The Law of 250: How to Become the World’s Best

Maybe you’ve heard of Joe Girard. He’s listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the World’s Greatest Salesman.

That’s quite a claim, but in Joe’s case it just might be true. All by himself, he sold more cars per year than 95% of all the dealerships in North America. And he did it for more than a dozen years in a row. In fact, he consistently sold more than twice as many cars as whoever finished second.

So how did he do it? Well, one thing he did was to apply his Law of 250. Girard believed that everybody knew about 250 people. If he could get everybody he came in contact with to remember him and recommend him to their friends, it would expand his marketing efforts 250-fold. 

Joe committed himself to staying in touch with every lead, prospect, and customer he had ever acquired. He did it with greeting cards. He sent out over thirteen thousand cards every month, each of them personally signed. He mailed them in plain envelopes, always a different size or color, so that nobody would think they were junk mail. 

So did it work? 

Well, he’s in the Guinness Book of World Records, isn’t he?
 
We have it a lot easier than Joe did. We don’t have to send out cards every month. We don’t have to spend money on postage. We can't send our prospects seven or eight e-mails in the course of a year, maybe one or two clippings that will be of interest to them, and maybe two or three greeting cards.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re dealing with moms and pops who are buying cars or tax preparation services, or if you’re dealing with senior executives who are placing million dollar contracts. People like to do business with people they like, and if you pay attention to them on a regular basis, they are more likely to like you. The point is to stay in contact, maintain rapport, and keep our customers thinking of us. 

Authored by: Tom Sant
Author of Persuasive Business Proposals and the forthcoming The Giants of Sales.
You can reach Tom at tsant@hydeparkpartnerscal.com

Comments

[Jessan Dunn Otis]

smile eye contact firm handshake ...and communicate (your ability to satisfy their needs), communicate (your interests in their needs), communicate (your continued interests in their needs)...

[Phil Dunn]

There's a lesser known aspect to the "people like to do business with people they like" theory.

People are more likely to do business with others who they think like them. That is, it's not so important that you're liked as a salesman. It's more important that your prospect/customer knows that you like them. Basically, customers and prospects think you have their best interests in mind if they understand that you like them. Granted -- this has to be genuine. You really can't fake liking someone -- not for very long.

This parallel rule to the "liking rule" has been documented by numerous psychology researchers -- including Dr. Robert Cialdini.

[Isaac B2]

Girard's story is inspiring, and one that I hadn't heard before. Thanks!

[Beverley Hamilton]

If you pay attention to them on a regular basis...
I love the simple yet powerful concepts, shame they're not so common in reality.
I write a weekly newsletter which serves 3 main purposes
1. To give value to my subscribers
2. To talk directly to my niche (independent business consultants) about things that matter to them
3. To help potential clients or referrers to get to trust, respect and like me and my approach to what I do

I do this from a "Paying it Forward" philosophy and it works. Those clients that have decided to work with me do so because they "know me" and I didn't pay a cent for stamps!