distancing

How to Build the Digital Relationship

Your first-degree network is way bigger than you think, but it can be challenging to see. Use a sales navigator and search worldwide to mine your first-degree connections.
Talk a little bit about our communities and be natural. Just think about running into a person at the grocery store or a networking event. Think about what you would do and then do this over a channel—for example, email, phone, text, WhatsApp, Messenger.
You could go as far as calling your clients and ask them how they are and ask if you can do anything to make things easier, like a health check. Make sure this is nothing to do with closing business (unless the client leads that conversation).
Use open questions or illumination questions to get your clients to open up and talk. Don’t be too personal or overstep either. Keep your question sensible and have finesse – don’t over ask, just open the conversation, and let clients share their thoughts if they want to.
Use video platforms to get your face seen as much as possible in a more human way.
Understand Your Client’s Needs – Make deposits, not withdrawals right now. I.e., build the relationship and knowledge base to make withdrawals later. keep momentum COVID
Utilize Your Network – Utilize your robust LinkedIn network and using the three principles. Try LinkedIn voicemail drops to all your first degree connections that are relevant. You can record LinkedIn videos, or you could use third-party platforms to do this.
Get New Content – Ask your marketing teams for content to engage clients, even if you write it. For example, this could be blogs or YouTube content, news, diagrams, visual illustrations, graphs regarding COVID-19 effects. Start organic dialogues where the zoom naturally occurs at the back of these.
There’s an urgency to drive business right now because things are very volatile. But if you can be disciplined enough to give something away, to go for the dialogue, not the meeting, then your clients will become curious and interested.

Key Points keep momentum COVID

• • Conversations are still happening, but it is more relevant now to have empathy, to be personalized, and to be human. 
  • Rethink your sequences, target better, and be more empathetic in the way that you create those messages. 
  • If you’re doing something manually, which is well personalized, you can automate it, and it can be just as effective if you do it right.
  • Look for prospects on different platforms, Omni channels, and reach out in novel ways.
  • Lean a little bit more into personal phone calls, a little bit more into one on one interactions and make sure that you’re human first.
  • Make your deposits not withdrawals during this time when everyone is worrying. 
  • So, we do not have to step back from having conversations with customers. We just must have personalization. Humanization and empathy as we do it.
  • Sales leaders don’t necessarily need to change KPIs or performance reviews, just rethink them. Wins can include having warm dialogues with the right customers and Q3 planning.

Further Information and Support

In these challenging times, Justin Michael is giving away a free digital copy of his book “TQ-Technology Quotient: How to Achieve Superhuman Sales Engagement Skills.” Just inbox him via LinkedIn.

XANT is offering Playbook software for free during the pandemic crisis to help people while they figure out how to work better remotely; head to XANT Cares. 

You can also head to our website to find out further advice on how to work from home better.

How do you humanize, personalize, and empathize? What successes have you had? Please share your ideas below.

Up Next:

• • How To Comp Sales Teams In A Crisis
  • 15 Sales Management Software and CRMs Used By Sales Teams
  • 7 Ways To Increase Operational Efficiency

RELATED: 6 Sales Motivation Secrets So Simple Even A Caveman Can Use Them

In this article:

1. Some Wise Words to Live By
2. Great Sales Quotes When You Want to Achieve Goals
3. Sales Motivation Quotes to Push You to Sell Well
4. Motivational Sales Quotes When You’re Feeling the Burnout
5. Sales Quotes for Those Facing Challenges and Rejection
6. Motivational Quotes for Sales Teams
7. Inspirational Sales Quotes to Make You Laugh or Smile
8. Inspirational Quotes from Sales Legends
9. Inspiration Quotes from Other Motivational People Who Aren’t from the Sales Industry
10. Encouraging Quotes for When You’re Lacking Ambition
11. Quotes to Help You Deal With Objections From Prospects
12. Motivational Sales Quotes That Will Encourage You to Be a Great Listener
13. Lighthearted Sales Inspiration Quotes to Make You Smile

81 Motivational Sales Quotes That Will Help You Succeed in Life and Business

Click here to jump to the infographic.

Some Wise Words to Live By

When it comes to motivational sales quotes, Zig Ziglar is the bomb diggity and a bag of chips.

He’s not the only voice worth listening to, though. The business world boasts a long line of leaders and big shots who know a thing or two about sales motivation.

Below are my favorite quotes for inspiration. Sales reps (or anyone who needs a boost) can choose to read this daily.

I hope they push you to develop hard work, maintain a positive attitude, build a reputation you can be proud of, and reach your goals. These quotes can certainly motivate an average man or woman to aspire for bigger, better things.

Great Sales Quotes When You Want to Achieve Goals

Sales goals are like the navigation tools of a ship. You and your sales team need them to steer the business toward success.

They can help you make tough selling decisions. They can even make you more efficient because you don’t waste time on unproductive activities.

The question is, what does it take to reach them? The answer is planning.

If you feel overwhelmed by the idea, consider these motivational sales quotes:

1. “You were born to win, but to be a winner, you must plan to win, prepare to win, and expect to win.” — Zig Ziglar

2. “We must focus on purposes instead of just setting goals, for long-term vision is what keeps us from being frustrated by short-term failure.” — Dan Clark

3. “The world has the habit of making room for the man whose words and actions show that he knows where he is going.” — Napoleon Hill

Sales Motivation Quotes to Push You to Sell Well

Motivational quotes help you sell to customers with enthusiasm.

How do you sell a product or a service? These motivational sales quotes can help you discover how to be successful in the business, such as having the proper mindset and creating relationships with the right customers.

4. “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

5. “You have to drop your sales mentality and start working with your prospects as if they’ve already hired you.” — Jill Konrath

6. “Business opportunities are like buses, there’s always another one coming.” — Richard Branson

7. “Your job is to meet the right people and read the right books.” — Jeffrey Gitomer

8. “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 Covey

9. “Any job that’s not in sales – any job where I can’t help create value and make a difference for a client — would be a nightmare job for me.” — Anthony Iannarino

RELATED: Sales Motivation And Productivity Secrets From Aptean’s Mike Stensland

Motivational Sales Quotes When You’re Feeling the Burnout

Are you committing more mistakes and making excuses for them? Do you feel the things you do no longer make absolute sense?

It’s possible you’re already feeling burnt out. Selling is stressful and if you can’t manage stress properly, burning out is inevitable.

The good news is you have various ways to relax and rejuvenate.

If you’re slowly losing your passion, read these motivational sales quotes to help remind you of why you do what you do:

10. “Ask that extra question. It’s that one little extra question that makes the difference.” — Steve Richard

11. “Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you.” — Oprah Winfrey

12. “One way to remember who you are is to remember who your heroes are.” — Steve Jobs

13. “The first part of success is ‘Get-to-it-iveness’; the second part of success is ‘Stick-to-it-iveness’.” — Orison Marden

14. “Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities because it is the quality that guarantees all the others.” — Winston Churchill

15. “A mediocre person tells. A good person explains. A superior person demonstrates. A great person inspires others to see for themselves.” — Harvey Mackay

16. “Our fatigue is often caused not by work, but by worry, frustration, and resentment.” — Dale Carnegie

17. “Formula for success: rise early, work hard, strike oil.” — J. Paul Getty

Sales Quotes for Those Facing Challenges and Rejection

Rejection is hard, but it shouldn’t stop you from doing what you love and need to do. As they say, tough times don’t last — tough people do.

A sales team struggling to make quota may receive the encouragement it needs from these motivational sales quotes:

18. “I always tried to turn every disaster into an opportunity.” — John D. Rockefeller

19. “Managing objections head-on is dead on.” – Kraig Kleeman

20. “Men are moved by two levers only: fear and self-interest.” — Napoleon Bonaparte

21. “The only thing that’s keeping you from getting what you want is the story you keep telling yourself.” — Tony Robbins

22. “Nothing is predestined: The obstacles of your past can become the gateways that lead to new beginnings.” – Ralph Blum

23. “Let’s change the way we look at what happens to us.” — Art Sobczak

24. “Success is never final. Failure is never fatal. It is courage that counts.” — Winston Churchill

25. “Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” — Thomas Edison

26. “The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.” — Thomas Paine

27. “Fall down seven times and stand up eight.” — Proverb

28. “I got lucky because I never gave up the search. Are you quitting too soon? Or are you willing to pursue luck with a vengeance?” — Jill Konrath

29. “It ain’t over ’til it’s over.” — Yogi Berra

30. “Winning isn’t everything, but wanting to win is.” — Vince Lombardi

31. “Trying is winning in the moment.” — Dan Waldschmidt

32. “Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough.” — Og Mandino

33. “I’d rather regret the things I’ve done than regret the things I haven’t done.” — Lucille Ball

Motivational Quotes for Sales Teams

Rejection can be hard to accept, especially if it affects the entire team. Sometimes, one salesperson’s mistake is amplified, causing conflicts among team members.

Blaming each other or trying to overpower team members can affect the relationship you’ve built and nurtured as a team.

If you want your team to succeed in sales, this shouldn’t be the case.

Closing the deal to reach your sales goal doesn’t have to be the burden of just one person. With a unified team, you can work together to go even beyond what’s expected of you.

With a united team, you can achieve even more than the goals you’ve set.

Here are some sales inspiration quotes to inspire teamwork:

34. “Great things are done by a series of small things done together.” — Vincent van Gogh

35. “Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.” — Andrew Carnegie

36. “If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself.” — Henry Ford

37. “The best teamwork comes from men who are working independently toward one goal in unison.” — James Cash Penney

38. “Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.” — Henry Ford

39. “Remember, teamwork begins by building trust. And the only way to do that is to overcome our need for invulnerability.” — Patrick Lencioni

40. “Unity is strength… when there is teamwork and collaboration, wonderful things can be achieved.” — Mattie Stepanek

41. “The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team.” — Phil Jackson

Inspirational Sales Quotes to Make You Laugh or Smile

When things are getting too hectic, demanding, or challenging, don’t forget to smile and laugh amidst the adversities.

When you feel stressed and burned out, laughing can help ease the tension from your body.

Here are some funny sales quotes you can use to pump up your team’s mood and still inspire the members at the same time:

42. “[Sales and marketing] have to start talking to each other. They’ve got to stop spilling each other’s beers.” — Ann Handley

43. “If I tell you I want to be a door-to-door salesman, don’t knock it.” — Jarod Kintz

44. “If we are smart, we make a lot of mistakes.” — Raman Frey

45. “‘Hey, here’s a gourd!’ is not so different as, ‘Hey, here’s enterprise sales software!’ The language changes, but the humans are the same.”  — Chris Penn

46. “A salesman minus enthusiasm is just another clerk.” — Harry F. Banks

47. “The elevator to success is out of order. You’ll have to use the stairs one step at a time.” — Joe Girard

48. “The difference between try and triumph is just a little umph!” — Marvin Phillips

49.  “Change is not a four-letter word but often your reaction to it is!” — Jeffrey Gitomer

50. “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” — Thomas Edison

Inspirational Quotes from Sales Legends

There’s no better place to draw inspiration from than the legends in the sales industry themselves.

These icons have been through the ups and downs of the industry and speak of truths molded from experience and the time they put into the industry. You can use their words to motivate and drive you, with the knowledge that, at one point, they were where you are right now.

Here are some quotes from iconic people in the industry to motivate you:

51. “To survive, men and business and corporations must serve.” — John Henry Patterson

52. “Most people buy not because they believe but because the salesperson believes.” — Ben Feldman

53. “Sales are a function of product-value and advertising. Promotions cannot produce more than a temporary kink in the sales curve.” — David Ogilvy

54. “Pretend that every single person you meet has a sign around his or neck that says: ‘Make me feel important.’ Not only will you succeed in sales, you will succeed in life.” — Mary Kay Ash

55. “The successful man will profit from his mistakes and try again in a different way.” — Dale Carnegie

Inspiration Quotes from Other Motivational People Who Aren’t from the Sales Industry

Find inspiration everywhere.

You don’t only have to find inspiration from people in the sales industry. After all, sales lessons can sometimes be applied in our lives outside of our careers, and the opposite is true as well.

Check out some of these inspirational quotes from inspirational and noteworthy people and let it inspire you to succeed in your business:

56. “Remember that sometimes not getting what you want is a wonderful stroke of luck.” — Dalai Lama XIV

57. “Success isn’t always about Greatness, it’s about consistency. Consistent, hard work gains success. Greatness will come.” — Dwayne Johnson

58. “Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself.” — Charlie Chaplin

59. “The most effective way to do it is to do it.” — Amelia Earhart

60. “You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” — C.S. Lewis

Encouraging Quotes for When You Lack Ambition

Passion is one thing that’ll be useful in any career, but one quality that’ll push you further than passion is ambition.

Ambition is just like passion in the sense that both are associated with having an intense desire for something. The difference between the two, though, is ambition requires more hard work and grit.

On that note, if you need help reigniting that spark in your sales career, then let these encouraging quotes do it for you:

61. “A young man without ambition is an old man waiting to be.” — Steven Brust

62. “Ambition beats genius 99% of the time.” — Jay Leno

63. “A dream without ambition is like a car without gas, you’re not going anywhere.” — Sean Hampton

64. “You can’t leave a life being afraid, because fear censors ambition.” — Erol Alkan

65. “Ambition is the first step to success. The second step is action.” — Unknown

Quotes to Help You Deal with Objections from Prospects

Dealing with objections from a customer day in and day out can be harsh. If you don’t learn how to manage the stress from it, then you won’t be in the right mindset to overcome sales objections.

Since objections are unavoidable in the sales industry, reps can do with a good morale boost from time to time.

To give you motivation on how to deal and overcome sales objections better, here are some sales motivational quotes for objections. 

66. “Treat objections as requests for further information.” — Brian Tracy

67. “Every sale has five basic obstacles: no need, no money, no hurry, no desire, no trust.” — Zig Ziglar

68. “When you present the value of your products and services in a clear, compelling way, then you’ve tackled 90% of objections.” — Nancy Marmolejo

Motivational Sales Quotes That Will Encourage You to Be a Great Listener

Make it a habit to listen more to your customers.

When people think you’re a salesperson, they may assume you’re a master conversationalist. What they don’t know, though, is that being a talker in sales isn’t enough.

If you make most of your sales by talking, then you won’t be able to take advantage of the benefits of listening. Listening is an important skill for any master sales strategist.

Doing most of the talking in a sales conversation doesn’t guarantee that you’ll close the deal. It’s also crucial to listen to the prospect, so you’ll understand what they really need and how you can offer products or services for that need.

Here are some quotes that attest to the value of listening in a sales conversation. 

69. “It’s about listening first, then selling.” — Erik Qualman

70. “Most people think ‘selling’ is the same as talking, but the most effective salespeople know that listening is the most important part of the job.” — Roy Bartell

71. “We have two ears and one mouth, so we should listen more than we say.” — Zeno of Citium

72. “Most of the successful people I’ve known are the ones who do more listening than talking.” — Bernard M. Baruch

73. “It takes a great man to be a good listener.” — Calvin Coolidge

74. “There’s a lot of difference between listening and hearing.” — G.K. Chesterton

75. “The most basic of all human needs is the need to understand and be understood. The best way to understand people is to listen to them.” — Ralph G. Nichols

Lighthearted Sales Inspiration Quotes to Make You Smile

Serious inspirational sales quotes are really helpful, but sometimes, you need to get some lighthearted thoughts to get you through the day. Sales is already a mentally and emotionally exhausting job, so here are some lighthearted sales quotes to make you smile. 

76. “A salesman minus enthusiasm is just another clerk.” — Harry F. Banks

77. “Customers long to interact with—even relate to—employees who act like there is still a light on inside.” — Chip Bell

78. “Sales without Customer Service is like stuffing money into a pocket full of holes.” — David Tooman

79. “Customers are like teeth. Ignore them and they’ll go away.” — Jerry Flanagan

80. “Nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care.” — Theodore Roosevelt

81. “There’s no such thing as “hard sell” and “soft sell.” There’s only “smart sell” and “stupid sell.” — Leo Burnett

Don’t forget to download, save, or share this handy infographic for reference:

These motivational sales quotes may be geared toward sales professionals, but they are also applicable to anyone. After all, everybody faces problems, stress, and burnout.

People like to create goals and succeed. Read these quotes as often as you can to stay motivated.

More importantly, understand what they mean and live them out. These encouraging quotes from wise people won’t only inspire you but will also help you build your confidence and discover what things truly matter in life.

What are your well-loved motivational sales quotes? Share your list in the comments section below!

Up Next: 

• How To Hack Your Team’s Sales Motivation (Or How To Motivate Your Sales Team)
• How To Keep Your Sales Team Motivated During The Holidays
• What Is Artificial Intelligence And How Can You Start Using It To Be Successful

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on April 12, 2013, and has been updated for quality and relevancy.

RELATED: 23 Motivational Sales Quotes To Fire You Up

In this article:

1. Fear Is Everywhere
2. If You’re Not Afraid, You Are Not Growing
3. Make the Hard Decisions Every Day
4. The Three Steps to Break Through the Fear
   1. Beware of the Confidence Trap
   2. The Five Second Rule
   3. Write It Down and Make a Commitment

Overcoming Fear and Facing the Hard Things

Fear Is Everywhere

Fear is the number one impediment to our success.

It’s something that I have had to struggle with every day being in our profession, whether as a sales development professional, leader, or entrepreneur. The fear of failure gives you anxiety, preventing you from completing your tasks even before starting them.

This is why it’s so important to learn how to break through the fear and do the hard things every day for a few hours.

Fear is around us all day in sales development.

It’s crazy how much we have to break through. Overcoming fear needs to start with going through your daily tasks.

We have to talk to people we don’t know. We have to advocate for ourselves within the company to be able to get resources and be able to do our jobs. Furthermore, we have to explain to people what we do outside of the company.

Don’t let irrational fear stop you from doing your work well.

Fear is with us every day.

It’s something that nobody wants to talk about, but we all have to deal with it. Whether you’re just starting out in your career in sales development, or you’ve been running a team for 20 years, or you’re a super successful mega-billionaire, everyone has to deal with fear.

The truth is, if right now you’re in your comfort zone, it’s a trap. If you don’t do the things that you hate to do, it’s going to bite you.

Whether it’s cold calling, or doing research, or asking for a raise—you need to get up and do it.

If You’re Not Afraid, You Are Not Growing

Facing your fears for success in life

The cool thing about it is if you don’t have fear in your life, you’re actually on the wrong path. You’re either not growing, or you are already dead. Fear is something that we all have, and it’s a good thing.

This is why I’ve researched some strategies to help sales development reps deal with it better and be more successful. I want you to be able to walk away with a game plan to identify the fear that’s holding you back along with a strategy—comprised of some tactics for dealing with it.

I need you to treat every day like a self-help exercise. Set aside negative thoughts in your mind, then let yourself grow by confronting them and making the best possible decisions.

As a manager, you run a team and you might need to choose between having a difficult conversation with one of your reps or digging through the data to do analysis.

As a rep, it might be way easier to send a couple more emails or ping somebody on social, instead of having that tough conversation with a prospect.

A guy told you to go to hell five minutes before on the phone. Now you need to pick up the phone and call somebody else.

That next call could be the conversation that makes a huge difference in your paycheck. That’s harder, right?

Make the Hard Decisions Every Day

The truth is, every day you need to make the hard decision versus the easy decision even if there’s no immediate consequence. To do this, overcoming the fear that stops you from making important decisions is important.

In “The Slight Edge,” Jeff Olson shows that if you eat cheeseburger and fries, you won’t drop dead of a heart attack immediately. You don’t feel any different.

Depending on whether you choose to eat a cheeseburger or a salad, you will start to make that compound interest over time.

There’s another book called “The Compound Effect” by Darren Hardy, which is very good and has a lot of information on this. Over months and over the years, making the right decisions will have a compound effect and impact your life.

It’s that one extra phone call that you made, that one extra conversation that you had, that one extra piece of research that you were able to find that was really hard—and all of a sudden, you’re breaking away from the pack.

On the flip side, by making easy decisions and easy choices, all of a sudden, as Jim Rohn says, “One day, you wake up and you’re like 35, or you’re 50, or you’re 60, and you’re driving what you don’t want to drive, living where you don’t want to live, wearing what you don’t want to wear, and blaming the Democrats.”

That’s what he calls it. He’s hilarious. You’ve got to check him out.

RELATED: The Three Value Conversations That Can Change Everything

The Three Steps to Break Through the Fear

Choosing to have the tough conversations every single time is not easy, but it’s not impossible. There are a few tricks that you can use to help you in overcoming fear.

1. Beware of the Confidence Trap

One that’s really stuck with me is that people just want to switch to confidence.

These people are thinking: “If I just had the confidence, then I would make those harder decisions. I’m just not feeling it right now. Let me just switch back to the easy thing.”

Dan Sullivan has discovered that confidence doesn’t just pop up. Some cool kids in high school were born with confidence, but everybody else had to earn it. It all starts with a commitment.

You have to make some kind of commitment to something. You have to put yourself out there and you have to make it so you are basing your name, your good graces with people based on this commitment.

You’ve got to commit to doing the hard things. That’s how you start to break through the fear because you’re used to operating in courage.

And then, you build capabilities. You prove to yourself that you have confidence.

2. The Five Second Rule

You need to push yourself to do the hard things, and there’s a simple way to do it. Mel Robbins, author of “The Five Second Rule,” has a great tip for this. “Everything you want is on the end of five seconds,” shows Mel.

It’s just this simple trick where when you need to do something you’re afraid of, and you have to operate with courage, you just basically give yourself five seconds to do it. Just count backwards—five, four, three, two, one—boom, do it!

If you wait too long after that, then you’re going to go back to the easy path and then there you go, you’re back on the wrong track. We’ll come back to this, but she gives you a little tactile thing that you can use to kind of trick yourself, boom.

Just count down and do it.

3. Write It Down and Make a Commitment

Committing to facing your fears for success

Whether you are a rep who hates cold calling or a manager who hates doing research to get their team new tools for sales enablement, you need to push yourself to do these things.

Think about the three things that you’ve held back on but would really move the needle for you, and write them down. These are going to be your big rocks and you need to move them over the next month.

After that, just take the worst possible option and commit to it right now. Commit to yourself that you’re going to do it. And then, plug this is in your calendar every day for an hour for the next month. Make sure that nobody schedules meetings over it.

You’re going to mono-task during that time. You’re going to step out into that comfort zone, do the hard things, and make a commitment.

Overcoming fear may seem daunting, especially if you set a huge goal for yourself. Yet you can do this with these simple steps.

If you are struggling and something pops up, or you want to get up and do something else (check your phone, Instagram, or something else that releases the tension), then get back to the five-second rule. Just count down in your mind: “Five, four, three, two, one, and do it.”

Use that little trick in your mind, and just start doing it. If you can’t get through the whole hour that you blocked out to do this fearful thing, that’s okay. Do it for 15 minutes, do it for ten minutes, do it for five minutes, but never break the chain on the calendar.

In time, you’ll be able to see the compound effect of not breaking this chain, and you’ll get into the habit of doing the hard things. Breaking through the fear will become very easy for you.

Are you struggling to overcome fear at work? How do you face them? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!

UP NEXT: 

• How Fear of Commitment Is Killing Your Sales Forecasts
• 6 Sales Motivation Secrets So Simple Even A Caveman Can Use Them
• Building Rapport with Customers: 3 Steps to Build Trust in Minutes

RELATED: Why Sales Gamification + Spiffs = Increased Sales Motivation

In this article:

1. Keeping Sales Simple 
   1. Eat What You Kill to Reach (and Surpass) Sales Targets
   2. As Motivation for Sales Reps, Build a Fire to Spark Creativity
   3. Keep It Simple to Help Team Members Become Successful in Meeting Long-Term Goals
   4. Be Wary of Wolves to Prevent Ruining People’s Hard Work
   5. Love the Ones You’re With to Win at Selling
   6. Don’t Get Mad if Geico Puts You in an Ad to Boost Sales Motivation

6 Sales Motivation Tips You Can Learn From Cavemen

Keeping Sales Simple 

Enhancing sales motivation without spending more is one of the toughest challenges facing any inside sales team today. For answers, let’s return to a simpler time when the world was still flat. During this time, people also thought it was a good idea to scribble strange pictures on their bedroom walls.

Cavemen sometimes get a bad rap, but they sure did know how to survive. They can teach sales professionals a lot about human psychology, which is at the heart of effective sales team motivation.

1. Eat What You Kill to Reach (and Surpass) Sales Targets

Sales compensation in the form of fuel to make you stronger

Do you remember when you could crawl out of your cave, bag a bison, and drag it back to your place for dinner? Yeah, me neither, but that’s probably how it was back in the day.

In modern times, your sales compensation plan is the meat that motivates your salespeople. It should set clear expectations and highlight both the monetary and non-monetary rewards of strong sales performance.

To sweeten the pot, add accelerators to your reward or comp plan. These are bonuses or incentives that kick in once an employee meets a certain performance level.

For example, you can include an accelerator or motivator that doubles the commission on each sale after the sales team hits a predetermined number.

2. As Motivation for Sales Reps, Build a Fire to Spark Creativity

The inspiring spark of a contest becomes a roaring fire of motivation

Imagine how great it must have felt to be the first caveman to figure out how to start a fire by rubbing twigs together. Yabba-dabba-doo!

As sales managers, you’re constantly on the lookout for new ways to fire up your sales representatives, right? Contests can light a spark under your team. There’s an art to these things, though, if you want to consistently get maximum results.

For example, don’t let your sales staff know about your contest too far in advance. If they do, they may try to game the system by saving up the best opportunities, hoping to close them during the contest.

3. Keep It Simple to Help Team Members Become Successful in Meeting Long-Term Goals

Making it simple to focus to encourage motivation

Prehistoric people didn’t have a lot to work with. They kept things simple out of necessity. If you think about it, what they achieved with rudimentary stone tools was rather remarkable.

Your sales reps are smart and resourceful too. They are masters at distilling complex ideas into compelling messages prospects can quickly understand. That’s what sales training taught them—and it works.

If your sales incentives and contests are complex, you’ll lose people’s interest. In motivating your sales team, resist the urge to include too many metrics or rules.

Don’t hold competitions no salesperson can win. Some sales leaders think they can motivate their sales reps with fancy prizes, but they make them too hard to win.

Contests like this won’t appeal to a big chunk of your team members. Most of them can’t envision themselves ever achieving such lofty numbers in spite of excellent work ethic. Make sure you declare a winner every time.

RELATED: How To Hack Your Team’s Sales Motivation (Or How To Motivate Your Sales Team)

4. Be Wary of Wolves to Prevent Ruining People’s Hard Work

The dangerous wolf of demotivation

Duran Duran summed up the caveman’s plight well in the band’s 1980s hit song “Hungry Like the Wolf.” Early humans had to be constantly on guard against the threat of wild dogs stealing their food.

One sales motivation technique is to guard against silent demotivators. These attack team morale without warning.

If nobody but two or three of your best reps have a chance to win your competitions, the rest may become discouraged and disengaged. Your reps in the middle of the pack, though, are probably the ones you need to motivate the most.

As a form of intrinsic motivation, create a simple point system that rewards participation. Tell your reps they can earn them in your competitions even when they don’t take first place.

What Is Intrinsic Motivation? It is self-motivation—that is, the person’s behavior relies on internal rewards. Examples are personal satisfaction, self-recognition, and actualization.

Let them redeem those points for lesser prizes, such as a free lunch or time off work. That way, they may not win the big-ticket item, but they can still earn valuable rewards and perks. You still keep them motivated.

5. Love the Ones You’re With to Win at Selling

Love and companionship encourages success no matter the time

The next time you’re eating Thanksgiving dinner with an anthropologist, ask them if cavemen were good family guys. They will probably say yes because most of them were. They didn’t do all that hunting and gathering just for themselves.

You can sit around all day fantasizing about how much easier your job will be if you just have better sales reps. That’s probably not the best approach, however. You will find it surprising to know how well your reps perform if you build an efficient motivational sales system and keep them engaged.

Find ways to show your sales reps you really care about them and are sensitive to their needs. If a rep’s motivation is waning, perhaps health issues or other personal problems are to blame.

Another sales team motivation idea is to use one-on-one sales meetings to identify the root cause of low motivation, then you can offer help and support when appropriate. Each rep is different, so you should tailor your approach to the individual.

6. Don’t Get Mad if Geico Puts You in an Ad to Boost Sales Motivation

Do you remember those crazy ads that claimed Geico.com was so easy to use a caveman could do it? Oddly, the few remaining cavemen on the planet never embraced that campaign. They didn’t feel comfortable with the spotlight.

Your sales reps, on the other hand, don’t fear publicity. They want to see their names in lights. They like to know how they stack up against their peers.

One of the most powerful sales enablement techniques is to create sales contests that feed off your reps’ fierce competitive spirit.

Display sales data publicly and update it frequently. Large real-time monitors strategically placed around the office will generate more excitement than a static whiteboard.

Cavemen weren’t crazy. They did the best they could with what they had.

Your sales reps are giving their best effort too, and you can give them a little push from time to time. You can make a big impact on their performance by using the right sales motivation techniques.

What are your strategies to motivate your sales team without spending more money? Share them in the comments section below!

Up Next: 

• XANT Releases PowerStandings Gamification Tool for Increased Sales Team Motivation
• Sales Metrics Not Just About Measuring Productivity, but Creating Motivation
• 3 Keys to Unlock the Potential of Sales Structure for Enterprises

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on May 17, 2013, and has been updated for quality and relevancy.

In this article:

1. How To Motivate Your Sales Team This Christmas
   1. Set a Regular Schedule
   2. Get Festive!
   3. Build The Sales Career Path
   4. Focus on Value
   5. The Importance of Giving Back
   6. Sales Training Helps Motivation
   7. Set an Example

Keeping Your Sales Team Motivated Over The Holidays

How To Motivate Your Sales Team This Christmas

If you feel like in between Christmas and New Years you don’t know who you are, what day it is or what you’re supposed to be doing with your life, we totally understand. We’re thinking about shopping, presents, food, and celebrating — anything but work. This is why the holidays are sometimes an energy drain for sales professionals, or professionals in any industry, for that matter.

Learn how to motivate your sales team to keep their sights on the goals, despite all the distractions of the holiday season. Motivate your employees to sell more during the holidays with these tips.

1. Set a Regular Schedule

Having a plan always makes everything easier. Knowing what you’re supposed to do and when you’re supposed to do it takes a lot of the pressure off the rep. This enables them to stay focused on their tasks, even if they would rather have some eggnog instead.

“Each employee has a planned day and follows a strategic schedule to accomplish a cohesive work ethic. We also have scheduled check-ins and meetings in order to stay on track,” said Deborah Sweeney, CEO of MyCorporation.com.

Proper time management skills are important here. Research has shown that when sales reps use a time management philosophy, they report spending 19% more time selling.

2. Get Festive!

While some companies have a dress code, it’s no reason to keep the team permanently on their toes. Dressing up for the holidays, having sales motivation games with cool prizes, or decorating the office will help lighten the mood. People get excited and become energized. There’s a sense of belonging that translates into a happier, more productive sales team.

“One of my favorite ways to celebrate the holidays without losing steam is doing an ugly sweater or SantaCon theme day for the team,” said Thomas Watanapun, Sales Manager at ZeroCater.com.

3. Build The Sales Career Path

Financial rewards and career opportunities are always at the base of sales reps’ motivation. And this is valid during the holidays as well.

“The best way to motivate a sales team long term is by communicating a career path that is 100% transparent. When done correctly, every individual will know exactly where they are at today and the performance metrics that need to be achieved to advance their career within the organization,” said Cody Lamens, Head of Sales at TinyPulse.com.

4. Focus on Value

Many organizations focus on motivation directly, however sales is a relational profession. Salespeople build relationships and the positive interaction comes from offering value to their clients. Keeping the focus on value will allow you to unleash motivation for your team.

“When sellers believe in what they sell and the difference they can make for their buyers, it creates better results, increases client satisfaction and increases new business opportunities,” said Mike Schultz, president of Rain Group Sales Training.

5. The Importance of Giving Back

It’s important to keep in mind that your team has lives outside of the office, especially during the holidays. Taking an interest in those aspects goes a long way in keeping employee engagement up, said Rich Faro, Sales Manager at ZeroCater.

Offering breaks and giving small gifts also allows them to keep their spirits up and to focus on their short-term and long-term goals. It’s crucial to stay positive when sales are down due to the holiday break.

“We do breaks in the day with artisanal hot chocolate or coffee. I also plan to bring each team member a small little gift as a way to thank them for all their hard work this year. It’s a wonderful way to close out a great year and start out on the right foot in 2018,” said Rich.

6. Sales Training Helps Motivation

As always, it’s important to keep lines of communication open and offer feedback to your team — even if sales are a bit slow due to the holiday break. Effective sales training will always translate into a positive and motivated sales team.

“The top performing sales organizations are significantly more likely to invest in their sales teams. Train your sales teams and they will be more skilled, confident, and motivated every day,” said Mike Schultz, president of Rain Group, a global sales consulting company.

7. Set an Example

The best managers I’ve ever had, and who inspired me the most, were the ones who worked harder than anyone else in the company. Sales managers can keep their team motivated by offering them someone to look up to daily.

Having a short morning check-in will help the team maintain focus. Longer conversations between the sales rep and the manager are key to maintaining the relationship and a positive attitude. A sales motivational speech might be corny, but it certainly can’t hurt.

“Managers need to be present, involved and engaged in the daily work of the team. Show them you are a team player and accessible in order to motivate them to do the same,” said Deborah Sweeney, CEO of MyCorporation.com.

We’ve covered the sales motivation topic extensively on the Sales Insider over the years. Be sure to check out our other sales motivation articles if you want to read more or have a look at this list of motivational quotes for salespeople — our second most popular article over the years.

Maintaining a highly-motivated sales team during the holidays can be challenging, but it can be done. Just make sure they have a reward to look forward to that’s worth their hard work during this distracting season. Hope you’re looking forward to the next year and that you are keeping positive over the holidays! We know we are!

How do you keep your sales team motivated over the holidays? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Up Next: 9 Best Tools to Boost Productivity and Increase Sales

Editor’s Note: This post was originally posted on December 29, 2017, and has been updated for quality and relevancy.

It has been said that salespeople are greedy, money hungry, selfish … the list goes on. Luckily, with sales becoming more of a lucrative and fulfilling career, the stereotype is changing. More universities and colleges are recognizing sales as a specialization, even a required course for some business schools. In 2015, after analyzing millions of profiles, LinkedIn found sales to be the most common career transition. “Salesperson” has solidified its top spot on job satisfaction lists, as well as top paying jobs and most in demand jobs.

That’s a pretty good set to nail down.

As I’ve seen the perception begin to change over the years it made me wonder, was the stereotype ever true?

A look at the data

The easiest way to approach the question is to understand the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.

Intrinsic motivation is defined as an interest in the task itself — a focus on the concept of mastery learning. Extrinsic motivation is defined as an interest in the goals, rewards and evaluations external to the task itself — a focus on demonstrating your ability to others (Deci & Ryan, 1985).

The stereotype would suggest that salespeople are highly extrinsically motivated, looking for fame, fortune and the corner office.

The question is, which type of motivation leads to greater selling success?

The study

A study by Sujan and colleagues (1994) measured salespeople’s learning orientation, an intrinsic interest in one’s work characterized by a preference for challenges and an eagerness to master how to sell effectively. They also measured salespeople’s performance orientation, an extrinsic interest in one’s work characterized by the desire to achieve external rewards and praise from their colleagues.

These researchers found that salespeople were motivated both intrinsically and extrinsically. The results seem simple but actually reveal a lot about the ideal salesperson’s disposition.

Ji-A Min, head data scientist at Ideal, explains, “Having a learning orientation motivated salespeople to work smart (i.e., plan strategies and develop knowledge about sales situations) and to work hard (i.e., their overall amount of effort and persistence), whereas a performance orientation only motivated them to work hard. Both smart work and hard work increased sales performance.”

The one thing you can change today

The best sales reps find their motivation from both intrinsic and extrinsic sources. The research shows us that swaying too far to either side is when things begin to break down.

So are we all greedy and egotistical?

Nope. However, the research shows that salespeople are also unlikely to shy away from praise.

How can you use this information to boost your motivation strategy and encourage the best performance from your reps today?

Here is a way to assess and optimize your motivation strategy:

Sujan and colleagues recommend encouraging sales reps to change their perception of what is within their control. How can you do this practically? You can influence the way a sales rep perceives their actions based on your feedback.

For example, you can encourage them to perceive a failed call from “it was too difficult to close anyway,” which would be out of their control, to within their control. “Next time try the ___ strategy, I’ve seen it work for you in the past!”

This framework encourages reps extrinsically to increase their intrinsic desire to get the next one.

In the end

Your best reps will be those who are motivated by the love of creating solutions for your prospects and the money that comes with it. I’m happy to see that landing a job in sales is no longer frowned upon but rather desirable, and a top choice for an increasing number of people.

Do you assess intrinsic or extrinsic orientation when you’re hiring sales reps? I’m interested in hearing your experiences. Please let me know in the comments.

To learn more sales motivation techniques, download this free ebook.

Somen is the CEO of Ideal, a job matching marketplace for sales professionals.