Joe Girard was a car salesman in Detroit. The Guinness Book of World Records has acknowledged Joe as the the World’s Greatest Salesman. He sold more cars all by himself than many car dealerships for 12 consecutive years. Joe wrote a best-selling book called “How to Sell Anything to Anybody” which I read several years ago.

In the book, Joe says he came up with The “Law of 250″ by talking to wedding caterers about the average number of wedding guests. It turned out that on average, every person knows about 250 people. The way Joe saw it, every person he encountered represented not one possible sale but 250 possible sales because they all knew 250 people.

Joe’s goal was to keep his name at the top of consciousness. Joe knew that every satisfied customer had about 250 friends they would refer to him when they considered buying a car. He wanted everyone he knew AND the 250 people they knew to think “Joe Girard” when they thought about buying a car. If he could accomplish this, Joe realized he would increase his marketing efforts by a factor of 250.

Remember the old Breck shampoo commercial? If you don’t it goes like this. Someone tried Breck shampoo and loved it. They told two friend who loved it. So they each told two friends…and so on, and so on, and so on. Talk about viral marketing. With word of mouth advertising like that, anything can quickly become a best-seller.

Joe Girard understood this before the Breck commercial or viral marketing were popular. Joe made the commitment to stay in touch with everyone with whom he came in contact. Each month Joe sent out over 10,000 cards. In other words, a large part of Joe’s success was the relationship he developed with his list and the viral effect of his customers telling all his friends about him. They knew they could count on Joe to treat them fairly and to treat their friends fairly too.

The “Law of 250″ applies to an Internet business too. Maybe even more so considering the vast reach of the Internet. Joe himself could only come in contact with so many people. The Internet allows us to come in contact with exponentially more people than Joe could reach and on average they all probably know 250 people. Word spreads quickly about how you conduct your business and how you treat people.

If you sell a great product and provide great service, the word will get around. Your customers will tell their friends about your great product. Every customer support inquiry is an opportunity to shine. If you provide great customer support, your customers will tell their friends that not only do you have a great product but you also provide great support…and so on, and so on, and so on.

The “Law of 250″ is very real but what gets lost by many marketers is that the opposite is also true. Everyone you sell a crappy product to has 250 friends. Every customer you refuse support to has 250 friends. Every person you tell lies about has 250 friends. Sooner or later the truth is exposed.

It’s a simple choice really. Take a long-term perspective and build a real business like Joe Girard did or take a short-term perspective and watch your business implode right before your very eyes. There may be billions of people in the world but it’s still a small world after all.  Word of mouth can spread like wildfire…and that can be good or bad depending on the word being spread.

Whatever choice you make, act consistently. Practice what you preach. The most vile, insidious marketers are those who publicly laud themselves and consistently fail to live up to the self-aggrandized image they present to the public. They’ll brag about their great products, their fabulous customer support, how they volunteer in their communities, how they help the homeless, how much they tithe to their church, etc, etc. They’ll praise themselves so incessantly you’ll probably want to puke.

It looks good on a blog…but anyone who is fooled once quickly learns the truth. The products don’t deliver as promised, there is no customer support, they actively engage in character assassination, etc. In short, they are the scumbags they purport to despise. They’re living a lie. Sound like anyone you know?

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