Book Review – How to Sell Anything to Anyone

As a home based entrepreneur, I am always looking for book resources from which to draw strength, encouragement, and skill. And with that in mind, I’d like to share a book I recently read that could be of benefit to the aspiring homeowner or entrepreneur.

Written by Joe Girard, the book is called “How to Sell Anything to Anyone” and was published in 1977.

Rarely are business books written with such frankness and unabashed honesty about life and how difficult it can be.

This book on sales skills is both endearing and intriguing as you witness the checkered life of this ‘De-Niro-esque’ author. from his troubled childhood at the hands of his violent and verbally abusive father to his near success as a real estate developer, a journey cut short by the intervention of a con man.

But despite all this, Joe Girard holds the Guinness World Record for being the best salesman in the world, having sold more than 13,000 cars in his 15-year career.

‘How to Sell Anything to Anyone’ is written in his own inimitable style and you can almost hear his Italian-American accent through the pages. Speaking of salespeople’s misconceptions about certain customers, he says;

“Forget all the crap people tell you about pipe smokers being unable to make up their minds. They may be hiding behind their pipes, but our job is to get them to get over their desire to hide from you.”

And again, when he talks about being invited to rob a liquor store as a teenager, he says;

“I don’t know what made me do it, but there I was.”

For a non-academic man who stuttered well into his thirties, Joe has done remarkably well, outselling every salesperson on the planet and sharing exactly how he did it.

I imagine his sales skills can be applied to most home-based businesses, so I’d suggest this is a book worth considering for your collection.