The Guinness Book of World Records listed Joe Girard as the “World’s Greatest Retail Salesman” for 12 consecutive years.

To achieve this accolade, he sold cars… in fifteen years he sold 13,001 in all. That’s individual brand new retail cars, not fleet or second-hand cars. Allowing for holidays and weekends, that works out to an average of 6 cars a day – every day – for the 15 year period.

Joe had always struggled in his life. With no formal education to speak of (he was expelled from school for a heated argument with a teacher) he moved from one manual labour job to another – dishwasher… dock worker… stove assembler.

He finally met and was taken under the wing of Abraham Saperstein, a Building Contractor who owned his own business. Saperstein liked Joe’s attitude and vowed to teach him everything about the building business. It seemed Joe had finally found his purpose in life. Their friendship grew over the years, until finally Abraham retired, handing over the business to him. Things couldn’t have looked much better…

However… all did not last long… a bad Real Estate deal for some private homes in Detroit cost him his business. He was left without a job, without any savings, and a debt of $60,000. Joe finally hit rock bottom when his wife, June, tearfully told him there was no food in the house and that their kids were begging for something to eat…

It was a cold January that year. Desperate, he went out hunting for a job… any job, just to earn enough to put food on the table. After a string of unsuccessful attempts, he finally pleaded with the Sales Manager of a Chevrolet dealership to hire him as a salesman.

The manager was reluctant at first, because of Joe’s lack of experience and because of traditionally slow sales in January, but finally relented and gave Joe a desk at the back of the office when Joe said he would use the telephone to provide prospects.

That evening he sold his first car and borrowed $10 from the manager to buy a bag of groceries to take home to his family. In his second month he sold eighteen cars and trucks and began to feel more secure. Much to his amazement, the owner of the dealership fired him for being too aggressive – some of the other salesmen had complained.

But now he had proved to himself that he could sell cars, so he quickly found a job at Merollis Chevrolet in Eastpointe, Michigan. And there he stayed for nearly 15 years, selling cars, personally selling more cars than many dealerships did in total.

So how did he manage to achieve this exceptional selling career?

He Learnt What He Could About His Clients

What he did was to be nice to his customers – he became their friend. He held record cards for each person he contacted – prospects and customers alike – and wrote down all the information he learnt about them – their birthday, their partners name, the names of the children they had, where they lived, what cigarettes they smoked. Any piece of information which he could use in a positive way…

He treated them well, he was courteous, he took an interest in them and what they talked about. He listened to them and remembered what they said.

Then he set about his pro-active marketing plan…

He Sent Them Regular Greetings Cards

In January he would send a card…

“Happy New Year – I Like You – from Joe Girard”

In February he would send a card…

“Happy Valentines Day – I Like You – from Joe Girard”

At Easter he would send a card…

“Happy Easter – I Like You – from Joe Girard”

On their birthday he would send them a birthday card…

“Happy Birthday – I Like You – from Joe Girard”

He would send at least 12 cards to each customer and prospective customer throughout the year…

He Worked Out About The ‘Moving Parade’

He figured that through this process of continuous contact, people would remember him when they were ready to buy a new car. He worked out that the cost of sending 12 cards per customer – approximately $20 for the year – against the value of a client to his business, who would buy a new car approximately every 3 years, was more than worth the investment – and he figured it right. For 12 consecutive years.

So What Does This Have To Do With YOUR Business?

Why am I telling you this story? What relevance does it have to you and your business?

My answer is “Everything!”

1. Joe had no formal sales or marketing knowledge – just common sense. Most marketing is about common sense and not formal marketing qualifications and a long business life in marketing.
2. Joe started from nothing – don’t forget he lost everything. All he had was a motivation to succeed, and was prepared to work to get there.
3. Joe had a plan – he worked out what he needed to do, worked out his plan, and then stuck to it, sending the greetings cards out every month – without fail.

Joe used a very simple form of sequential marketing. He correctly figured that keeping in regular contact with his customers and prospects meant that when they were ready to buy, they would remember him and he would be the first person they thought of when they were looking to buy a new car.

CreateYour Own Relationship Marketing Programme

Setting up your own simple Relationship Marketing Programme (RMP) doesn’t have to cost a lot, or even take much time to implement. The use of greetings cards is still as powerful as ever – a simple message in a simple format, and besides… people like to receive cards!

If you want to make a noticeable difference to your customers, your business and your bottom line – but without a huge budget – you can send cards to each of your customers and prospects.

They might not be ready to buy from you now, but it does make sure when the time comes, that they will remember you when they do need your product or service.

Now, onwards…

… to your success!

Jez Hunt

P.S. Relationship Marketing is the surest and most reliable way of ensuring a steady stream of the right clients, for the least ongoing effort… by “drip feeding” them information which genuinely has interest and benefit to them.