Pareto still holds good as a general principle.
But the trouble is for most firms they don’t look hard enough at why it is or what it is that determines the 80% from the 20%.
It is not just a case of finding more like the 20% but rather in understanding what it is that you can do more of for the 21%, 22%, 23% etc to grow the percentage of clients that you would prefer to have as clients.
Have you done a review of:
- Your sector expertise?
- Your ability to grow the sectors where more of the 20% are based (I would be surprised if that was not some slack in the system)?
- Your non-sector experience? How many of your clients or how much of your turnover is outwith a sector? You need to look always at the edges for growth;
- The demographic?
- The psycho-graphic?
- The people dealing with the clients – do they do something different to the rest of the team?
- Your service standards?
That should be more than enough to keep you busy for a day or two.
And if you need someone to dig about in the weeds, then appoint a Chief Profitability Officer with the simple brief to find more of the 20%.