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What comes to mind when someone asks you for your most important sales advice? I’m not talking about lengthy diatribes or wordy plans and strategies. No. If I were to say to you: “Don’t overthink it. Give me your most powerful sales wisdom one-liner. You have 5 seconds….” What would you say? There’s something significant about the gut instincts we develop in the trenches of war. Your response is much different when you don’t have all day to think about it. There’s many a great lesson to be learned from the things that intuitively come to mind for us as “sales words to live by.” So I called a digital huddle and challenged my Linkedin network to crowdsource a list of these wise maxims to share with my sales colleagues.

Over 50 people responded in the first two weeks and they are still rolling in. There’s some clear patterns that float to the top and these sales veterans have given us some great things to think about. Check it out:

Ilona Rennert • They’re not interested in how you do it, they’re interested in what you do.
Kevin Walrond • If you say it, they may doubt you. Get them to say it and it’s true.
Jim Decker • Don’t wait for your ship to come in, swim out to it.
Mike Osterhaudt • I don’t sell anything, I remove resistance for them to buy from me.
Ric Basso • There’s no such thing as a problem without a gift for you in its hands.
Robyn Thomas • Listen more than you talk.
William Johnson • I’ll give you 1 word “Personalization.”
Gay Katilius • a new one from Jack Harbaugh – attack this day with a level of enthusiasm unknown to mankind.
Chris Snell • This one from John Maxwell is SO adaptable to sales: “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”
Marie Dunell • By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail. ~ Jeff Gitomer channeling Benjamin Franklin
Matt Fitts • I like this one for many reasons – what would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail – Robert H. Shuller
Lynda Allen • I am responsible for everything I think, everything I say and everything I do.
Mark Shalinsky • Sell the person not the product.
Dan Murphy • Your job its not to talk, your job is to get the other guy to talk.
Andy Small • Create results instead of rhetoric!
Jorge Rosas • You will always close won good deals when you treat people with courtesy and respect.
Scott Girty • consistency+value=trust (walk your talk!)
Jeff Chagaris • It is not about you, it is about them.
Chris Mickle • Time kills deals.
Sandra Tise • An order delayed is a deal not made!
Lanette Richardson ✪ • if you focus on money it will elude you, focus on solving problems for your customers and the money will flow.
Arshad Rifa • We don’t sell any more, we do business to make all are happy!
Aayan Banerjee • Build trust,Sales will follow.
D C • Understand their pain points before you call and speak their language with them- build credibility.
Jim Clements • Take care of your customer and they will take care of you!
Lisa Vitale • Patience and persistence.
Sean Flandermeyer • People like to buy, not to be sold. – Gitomer
Tony Michaels • Make them your Fan, not your customer!
Alex Torkaman • Control what you can – Attitude. Effort. Focus.
Eric Felicce – VSP 5 • Listen; to be honest; speak customer’s language and offer your best solution.
Vicky Harris • Listen like a friend, take the time to talk. Earn their trust.
Quinn Barefield • Plan your work, work your plan!
Nicholas Santerre • They should change the profession named sales to relationships
Peter Ekstrom • Get your foot out of your mouth and in the door…
Emilio Peire • There’s no such thing as failure, only results. If you’re not getting the results you want, modify your approach and try again
Fred Chisholm • It’s not about you… It’s about your customer.
Stuart Silverman • Ask questions, listen, find needs, sell to those needs only.
Brian Hurlburt • Trust Your Gut… Your Inner Compass!
Bill Ramseur • You wont get the sale if you don’t ask for it
Bryan Mcguire • the worst thing you can find out by letting me quote is your getting a hell of deal already.
Vernon D’Souza • Love your customer and they will love you
Tony Michaels • Never look at your customers as a source for money, they will smell it and not be comfortable doing business with you.
Barbara Miller • They buy YOU before they buy your company and the products and services it sells!
Paul Wise • Give them what they need, not what you want to sell them
Joel Weiner • Focus Precedes Success
Kyle Porter • Sell With Sincerity.
Grant Epstein • you have two ears and one mouth for a reason
Weiman Wong • Believe in what you selling with be valuable to customer!

I suspect that if we all took the advice on this list to heart, thinking further on the impact these words have on our customers, we would all grow our revenue dramatically. Thanks everyone!