Careers Career Paths 7 Ways to Motivate Yourself in Sales Print Career Paths Sales Technology Careers Sports Careers Project Management Professional Writer Music Careers Media Legal Careers US Military Careers Government Careers Finance Careers Fiction Writing Careers Entertainment Careers Criminology Careers Book Publishing Aviation Animal Careers Advertising Learn More By Wendy Connick Wendy Connick Wendy Connick, a specialized content writer, financial services guru and enrolled agent, has been writing and offering financial advice since 2007. Learn about our Editorial Process Updated on 11/20/19 A good sales manager will do their best to keep their team pumped up and selling happily, but even the best sales manager can't be psyching you up every hour of every day. Top-tier salespeople take responsibility for their own lives and know how to keep selling even when everything seems to be going wrong. You too can motivate yourself with the following tricks. Set Specific Goals Utamaru Kido / Getty Images Yes, you almost certainly will have quotas handed down from upper management. However, that is no reason to let those quota determine or limit your capabilities. Look at your past performance, think about how much money you want to take home in your next commission check, and set yourself a specific goal that's customized to you. Track Activities Caiaimage / Rafal Rodzoch / Getty Images Your sales totals may be dismal this week, but if you can look back and remind yourself that you've made 300 cold calls, you'll feel better about the fact that you are indeed putting in the effort and will soon be rewarded by success. If you look back at your records and discover that you made five cold calls all week, that will give you an inkling of why you're not succeeding and how to fix it. Choose Mini-Goals Ian Moran / Getty Images Deciding that you'll aim for 500 sales this quarter is good, but it doesn't give you a lot to aim for in the short term. You should also set smaller and more quickly achievable goals so that you can get that thrill of accomplishment as you work your way towards your ultimate goal. It could be as simple as dividing your main goal into smaller components – say, aiming for 40 sales a week so that you can be sure to hit your eventual target. You can also set activity-related goals, like sending out 20 thank-you notes every Thursday. Promise Yourself a Reward Zcenerio / Getty Images Decide in advance how you'll reward yourself when you hit one of your mini – or major – goals. Dinner at that fancy restaurant you love? An afternoon on the golf course? A trip to the ballpark with your whole family? A quiet drive out to the beach all by yourself? Pick something that you want or know you'll enjoy, and reaching your goals will be all the sweeter. Don't Procrastinate LumiNola / Getty Images Putting off the unpleasant parts of your job will only make them worse. If there's a task you're dreading, get it done first thing in the morning. Not only will you feel much better once it's done, but you also won't have it hanging over your head all day. Plus, once you've polished off a difficult job, everything else will seem easier by comparison. Just say to yourself, “If I could get through telling Mr. Jones that the parts he desperately needs were lost in transit, then these cold calls will be a piece of cake.” Remember Your Triumphs 10'000 Hours / DigitalVision / Getty Images Whenever you do something remarkable, be it closing five sales in one day or talking to your competitor's biggest customer into buying from you instead, write down a summary of your success and stick it up on the wall or the side of your computer monitor. When you're feeling down, look over the list of your past successes and remind yourself that the next big success is just around the corner. Break Big Jobs into Small Pieces Caiaimage / Rafal Rodzoch / Getty Images Sitting down with a brand-new lead list that's 50 pages long can be pretty daunting. So instead of thinking, “I have to call 600 strangers now,” approach the job in pieces. Maybe you do some quick research on the first ten names, then call them, and then switch to an unrelated task for a few minutes. By changing tasks on a regular basis throughout the day, you'll stay fresh and will have a lot more energy to apply to each one.