Joe Girard's incredible sales career began with his first job shining shoes when he was just nine years old. He would work as a newspaper boy for The Detroit Free Press, and as a dishwasher and stove assembler until he went into the custom-home building business. After losing a three million dollar building business in 1963 when he was 35, Girard began selling automobiles at a Chevrolet dealer in Detroit. During the ensuing years, he would break every automotive sales record in the world and top The Guinness Book Of World Records "World's Greatest Salesman" category. Before leaving the Detroit dealer, he would sell an incredible 13,000 cars in fifteen years, selling on average an astounding six cars a day at retail level.

Sought out by automobile companies as well as many other corporate giants as a motivational and sales speaker, Girard travels thousands of miles each year to bring his message of enthusiasm and professionalism to salespeople in all industries.

He credits his practice of tossing business cards into the stands during football or baseball games with creating a high profile image that is impossible to forget. In this PSP exclusive interview, Joe shares some of the techniques that helped him to get - and stay - on top!

PSP: You have been tremendously successful at selling cars but I think you are also a fabulous actor.

Joe Girard: That's what they tell me, but I call it body language. I think people can get more out of body language than they can out of words. Enthusiasm alone and your smile, the way you move, gets people to really want to listen to you. That is why I sold a lot of cars. I always behaved as if I were on stage.

PSP: How do you get people's attention?

Joe Girard: I catch everybody off guard. For example, when I'm introduced for a speech, I don't come from the front, I come from the back of the room, singing a little tune. People don't know where the voice is coming from and their heads start to turn and they are looking at me. As I'm singing, I'm shaking hands with people with my right hand and my left hand is going into my pocket. I have created a habit: if I touch you, I will give you a business card. I can walk away saying to myself, "That person knows who I am." Who knows, he might need what I am selling. Or, he might have heard somebody mention what I was selling. Why not give these cards away?

PSP: How many business cards do you use a year?

Joe Girard: Well, when I was selling cars, I was going through about 16,500 a month. In my book, I talk about the different ways I gave my cards away. I had the best seats in the Tiger's stadium, right along the first base line. There were stories written about my methods in magazines like Newsweek. Any time a home run would be hit, I would take a shopping bag full of thousands and thousands of cards and I would scream after every home run, throwing out thousands and thousands of cards either way-behind me, in front of me, cards all over the place. Before you knew it, everybody there knew who Joe Girard was. People would say, "Watch, if a home run is hit, that guy up there, his name is Joe Girard, he is going to throw out his business card." From that I got a lot of leads and sales. This all goes under the heading of promotion. At a football game I also had the best seats, along the rail. Touchdown! and I'd throw my cards all over the place. The Detroit News, The Detroit Free Press, The New York Times, The Los Angles Times, all wrote stories with headlines like, "World's Number One Salesman Throws His Business Card." I got hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of free publicity. Pretty soon I was getting business from all over the country. This is one of the ways of PR-ing yourself. I don't see why salespeople keep themselves a secret.

PSP: How many cards do you use today?

Joe Girard: I would say 60,000 a year.

PSP: How did you learn to become such a successful self-promoter?

Joe Girard: Fear is a most powerful feeling. I trained myself by asking, "What is there to fear?", and answering, "There is nothing to fear as long as I am doing things honestly, as long as I am doing good things." You see, you have to get up and be recognized. A lot of people call me crazy, but I get thousands of letters from people telling me how much they like me. But the way I see it, I'm just full of faith and enthusiasm.

PSP: Do you think that some salespeople don't want to pay the price for success?

Joe Girard: The first thing you have to do to be anything, I don't care what it is, if you want to be on a Broadway stage, you have to give that extra 10 percent. If you want to be a great ball player you have got to give that extra 10 percent. That extra 10 percent is: if you start at 9:00 you don't get there at 9, as far as I am concerned you are late. You need to get there at 8. Pete Rose got to the ball park an hour earlier, to feel the place, to walk around and stand and to turn on his enthusiasm machine. Mohammed Ali started to train long before the average fighter. If the place closes at 6:00, I don't look at my watch, I stay until I am through doing what I am out to do. I may leave at 7:15 or 8:00 but I don't look at the clock. The average salesman, at about 4:15, 4:00. he starts to sneak out. The four letter word in selling is lazy. Because I invested 10 percent more than the average salesman. I conquered my dream and retired at age forty-nine. You see, anyone can give 100 percent but, if you want to be in the winners' circle, you must give 110 percent. I have a great mailing program. In fact, Tom Peters wrote about me in his book IN SEARCH OF EXCELLENCE. After you buy from me, I put you in my ferris wheel, which is a mailing system I designed for follow-up, and you become my property. The sale begins after the sale. Once I sell somebody, I follow through and make sure he gets what he deserves.

PSP: What are your steps for effective follow-up?

Joe Girard: The first step is, you had to have an appointment to see me, or you couldn't get in. Then as soon as I took your money, I looked you in the eyes and I would say, "Today you bought two things. You bought a beautiful, beautiful car, I mean, you made a good choice. The second thing you bought is Joe Girard. I'll tell you something else. If you happen to have gotten a lemon, as God is my judge, I am going to turn it into a peach. I am going to show you that I am different from any other salesman in the world. I will give you service like you never saw.

"You know, Mr. Brown, this one car you bought really doesn't move me, I'm not very excited about this one car. What will excite me is when you come back again and buy from me. If you bring your brother, the preacher from your church, if you bring someone from your work, that will tell me, 'Girard, I like the way you treated me.'

"From now on, Mr. Brown, before you come in for servicing or a problem, don't come into the dealership, call me first. I have a right hand man who works for me. He will follow you through the service department." (In fact, in my book I talk about how I pay somebody to do things that I was too important to do.)

I continue: "Mr. Brown, he will follow through and get you service beyond your wildest dreams."

You may reply, "Oh Girard, all salesmen say that, you won't do it."

I answer: "You know, Mr. Brown, I will never stand behind this car. I'll stand in front of it.