I recently read an article in Social Dealer Magazine about Girard’s Law of 250 becoming exponential. Some of you know what I am talking about and others – not so much. So I will start with a little background. Back in or around 1985 I read my first Motivational / Sales book. I was selling Camp Ground Memberships (talk about a hard sell) and really struggling with building a business and learning to sell. One of my cohorts, a former used car salesman suggested the book “How to Sell Anything to Anybody“, by Joe Girard (1977). At the Time Joe was a legendary Car Salesman who had sold over 13,000 cars in a 15 year career. All at retail, one at a time. This garnered him the title of Greatest Salesman in the World and an entry into the Guinness Book of World Records. Suffice it to say, Joe’s book changed my life and has had a lasting impact on me to this day.
Joe Girard’s Law of 250
Over the years I have talked about Joe Girard and I have found that people either totally dig what he has to say and others don’t really care for Joe. All agree though that Joe was the master of the relationship. His Law of 250 holds that every person knows approximately 250 people. This is why Funeral directors and caterers use the number 250 as a baseline when planning events. The question is does it still hold true today with all of our technology and social media. I looked at my personal Facebook account and I have 234 friends. LinkedIn I have 207 and on my company Facebook page I have just 71 (ouch!). What I find interesting is that these numbers are pretty close to what Joe was talking about in 1977.
People buy from people
My 18 year old daughter would say that 200 some friends is nothing to brag about (she has over 1,000); more is better. But is it really? One thing has remained the same over the past 30 years with all of the advances of progress and that is relationships are still at the center of out business lives and people do business with people. Particularly people they like and have a relationship with. Girard’s Law holds that if I treat one of these people poorly, they will tell all 250 of their friends how I treated them. Conversely, if I treat them well, maybe they will tell 10 of their friends. Well 10 people times 250 people is 2500 potential referrals! From we make more friends and generate more sales and referrals… Exponentiation or as the kids call it these days – Viral! Throw all of this on the internet and we just might see that Joe Girard’s Law of 250 is now on Steroids.
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