It's used in sales to identify the 20 percent of leads that are likely to bring in 80 percent of the revenue. It's like having a compass that points directly to the goldmine—a tool that helps sales reps focus on high-value activities, prospects, and tasks that significantly contribute to revenue and business growth.
When applied to customer relationships, it means that 20% of your customers often generate 80% of your revenue. Understanding this principle and strategically managing your customer base can be the key to maintaining and growing your business.
The rule purports that 40% of direct mail success is attributed to the mailing list, 40% from the offer and the remaining 20% from the format, design and copy of the mail piece. Historically, marketers could only build target audiences using a few data attributes and create a single offer to all of them.
The book sets out a financial plan that allocates resources according to these principles: 50% of your budget should cover your needs. 30% of the money can be spent on things that you want but don't need. 20% of the budget should be allocated to your goals and investments.
The 70/30 Rule of Communication says a prospect should do 70% of the talking during a sales conversation and the sales person should only do 30% of the talking. That means the sales person is actually doing more listening during the sales call than anything else.
10-3-1 RULE This is a Sales formula suggesting that out of 10 prospects you can get 3 appointments and out those 3 appointments you can make 1 sale. The rule is not as neat and there qualifications to it. This rule applies to anyone who sells something including those selling their labour for a wage.
The 60:30:10 rule involves spending 60% of your strategic time on the most pressing issue, 30% of your time on the issue which will become the most pressing , and 10% of your time on the one that follows.
The Path to Sales Mastery
At the heart of Maxwell's 10-80-10 Principle is strategic delegation. Its premise is straightforward: devote your energy to the crucial first 10% of a process, allow your team to handle the middle 80%, then return to tackle the vital last 10% with them.
80% of your sales come from 20% of your inventory; 80% of your customers only want 20% of your products; and. 80% of your storage is waste, and 20% of your storage contains items that sell.
The Pareto principle states that for many outcomes, roughly 80% of consequences come from 20% of causes. In other words, a small percentage of causes have an outsized effect. This concept is important to understand because it can help you identify which initiatives to prioritize so you can make the most impact.
It's probably the best-known and most-repeated rule in sales: 80% of your sales come from 20% of your customers. The implication is that you should focus the majority of your sales efforts on those 20% to maximise your returns.
The 70/30 principle states that the salesperson should be talking for 30% of the conversation and listening for 70% of it. This 70/30 breakdown doesn't mean that you should spend 3 minutes of a 10-minute conversation giving your pitch and then listen to the prospect talk for 7 minutes.
The 80/20 preference point system
(3) The points scored by a tenderer in respect of the goals contemplated in sub-regulation (2) must be added to the points scored for price. (4) Only the tender with the highest number of points scored may be selected.
The 10-4-1 rule is basically a ratio that states over a 15-post period, 10 should come from third-party sources, 4 should come from your companies' blogs and 1 should be a landing page or sales pitch.
The 7-11-4 rule posits that during the 'Zero Moment of Truth' (ZMOT)—the stage where customers research and evaluate products before making a purchase decision—a potential buyer requires: 7 hours of interaction with your brand. 11 touchpoints or engagements. 4 separate locations.
The "3-foot rule of engagement" in the context of networking, sales, or personal development, refers to a principle where an individual commits to initiating a conversation with anyone who comes within three feet of them.
Brian Tracy: “Sell unto others as you would have them sell unto you. The successful sales professional uses the golden rule to sell with the same honesty, integrity, understanding, empathy, and thoughtfulness that they would like someone to use in selling to them.
Regardless if you are struggling with motivation, call reluctance, or having a tough conversation with a customer the 5 Second Rule might be a path to get it done. The rule is simple. You start with the decision to take action and then you give yourself 5 seconds to do it. That's it!
The number one sales rule to follow is to never end your day without taking at least one proactive step to put prospective business in the top of your sales funnel. That means making one call, asking for one referral, sending a letter, an email, or going to a networking event.
The Rule of 78 formula is simple. Just multiply the amount of new revenue you expect to bring in each month by 78 to get your yearly sales forecast. A caveat to the Rule of 78 formula is that it assumes you'll gain just one new customer per month – and that every customer is paying the same monthly fee.
That's where the 3x3 Rule shines. It's simple: spend 3 minutes to find 3 key details about your prospect. Just enough to show you understand their business - without overloading your research time. This quick approach makes your outreach feel human and relevant.