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The Success Formula of Joe Girard — The World’s Greatest Salesman
You don’t need a complex formula to get success
Joe Girard sold 1,425 cars in 1973. An all-time record for any car salesman. For this feat, the Guinness Book of World Records recognized Girard as the seller of the most cars in a year.
Recognition didn’t make him stop there. He set sales records over a 15-year period.
Girard’s story didn’t have a happy beginning. He had to drop out of high school because his family couldn’t afford the expenses. He worked at various jobs from early childhood as a shoeshine boy, newsboy, dishwasher, stove assembler, and home building contractor.
After trying his luck everywhere, Girard went to a Detroit car dealership and begged the manager for a job as a salesman. He got the job.
Girard was so good, he sold a car on his first day at work. By the second month, he outsold his colleagues. They became jealous of his success and made him leave his job.
But that couldn’t stop him from setting a car sales record. May even have fueled his enthusiasm. From 1963 to 1978, Girard sold 13001 cars. Talk about enthusiasm.
What was Joe Girard’s formula?
Girard didn’t have much formal education. So he didn’t happen to have any sophisticated formula for success.
Then again, success doesn’t need any sophisticated formula. All you need is common sense and the willingness to make it happen. It’s well evidenced from Girard’s life.
Two formulas helped Girard the most to make sales records.
- Tell customers the truth.
- Stay in touch with the customers after the sales.
Girard had other successful formulas. All were elementary. But I believe these two made the most difference in his life.
Sell yourself. Not just the products.
When you sell cars or anything else for that matter, you’re not just selling that product. You’re also selling yourself.
Most of us hate the term “selling”. Some of us can’t stand selling, though we work in sales.
