For about a decade, I've been keeping a notebook of quotes about selling, partly for use in articles and blog posts but also to inspire me.

Since I've now gathered more than a hundred quotes, I decided to comb through them and select the best nuggets of wisdom. Here they are:

  1. "Begin by always expecting good things to happen."
    --Tom Hopkins
  2. "For every sale you miss because you're too enthusiastic, you will miss a hundred because you're not enthusiastic enough."
    --Zig Ziglar
  3. "All things being equal, people will do business with, and refer business to, those people they know, like, and trust."
    --Bob Burg
  4. "Treat objections as requests for further information."
    --Brian Tracy
  5. "The best way to sell yourself to others is first to sell the others to yourself."
    --Napoleon Hill
  6. "Ninety percent of selling is conviction and 10 percent is persuasion."
    --Shiv Khera
  7. "Obstacles are necessary for success because in selling, as in all careers of importance, victory comes only after many struggles and countless defeats."
    --Og Mandino
  8. "One of the best predictors of ultimate success … isn't natural talent or even industry expertise, but how you explain your failures and rejections."
    --Daniel H. Pink
  9. "If you are not taking care of your customer, your competitor will."
    --Bob Hooey
  10. "To build a long-term, successful enterprise, when you don't close a sale, open a relationship."
    --Patricia Fripp

Those are my Top 10, but I'm willing to bet that you have one or more quotes that you find meaningful and helpful. If so, leave a comment below.