I Like You: How Joe Girard Sold Cars
Joe Girard still holds the record for the “World’s Greatest Salesman,” even though more than three decades have passed since his achievement.
Why does he still hold this record?
It’s simple. Girard was the #1 car and truck salesman in the U.S. for 12 years straight. Between 1963 and 1978, he sold a total of 13,001 vehicles. All of them were sold one-to-one, which means every sale was a direct retail sale. Not one of his sales were fleet sales.
Even more amazing, his single-year record (1973) for number of cars and trucks sold is 1,425. That is an average of 4.57 cars and trucks sold per day, not counting Sundays (1,425 / 312 days).
How Did He Do It?
Girard’s selling approach was fairly simple. In the book Ten Greatest Salespersons by Robert L. Shook, Girard says: “‘I have no big secrets which nobody else has.’ Joe smiles. ‘I simply sell the world’s best product, that’s all. I sell Joe Girard!‘”
Girard knew that customers buy from people they know, like, and trust. So he focused most of his energy on establishing rapport with his customers and becoming likeable. It’s probably safe to say that nobody before or since has executed sincere salesmanship as well as Joe Girard did.
Of course, Girard used a variety of techniques to support his selling strategy, one of which was to send out greeting cards to his customers every single month.
Joe Says “I Like You” 13,000 Times Each Month!
Joe’s customers won’t forget him once they buy a car from him; he won’t let them! Every month throughout the year, they get a letter from him. It arrives in a plain envelope, always a different size or color. “It doesn’t look like that junk mail which is thrown out before it’s even opened,” Joe confides. “And they open it up, and the front of it reads, ‘I LIKE YOU.’ Inside it says, ‘Happy New Year, from Joe Girard'” He sends a card in February wishing customers a “Happy George Washington’s Day.” In March, it’s “Happy St. Patrick’s Day.”
[…]“D’ya know that I send out over 13,000 cards every month? And everyone of them says, ‘I like you… Have a Happy Fourth of July,’ or ‘I like you… Happy Thanksgiving.’ There’s nothin’ else on the card. Nothin’ but my name. I’m just telling ’em that I like ’em.”
Sending out cards like Girard did is a simple way to stay in touch and earn repeat business from customers and clients.
Now, I can’t imagine the logistics of sending out 13,000 cards a month back in the 1970s. Thankfully, doing the same thing today is MUCH easier…
Send Out Hundreds of Cards in Minutes!
With Send Out Cards, once a contact is in your database, you don’t have to think about it anymore. Just assign all your customers or clients to a group called “Customers” or “Clients.”
Then, whenever you want to send a card, simply create a card (takes 5 minutes or less) and send it to the whole group.
You never have to drive to the grocery store for an overpriced greeting card or hand-address an envelope again.
Send Out Cards is super simple.
Super fast.
And super affordable.
Create Autoresponders with Physical Greeting Cards
Another cool thing about Send Out Cards is that you can create “autoresponders.” Except these autoresponders are not emails, but rather real, physical cards.
So, if you wanted, you could have a 12-month new-customer autoresponder that sends out a predetermined card and message each month for 12 months.
You could set up autoresponders of any length for any type of event in your business: reminders for the next oil change… 30/60/90-day follow-ups from purchase… reminders to attend a webinar or live event… and so forth.
I’ll Pay for You to Send a Card
There’s no better way to get a feel for whether you will like something or not than a real-life demonstration. So if you’re game, I’ll pay for you to send a card to somebody in your life. Could be your spouse, a child, a customer — whomever you want.
Here’s what to do:
Click here to go to the Send Out Cards site. Then try it out by sending a card using my account. Remember, I’m paying for it.
My Best,
-Ryan M. Healy
P.S. Every year I try dozens of new WordPress plugins, software programs, services, and business tools. Only a fraction of them live up to my expectations. Send Out Cards is one of the few that’s made the cut, which is why I’ve been using it regularly since 2008.
