Sales Inspiration

A critical part of a successful sales organization is keeping the team motivated. If you’re looking for inspirational quotes for your colleagues and customers, here’s a list we consider to be the top 20:

“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” – Thomas Edison
“In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity.” – Albert Einstein
“The secret of getting ahead is getting started.” – Mark Twain
“Don’t watch the clock; do what it does. Keep going.” – Sam Levenson
“What we dwell on is who we become.” – Oprah Winfrey
“It is not your customer’s job to remember you. It is your obligation and responsibility to make sure they don’t have the chance to forget you.” – Patricia Fripp
“Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.” – Tony Robbins
“Most people think ‘selling’ is the same as ‘talking’. But the most effective salespeople know that listening is the most important part of their job.” – Roy Bartell
“If you aren’t going all the way, why go at all?” – Joe Namath
“If your sales have tanked, maybe the issue is not your lack of sales skills, but you are rushing the knowing and trusting aspects of the buying process.” – Leanne Hoagland-Smith

“Selling is really about having conversations with people and helping improve their company or their life. If you look at it like that, selling is a very admirable thing to do.” – Lori Richardson

“High expectations are the key to everything.” – Sam Walton
“You need to be able to paint a picture in a conversation. The lost part of sales is the storytelling side.” – Richard Harris
“You can’t give up! If you give up, you’re like everybody else.” – Chris Evert
“The best salespeople wonder what it would be like to be in the other person’s shoes. They know they can’t play that game unless they continually strive to train themselves in how we as human beings communicate.” – Bob Phibbs
“Winning isn’t everything, but wanting to win is.” – Vince Lombardi
“Sales is an outcome, not a goal. It’s a function of doing numerous things right, starting from the moment you target a potential prospect until you finalize the deal.” – Jill Konrath
“Selling is really about having conversations with people and helping improve their company or their life. If you look at it like that, selling is a very admirable thing to do.” – Lori Richardson

What is enterprise selling?

Simply stated, enterprise selling is the process of selling to large organizations. Another term for enterprise selling is complex selling. Enterprise selling is far different from what’s called transactional selling, like a typical retail sale. That’s because enterprise most often involves months of effort, many meetings and interactions, multiple decision-makers, competitive bids, big budgets, complex negotiations, multi-year contracts, and a major impact on the organization’s operations. While very challenging, successful enterprise selling can lead to significant revenues, enhanced brand credibility, and profitable multi-year business relationships for you.

What are the challenges of enterprise selling?

There’s no denying, enterprise selling entails many formidable challenges. Here are just a few.

First, enterprise sales cycles are nearly always lengthy, from many months to oftentimes more than a year.

Second, the discovery process is far more complicated and involved than that required for a smaller, transactional sale.

Third, the requirement for social proof and projected ROI is far more important in enterprise selling than in transactional selling.

Fourth, things change! Over the course of a lengthy enterprise sales cycle, the customer’s business, its decision-makers, the external business environment, your products, your pricing, your sales team and the positioning of your competitors may change, all with the potential to impact the outcome of your enterprise sales efforts.

Fifth, enterprise selling almost always means multiple decision-makers and often the very real and active presence of office politics. It can be challenging to identify key influencers from the outside and then win their support.

How do I succeed in enterprise sales?

While there are many factors to successful enterprise selling, there are 4 top principles for you to consider. In simple terms, those 4 principles are: know your customers, know your products, know your solutions and build long-term relationships.

To know your customers, you need to research the marketplace and your customer, of course. Even more importantly, you need to experience your customers’ products and services. All the reading and research in the world won’t match actually experiencing your customers’ products and services.

To know your products requires focus and effort. It’s imperative that you understand the features and functionality of the products you’re selling. This can be especially challenging as the product you’re selling may evolve over the course of the sales cycle. Don’t rely on others in your organization to explain the value of your product to your customer. You must have this knowledge and the ability to expertly explain the features, benefits, and unique advantages of your product.

Beyond knowing your products, you must know how your products can become solutions to your customers’ needs. It’s not up to your customer to connect the dots for you. You need to be able to articulate how your product delivers solutions to real business problems. Often this means being able to provide relevant case studies and success stories at the right time and in the right words.

Ultimately, successful enterprise selling requires the building and nurturing of strong, long-term relationships.

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