Joe Girard was in the Guinness Book of Records as the World’s Greatest Salesman. After a humbling failure in the construction industry, Joe closed more retail automotive sales and sold more cars than any salesperson on record. Joe did this by understanding what the word-of-mouth value of a single customer can be worth.
Joe learned about the value of a customer at, of all places, a funeral!
He tells the story of attending a Roman Catholic Funeral, and not being a Catholic himself, he couldn’t help but notice the Mass cards being given to each of the attendees.
At the end of the service, Joe asked the funeral director, “How many of those cards did you print?” Without hesitating, the funeral director said, “two hundred and fifty.”
“Are you sure it was two hundred and fifty?” asked Joe. “Absolutely,” replied the director. “According to the Funeral Directors Association of America, the average deceased person has two hundred and fifty people pay their last respects, so we print 250 mass cards for every funeral.”
A big light went on for Joe. “That means that everyone’s sphere of influence is two hundred and fifty people”, he thought.
From that day forward, Joe began treating each customer as if they could send him two hundred and fifty other customers.
This super-service philosophy made Joe so busy that new prospects could not get an appointment to buy a car from him unless they were referred by one of his customers!
Yes, Word-of-Mouth advertising is still your best form of advertising and forever will be. And, every customer attracted by traditional media (Radio, TV, etc.) can generate up to 250 customers for you.
It’s called Lifetime Customer Value (LCV). When you and your staff understand that value, you too will be inspired to serve each customer with more passion.