From The Vault: A Marketer’s Trick to “Rev Up” Your Business!

By Winston Marsh, Speaker, Business Consultant, Mentor

TOO OFTEN BUSINESS people tell me that they have so much to do they don’t know where to start. Well, that should never be the problem. If you don’t know where to start, just remember the wisdom of my old pal Pareto. It will get you off to a flying start

For those of you who don’t know, or can’t remember, Pareto was an Italian economist who came up with his most important principle. Idly, sitting in his garden drinking a glass of wine one sunny Roman day, he discovered that 20 percent of the pea pods in his vegetable garden produced 80 percent of the peas. Ruminating on this remarkable fact he discovered that 20 percent of Italians held 80 percent of the national wealth. The more he looked the more he found that this 80/20 relationship existed.

He reckoned, and the natural laws of the universe support it, that around 80 percent of your results will always come from 20 percent of your efforts. You’ve probably heard it referred to as the “80/20 Rule”. Most people know of the rule but amazingly very few have put its power to work in their businesses.

What Pareto tells us is really the power of leveraging. That means identifying the smallest amount of effort that’s needed to produce the biggest result. His fabulous principle can be applied to the three balls you need to juggle in your business, no matter what sort of business you are in, to get the best possible results.

The first ball relates to your customers, clients, patients or whatever you call them. Simply, it’s that 80 percent of your business (and profit) that is generated from around 20 percent of them. But here’s the 64-dollar question. Do you know who those profitable 20 percent are precisely? If you do, what are you doing to make them feel special over and above the normal good service that you give the rest of your clients? More importantly, when you have identified them and find some common characteristics what are you going to do to find some more like them?

If you don’t know who this elite 20 percent group are, you can find out by listing your clients in descending order of the revenue they’ve generated in the last year or so. Then start adding down from the top until you’ve got 80 percent of the revenue and by golly there’s that magical top 20 percent. Now that you know them work on them and getting more like them and see the results improve!

The second ball is about the products and services you sell. Guess what? Amazingly again, 80 percent of your profits come from around 20 percent of the products and services you sell. Now you know the drill. List out your sales by product or service in descending order of the revenue generated. Then add down from the top and when you get to 80 percent of the revenue, there’s that magic 20 percent of your products or services that is so important. Now ask yourself the critical question. How do we sell more of these top revenue generators? See the results improve!

The third and final ball is a sobering one. For you it’s how you use your time. You see it’s another Pareto stunner. Put simply, 80 percent of your results are produced by 20 percent of the time you put in. To work out where your payout is here, start keeping a time diary in which you record your activities and the results they generate. Pretty soon it will help you sort out your gold activities from your garbage activities.

Juggling these three balls well is what business is all about. You can hack away at the edges of your business by doing other things that seem worthwhile. But if you want to do things that are worthwhile invest some time in looking for leverage the Pareto way. It’s the way to turbo charge your business.

Oh, and by the way, if you have any problem working out the Pareto results in your business dump it in your accountant’s lap. It’s duck soup for them and, for the insignificant amount the exercise will cost, it will repay you many, many times

For more information on the services offered by Winston Marsh visit his Business Growth Centre on www.winstonmarsh.com.au

What you need to know about the new paid family and domestic violence leave

Employees of non-small business employers can now access 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave in a 12-month period and Employees of small businesses can access the leave from 1 August 2023.

Commencing 1 February 2023

Australian employers will need to provide their employees with paid family and domestic violence leave, under the new workplace entitlements legislation.

The change, legislated by the federal government in mid-2022, is designed to offer greater support to individuals who experience family and domestic violence leave, estimated to be in the millions each year.

Here’s what SMEs need to know:

• Employees will be entitled to 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave each year.

• All Australian employees that are covered by the Fair Work system are entitled to the leave. This includes part-time and casual workers.

• For employers with 15 or more employees, the new entitlement will commence on February 1, 2023 and for small businesses with fewer than 15 employees will commence August 1, 2023.

• Employers will need to keep records of leave balances and any leave taken by staff, however, their pay slips must not mention their family and domestic leave, including leave balances and leave taken.

• The leave is available to employees if they need to do something “to deal with the impact of family and domestic violence”, according to the Fair Work Ombudsman.

• Employees must notify their employer as soon as possible if they need to take leave, and in some cases, this could be after the leave commences.

• Australian workers are currently entitled to five days of unpaid family and domestic violence leave under the National Employment Standards (NES). The new paid leave replaces this existing entitlement, however, the five days of unpaid leave can still be accessed until the paid leave entitlement comes into effect.

• Leave does not accumulate from year to year if an employee does not use it. Instead, the 10 days will renew each year on the employee’s work anniversary.

Every business owner, no matter how small, is bound by this new legislation. For more information visit www.fairwork.gov.au