The Pareto Principal, have you ever heard of it? I had not. Not until yesterday anyway. It is referenced again and again by sales and management consultants, writers, and speakers all over the web and for that matter, all over the world. Yet, at forty five years of age, I had no idea what it meant as it surfaced in casual conversation. Not being one to let an unknown reference escape without inquiry, I asked for an explanation. It turned out to be the proper name for what most of us refer to as the 80/20 rule. Put simply, it is an inverse correlation between certain elements of numerous cause and effect and/or commodity distribution relationships. One example is that roughly 80 percent of your company’s revenue will come from 20 percent of your customer base. Another illustration is the idea that 80 percent of sales are brought in by 20 percent of the sales force. By and large, I always got the impression that I wanted to be part of the 20 percent of the people being scrutinized by the 80/20 rule as they seemingly always ended up with 80 percent of the bounty.

The 80/20 rule is an important reminder for people in business to prioritize effectively for maximum returns. Few companies are successful wasting time, money, or effort on any process that does not produce a munificent return. (Unfortunately for us tax-payers, this course of action seems to be the exclusive pathway for government to insure growth.) The Pareto Principal is an idea based on the observations of an Italian economist named Vilfredo Pareto. It originally documented the association of income and wealth in Italy (20 percent of the populace controlled 80 percent of the wealth.) As with many things, Pareto’s proposal has been spread out in the mainstream to encompass a broad sampling of ideas. With the spread of the Pareto concept, the actual percentages are not always 80/20 but the notion of an inverse relationship still resonates strongly.

What if I was to suggest that the idea of spending 80 percent of your time doing the things that are going to result in maximum income might be under performing? Given the competitive nature of business today, it might be a better idea to spend as much time as possible concentrating on only the most important and profitable business practices. It would make sense then to utilize the most effective tools and practices possible while trying to accomplish this. Finally, it would prove sagacious to eliminate any obstructions, constraints or limitations that are holding you back from reaching full potential.

It goes without saying, that time spent on things that do not directly lead to achieving maximum performance should be considered time that could be better utilized. The idea of a boss or manager running a meeting only to immediately follow it up by sweeping the floor is an anachronism embodied best in wistful tales of how our fathers and grandfathers went to market. Today profit and loss statements and market share analysis demand efficiencies unknown a generation ago. Managers and employees alike are expected to perform functions that best help the company. Many processes that do not relate to this common goal are outsourced to outside entities that do them better and more efficiently. To that end, I make the following admonition; pay close attention to the next two paragraphs. They may be the difference between meeting your goals or in some extreme cases closing your doors.

Over NINETY PERCENT!!! of the various corporations that make up the Fortune 50 employ the exact same telephony solution. It is the most researched, tested, and advanced enterprise class communications system available today. The reason for the bulk assemblage of the majority of our nation’s most successful companies around a single technology solution is quite simple; PERFORMANCE second to NONE! Over 900 highly advanced, reliable and easy-to-use features are currently available and the standards based, architecture with built in redundancy allows for an unlimited number of additions and upgrades to enhance performance. Employees, vendors, contractors and customers communicate within these companies at the highest performance level available today through secure nationwide networks. This drives efficiency and revenue while helping to prevent a loss of market share. For these huge organizations, the expense and expertise needed to operate this system is more than offset by the tremendous business benefits provided.

Byte Logic Solutions utilizes the EXACT SAME technology in the telephony solution we’re providing to our customers today. Because we are serving a multitude of customers, and because we have the in-house expertise necessary to oversee all facets of this technology, we can keep our prices low. If you are trying to maximize the potential of your operation, your employees, and the level of service you provide to your own customers, shouldn’t you look at what we are offering? Still saying no? Hope then that your competitors do not find us. Every customer we’ve signed up enjoys one or more of the following benefits while doing business with us;
• Cost savings over current solution
• Low, low start-up costs
• Features that dramatically improve employee efficiency
• Features that dramatically improve customer service
• Elimination of obsolete telephony system along with its service and maintenance
• Continuous state-of-the-art telephony solution
• Swift adds, moves, and changes to their network including new locations anywhere in the country
• Most home office, remote location, temporary office and cellular phones can be integrated to your network long or short-term
• Unified messaging is available
• If you can think of it, there’s a good chance we already have
The initial expense coupled with an ongoing need for sophisticated programming and maintenance is usually a deterrent to all but the largest organizations when employing anything but rudimentary phone solutions. That has just changed. You now have access to the pinnacle of communications performance. You can have it all for less than all but the cheapest solutions available today. 80 percent of those of you reading this will choose to do nothing. 20 percent will choose to seize this opportunity to get a jump on excellence. Like I said to start this rant, the 20 percent folks seem to rake in the bounty. The next move is yours.