Although it seems like every year a new style of doing business that is guaranteed to improve efficiency and boost profitability comes into vogue, very few have stood the test of time. One principle that is been proven effective across all industries for more than a century is the 80/20 rule.
Almost deceptively simple, the 80/20 rule is a framework that can be applied to a variety of different aspects of business in in ways that will be conducive to a greater degree of success. For example, if you have a large number of tasks in front of you, it stands to reason that the majority of those tasks will be relatively trivial and not time intensive while wanted to be the opposite.
While some might advise getting through the easy stuff first, it’s just more efficient to cross off the most important items off your list at the start of the day.
The 80/20 rule is also important in instructing how company should approach customer service. In most cases, 20 percent of your customer base will provide 80 percent of your company’s profits. As such, leaders should move heaven and earth to keep that 20 percent satisfied.
On the other end of the spectrum, it is generally true that 80 percent of your customer complaints will come from less than 20 percent of your customers. By working to slowly blacklist these few disruptive consumers, you will free your customer service department up to provide a higher standard of service to the rest of your base.
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