How to sell anything to anybody - Joe Girard

1. How to sell anything to anybody - Joe Girard
The book review
Agenda
· Introduction
· Girard’s law and his tools
· Selling on the phone
· Prospects’ list
· Importance of mail
· Importance of referrals
· Strategies for handling the customer
· When to be honest and when not to
· Just before the sale closes… and after that
The Beginning
Joe had a common known problem of stammering while talking. It didn't really bother him until he
started selling. He started talking slowly to overcome his stammer. In turn stammering helped Joe
listen; listen to each word yourself before you say it out to the customer. Joe wanted to provide,
provide better to his family. This turned out to be Joe's first motivation to sell - a bag of groceries
for his family. Knowing what you want will power your drive to sell better. As always said, you need
to know where you are going; to get there fast!
250, Girard’s numeric law
Everyone knows 250 people in his or her life important enough to invite to the wedding and to the
funeral. Joe's law of 250 was based on six degrees of separation. Six degrees of separation is the
theory that anyone on the planet can be connected to any other person on the planet through a
chain of acquaintances that has no more than five intermediaries. The theory was first proposed in
1929 by the Hungarian writer Frigyes Karinthy in a short story called "Chains." What happens
when you make a single customer unhappy – the cascading effect. Here Joe is referring to bad
publicity by means of word of mouth. Word of mouth advertising (WOM) is the unpaid spread of a
positive marketing message from person to person. It can take place directly using the human
voice, or can be transmitted via any communicative means such as through the Internet or via text
message. WOM is a powerful promotional tool and should be considered as part of almost every
business marketing strategy.
The toolbox
Its not just about hard selling, its about knowing who wants what. Customer is not your high school
girl friend but your eternal wife. Put everything you know about a customer into his/her file. Let the
customer understand you like and care about him/her. Source of information is also important,
such as business cards – restaurant tips, football games, anything – never leave out an
opportunity. All in all Joe stresses about customer information management. Customer Information
Management is the practice of systematically collecting information about individual customers and
making it available to staff within a company to better inform the decisions they make regarding
interactions with that customer.
The Cold Call
Make a pitch. A sales pitch is a planned presentation of a product or service designed to initiate
Vinay Shriyan
Second Yr. Marketing
Div. A, RollNo. 61
NMIMS University
Trimester VI

2. and close a sale of the same product or service. A sales pitch is essentially designed to be either
an introduction of a product or service to an audience who knows nothing about it, or a descriptive
expansion of a product or service that an audience has already expressed interest in. Sales
professionals prepare and give a sales pitch, which can be either formal or informal, and might be
delivered in any number of ways. Appeal to the customers – don’t make them realize it’s a cold
call.
Call back, again, and yet again. Ask them relevant questions – most importantly note the answers.
Irrespective of how eloquently you speak, how effectively you use visual aids or how persuasively
you use body language, none of these skills really cut the mustard in a sales pitch unless you
actually close the sale.
Prospective customers
Selling is like planting seeds and harvesting them. Maintain a list of all customers. Make sure
everyone knows you’re into sales and about what you sell. It’s important that you are able to
communicate what you do in ways that will help your prospective client understand that you are a
solution to his problem. How you position yourself is the difference between getting that “deer stuck
in the headlight” look from your prospect or having someone ask you for more information.
Positioning revolves around your core marketing message that clearly states who you work with,
what problems you solve, what solutions you provide, what benefits you offer, what results you
produce, what guarantee you give, and what is unique and special about your particular service.
Get them to read their mail
Make every mail personalized. Send “how-to” tips, interesting news clippings. Send out cards on
occasions - Christmas cards, birthdays, get-well cards. Direct mail is a way of advertising in which
advertisers mail printed ads, letters or other solicitations to large groups of consumers. Bulk-mail
rates are used to lower the cost of the mailing, and targeted mailing lists are used to maximize
potential response. Direct mail is used in many different situations, limited primarily by the
imagination of the advertiser. Stores typically use direct mail to advertise new products or to
distribute coupons. Charities typically use the it to raise money or recruit volunteers. Almost any
sales pitch can be made by direct mail. Advertisers have found direct mail appealing for a number
of reasons. It takes their message directly to the consumer. While consumers might walk away
from a television ad or flip past a newspaper ad, they will eventually open their mailbox. Advertisers
also like that they can direct their message as narrowly or broadly as they want, using bulk mailing
rates. By receiving the mail at home, direct mail puts the advertiser's message in the hands of the
consumer at the time the consumer might be likely to read it, along with the rest of the mail.
The “birddogs”
Birddogs were Girard’s referral system. Pay them; never stall them. Find out people who have a lot
of influence on others – and subsequently, who have a lot to gain from others. You’re actually
doing the birddog a favor – the ‘feel good factor’. When you have a fully functioning referral
marketing strategy in operation, you can predict approximately how many referrals you can expect
and what quality they'll likely be. True, you won't know exactly who you'll be selling to or how large
the order will be, but that's true of almost all marketing techniques. One mistake to avoid, however,
is looking solely at the sale itself. When you do this, you'll miss exactly how that sales opportunity
came to you. Referral marketing may seem a bit messy and random to those who've been trained
to call a list of names in hopes of selling to one in 100. But it's a system that works well because it
ferrets out all those unpredictable, hidden, complex connections that exist between people in
everyday life and in business. Yes! Companies should have at least one person participating in the
ongoing 24/7/365 conversation that’s taking place across a broad spectrum of social media tools
like blogs, social networks, Twitter, etc. Rohit Bhargava, in the introduction of his new book
Personality Not Included says, “[For] whatever reason, most companies are adept at removing any
sense of individuality or human connection from how they communicate.” He calls such companies
faceless and says, in this era of the social web “being faceless doesn’t work anymore.”

3. Selling Strategies
There are just too many amateurish salespeople around today. It's these amateurs that come to
mind when most Americans think of the word 'salesman' or 'salesperson.' It's also this type who
also are more concerned about just the money and therefore allow themselves to tell 'little white
lies' or, to omit certain facts, in order to get a check. Usually, unprofessional practices such as
these are done out of nothing more than fear. If you're in sales of any product or service, or if
you're in a field of work that requires you to persuade others to act in any certain manner, you can
now be free of that ominous, mystical, 'fear' because you can simply follow a plan!
The key point of difference between an amateur and a professional is this: Are you scrambling and/
or grinding your knuckles raw to make a living in sales? Or are you going to work, following a
system, and getting the results you like? I don't care if you've been on the job for twenty minutes or
for twenty years. Any line of work follows this principle: If you're doing something right then you're
good at it. If you're good at it then you're doing it right. Some people may be a tad confused on
what 'right' means within their field(s) of labor. But in sales, it's simply 'right' when you're growing
your business. Please note that I did not say 'getting the sale.' Not only should sales be happening,
but there should also be referrals, repeat sales, and occasionally, you should be shutting a
competitor down. Selling lies in volume of sales – not just in the profit you make out of each sale. A
high pressure salesperson makes the customer buy. Rather, let them buy. Greatest challenge –
convince a customer who has turned down a competitor. Be aware of the selling strategies of
competition. It’s okay to lose one day, but never 250 customers in a single bad-mood day, this is
why attitude planning is important. Sell him/her the experience, not just the product or the service.
Think differently – The insurance agent story: All insurance agents after a training were told to call
people from a Business Directory. One smart insurance agent started calling from the ‘N’s as he
figured most people starting from the ‘A’s would never probably reach there!
Do now lie
Selling is war – importance of the initial small talk. Salespeople are not liars, just ‘actors’.
Importance of trust not just during the sale, but also after that. In some cases, after-sales service
can be almost as important as the initial purchase. The manufacturer, retailer, or service provider
determines what is included in any warranty (or guarantee) package. This will include the duration
of the warranty traditionally one year from the date of purchase, but increasingly two or more years
maintenance and/or replacement policy, items included/excluded, labor costs, and speed of
response. In the case of a service provider, after-sales service might include additional training or
helpdesk availability. Of equal importance is the customer's perception of the degree of willingness
with which a supplier deals with a question or complaint, speed of response, and action taken.
Never lie to the customer about anything that he/she can check back later. Telling the truth is
important, but it’s ok to stretch the truth a little bit. A little flattery, and a small lie. People love to
show off how good a deal they got - never make a customer get embarrassed later, by overselling.
Quality, price, and service are three factors are critical to the success of any export sales effort.
Quality and price are addressed in earlier chapters. Service, which is addressed here, should be
an integral part of any company's export strategy from the start. Properly handled, service can be a
foundation for growth. Ignored or left to chance, it can cause an export effort to fail.
Handling the customer
Don’t compete with the customer. Most common reason for losing a customer – not listening
enough. There are many interpersonal skills and techniques that we use in our everyday
interaction with our customers and work colleagues. Most of these are used quite naturally and are
displayed in our ‘normal’ behavior. However, when faced with a customer who is less than happy
with an aspect of our product or service, there is a natural tendency to become defensive and to
react to the customer’s behavior instead of making a reasoned response. To ensure a positive
outcome, we need to be aware of the most appropriate behaviors to be used when dealing with

4. dissatisfied customers, and to be able to call upon these various skills and techniques when
required. Don’t take advantage of a customer’s lack of knowledge. A customer is a long-term
investment – never oversell to anyone who’s in a hurry.
The final few minutes
Don’t start operating until you know what the patient has – listen and observe. Ask for a deposit
right away, settle down for whatever he/she has(if that’s reasonable enough). Give him what
he/she wants, asap, to close the sale – spot delivery works miracles.
After the close
Thank the customer personally after the sale is over. Treat service problems, and after-sale issues
as normal happenings. Throw in a free service once or twice(but not too often) – it’s worth the
investment. Summing up there is no magic formula – it all comes with practice, and a little bit of
patience. Any body you meet is a business opportunity. Listen, read, learn – but also develop your
own techniques. After the sale give yourself “The test of no regrets for the customer” – always play
it fair.
About the author
Joe Girard sold 13,001 cars at a Chevrolet dealership between 1963 and 1978. He is ranked the
most successful salesman by Guinness book of World Records.
Ref: http://www.joegirard.com/GirarGBFlyer08LR.pdf