What if Prioritising Was One of the Main Keys to Success?
What if Prioritising Was One of the Main Keys to Success?
Thinking ahead and doing things in order of importance (the right things that is!).
Doing these two things can make the difference between success in business and just surviving (the same is true for many other areas of our lives too).
Leadership trainer and author John Maxwell says, “Thinking ahead and prioritising responsibilities marks the major differences between a leader and a follower.”
Most people have heard of the Pareto Principle. It’s something that comes up time and time again. You may also know it as the 80/20 rule. Roughly stated this says that in most businesses 80% of your business will come from 20 % of your customers.
Other examples of the Pareto Principle are:
Reading 20 percent of the book contains 80 percent of the content.
Job 20 percent of our work gives us 80 percent of our satisfaction.
Products 20 percent of the products bring in 80 percent of the profits.
Family Picnic 20 percent of them will eat 80 percent of the food! (hmmmm…)
So… when it comes to your priorities, 20 percent of your time spent on the important ‘stuff’ will give you 80 percent of a return on that time. This rests on the big ‘IF’: IF you spend your time, energy, money and personnel in the top 20 percent! When you do this you are getting a 400% or fourfold return in productivity. What would this mean in your business?
What would happen if you took a good look at the Pareto Principle as it applies to the areas of your customers, your team and your leadership?
In the area of customers, it is vital to identify the 20 percent who account for 80 percent of your business. These are your “A grade clients” and strategies must be put in place to care for them appropriately.
For your team, who are the top 20 percent producers? What would happen if you spent 80 percent of your people time with these people to develop them to their full potential?
In leadership, if you took an honest look at the question “What do I have to do that no one else can do?” Remember that a leader can delegate everything apart from final responsibility.
Only you can decide whether you will be reactive or proactive when it comes to prioritising your time. If you are currently thinking “Great, I am busy all day today!” what happens if you change that to “How will I invest my time today for maximum return?” It’s not necessarily “My calendar must be full!” but “Who will fill my calendar for maximum return on my time?” What happens if, rather than thinking “I must see everyone about my business” you now think “Who do I need to meet up with that will give me the best return for my business?”
Sometimes we are so in the thick of the 80% of ‘busyness’ that we miss the top 20%.
Then of course there are the real gems of opportunity in the top 20% of the top 20%!!
But that’s for another time!
If you slow down can you move faster?
To Your Success,
Mike Yates
What if Prioritising Was One of the Main Keys to Success - To learn more about this author, visit Mike Yates's Website.
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I have discovered two things that many business owners tend to find rather challenging when running a business. These are:
Thinking ahead and doing things in order of importance (the right things that is!).
Doing these two things can make the difference between success in business and just surviving (the same is true for many other areas of our lives too).
Leadership trainer and author John Maxwell says, “Thinking ahead and prioritising responsibilities marks the major differences between a leader and a follower.”
Most people have heard of the Pareto Principle. It’s something that comes up time and time again. You may also know it as the 80/20 rule. Roughly stated this says that in most businesses 80% of your business will come from 20 % of your customers.
Other examples of the Pareto Principle are:
Reading 20 percent of the book contains 80 percent of the content.
Job 20 percent of our work gives us 80 percent of our satisfaction.
Products 20 percent of the products bring in 80 percent of the profits.
Family Picnic 20 percent of them will eat 80 percent of the food! (hmmmm…)
So… when it comes to your priorities, 20 percent of your time spent on the important ‘stuff’ will give you 80 percent of a return on that time. This rests on the big ‘IF’: IF you spend your time, energy, money and personnel in the top 20 percent! When you do this you are getting a 400% or fourfold return in productivity. What would this mean in your business?
What would happen if you took a good look at the Pareto Principle as it applies to the areas of your customers, your team and your leadership?
In the area of customers, it is vital to identify the 20 percent who account for 80 percent of your business. These are your “A grade clients” and strategies must be put in place to care for them appropriately.
For your team, who are the top 20 percent producers? What would happen if you spent 80 percent of your people time with these people to develop them to their full potential?
In leadership, if you took an honest look at the question “What do I have to do that no one else can do?” Remember that a leader can delegate everything apart from final responsibility.
Only you can decide whether you will be reactive or proactive when it comes to prioritising your time. If you are currently thinking “Great, I am busy all day today!” what happens if you change that to “How will I invest my time today for maximum return?” It’s not necessarily “My calendar must be full!” but “Who will fill my calendar for maximum return on my time?” What happens if, rather than thinking “I must see everyone about my business” you now think “Who do I need to meet up with that will give me the best return for my business?”
Sometimes we are so in the thick of the 80% of ‘busyness’ that we miss the top 20%.
Then of course there are the real gems of opportunity in the top 20% of the top 20%!!
But that’s for another time!
If you slow down can you move faster?
To Your Success,
Mike Yates
What if Prioritising Was One of the Main Keys to Success - To learn more about this author, visit Mike Yates's Website.
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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Dianne CramptonDianne Crampton is an executive leadership coach, team culture consultant, author and president of TIGERS Success Series, Inc. Dianne has been helping CEO's and Executives connect their employees to their core values and goals for over 20 years using the trademarked TIGERS team culture process, which stands for trust, interdependence, genuineness, empathy, risk and success. To download a free white paper on behaviors that build strong teams and behaviors that will predictably tear them down go here. Dianne's contribution to the 2010 Pfeiffer Consulting Journal (an imprint of John Wiley and Sons Publishers) entitled TIGERS Hearted Teams is available in November 2009. Her new book TIGERS Among Us: 5 Winning Business Team Cultures And Why, Three Creeks Publishing will release in March 2010. To receive publishing discounts, subscribe to the free TigerTracks Newsletter here. - Visit Dianne Crampton's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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