Name Joe Girard | Spouse June Krantz (m. 1951) | |
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Books How to Close Every Sale, How to Sell Yourself, Mastering Your Way to the Top, How to Sell Yourself on an Intervi | ||
Tom cunningham interviews joe girard the world s greatest salesman
Joseph Samuel Gerard, better known as Joe Girard, (born November 1, 1928 in Detroit, Michigan) is an American salesman. Having sold 13,001 cars at a Chevrolet dealership between 1963 and 1978, Girard has been recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's greatest salesman. One of America's most sought-after speakers, Girard has spoken at engagements with General Motors, Hewlett-Packard, and Kmart. He currently resides in Grosse Pointe Shores, Michigan.
Contents
- Tom cunningham interviews joe girard the world s greatest salesman
- Joe girard lessons from the best salesman in the world
- Early life
- Career
- Published works
- Awards and honors
- References
Joe girard lessons from the best salesman in the world
Early life
Girard is the son of Antonino Gerard, "an extremely poor man of Sicilian birth" and his wife, a homemaker. Girard worked from childhood on. A high school dropout, he started working as a shoeshine boy, then he worked as a newsboy for the Detroit Free Press at the age of nine, and then as a dishwasher, delivery boy, stove assembler, and home building contractor.
Career
The then 35-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. There, he set consecutive sales records 15 year period.
Published works
Awards and honors
Girard's awards include The Golden Plate Award from the American Academy of Achievement, and he has been nominated for the Horatio Alger Award by the late Dr. Norman Vincent Peale and the late Lowell Thomas.
In 2001, he was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame.