Greatest Salesman of All Time: Who is Joseph Samuel Girardi?

Let's say you're a car salesman and you claim to be one of the most successful in your business. Okay, but how many cars would you need to have sold for this? 100-300-500…. Known as "The Spark" and entered the Guinness Book of Records as the most successful salesman in the world, Joe Girard sold 1425 vehicles in 1 year, that is, 4 vehicles a day. We have compiled for you the inspiring life story of Joe Girard, who has achieved the title of the world's best seller 12 times.

Manipulation technique that NO ONE accepts as manipulation...

3 years ago this man (unfortunately) died.

This man's name was Joseph Samuel Girardi. And he was not a private individual.

Joseph Samuel Girardi (November 1, 1928 – February 28, 2019), better known as Joe Girard, was an American salesman, motivational speaker and author. Girard sold 13,001 cars at a Chevrolet dealership between 1963 and 1978, and was recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the seller of the most cars in a year (1,425 in 1973). Girard later became a successful motivational speaker, and gave regular presentations for corporate clients including General Motors, Hewlett-Packard, and Kmart. He resided in Grosse Pointe Shores, Michigan, until his death.

Still, he was named the best-selling car of all time by the Guinness Book of World Records.

His job?

Salesman in a car dealership.

Is it talent?

It was IMPOSSIBLE for his clients to resist him.

No matter what company he worked for: he was ALWAYS consistently the BEST car salesman.

Colleagues began to wonder:

Was he cheating?

Was he manipulating his customers?

Was he threatening to buy them?

Nobody knew.

Until that day...

Robert Cialdini, a psychology researcher, decided to study how Joseph was selling.

After several weeks of research, Robert Cialdini made a surprising discovery:

This is good old Joseph.

He was just a good man.

Yeah yeah. This was his secret.

Literally...it was good.

People bought from him because they loved Joseph.

But Cialdini deepened his research. And he found 3 details that made Joseph likable:

COMPLIMENTED FREQUENTLY

This is one of the most underrated techniques of influencing.

It still works better than anything.

Joseph often gave heartfelt and flattering compliments (not trivial things like "You're beautiful")...

He found what interests his client and complimented him on it.

SEARCHING FOR SIMILARITY

Joseph spoke easily.

"Oh, do you like to canoe?

I did it with my son Eliott last summer!” “Your son's name is Eliott?

Like my dad, it's fun!" These are (very) casual discussions that bring people together, like it or not.

TAKE ATTENTION

One of Joseph's craziest achievements:

To have sent greeting cards for the holiday to more than 13,000 customers.

With the inscription in it: "You are a friend." Not more.

Sympathy is perhaps the ultimate form of manipulation.

That nobody saw.

Yet it is more powerful and effective than anything else.

Because nobody notices.

HOWEVER...

However, his path to success was not adorned with rose gardens. The story of Girard, who had a very difficult childhood, started in Detroit. Being the child of a poor family who had immigrated from Italy, Girard had to start life 1-0 behind. However, he made up his mind to change his life at an early age. School life was not so bright. After high school, he got a job at a stove factory. He worked 12 hours a day, 6 days a week, for $75. This tiring but low-paying job started to make him unhappy, and he quit his job and started working for a greengrocer this time. Even if he doesn't realize it, different sectors and different consumer profiles helped him to enrich his sales infrastructure. However, over time, he decided that this job was not suitable for him, quit the job, and enlisted in the army at the age of 18. His luck didn't smile on his face here either, he injured his back on the swim team, so he, unfortunately, had to leave the army.

Just as he was beginning to despair over how to live his life, he encountered the opportunity to change his life. One day when he was tired of looking for a job, he heard that the Chevrolet dealer was looking for a salesperson. He then applied, but the interviewer was not very willing to hire him because Joe did not have much experience in this matter. However, Joe Girard managed to get the job because of his positive stance and sincere demeanor. In the evening of the same day, he made his first sale. In the second month of the business, he showed an unexpected performance and managed to sell 18 vehicles. But the store owner fired him on the pretext that Joe was acting aggressively. But this job had sparked in Joe's mind: he could do the sales job just fine. Moreover, he was very successful even though he had just started. This time, he took a job at another Chevrolet store as a slightly more experienced employee than before. During his 15 years of existence in this profession, he made his customers love him so much, he communicated with them so well that his reputation spread from word to mouth. During this time, it sold 13,001 vehicles to be exact. This number caused him to enter the Guinness Book of Records. He became the world's best seller of vehicles 12 times. So much so that, in a year when its performance was at its peak, it sold 1425 vehicles, ie 4 vehicles a day, and put its name on a record that is hard to break. When the dates showed 2001, the medal of honor given to people who excelled in the automotive world, this time went to Joe Girard. Moreover, he was the first and only sales representative to receive this medal. After leaving the auto industry, he became a sought-after name for inspiring speeches and wrote several books on the intricacies of selling.

Small details make the difference

Didn't factors such as working hard, loving yourself, and keeping your job and customer before everything else from the job description many more? Well, but why not Joe Girard was awarded the title of best-seller in the world. In summary, what was Joe Girard's secret? The answer may not make much sense to you at first, but Joe Girard's secret was hidden in the greeting cards! Yes, greeting cards hold a unique place in the childhood and youth memories of many of us! In the years when technology was not that advanced yet, a great meaning was attributed to greeting cards. Based on this, Girard set himself a very good strategy: to create an emotional bond with his customers through greeting cards!

For this, he hired two assistants, whose salaries he paid out of his own pocket. These assistants sent greeting cards to approximately 13,000 people every month, from Halloween to Christmas, from Father's Day to Mother's Day, from birthdays to Valentine's Day, almost without missing any special days. Moreover, these greeting cards were designed by a special designer. Joe Girard, who does not neglect to send cards to his customers on every special day, made them feel like a member of the family and initiated an emotional bond between them. At that time, the card was prepared, sent from the post office, etc. It was a time-consuming task. Girard's effort was of course noticed by his customers. Having gained the love and respect of its customers in a short time, Girard succeeded in turning this into sales.

Yes, with the help of technology, sending cards may seem like an old-fashioned method, but sending a one-click greeting message to your customers on special occasions will only take a few minutes. But its effect will spread over a fairly long period of time. How would you feel if you regularly received a well-wishers message with a certain excuse every month? Wouldn't it be a very valuable form of behavior in today's world where the individual is rapidly becoming lonely? Moreover, whatever the product or service that seller sells, wouldn't he be the person you would knock on his door because his name is etched in your mind the first time you need it? The answer to these questions is yes, Girard has been the world's number one car dealer for 15 years with this strategy.

In summary, determining a strategy that will be in people's memory and making them feel special, and putting it into practice consistently will help you run from success to success.

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The world’s all-time top car salesman is fighting to keep his title

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/true-story-greatest-salesman-world-annemarie-cilliers/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/on-small-business/wp/2018/02/23/the-worlds-all-time-top-car-salesman-is-fighting-to-keep-his-title/