According to the Guinness Book of World records, as audited by Deloitte & Touché… that man is Joe Girard. Joe sold 13,001 cars in 15 years—and I’m talking 13,001 cars, belly-to-belly…face-to-face…NO fleet sales. When adjusted for inflation, Joe was making over $1,000,000 a year selling cars to one person at a time. That is simply incredible.
Do you get how much money YOU would make if you had the same success? What’s the average commission on a car vs. what you sell? And, be patient here, I’m going to show you exactly how advisors have turned Joe’s ideas into lots and lots of money. How did he do the Impossible? This guy was a motivated machine. When he was at work, if he wasn’t selling a car to a person he was busy FINDING somebody to sell a car to…
He wasn’t:
- Reading the paper
- Surfing the internet
- Checking email
- Dropping the kids off at dance lessons
- Sleeping late
- Leaving early
- Talking to friends
- Taking long lunches
- Working out
- Running errands
This guy worked 40 to 50 hours a week, and when he was there, he worked…Period. Can you say that about the way you approach your business? He did it by hand – Joe was able to do what he did without any of the tools that we now take for granted…he grunted out the activity that we can automate. And the sad thing is, many advisors are even too distracted to take advantage of automation. I mean, come on!
I’ll walk you through what he did in a second, but I want you to understand that if this guy could do it without the tools we have…we should be able to do it without breaking a sweat.
- He didn’t have lists of possible prospects like we have available—he made his own lists from phone books!!!
- He didn’t have automated mailing like we do—he had to write, by hand, all his letters or notes one-at-a-time
- He didn’t have email—he had to write, stuff, stamp and mail each communication
- He didn’t have the ability to create his own marketing material right on his own computer
- He didn’t have smart phones with all the information they give you at your fingertips
- He didn’t have access to dozens and dozens of marketing systems that are available to financial advisors today…
Joe did it the old fashioned way, by talking to people… Always, always talking to people.
The Rule of 250: One day when Joe was attending the funeral for a friend’s mother, he asked the funeral director how he knew how many memorial cards to print. The funeral director said that over time he found that the average number of attendees was 250. Joe asked another funeral director he knew how many people normally go to a funeral. That funeral director also, said 250.
While attending a wedding, Joe asked the caterer about how many people he normally served at a wedding. The caterer told him about 250. And thus was born, Girard’s Rule of 250.
Everybody knows 250 people well enough that they would attend a wedding or a funeral. Why is this important? Because you now have access to 250 times each person you meet. You meet: