11 Sales Motivation Ideas to Get You to Make That Next Call

Struggling to find your motivation to sell?

Having a hard time just picking up the phone to make your dials?

Let’s face it: Selling is hard.

If it were easy, more people would be doing it. There’s a reason that salespeople are some of the highest paid executives in the business world today.

When it comes down to it, it’s not always easy to find sales motivation.

Most salespeople dread picking up the phone and doing what needs to be done on a daily basis to make sales.

And you know what? That can catch up to the best of us.

In this video, I’m going to show you 11 sales motivation ideas to get you to make that next call. Check it out:

Sales Motivation Tips Video Summary:

Sales Motivation Tip #1: Get clear on why you need to be successful.

There’s no such thing as a professional goal in sales. Everything is personal. This is absolutely crucial to understand if you’re going to increase your sales motivation and start building a better, more exciting approach to your selling career.

Everything comes down to why do you need to pick up that phone to close that sale—whether it’s to ultimately pay that bill, send your kid to college, or save for a down payment on a house. These are the personal objectives that, together, make up your sales motivation. If you can’t identify them, then it’s no wonder that your sales motivation is waning.

Everything in sales is personal, so the more you can get clear on why you need to be successful, the more successful you’re going to be. Every single step you take needs to make you feel like you’re getting that much closer to accomplishing whatever it is that you want.

Get super, crystal clear.

When I first began selling I had to make tons of cold calls every single day, and I didn’t want to do that. What did I do? I literally had a vision board of all the things I wanted in my life.

Whether it was that new house, or money for my family, I knew exactly what it was. This clarity gave me strong sales motivation, so every time I picked up that phone, every time I set a new meeting, it was getting me that much closer to my personal why. 

Sales Motivation Tip #2: Know exactly what you have to sell in order to achieve your personal goals.

Notice that I didn’t use the word quota, and I didn’t say professional goals.

What matters is that you get specific about what you need to sell in order to achieve your personal goals. This is absolutely key to sales motivation, otherwise you won’t even know what you’re supposed to feel motivated to do.

Let’s say that in order to accomplish your personal goals you need to make $200,000. You should know exactly what’s going to get you to that earnings of $200,000.

This is crucial for your internal sales motivation. Factor in your compensation plan and determine exactly what you need to sell in order to earn that $200,000. Once you know, then it all becomes about getting to that number.

Let’s say you need to make $2,000,000 in sales in order to get to that $200,000. Live by that number, because that’s the only number that matters.

It’s not about your quota. It’s not about some number that someone gives you.

It’s about knowing what you need to sell in order to achieve those personal goals. Everything that you’re doing is getting you closer to that personal goal, so make those personal goals really powerful and really relevant. The more you want to achieve your goals, the more magnetic your sales motivation will be, the more sales you’ll close. It’s a beautiful cycle that just keeps getting better.

So, what’s going to give you the sales motivation to make that next call? To set that next meeting? To knock on that next door?

Sales Motivation Tip #3: Break down the activities on a daily basis.

So many salespeople lack sales motivation simply because they feel overwhelmed.

They feel like they can’t possibly do everything they need to do in order to accomplish their goals. As a result, salespeople get into a pattern where they’ll keep putting off those sales activities for a day or two.

Let’s say on Monday and Tuesday they don’t make any calls, and they don’t do any of those key prospecting activities they need to do in order to hit their numbers. By the time Wednesday rolls around, they’re behind.

Now they have to make a Herculean effort just to get back on track.

Listen, I get it. Finding the sales motivation to make cold calls or write emails can seem impossible when your head is spinning with to-dos and you have no idea where to start.

But I challenge you to break down your key activities on a very granular daily basis. Know exactly how many calls you need to make. Know exactly how many referrals or introductions you need to ask for. Known exactly how many meetings you need to set, and how many meetings you have to conduct in order to hit your goals.

The more you can break things down on a daily basis, the easier your sales motivation will come. This is because you’ll feel less overwhelmed, and better able to handle to activities you need to accomplish day by day. Never underestimate the power of good organization to boost your sales motivation.

Simply put, the more you break down your daily activities, the more manageable achieving your personal goals becomes, and the more likely you are to feel that sales motivation.

Sales Motivation Tip #4: Make your activity the most important objective of each day.

Many salespeople miss the boat on this because they’re focused on making sure that they hit their sales numbers on a weekly or monthly basis. But what really matters is your sales activity.

There are really only a couple of factors that go into making sure that you’re hitting your sales numbers, right? You’ve got to make sure that you’re getting the number of leads you need, and the way you get those leads is by generating activity. Once you have those leads, you then have to make sure you’re doing the right things in the sales process to actually close those sales effectively.

Let’s just pretend that you’re doing all those right things. You’ve watched all of my other videos. You’ve gone through all of my programs, and you make sure that you’re doing the right things when you actually have someone in front of you.

Now, it comes down to what you’re actually doing on a daily basis to make sure that you’re getting in front of the right number of people.

The most important thing you can do on a daily basis is ensure that you’re following through with your activity goals. You know exactly how many calls you have to make, and you do not leave the office until you’ve made those calls.

When you put yourself in this ideal situation of prioritizing daily activities, you naturally increase sales motivation because you’re well-prepared, consistent, and following through. These are stellar selling habits that increase sales, so you’re going to see the numbers rise—and your sales motivation along with it.

The better you are at holding yourself accountable to the activities, the more likely you are to hit your sales numbers. Doesn’t it just make sense that your natural sales motivation will increase, too?

If you follow through with those activities, you will hit your sales goals.

Sales Motivation Tip #5: Delegate non-sales activity to others.

Far too many salespeople get bogged down with non-sales activities. In fact, this is one of the most common mistakes I see salespeople make, and it leads to a decrease in sales motivation in nearly every single instance.

Now, I understand that some sales jobs aren’t 100% selling, but even so, the more time you can dedicate to true sales activity, the more money you’re going to make—and the more sales motivation you’ll have.

Take all non-sales activity off of your plate. Get rid of it. Move it away. Give it to someone else. They can take care of it.

You want to focus on what’s going to make you money, which is sales activity.

What are those activities that you’re doing during the day that are not sales-related? Maybe it’s operational issues. Maybe it’s putting out fires here and there. Maybe it’s customer complaints.

Whatever it is, the more you can give that to someone else, the more money you’re going to make, and the more money you’re going to be worth to your company. You become a complete necessity to any company if you focus the majority of your time on sales activity. What’s going to increase your sales motivation more than being a rockstar at your company?

Get rid of anything that is not sales-related. Period.

Sales Motivation Tip #6: Use a selling system that actually works.

Success reinforces sales motivation. There’s nothing more discouraging than salespeople who aren’t using the right approaches. All of that effort is really wasted.

This happens in learning any skill. Let’s say you were learning to play guitar—but you actually have the guitar upside down.

Selling is not entirely different. If we’re learning to learn to sell in a way that’s not as effective as it could be, then we’re less likely to feel motivated because we’re not having success.

Take a cold call for example. Cold calls, on average, have between .5% and 1.5% likelihood of actually generating a meeting. That being the case, if you’re ineffective with prospecting calls, that means you might have to make 200 cold calls in order to generate one meeting.

But if you’re using a strategy that’s effective, you could be generating a meeting every 75 calls or so. That’s a huge difference.

The person who is generating more meetings from the same amount of activity is going to feel a lot more sales motivation just because they’re seeing more success. So, if you simply use a seling system that actually works, you dramatically increase your sales motivation at the same time. 

The more you’re putting yourself in the position of actually being successful, the more sales motivation you will feel.

Make sure that when you’re actually selling, you’re using a system that really works. I have a million videos you can watch that will talk more about that system. Make sure you follow it.

Sales Motivation Tip #7: Think of selling as a sport.

Sales is a sport. It’s not personal. It’s not about getting your feelings hurt. It’s truly a sport, and the more you can start to think of it that way, the more successful you’ll be.

When you think of selling as a sport, you’re less likely to take things personally and feel down in the dumps. This mean you’re more likely to feel sales motivation strike—because you’re not sitting there worried about what people think, or whether people like you.

For example, I recently spoke with a salesperson who was really upset because he had just discovered that a prospect was blocking his calls. He couldn’t believe it. He was deeply hurt by the fact that someone would actually block his number. And he said, “How am I supposed to deal with this?” I said, “The first thing you need to do is make sure that you don’t take any of this stuff personally.”

Selling is a sport just like anything else. Whether it’s football, tennis, or golf, when you have a setback, you don’t get mad or throw your club and get really upset. The more comfortable we get seeing sales as a sport, the less likely we are to take those little setbacks as personal affronts. 

You’ll gain sales motivation by being less sensitive and toughening your skin.

Sales Motivation Tip #8: Celebrate even your small successes.

If you’re watching this video, and you’re really feeling down, I want you to know we’ve all been there. Sometimes, when we get to the bottom of the sales motivation curve, we start to overlook any little successes we have.

Instead, we focus more on what’s not working. This is the death blow to sales motivation.

I challenge you to reframe what a success really means. I want you to start to recognize even a small success—like scheduling a meeting, or just getting a call through to the next minute.

If you can keep a prospect on the phone for a minute, you’re much more likely to ultimately get that meeting.

Let’s just say that you get 5 prospects to stay on the phone for a minute. Chances are, out of those five prospects, one of them is going to turn into a meeting. Just the act of getting a prospect to stay on the phone with you for over a minute is a success.

Celebrate those small successes. Give yourself the credit. Then move on, and ride the momentum as a result of that little success. Give yourself permission to feel that sales motivation rise.

Sales Motivation Tip #9: Examine your setbacks.

Learn from your setbacks. Some people might call it failure, but I genuinely don’t believe that you can fail in sales. Yes, really. The only way you fail in sales is if you quit.

Until you quit, you have not failed. You’re only experiencing setbacks. Once you truly believe this, you’ll feel your sales motivation soar.

And anytime you have a setback, it’s a learning opportunity. It’s an opportunity to analyze what happened. Why did that prospect respond in such a negative way? Why did that sale that seemed like it was on track suddenly fall off track?

Now we don’t want to over-examine what went wrong, or what went right. But the more we’re using a system that actually works, the more likely we are to be able to effectively examine those individual setbacks. That way, we can nip it in the bud when sales motivation starts to decline, and take action to get our momentum back.

You may get to a sale and then suddenly determine that you weren’t talking to the right decision maker. Now you understand that the next time you’re in that situation, you’re going to be really tough on the decision-making process. Or maybe you have to dig into budget more, or whatever it is.

Examine those setbacks, and take lessons from them. Then apply those lessons moving forward.

Sales Motivation Tip #10: Focus on small steps consistently.

Taking small steps is integral to success on any level. Whether it’s a kid getting through school, or an adult just working on developing their own career, small steps are crucial.

Kids can’t wait to get to college, but many of them don’t start seriously thinking about it until they’re juniors in high school. By that point, the battle has already been won or lost.

What really mattered were all the small moments up until junior year—6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th grade. Those small baby steps are what mattered.

Did they finish their homework? Did they put in extra effort on that assignment? These small decisions over the years aggregate to lead to success.

The same is true for sales. If you want to increase your sales motivation, you need to focus on small steps consistently.

Did you make your 40 calls today? That’s the question you should be answering. Not, did you make your 1600 calls this month? Instead, focus on the daily small steps to boost your sales motivation and avoid feeling like you have a mountain to climb.

The more you can break things down into tiny bite-sized chunks, the more likely you’ll feel sales motivation in the long run. Success is just a combination of small baby steps put together into something powerful.

Sales Motivation Tip #11: Take risks and scrape your knees.

Most salespeople are afraid of making mistakes in selling situations.

And of course, if you’re a newbie, that’s unequivocally going to happen. But the more you start to recognize that mistakes are opportunities, the better off you are.

Take more risks. Fall on your face. Piss off that prospect. Take calculated risks that are going to turn into something positive.

Let’s say a prospect is behaving in a way that really doesn’t make sense. Be willing to take a risk and say, “You know what, George? Based on what you’re telling me, I’m getting the sense that this isn’t a fit. Is that fair?” This risk is calculated and it’s likely to actually generate an effective response on the part of the prospect.

Be willing to take those risks—and be willing to scrape your knees. The more risks you take, the more dynamic and successful your approach to selling will be—and the more sales motivation you’ll experience.

Bonus Sales Motivation Tip #1: Just pick up the phone.

When it comes to sales motivation, procrastination is every salesperson’s worst enemy. Don’t sabotage your sales motivation before you even get started.

Just pick up the phone. It’s the single best way to overcome fear and anxiety. Start dialing. Start reaching out to prospects.

Sales motivation will come naturally if you put one foot in front of the other.

You’ll start to see that when you go through the motions on a consistent basis, you see results. And once you start seeing results, your motivation will surge.

Bonus Sales Motivation Tip #2: Love what you sell.

If you’re not selling a product or service that’s necessary and desirable, to prospects who have the money to pay for it, then chances are you don’t love what you sell.

It’s time to make a change. This might mean switching roles or switching companies completely. Whatever it is, make that move that will give you the ultimate sales motivation: love what you sell.

So many salespeople simply complain about the fact that they’re trying to sell something nobody needs or wants. They say how hard their job is, but they don’t do anything about it.

Kick your sales motivation into gear by taking charge of your career, and find an offering to sell that you truly believe in.

Bonus Sales Motivation Tip #3: Don’t make friends.

This is a controversial one. Many salespeople tell me they went into sales because they love people and they’re great at making friends.

That’s wonderful, but it really has nothing to do with sales—or sales motivation.

The myth that salespeople are there to make friends gets perpetuated throughout society today—and many salespeople start to believe it about themselves.

But in reality, sales motivation is totally independent of whether or not you’re out there making friends. In fact, it can be a huge distraction and demotivate you if you focus too much on socializing.

Sales motivation really only has to do with how much you’re selling, and what you’re doing to hit those numbers.

So stop focusing on making friends. You’re not a salesperson to win friends. You’re a salesperson to win deals and close sales.

Once you realize that, I guarantee you’ll feel more motivated to get to work and complete your prospecting activities every single day.

Bonus Sales Motivation Tip #4: Have an accountability buddy.

Accountability is one of the biggest challenges I see in sales. Salespeople are often just winging it, following a haphazard approach to selling that seriously detracts from sales motivation.

It’s no surprise why: When you’re not held accountable, your numbers suffer, so your motivation wanes.

You can avoid this common pitfall by having an accountability buddy.

Hold each other’s feet to the fire, celebrate when you follow through and strike it big, and be there to motivate each other through the ups and downs of selling.

Bonus Sales Motivation Tip #5: Don’t sell to just anyone.

One of the main reasons salespeople lack sales motivations is that they’re selling to the wrong people. No wonder they’re not motivated!

They’re losing sales and striking out time and time again, no matter how much time and effort they put into prospecting—because they’re simply prospecting to the wrong people.

Be sure to follow a strict profile of your ideal prospect to boost your sales motivation. You can write out an ideal prospect profile, or work together with your sales team to identify specific companies and titles to go after.

Whatever you do, don’t sell to just anyone. Instead, build your sales motivation by setting yourself up for success with the right people.

So, there you have it. There are 11 sales motivation ideas (plus 5 bonus tips) to get you to make that next call. I want to hear from you. Which of these ideas do you find most useful? Be sure to share your ideas below in the comment section to get involved in the conversation.