Double your sales in half the time

Which, of the many recurring issues in business, stands out as the one that costs little to correct, but costs a lot to ignore? For me, it's time management. It's not that everyone doesn’t want to be more efficient. It's that they just don't know how. If that's you, please try what I call my "80/20 solution."

To start with, most business people have heard of the 80/20 rule. You know, 80% of the job is accomplished in the first 20% of time, while the final 20% of the project eats up the remaining 80% of time.

You know it's true. You gather up your year end tax info and prepare 80% of it in under an hour in January, while watching "Desperate Housewives." Then you end up filing for an extension on April 15^th, because you didn't complete the last 20%.

No matter what business you're in, most things get off to a great start, getting 80% finished before hitting the deadly last 20%.

I was training some sales people when the sales manager complained that there was never enough time for people to do all the things on their lists. To analyze, we listed all tasks on a white board and suddenly it became clear. If they only do the profitable 80%, and skip the onerous 20%, they'll free up more time to do more money-making things.

Here's how it worked for that sales team:

1. There are five days in a work week, so each day equals 20% of the week.
2. Look at your weekly plan and identify the 20% of your contacts that are responsible for 80% of your revenue.
3. Call them first and do the business.
4. Disregard the other 80% and free up 80% of your time to find more good customers.
5. If you use Tuesday and Wednesday to sell another high value group, you replace the weakest 20% with another 80%.
6. You now have 160% of plan and still have Thursday and Friday left. You win. Go play golf or something.

Manage your time and only doing things that meet your objectives and you'll make more money. So, for each task, ask yourself:

1. If I don't do this, what's the cost?
2. If I do it, what's the benefit?
3. Which one better meets my objective?

I know this sounds simplistic, but it really works. We all fall into time utilization ruts, because we feel compelled to finish everything on our plates (and I'll bet that's why my old Army uniform no longer fits, too). Just like with any diet, success is a matter of making better choices.