This is a roundup of the best quotes about sales and negotiation, and they work as pieces of advice. Don’t look at the words themselves but at everything that lies behind each one, because I genuinely believe they sum up the world of sales, and some key aspects of negotiation, perfectly.
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Every negotiation starts with a no. So always begin by asking for more than you want and offering less than you are able to give. – 4 truths about the art of negotiation
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Mediocre products with great sales teams always beat great products with mediocre sales teams. – Donal Daly
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Sales opportunities are like fresh fish: they stink after three days. – Thomas Roy Crowell
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When a client sits down with you, they have a thousand reasons to be somewhere else, so don’t waste their time. – Mad Men
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Loyal customers are always worth more than potential ones, because you don’t have to win them over: they are already your customers. All you have to do is look after them and keep them. – A. C. González
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Every sales visit ends in a sale. Either you sell the customer a reason to buy, or the customer sells you a reason not to, but there is always a sale. – Boiler Room
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We should listen to what is said, but in a negotiation it is even more important to listen to everything that is left unsaid. – Peter Drucker
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The secret to closing a large number of sales comes down to three very simple rules: look after the customer, look after the customer and look after the customer. – Bob Golomb (the world’s second-best car salesman)
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The formula for success in sales is simple: a fair price and getting the customer to like you. Combine those two things and you will do very well in business. – Joe Girard (the world’s best car salesman)
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The biggest mistake a salesperson can make is to think they work for anyone other than themselves. – Brian Tracy (The Art of Closing the Sale)
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In a negotiation or a sale, the point is not to be right or to win the argument, because often, if you win the argument, you lose the sale. Don’t fight the customer; guide them. – The 22 commandments of a good salesperson
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Diplomacy works in a negotiation, and diplomacy means getting other people to do what we want them to do, and to be grateful to us for it. – Dale Carnegie (How to Win Friends and Influence People)
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In the art of war applied to negotiation, you defend when you have enough resources and attack when you have more than enough. – Sun Tzu (The Art of War)
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My father used to say that you shouldn’t keep all the money there is in a deal, because if you got a reputation for always keeping all the money, there would be no more deals. – J. Paul Getty
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Negotiations tend to go better when there is trust. It is very hard to negotiate when both sides are suspicious of each other. – Samuel Johnson
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If you make a few sales, you’ll earn enough to live on. If you invest time and look after your customers, you’ll make a fortune. – Jim Rohn
See also: 10 tips and strategies for negotiating successfully
Featured image: Alden Jewell, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
