Do relationships first, then sales: Build a reputation and turn customers into your salespeople

Author: Yue Xianlun
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-01-01
Features: The idea that "true sales begin after the sale" led Joe Girard to view a sale as the start of the selling process. After closing a deal with a customer, he didn’t forget about them but continued to care and show it appropriately. He sent out greeting cards to his over 10,000 customers every month. In January, he wished them a happy New Year; in February, he celebrated Washington’s Birthday; in March, he honored St. Patrick’s Day. Anyone who bought a car from him received his greeting card. It was because he never forgot his customers that they didn’t forget Joe Girard. During his sales process, Joe Girard summarized the famous "250 Rule." He believed that behind each customer stood approximately 250 people who were close to them: colleagues, neighbors, relatives, and friends. If a salesperson met 50 people in a week at the beginning of the year, and just two of them felt unhappy with the salesperson, by the end of the year, due to the ripple effect, as many as 5,000 people might be unwilling to deal with that salesperson. Therefore, in the sales process, one must not offend any customer—offending one customer is like offending 250 customers. Conversely, if you win a customer’s goodwill, you win the goodwill of 250 customers. This book primarily discusses three major aspects: building relationships before making sales, using relationships to make sales, and establishing a relationship-based sales system. The book doesn’t contain too much theoretical preaching but primarily uses the framework of successful experiences from masters, with their personal stories and experiences as the main content. It includes both the experiences and stories of masters like Joe Girard, Daisuke Ikeda, and Tom Hopkins, as well as the success stories of ordinary people like "John Doe" and "Jane Doe." The purpose of doing so is to use vivid and lively cases and stories to show readers a series of classic sales scenes.