The
80/20 Rule
The Pareto principle (also known as the 80-20 rule), states that, for many things, 80% of the consequences come from 20% of the causes. For instance, you wear 20% of the clothes in your closet 80% of the time. This equation also affects your business, as in 80% of your business will come from 20% of your clients.
Unfortunately, most people will spend 80% of their time dealing with the 80% of clients who are not bringing in business. You can use this theory to argue that only 20% of the tasks you work on will bring in the majority of your business. The following are some tips to help you streamline your schedule and spend time where it really counts.
Have you ever noticed that the people who ask the most questions or are the most difficult are the people who place the smallest orders? While it is certainly important to provide great customer service, you can place a limit on your time.
For example, let’s say you sell cosmetics and a potential customer wanted to know if the product was tested on animals. Once you researched the answer and got back to them, they wanted to know if only organic materials were used, so then you research that answer and when you get back to them they have another question and then another question and so forth.
This exchange could go on for several days, and at the end of it, the potential customer may not become your customer at all. If a potential customer is “on the fence” about a sale, it is okay to ask them for the sale, and if they hesitate, to let them know you are available to help them place their order, once they are ready. It definitely feels good to get a sale and gain a new customer, but the time you spend chasing down small sales could be spent on the “big clients” who are willing to place large orders.
Another smart thing to do is create a thorough FAQ and standard answers that could be cut and pasted into a support email. Always direct your customers to your FAQ first, then support.
Email can be another big time waster. Setting aside a half hour in the morning and a half hour in the evening to respond to your email can save you time during the day. Another option is to hire a virtual assistant to answer general business email. There may be some things you need to respond to yourself, but the vast majority can probably be handled by someone else.
You may want to experiment a little by tracking the time you spend on various tasks to determine which ones are actually making you money. It only stands to reason that devoting more time to those activities will greatly increase your profits.
The Pareto principle (also known as the 80-20 rule), states that, for many things, 80% of the consequences come from 20% of the causes. For instance, you wear 20% of the clothes in your closet 80% of the time. This equation also affects your business, as in 80% of your business will come from 20% of your clients.
Unfortunately, most people will spend 80% of their time dealing with the 80% of clients who are not bringing in business. You can use this theory to argue that only 20% of the tasks you work on will bring in the majority of your business. The following are some tips to help you streamline your schedule and spend time where it really counts.
Have you ever noticed that the people who ask the most questions or are the most difficult are the people who place the smallest orders? While it is certainly important to provide great customer service, you can place a limit on your time.
For example, let’s say you sell cosmetics and a potential customer wanted to know if the product was tested on animals. Once you researched the answer and got back to them, they wanted to know if only organic materials were used, so then you research that answer and when you get back to them they have another question and then another question and so forth.
This exchange could go on for several days, and at the end of it, the potential customer may not become your customer at all. If a potential customer is “on the fence” about a sale, it is okay to ask them for the sale, and if they hesitate, to let them know you are available to help them place their order, once they are ready. It definitely feels good to get a sale and gain a new customer, but the time you spend chasing down small sales could be spent on the “big clients” who are willing to place large orders.
Another smart thing to do is create a thorough FAQ and standard answers that could be cut and pasted into a support email. Always direct your customers to your FAQ first, then support.
Email can be another big time waster. Setting aside a half hour in the morning and a half hour in the evening to respond to your email can save you time during the day. Another option is to hire a virtual assistant to answer general business email. There may be some things you need to respond to yourself, but the vast majority can probably be handled by someone else.
You may want to experiment a little by tracking the time you spend on various tasks to determine which ones are actually making you money. It only stands to reason that devoting more time to those activities will greatly increase your profits.
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