Salesman

President, Girard Productions, Inc.

Most of us would think selling one car a day would be doing pretty well. Of course, that can't happen every day. Two a day would be great, and three a day would seem to be excellent. But, what about six a day? Impossible you say? Nobody could ever do that!

Nobody has ever done that consistently, except for one man, super salesman, Joe Girard, who manages to take the letters "im" off impossible. Joe is the man The Guinness Book of World Records calls the undisputed World's Greatest Salesman. He strongly believes with all his heart that all things are possible to those who do the right things.

Girard was born in the Detroit ghetto and worked his way up the ranks. He labored as a shoeshine boy, a newsboy for the Detroit Free Press, dishwasher, delivery boy, and stove assembler throughout his early years.

He shares with us from his latest bestselling book, Mastering Your Way To The Top, a turning point in his life. "When I began selling automobiles in 1963, at the age of thirty-five, I had a lot of self-doubt. After all, I had just come from a failure in the home-building business. More than ever it seemed my old man was right when he said I'd never amount to anything."

His pop's words inspired him to focus on success and be the best he could be. Remarkably, Joe began his career selling cars with nothing more than a telephone, a phone book, and a dusty desk in the upstairs vacant corner of a car dealership. In his first year alone, he sold 267 cars.

In the twelve years he was selling cars from 1966 to 1977 Girard was the winner of the #1 Car Salesman title each year. Joe sold more retail automobiles for twelve consecutive years on a one-to-one basis than anyone else in the world! All his sales were Retail. One car at a time, no wholesale, lease or fleet sales were included.

His lifetime total of one-at-a-time, "belly-to-belly" selling was 13,001 sales, all retail with a record 174 cars in one month. In 1973, Joe had his best year ever, he sold 1,425 retail cars, a World's Record which may never be broken.

On January 1, 1978, Joe retired from selling cars to focus his energy on writing and inspiring others to success. He has earned the right to share his accomplishments and wisdom with others by being in the trenches and walking his talk. Among his top books and tapes that have helped over eight million readers and listeners achieve success are: How to Sell Anything to Anybody, How to Sell Yourself and How to Close Every Sale.

Girard leaves us with his philosophy from a sign he has hanging on his office wall that reads: "The secret of life is to know what you want, write it down, then commit yourself to accomplishing it."

If a former shoeshine boy from the poor ghettos of Detroit can work his way up the ranks and become the world's greatest salesman, just imagine what dreams you may be able to accomplish with your current talents through continuous hard work and strong perseverance.

Oops -- forgot to mention that Joe Girard's best sales day ever saw him sell 18 autos in one 24-hour period, all retail, of course.