80/20 Rule

The 80/20 rule is very interesting. It can be used for so many things and it actually make a lot of sense. Think about this: 80 percent of your results come from 20 percent of your actions. If you had 100 salespeople in your office I am willing to bet that 80 percent of the sales come from only 20 percent of the sales force. In addition, 80 percent of your income will come from 20 percent of your customers. Also approximately 20 percent of the population makes up about 80 percent of the wealth.

Ask yourself this, can you eliminate 80 percent of your tasks? No. Can you eliminate the bottom 80 percent of your clients? No. Can you eliminate 80 percent of your sales force? Of course not. Nevertheless, use the 80/20 rule as a guideline to prioritize and focus your efforts. Think of this, if you eliminated 80 percent of your 20 percent, then you would still have 100 percent of your 20 percent that you would have to split up 80/20 again. Use the 80/20 rule to your advantage to focus, but not eliminate. There are very important things you do during the 80 percent that lead to your 20 percent results.

Prospecting is one of them. If you make 10 cold calls, chances are that you are not going to close 2 of those. However, in order to keep your pipeline full you have to make the cold calls to supplement your networking and incoming leads. Brand new prospects can sometimes be the easiest to close and sometimes the most profitable. You also have to do paperwork, make copies, send e-mails, return calls, send thank you notes, etc. etc. That is all stuff that fills in the 80 percent of your time but it is also important.

Where the rule really becomes important is when you are lacking sales or income. People tend to focus on the 80 percent because it is easier or they fear rejection. When you are lacking sales, focus on the 20 percent to get back up to par, then work on the 80 percent and get caught back up. Outsourcing is another way to take care of the 80 percent, have someone else do it for you.

Happy Selling.....