Twenty percent of your customers produce 80 percent of your sales. Named the Pareto Principle after Vilfredo Pareto, this concept is a simple yet powerful idea that can save you time, money and dramatically grow your business if used properly. Pareto, an Italian economist, noticed in 1906 that 80 percent of the land was owned by 20 percent of the population.

The interesting thing about this principle, or the ’80-20 rule’, is that it occurs with astonishing frequency in other situations. Twenty percent of your time will yield 80 percent of your results. Twenty percent of your products will create 80 percent of your revenue. The list goes on and on.

From a marketing standpoint, the applications are obvious. If 20 percent of the advertising efforts produce 80 percent of the results, then your marketing needs to focus on that 20 percent. If 20 percent of your webpages generate 80 percent of your traffic, then you need to highlight those pages to make them easier to find.

When it comes to customers, how do you zero in on your best customers, and more importantly, how do you find more like them? Using the ’80-20’rule allows you to develop more targeted marketing and more effective follow-ups so you can nurture sales. 

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In a competitive market, sometimes it’s the little things that make the difference between merely satisfying a customer’s needs and thrilling them so much that they’re bragging to their friends about your products. In other words, you want them to say: “Wow!”

According to Scott Martineau, Senior Vice President of Product Strategy at Infusionsoft and author of Conquer the Chaos: How to Grow a Small Business without Growing Crazy, there are four steps to wowing your customers.

• Step 1 - Create a culture of Wow! Customer service starts at ground zero. You need to talk about it from day one. You need to emphasize and teach it to your employees at every opportunity, and when you’re evaluating new employees, you should look for people who love to serve. Wherever possible add incentives for employees to go above and beyond. In a crowded field of competing companies, people will remember the small, personal touches far more than they will another advertising campaign.

Customer service is a pet peeve of ours. The other day I ran into our favorite grocery store to pick up a few things and had a shock. To set the stage, you need to know this grocery store is not the bargain store in our area and they blatantly pride themselves on their stellar customer service.

Anyway, I went to the deli and duly pulled my numbered ticket. There’s one other customer at the deli counter, standing near me, and currently being helped. So I figure I’m next. Especially since there are several deli employees chatting together at the far end of the counter.

Wrong.

With the sheer variety of resources available online are many ways to get the word out about your product or service. Your official website, though a critical part of your online marketing strategy, is just one of many. Social media sites such as Facebook or LinkedIn, have become an increasing part of modern life. Smart entrepreneurs adapt. 

According to Facebook internal estimates, the number of pages for small and medium sized businesses is close to 25 million. And there are over 750 million Facebook users daily.

With such a large environment, businesses have found that their sites and posts tend to get lost in the newsfeeds that users see. Since Facebook is a forum for people to share bits of their daily lives, the decorum tends to be a bit more informal. The professional appearance that companies use on official websites doesn’t always translate well into Facebook. 

Many experts on social media recommend a more personal approach for a Facebook page. Rather than telling potential followers about what a great company you started, tell them the hardships you went through trying to found it, and why you did. Instead of posting about your company’s great relationship with the community, post a story about a community event you or one of your employees participated in. Celebrating company moments can help potential customers feel like they’re dealing with real people, not a company logo. 

Forget old-school, dried up advertising methods!

Andrew Davis, best-selling author and former television producer, believes he has a better way for you to spend your advertising or marketing budget.

His idea is quite simple: create great content and engage your audience. Then use that content to leverage sales. Content brands build relationships. Relationships build trust. Trust drives revenue. It’s an approach Sesame Street and Walt Disney have used for years to drive millions in product sales, and Andrew believes it can work for small businesses too.

He has a five-step approach that’s already producing some great results for small online businesses.

Social media for business - what are you doing to promote your business using social media? Consider if your business B2B or B2C because it can make a difference which social media platforms you concentrate on. Should you be focusing your efforts on LinkedIn or Facebook?

User Group member and social media expert Tim Ludy was our guest presenter today at the New England Infusionsoft User Group meeting. Tim answered questions and gave advice to those of us at the meeting about creating an effective plan to achieve our social media goals.

With the July Fourth holiday breathing down our necks, it was a small group but full of questions and discussion as usual. We have asked Tim to come back to speak to the full group at the September meeting about getting measurable results using social media for your businesses. He will be available to answer questions then too, so bring your social media challenges for Tim!

August is our ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY meeting for the New England Infusionsoft User Group so you can expect some fun stuff in addition to some new Infusionsoft and marketing how-to’s. See you there!

We wish you all a safe, fun, and Happy Fourth of July!

John Wooden, a Basketball Hall of Fame coach, said, "Don't let what you can't do interfere with what you can do."

Henry Ford Sr, founder of Ford Motor Company, when challenged on his lack of detailed how-to knowledge on manufacturing cars, answered that he only had to push a button and have 6 people in his office who knew how to get it done.

Plugging the gaps in your skills or interests with an expert is critical to your success. We do this all the time in our personal lives: we hire landscapers, dry cleaners, caterers, mechanics, housekeepers, tailors, you name it. (Although some of us could take a closer look here too.)