How to double your sales and more (part one of a three part article)

It doesn’t matter what business you are in the Pareto principle of obtaining 80% of your results from 20% of your efforts applies across the board, and if you implement the strategies to take advantage of what Pareto teaches us then you could easily double your profits.  I have written about Pareto before but it’s worth repeating because if applied properly the principle will have an astounding effect on your business. 

First of all let’s look at the way you spend your time.  If for example on Mondays you do your follow up sales calls and obtain your target number of appointments, then think what would happen if you actually carried out that task on two days of the week.  It would necessarily follow that you would have twice the number of appointments to present your case.  If you are a retailer and you spend 20% of your time in the shop, and that is the time when sales really boom then you could double your sales volume by spending twice as much time in the shop. 

So what you need to do is to identify which tasks you are performing that are holding you back and delegate those to somebody else.  Even if it means that you need to hire somebody else the return you will get from making that move will more than pay for itself. 

Have a look at your team members.  In a team of 5 there is normally one that stands out.  Imagine what would happen if the rest of the team could be brought up to the same standard.  So look at how that performing member spends his or her time and then encourage the others to follow suit.

There are countless examples of better uses of your time which can make a difference to your business.  Next month I will talk about the way Pareto applies to your products and services.

And by the way, if you want a Pareto analysis for your business, give me a call.  For the insignificant amount the exercise will cost it will repay you many, many times.