A Remembrance of Billy Mays

Pitchman Billy Mays died June 28, 2009 in his home in Tampa Florida.  He was a pitchman for products such as Oxiclean and Orange Glow.

Humble Beginnings

Mays started his career as a pitchman in 1977 on the Atlantic City Boardwalk selling the Washmatic portable washing device to people passing by.  This is were he developed his unique style of salemanship.

He later traveled to home and auto shows and state fairs all across the country for 12 years selling things from cleaning products to food cutters.

Big Break

In Pittsburgh in 1993, Mays befriende Max Appel, founder of the company that produced Orange Glo.  Mays was hired by the company to sell their line of products like Oxiclean, Orange Glo and Kaboom.  Customers responded well to Mays’ upbeat salesmanship and sales steeply increased.  Review came in praising his upbeat attitude.

His salesmanship led to Orange Glo Interational becoming one of the top ten fastest growing private companies from 1999-2001

His Own Company

Mays founded Mays Promotions, Inc out of his own home.  His service was highly sought after for many as seen on TV commercials.  Mays always said he avidly used the products he promoted. 

The Rival

Offer “Vince” Shlomi more commonly known as Vince Offer was a rival pitchman who Mays challenged to a pitch-off in 2009.  Mays lost the pitch-off when Popular Mechanics declared Vince’s Shamwow more absorbant than Mays’ Zorbeez.

The Show

In February of 2009, the Discovery Channel began showing Pitchmen, a documentary that features Mays and Anthony Sullivan in their line of work, showing what being a pitchman is all about. 

His Death

Mays was found unresponsive by his wife on the morning of June 28, 2009.  The police suspect there was no foul play.  The day before Mays was on a plane that blew out its front tires and Mays reportedly told a news reporter that some stuff hit him on the head but he had a hard head.