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Secrets from the World's Greatest Salesman - Joe Girard “Salesmen are made, not born. If I did it, you can do it. I guarantee it “ Joe Girard Latly I stumbled over Joe Girard, the Best Salesman in the World. He is also the Inventor of Affiliate Marketing, witch he called "Birddogging" back in the 60th. Here are some facts about him: Joe Girard, is an American salesman. He is recognized by the Guiness Book of World Record's as the world's greatest salesman for twelve consecutive years, selling 13,001 cars at a Chevrolet dealership between 1963 and 1978.
After his sales carrier he wrote some books about selling:
But how did he became the best salesmen in the world? What I learned so far: 1. Honesty - He didn't lie to his customers 2. Best customer Service - Customer service first, New sales second! 3. Love - He appreciated his customers and co-workers, and told them. Every customer got a happy birthday card from him. Also he invited all his co-workes to a restaurant once a month and told them that he appreciate them. 4. Friendship - He made the customer his friend. Forming a long term relationship. 5. Affiliate Marketing aka Birddogging - He gave out his Buisness cards to every customer, paying them 25$ for every refferal sale. If you know more about him and his approach, please share it here in the thread. :) |
Re: Secrets from the World's Greatest Salesman - Joe Girard Joe Girard is on Twitter, if you ever want to talk to him. He's still out there and kicking. Very nice guy, too. |
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Re: Secrets from the World's Greatest Salesman - Joe Girard He was very determined on his goals to. I remember how described his first sale (on his first day of work). He had absolutely no money and a family to feed, and he had to bring food home. Therefore he saw that customer as a "bag of groceries" for his family, and the rest is, as they say, history. Desperation gave him his laser focus. |
Re: Secrets from the World's Greatest Salesman - Joe Girard I remember reading a book 30 years ago by Joe Girard when he was the World's Greatest Salesman. I had forgotten about him. As Internet marketers we could all still learn about selling from guys like him, Zig Ziglar, Tom Hopkins, and others. |
Re: Secrets from the World's Greatest Salesman - Joe Girard thanks for posting this ...... .... just following Joe on Twitter now AWESOME :D |
Re: Secrets from the World's Greatest Salesman - Joe Girard thanks for the pushing force.. needed some motivation right now and yes.. Joe Girard is simply awesome! I am staring at the "bag of groceries" now and I need to make sure I get it :D |
Re: Secrets from the World's Greatest Salesman - Joe Girard Great share |
Re: Secrets from the World's Greatest Salesman - Joe Girard This really is a great share. Take away all the technology and this gets down to the core of what we really do. |
Re: Secrets from the World's Greatest Salesman - Joe Girard Those are some valuable rules to follow particularly friendship which many people seem to overlook! Daniel |
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Joe was scheduled to be a Keynote speaker at a conference I attended and had to cancel at the last minute because of health. Too bad, he was the reason I went. In his active sales career he was a Legend. He sold more cars personally that the bottom half of all car dealerships. Anyone in sales would find a treasure in the book "How To Sell Anything To Anybody". The other books aren't as good, and he has CDs that are just him reading his book. But that one book, no matter what you sell, is highly motivational. And he tells exactly how he sold cars to the masses. I wish I could have met him. |
Re: Secrets from the World's Greatest Salesman - Joe Girard @Claude, You are indeed correct. I came upon a copy of "How To Sell Anything To Anybody" in my local bookstore a few months back. Loved the section where he talked about handing business cards out like candy...he really knew how to hustle...and he was going through boxes of them while other salesmen handed out so few. And the section on building relationships by sending out cards to his past buyers for birthday, anniversary, holidays, etc.. Great read and very motivational! |
Re: Secrets from the World's Greatest Salesman - Joe Girard Check out "How to sell anything to anybody" That is his main book. I have read that book like 5 times just in the last year alone. What you will notice is that 90% of his success and 90% of the actual book is all about lead generation strategies. And very little of it is actually about sales techniques. He was a lead generation machine and that was a huge, huge part of his success. Where all the other car salesman would stand around the lot waiting for customers to show up he was cold calling, he was sending out thank you letters, he was following up with people who already bought a car from them, he was connecting with referrals, he was telling anyone and everyone what he did and giving them his business cards, he was setting up people to be his "bird dogs", he was doing basically whatever he could to "bring in customers" instead of waiting for them to show up. What's funny is he says that when he was getting top salesmen awards year after year other car salesmen would ask him what was he doing and he would tell them. But they didn't want to do what he did to become successful. They wanted to hang out with the boys around the water cooler waiting for customers to come to them instead of actively seeking them out. |
Re: Secrets from the World's Greatest Salesman - Joe Girard Nice posts, everyone. I think it's safe to say you can take many of the ideas he used 'back in the day' and still apply them today. Heck, technology makes following up and cold canvassing for prospects easier than ever. Girard seemed to follow in that Napoleon Hill mold. He had a definite chief aim to be the best salesman around and he didn't let obstacles stand in his way. Add in excellent time management skills and a desire to excel and you see why he did so well. Everyone can learn lessons from him :) |
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Re: Secrets from the World's Greatest Salesman - Joe Girard I read his "How To Sell Anything To Anybody". Although he talked about selling cars but his method of building relationship with clients can be applied to any markets and any niches. If you haven't read it, go get a copy from Amazon. I find it inspiring. |
Re: Secrets from the World's Greatest Salesman - Joe Girard This is perfect timing! I was just getting ready to update my reading list and saw this thread. . Quote:
All the best, Michael |
Re: Secrets from the World's Greatest Salesman - Joe Girard Zig Ziglar, Brian Tracy, and Joe Girard are probably the best sales teachers I ever had. Love their books. |
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You would see 250 contacts (for a week), 7 appointments, no applications. You would see this repeated, with minor changes for the other 8 or 10 salespeople. Then I would post 7 contact, 6 appointments, 5 or 6 applications. This went on for about 3 months, every week. Nobody ever asked how I did it, nobody ever bothered to learn what I was doing. One day I stood up and said "You mean nobody wants to know how I talk to so few people and make so many sales? I'm willing to tell anybody who wants to know". Nope. And like Joe Gerard, the other salespeople started hating me. At the end of a year, I moved to another office where there were phenomenal producers. And there I didn't stand out. But I learned a lot. Gerard has sales figures I could never match. The only reason I stood out was because the rest of the office was so below expectations. But the results were the same. By the way, eventually the sales manager took me aside and told me that he knew that the other salespeople were making up their figures and he decided not to call them on it. But you can't make up the sales figures, only your activity figures. That thought didn't dawn on me until he told me the reality. If anyone here sells life insurance, I'll be happy to post what I did to get the sales. By the way, Ben Feldman is to life insurance sales what Joe Gerard is to car sales. A legendary salesman that had no equal. He has a few books on Amazon that are out of print. "The Feldman Method" is the best of the litter. But it's a collectors item now, and not cheap. In the 1970s-1980s, Feldman sold million dollar policies in the Youngstown Ohio area to business owners. He sold more life insurance personally than most life insurance companies at the time. I talked to him once by phone. Very quiet talking man, who had a slight lisp (by then semi-retired) but he sure knew how to sell insurance. His books were the main reason (besides hard work) that I sold so much. |
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I think we all wanna know how you closed that many sales? Maybe you can go more into detail with it, if it is applicable to internet marketing too? What do you think? |
Re: Secrets from the World's Greatest Salesman - Joe Girard Great share and so inspiring! |
Re: Secrets from the World's Greatest Salesman - Joe Girard I would go with "How to sell anything to anybody". My personal thought is this, people already basically know what they want and how much they want to spend. What you are doing is making a friend. Once you have a friend then you can sell them, because they trust and believe you. |
Re: Secrets from the World's Greatest Salesman - Joe Girard wow he can sell ice to the eskimos, I wonder what it require to get to that level, and why he didn't continue? |
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I owned a company selling in home (with a dozen or so salespeople) until 1981. The recession hit (this one is way worse), and all in home financing stopped. So I switched to selling Life Insurance with New York Life in Canton Ohio. I bought several books by great insurance salesmen, and started to work. I can't remembner where I initially got this idea, but here is what I did. I got one client. He worked at a factory in Medina Ohio. I went to the factory, saw the treasurer and said '" I have a policy holder that works here. Would it be alright if you deducted his premiums out of his weekly paycheck?" Amazingly he said OK to that. I then asked "If I find other policyholders in this company, would you do the same for them?" Amazingly he agreed to that as well. If not for this one guy, I would have given up on this idea. Well, all the employees (there were about 100) knew each other. So I would get referrals from each one, and just drop by their homes and say "Joe asked me to stop by and show you a program that you can get through your company. Would you mind if I take a few minutes to explain it to you?" Most said OK. I sold a standard life insurance policy and showed pre-made proposals with premiums in $20 a week chunks. In other words, one unit has a premium of about $86 a month through payroll deduction. I only got referrals from people who bought. After a few months, I even asked them to call a friend or two who they worked with, while I was still there, to help set the appointment (with me helping) for the next client. The number of people who I saw per week shot through the roof. But I really only wanted to see one or two people a day. I want from 6 hours selling (or prospecting) a day to about two hours total. I would normally sell 6 policies a week and then take off the rest of the week. I visited people at their homes in person. When I got a huge backlog of prospects, I started calling them, and that wasn't as effective as just showing up. The exception was referrals called from a co-workers home. That worked extremely well. Of the people who would talk to me (word soon spread about the insurance guy coming around), nearly all bought at least the $86 a month plan. That's $86 a month for life insurance...in a recession..in 1981. Pretty big money then. Some bought more. Most of that year, I worked about 2 hours a day. Only seeing people that wre 90% already sold on buying insurance from me....mostly because most of their work friends did, and because there was an implied permission to sell by the company. I ended up with about 12 companies allowing me to see their employees (two during regular work hours at the factory), and I sold most everyone I talked to. Almost nobody cancelled the first year because it was so convenient to have the money taken out of their paycheck. I made a tad over $200,000 in 1981 selling a boring life insurance policy that every agent in the world sold. The reasons it worked so well was; 1) I only talked to friends of people who baught from me, not nonbuyers. Everone I talked to knew several people who baught from me already. This developed strong social proof that buying from me was the right thing to do. 2) Even though I was selling a commmodity, the approach was unique (or at least I thought so at the time).The method of approach to the prospect was what set me apart from any other salesman. 3) It was almost like I was sent from the company to explain an employee benefits package. In fact, after several months I arranged to do just that and at the same time show optional insurance coverage. The normal sales barriers weren't there usually. 4) Because the company gave me permission to see their employees, I had authority in their eyes. I wasn't a salesman, I was an advisor. This was the first time I saw how important that was to selling. 5) Sometimes I could get several couples in one home to see them all at once. This forced me to learn how to do group selling. Far harder than one on one. One unhappy participant can ruin your day. This really came in handy when I started speaking to business groups seling loccal online services. The district sales manager even went with me for a day to see how I generated so many high dollar sales. He was baffled when I just went out visiting small companies asking if I could deduct premium from paychecks. I always saw my prospective clients in the evening. Everyone worked during the day, it seemed. To him it seemed like a waste of time, so I dropped him off at his car and went to see a new prospect on my own. He wanted me see clients to replace the policies they already had. At the time many agents made a living this way, but I thought it was slimy and not benefiting the client. I learned that not everyone who manages is actually smarter than you. Anyway, at the end of 1982, my financing was re-instated, and I could return to a business I enjoyed more. I'm not sure how to translate that to internet marketing, although I used all I learned owning a retail store and in selling local clients an online marketing program. I hope somebody got something out of this. Anyway, sorry about hijacking the thread. I would absolutely recoimmend How To Sell Anything To Anybody. Also, The Feldman Method, and Selling Retail (if you are in retail). These books are by Giants in their field who share what they know. If you're in sales this is a no-brainer, I think. |
Re: Secrets from the World's Greatest Salesman - Joe Girard Joe's genius was that he had a "list". Joe maintained contact with his list once a month. The format that he maintained contact with his list was with greeting cards. Every month Joe would write the persons name inside the card and then write "I like you". So every month people were reminded that Joe liked them. This was his "secret" he used to sell so many cars at one time! |
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If you look at what Joe did, it's just simple honest getting to know people, getting them what they want and then getting them a second helping when it's time for that. People want to buy and they will buy from people who they like. Simple formula yet so many marketers don't do it. |
Re: Secrets from the World's Greatest Salesman - Joe Girard Folks I'm posting this for one reason only and that's to get you to read this thread several times hopefully. Claude Whitacre , thanks for your great post (see # 25 above) and thanks to 13th Samaria for the thread. Guys and gals what your reading here may seem like it's old school and doesn't work. Please rethink that and know you still need these same techniques today when building your list or marketing your products or affiliate products. I'm an "Old Geezer" and I still work with these same techniques every day and it works. Ken http://www.1articleaday.com/Images/granpadog.gif The Old Geezer |
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All my stories are true. At 57 years old anyone would have plenty of good true stories, so it's no big deal. I have a prejudice. Really. I don't like lawyers. Even the ones on my side. It's an unreasoning dislike that I can't shake. Anyway, about six years ago a lady lawyer came into my retail store, asked to see me and said "Do you like grapefruit?" Think of a fast answer to that one! I said I did, and she handed me a grapefruit the size on a small cantaloupe. Then she walked out the door. A year later she did the same thing. She stopped by, asked for me, told me who she was, and handed me the grapefruit. She smiled and walked out the door. Again. By now, I'm telling everyone I know about this strange grapefruit lady lawyer, and that I didn't know what to make of this. Other business owners are telling me that she was at their place too. The strange grapefruit lawyer lady. The third year, she walked in, handed me my yearly grapefruit, and I stopped her and engaged her in conversation. I couldn't stand it any longer. I had to know what kind of person acts like this. She has now handled my will, my mother's estate, helped write joint venture agreements, and has made about (this is a guess) $15,000 from me the last few years. Three grapefruit...$15,000. As a marketer, I ask myself "Would I have talked to her if she hadn't given me the grapefruit?". The answer, I'm ashamed to say is "No". Now I still don't like lawyers...except my friend, Sue...the grapefruit lawyer. The study of human nature is ceaselessly fascinating to me. Now, how many marketing lessons could you get from this? I got seven. |
Re: Secrets from the World's Greatest Salesman - Joe Girard Joe girard is awesome, I've always preferred the old school guys over the new school IM Gurus. |
Re: Secrets from the World's Greatest Salesman - Joe Girard I met Joe back in the late 70s when he was the featured speaker at our local dealer's association annual dinner. Really nice guy and very theatrical speaker. Like others above I recommend How To Sell Anything To Anybody. I had a very successful career in the automobile business which I attribute to Joe's tip of sending cards several times yearly. I now use an online system that automates the entire process. I go to my site, select a card, insert pictures, write the message and click a button. The company then prints the card, stuffs it in an envelope, puts a real stamp on it and delivers it to the post office within 24 hours. Anyone doing business offline should be doing the same if having more repeat and referral business than you can handle matters to you. If you have an interest PM me and I'll hook you up. There's no set up fees... you pay for the cards and postage you need. Oh... and the cards are Hallmark quality at about 1/3rd to 1/5th the price. |
Re: Secrets from the World's Greatest Salesman - Joe Girard Thanks for providing information of Joe Girard, it was inspirational for me. |
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You added some great value! I think it's all about building a relation to your customers. Your story really illustrates that! |
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Re: Secrets from the World's Greatest Salesman - Joe Girard I don't know him before, thanks for sharing. I could use his tip for IM. |
Re: Secrets from the World's Greatest Salesman - Joe Girard Girard used a list. At first it was out of the phone book. He would call people at home and say "Your new car is here". Of course they didn't order one and that started the conversation rolling. But he also did a couple things that weren't brought out. He would give his customer things for free. If the customer asked for a cigarette (or if Girard knew he smoked) Joe would offer a new pack...of whatever brand the guy smoked. Girard had alcohol in his desk. He would share a glass with the customer. Buying from Joe was a fun as getting a massage. Girard made appointments. This "seeing the car guy with an appointment" elevated Girard above the other car salesmen. Now he was someone important. And he treated the customer as someone important. After a couple of years, there would actually be a waiting room with people waiting to see Joe to sell them a car. Let that sink in. If you are sitting in a room with other people waiting to buy...how are you not going to buy? Joe said something like "The longer you wait, the better the price!" (I'm going from memory here). I've used this in my own retail store when there is more than one person waiting. It always gets a laugh...and they always wait. People would drive hundreds of miles to buy a car from Girard. Being "The World's Greatest Car Salesman" is phenomenal promotion. I say in my speeches that the greatest medical advancement was the doctor's office appointment. The second medical advancement was the waiting room. That's a major factor as to why we look at doctors as valued advisors. 150 years ago the surgeon was also the barber. That's why there were those red and white poles outside the barber shops. Girand's book was where I got that thought. There is a lot to get out of this inexpensive little book. |
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P.T. Barnum used in the 19th century. He used to market his: "P. T. Barnum's Grand Traveling Museum, Menagerie, Caravan & Hippodrome," a traveling circus, menagerie and museum of "freaks." It went through various names: "P.T. Barnum's Travelling World's Fair, Great Roman Hippodrom and Greatest Show On Earth!" To get customers he hired homeless persons and told them to walk the streets and lay bricks onto the street in an interval. People started to follow the homeless marketers, because they got curious. After enough people followed, the homeless walked inside Barnum's Circus, where the people got distracted by the other curiosity's he offerd there (e.g. a mermaid and other freaky stuff) :D |
Re: Secrets from the World's Greatest Salesman - Joe Girard He's a bit like Zig Ziglar. Living legend!! |
Re: Secrets from the World's Greatest Salesman - Joe Girard Thank you for the thread. WF members need these principles than ever before. @ Jack, You are one of the WF member who is like Joe within the scope. Thank you for all the support you give even to a product purchased years ago. Appreciate it !:) Quote:
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Re: Secrets from the World's Greatest Salesman - Joe Girard Cool, I'll look him up when I get home. Don't know about the being able to sell "anything" quote though. From the looks of things he only sold cars. Selling a car to one person is different than selling B2B as one example. |
Re: Secrets from the World's Greatest Salesman - Joe Girard Great share and i am checking him on twitter now. |
Re: Secrets from the World's Greatest Salesman - Joe Girard thanks for the post; I initially ordered his books, and liked those so much I then ordered his complete package. Joe Girard is OUTSTANDING for sales. I really wish I'd found him years earlier. What I like best about his approach is: a) It's focused on selling with a human touch, with INTEGRITY, with a goal of earning a lifetime customer with reasonable prices, being friendly and standing out with great service b) He did Not try to oversell at higher prices to people, since that would not earn trust. He focused on providing value. c) I liked his approach to lead generation and direct mail, a lot of nuggets there. highly recommended. His tips are of strategic value for selling the right way. very, very good content. |
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