80-20 Rule of Management
You may have heard the idea that 80% of sales are generated by 20% of the salespeople. Or the idea that 80% of a project is easily completed and 20% consumes most of development time.
In general, this is the rule of diminishing returns.
The idea is far more important than the actual percentages, and greatly applies to the art & science of management.
What would happen if you were to spend 100% of your management time on the greatest 80% of payoffs?
What would happen if you ignored the other 20% which could be grouped together at management distractions?
With few exceptions, this “real world” business rule applies to any profession, be it business, law, medicine, and even in the military theater of operations.
Looking at the business of sales, interesting enough this is where “virtual business” turns this rule on end. The problem with doing real world business you need “someone” working on every lead, potential customer, and customer.
In the virtual world the process is reversed - create once use on many. People self-assess and base their buying habits on evidence on trust, credibility, and company focus.
The more you provide “succinctly” the better the return. While in appearance there is much upfront work from the vantage-point of the “first sale” its merits are found in self-replication - do it once and capture the 80%, with 20% effort keeping working at it and the 20% will materialize, and without additional salespeople.