Where does the time go?

You can find countless articles and insight into the 80/20 rule where 80% of your business comes from 20% of your customers. Or 80% of your organization’s production comes from 20% of your employees. If you run the numbers, the 80/20 rule is pretty accurate. But here’s another way to apply the 80/20 Rule… Are you spending 80% of your time with your worst customers? Managers… are you spending 80% of your time with your worst employees, trying to “fix” them? Think about it.

A few weeks ago we ended a long-term relationship with what use to be a very good customer. This organization changed quite a bit in the past year and they no longer had a clear direction in the type of culture they wanted but it was clear they no longer had the same philosophy of an advocate/relationship based culture that we have. What ended up happening is we were spending a significant amount of time with key people in this organization and were getting nowhere very quickly. They were “unfixable” and we fell into the trap of thinking we could help. It happens to the best of us! When we finally let go and moved on, it seemed like we were on vacation. No more mind-numbing calls, no more paying attention to the squeaky wheel and no more headaches. We’ve been able to focus more on our advocates and great customers ever since, which is taking significantly less time to do than trying to fix the unfixable. Might even have time to get in a round of golf on a weekday! Stranger things have happened.

Bottom line is this. Take some time to see where you are spending your time. Be honest. Are there a few customers taking up your time that provide little value to you as an advocate or to the organization? If you’re a manager, are you spending a lot of time with an employee that may be in the wrong position? Make some adjustments, be willing to let go and then get ready for the next problem… How do I spend all this free time I now have?!?!