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80/20 Books

80/20 Power by Dennis Becker

The full title of this book by Dennis Becker is

80/20 Power: Following Pareto’s Principle to Maximize Your Small Business Success

In my review posted on Amazon.co.uk, I gave the book Two Stars, meaning Disappointing.

Here is my book review.

A fundamental concept but this is not the book to start with

The 80/20 principle that a small numbers of things or activities produce the majority of results is a vital improvement concept. In theory, you can get more results by switching from low value activities to high value activities.

This is basic common sense that can all too easily get overlooked. [continue reading…]

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The 80/20 Rule by Ron Taylor

The full title of this book by Ron Taylor is

The 80/20 Rule: Putting the Power of the Pareto Principle to Work in Your Strategic Planning and Business Development“.

In my review posted on Amazon.co.uk, I rated the book at the Four Stars level, meaning that I think it is good to very good.

Here is what I wrote.

An 80/20 business parable

In theory, I like the idea of a business parable, that is a novel style story that carries business lessons. In practice, my experience is that they can be hit and miss. I’ve come across some where the “plot” and dreadful dialogue get in the way of learning by making reading the book a painful and distracting experience. [continue reading…]

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In my review of

Summary: The 80/20 Principle: Review and Analysis of Koch’s Book

posted on Amazon.co.uk, I gave the summary Three Stars, meaning Worthwhile.

Here is my review.

Useful summary of an important book

It must be ten years since i read Richard Koch’s book “The 80/20 Principle “. The main message is easy to remember but I thought I’d probably forgotten many of the nuances.

These book summaries fit into 80/20 thinking. You can learn most of the lessons by reading a summary that’s chopped away 80% of the bloat.

The big reminders I got were:

– be proactive. Think what are likely to be the key 20% of inputs?
– the scope of using 80/20 ideas in business is very wide. Most problems can be tackled with 80/20 thinking.

The 80/20 ideas can also be applied to your personal productivity and effectiveness as well as in your personal life. This about living life purposefully by deciding what you want and thinking about the most effective ways to do it.

The summary is useful because it’s quick to read all the way through when too many books are started and not finished. It will help you decide if you want to apply the 80/20 ideas but if you do, I suspect you’ll want to read the full book or one of the other books Richard Koch has written.

The ideas behind the 80/20 principle are important to understand and this summary provides an easy way to start learning.

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80/20 Sales and Marketing by Perry Marshall

The full title of this book by Perry Marshall is

80/20 Sales and Marketing: The Definitive Guide to Working Less and Making More

In my review posted on Amazon.co.uk, I gave it Three Stars.

Here is my review, which has been slightly extended.

I was disappointed

I’m on Perry Marshall’s email list and it’s one of the few that I regularly pay attention to. I also enjoyed his book on Adwords but I was disappointed in this book.

I believe in the 80/20 principle and it’s something that I’ve used for years as a way to help business owners focus on the few things that really matter. I hoped the book would reveal plenty of new concepts to me that I could use with my clients but it didn’t.

One of the big ideas in the book is that the 20% that produce the 80% can be further divided. That means that 4% (20% of 20%) of customers can produce 64% (80% of 80%) of revenue. And then divided again and again until there is a tiny number of customers who individually spend a fortune.

If you have a business, does that sound likely to you? Does the 80/20 principle keep doubling up?

If not, can it be made to? Can you find customers who will buy an ultra high priced version of your product or service, 10, 100 or even 1,000 times more expensive than normal?

It naturally works in Perry’s business as an information marketer and business advisor. The book is a low cost product, recorded courses, live courses and then one to one consulting escalate prices rapidly and naturally provide opportunities for people who want to trade up. The book at the moment costs £9 for the Kindle version and Perry will have plenty of clients who will pay him 1000 times that £9 (i.e. £9,000) and even much more.

This 80/20 escalation principle will work in some other markets but I don’t believe it applies to across the board because brands are often not transportable across vastly different market segments.

At a certain price for a car, you’ll want to move from a Ford to a Ferrari and so will your customers.

I also know the 80/20 is more generalisation than fact. In my experience, sometimes it is closer to 70/30 and other times 90/10 or 60/5 (it doesn’t have to add up to 100). This varying split is also likely to apply to the continuing divisions.

The book goes on to cover some general direct response marketing ideas which are useful for new readers but much better covered elsewhere before other ways that the 80/20 rule can help you outside of marketing.

It’s not a bad book. If you’re not familiar with the idea or thought through practical issues like “how can you get more of the high spending customers?”, then you will get some aha moments.

Unfortunately I expected much more and I was left feeling disappointed. I advise you to read the original 80/20 books by Richard Koch in preference to this book.

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