Joe Girard

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Joseph Samuel Gerard, better known as Joe Girard, (born November 1, 1928 in Detroit, Michigan) is an American salesman. He is recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the most successful salesman^{[citation needed]}, selling 13,001 cars at a Chevrolet dealership between 1963 and 1978.

Girard worked from childhood on. A high school dropout, he held various jobs until, in 1963, the then thirty-five-year-old walked into a Detroit car dealership and begged a skeptical manager for a job as a salesman. He sold a car on his first day and, by the second month, was so good, some of the other salesmen complained and got him fired. His next job was at Merollis Chevrolet in Eastpointe, Michigan, which he held until his retirement in 1977. There, he set consecutive sales records over a fifteen year period. He is currently a public speaker.

Joe Girard now resides in Grosse Pointe Shores, Michigan.

In 2001, he was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame.^[1]

Personal achievements

• Sold more retail "big ticket" items "one-at-a-time" than any other sales person in any retail industry including houses, boats motor homes, insurance, automobiles, etc.
• Listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as "World's Greatest Salesman" (This record has not been broken.)
• Averaged six new retail automobile sales a day (no used automobiles)
• Most new retail sales in one day (18 automobiles)
• Most new retail sales in one month (174 automobiles)
• Most new retail sales in one year (1425 automobiles)
• Most new retail sales in 15 year career (13,001 automobiles)
• All retail, no fleet or wholesale, never in management

Publications

• How To Sell Anything To Anybody (1977)
• How To Sell Yourself
• How To Close Every Sale
• Mastering Your Way To The Top

References

1. ^ "Inductees - Joe Girard (1928 - )". automotivehalloffame.org. http://automotivehalloffame.org/honors/index.php?cmd=view&id=182&type=inductees. Retrieved 2008-09-28. 

External links

• JoeGirard.com
• American Dreams