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Record-setting Michigan car salesman Joe Girard dies at age 90

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Famed Michigan

car salesman

, author and inspirational speaker Joe Girard died on Feb. 28, according to the

Detroit Free Press

,

Crain’s

and the

Automotive Hall of Fame

. He reportedly died from injuries suffered during a fall in his home. He was 90 years old.

Girard, who changed his name from Girardi after he lost a sale due to his heritage, grew up poor in Detroit and built himself up through hard work, determination and a knack for sales. He worked several odd jobs, including shoe shining, before landing work at a Chevrolet

dealership

. According to the biography on

JoeGirard.com

, he was fired from his first dealership for aggressive

sales tactics

before landing at Merollis

Chevrolet

in Eastpointe, Michigan. It’s there he cooked up his magic.

According to the

Automotive Hall of Fame,

he sold more than 13,000 vehicles throughout his career and is known for his claim of selling 1,425 vehicles in 1973. That wasn’t a fluke either, as he regularly sold more than 1,000 vehicles per year. To accomplish this, he was known for never taking breaks, eating lunch or stopping to shoot the breeze with coworkers.

Girard retired from Merollis Chevrolet in 1977 at age 49, but he was nowhere near finished working. He turned his successful selling approach into books and became a motivational speaker. Some of his most popular books were “

How to Sell Anything to Anybody

,” “

13 Essential Rules to Selling

” and “

How to Close Every Sale

.” In 2001, he was inducted into the

Automotive Hall of Fame

.

In an unfortunate series of events, a Dearborn

Cadillac

and

Chevy

salesman named Ali Reda reportedly

broke Girard’s single-year record

, selling 1,530

new cars

and 52

used cars

in 2017. Reda was a fan of Girard’s and credited his books with his success. But when Girard heard about Reda’s accomplishment, he hired an attorney and mounted a challenge.

General Motors

confirmed Reda’s math, but officials at Guinness decided to retire the record due to insufficient independent confirmation. Guinness instead declared Girard a “

historic record holder

.”

from Autoblog https://ift.tt/2Cj3qYH