80/20 Rule and The Rule of Three

It’s wintertime in North America and right in the middle of the American football (Gridiron) season. Football’s a game I used to play and still love to watch.

A typical national football league (NFL) team has a playbook containing hundreds of different plays, for offence and defence. Even so, most teams in the NFL adhere to the 80/20 rule: running just a handful of basic plays about 80% of the time.

It’s a little like what happens in financial services selling. There are dozens of marketing tactics, but top performers – those who produce superior growth results every year – are able to achieve it effortlessly by sticking to the ‘rule of three’: they focus on 3 activities (plays) 80% of the time.

These activities are:

1. Retaining
2. Converting
3. Acquiring

Retaining

This is a non-negotiable goal: a 100% retention of the top 20% of clients, who produce 80% of revenues and results. Top producers carefully develop their retention strategy to create a ‘steal’ barrier – exit rings around their key clients, which protect them from competitors and maximise the long-term value of their business.

Converting

This is about ensuring that all key clients are 100% full-time clients. Top producers are always on the lookout for better ways to sense, serve and satisfy the needs of their category A and B clients. They use their retention process to add value constantly.

Acquiring

Top professionals do this by leveraging existing clients to obtain, through referrals, new clients that are clones of their best category A and B clients. This allows them to work and sell from their comfort zone.

Top performers guard their schedules so as to ensure they spend 80% of their available time on executing these three activities, which can often account for up to 90% of their success.

It only takes a handful of well-executed plays, consistently delivered, to produce superior growth for your business every year.

Just focus on the 80/20 rule, and the rule of three.