Up Your Game with These Sharp Quotes from Modern Sales Experts

In many cases, inspirational sales quotes are timeless. The words of Zig Ziglar, David Ogilvy, Mary Kay Ash, and other legendary business figures hold eternal relevance and resonance.

But for salespeople operating in this transformed modern marketplace, it can also be helpful to come across advice from others playing on the same field. Ziglar’s guidance on rebounding from failure or overcoming classic sales obstacles are still instructive at a high level, but he can’t tell us much about bypassing digital gatekeepers or personalizing email outreach.

To this end, we’ve compiled quotes about selling from some of the top sales experts advancing the profession today. Whether established leaders or up-and-comers, these bright minds are worth following and their wise words are worth heeding.

Sound Advice: Quotes About Selling from Successful Modern Pros and Experts

“Asking ‘Why?’ can lead to understanding. Asking ‘Why not?’ can lead to breakthroughs.” — Daniel Pink, Author 

“Care enough to create value for customers. If you get that part right, selling is easy.” — Anthony Iannarino, Keynote Speaker and Executive

“All the top sellers I know possess a unique balance of positivity and negativity. They’re always optimistic about the ultimate outcomes, but they sometimes seem paranoid about everything that could possibly go wrong. That’s why they succeed.” — Jill Konrath, Keynote Speaker

“None of us will ever achieve perfection in the art of selling, but those who achieve mastery will do so through openness to learning and a pure desire to continuously hone their craft.” — Jeff Shore, Keynote Speaker and Author

“No one buys your product because they want the product, they buy it because they want what they can get from the product.” — Steve Keating, Sales Trainer

“Hybrid salespeople really have to learn how to give a lot of value away for free at the frontend of the sales cycle. Otherwise, people aren’t just gonna pay attention to them. And when I first started selling, we gave nothing away for free.” — Colleen Francis, Keynote Speaker and Author

“Figure out how what you do affects your customers and talk to them about what they would perceive as valuable. Once that happens, you have an understanding about what social media is all about. It ain’t about you, it’s all about them! They don’t care about you.”  — Jeffrey Gitomer, Sales Trainer and Speaker

“Your personal brand is increasingly becoming important as a salesperson, it goes before you and it goes with you through your career.” — Ian Moyse, Sales Director

“I’m good at what I call informed persistence. I don’t give up, but I try to offer new information or ideas in my follow-up – not just the same old ‘checking in’ message. It’s important for sellers to be confident without being arrogant and to be patient without being weak.” — Nancy Nardin, Sales Technology Expert

“Unless sales is actively participating in the content production process, it’s not going to resonate. They’re not going to own it for themselves. We don’t appreciate that which we don’t help create.” — Marcus Sheridan, Keynote Speaker

“You should understand that, like comedy, sales is a timing profession. You’ve to be there at the right time, you have to have the build-up and then the punchline.” — Brian G. Burns, Author and Podcaster

“Buyers won’t engage with sales reps who pitch product, but they will give access to trusted advisors.” — Trish Bertuzzi, Author and CEO

“If I had to radically raise the effectiveness of a sales force and could only pull one sales rep lever to do it – I’d choose basic sales communication skills. This usually makes people think I’ve lost my mind, because everybody thinks they and their team have these basics down.” — Mike Kunkle, Advisor and Executive

“How can you help [executive decision makers] save, gain, reduce, increase or improve? These the five magic words that grab C-suite residents.” — Tony J. Hughes, Keynote Speaker and Author 

“To be able to guide people to the place they want to go, to equip them with solutions you can provide that are helpful to them, you don’t want to do all those things that are typically associated with selling. You can abandon them entirely and instead choose leadership behaviors.” — Deb Calvert, Executive and Sales Coach

Find More Words of Wisdom

Want more advice, inspiration and motivation? Check out our mega-list of 55 inspiring sales quotes to hang on your calendar. And of course, make sure to subscribe to the LinkedIn Sales Blog for a steady pipeline of useful thought leadership that’ll give you an edge.