Have you ever heard someone say that people are like icebergs?
The part of a person we see — the way someone acts, what they say, the version of themselves they show us — it’s all just the top. A tiny peak above the surface.
The biggest part of the iceberg is under the water, invisible.
Early in his career, salesman Joe Girard created his “Law of 250” which says that every person knows on average 250 other people. In his world, that meant that a positive sales experience for one customer had the potential to yield 250 more. So he’d gain not only that relationship, but access to every relationship that person had, their entire network of contacts and friends.
And it worked: through positive word of mouth, Girard became the Guinness Book of World Records greatest retail salesperson in the world, a title he held for 12 consecutive years.