At the time I sometimes accused myself of being lazy for not “working hard” but I realized what I was doing was living an 80/20 lifestyle and in fact probably being a lot more productive than those working harder than myself. Living The 80/20 Way fit me well because it discussed living life productively seeking maximum satisfaction by focusing on your passions (Koch has written other books focusing on the 80/20 Rule for business and managers that I didn’t enjoy quite as much). Koch took the 80/20 Rule and made it his own by writing a series of books on the topic. I was in my local bookshop and I picked up a copy of Living The 80/20 Way by Richard Koch. I can’t remember exactly when I was first exposed to the 80/20 Rule but I know when it first really hit home. The assumption is that most of the results in any situation are determined by a small number of causes. It was named after the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, who observed that 80% of income in Italy was received by 20% of the Italian population. The principle was suggested by management thinker Joseph M. Here’s what the Wikipedia has to say about it: Yes it has foundations in economics and yes, it was “proven” using statistical analysis by a man named Pareto, but it is not meant to be understood only by economics professors. The good thing about the 80/20 rule is that you don’t have to understand statistics to be a believer. I work better with feelings, ideas and concepts. Personally I’m not a big fan of maths and beyond basic web statistics like pageviews, impressions, unique visitors – and when I stretch myself – conversion rates and split testing, I try and avoid all complex numbers. The 80/20 rule sounds like a statistic and in some ways it is. I believe it’s fundamental to every business person – to every human being – so if you have never heard of this rule, please read on and absorb everything I’m about to tell you, it could potentially change your life. Although you might not have been familiar with it before, it’s time to start implementing it into your business framework immediately.I mention the 80/20 rule frequently in my writings so I thought it was about time to write a proper introduction to the concept. Whatever strategy you decide to use, the 80/20 rule is vital to your sales and marketing efforts. Ask yourself, what techniques are they using? What are they doing differently to your other sales team members? How are they interacting with customers? This enables you to train new or existing team members in techniques that you know are successful. It can also be applied to who/what’s involved in making the sales…For example, it’s important to keep a check of who your top 20% salespeople are and their selling strategy. However, the 80/20 rule doesn’t just apply to your customers. You can even start engaging with them on a more personal level as you continue to gather valuable information from them and their buying activities. Don’t let your marketing efforts or standard of customer service slide with your top 20%, otherwise you could be at risk of losing them.
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