Joe Girard

I recently got my hands on a copy, like a couple months ago.

The first chapter of the book is about a guy named Joe Girard.

Oh, I know Joe Girard, the best salesman-

He's the car salesman, the greatest car salesman

... best salesman.

Sell me something.

And Joe Girard, who was the greatest salesman in the world, according to the Guinness Book, said, well, Johnny, what would you like to buy? And it was back in the days where they smoked on the talk shows and there was an ashtray sitting there on the desk in front of Johnny.

He said, well, sell me this ashtray.

And Joe said, well, okay, Johnny, if you had one of those, if you had one of those things, what would you use it for? And Johnny said, oh, you know, I guess I could put my cigarette ashes in it.

And maybe I could even put some potting soil in it and grow a little plant.

Joe said, yeah, man, there's a lot of things you could do with one of those, huh? And he said, so what do you think a fair price would be for one of those? And Johnny said, oh, I don't know, maybe five, six dollars.

Joe Girard said, oh, OK, I'll let you have it.

And Johnny, of course, just cracked up and the audience cracked up.

... uh, so you see quantities of personal things.

Well, Joe Girard, the greatest salesman who ever lived, which is a book he wrote about himself, you know, that was that permission marketing thing, I guess, that Seth Godin came up with later-

Yeah

... was the wh- the whole thing of he went to some funerals, then he realized the average funeral, funeral was 150 people.

I'm thinking about something parallel, so go with me on this.

As you were speaking, I was thinking about Joe Girard, who is, on the Guinness Book of World Records, the greatest car salesman in history, okay? And he had this method, and he's been written about extensively.

And then I was thinking about sports where, you know, even somebody who's undersized in the NBA, the National Basketball Association, like Spud Webb, I think he was five foot five inches, but he still made it to the team.

And the parallels I see in sort of car sales or sports achievements is that it's extremely clear what the objective of the job is, right? Scoring points or selling cars, right? I can't help but think part of the problem, and I'm drawing on my own experience, is that oftentimes, or I shouldn't say oftentimes, sometimes I feel as though leadership may not be crystal clear with what are the measurable work outcomes that define success in this function, in this organization.

And it's the welcome message.

The most successful car salesperson in America was a guy called Joe Girard.

You can read his book.

It's a brilliant book.

And you don't have to sell.

If you're a golden retriever, you don't have to sell yourself, right? And so if you have that same mindset of being able to be excited to see somebody, make them feel important, make them feel like, you know, There was an old car salesman named Joe Girard.

He was at one point the greatest car salesman in the world.

Now his name is Ali Rita.

I know Ali too.

But Joe Girard was out of Detroit.

And he used to literally tell his customers, I love you.

You feed my family.