Judge Rules in Consultant?s Favor with 80-20 Rule

I opened the registered letter and was shocked. My best clients were joining together in a class-action suit against me. The letter stated that I had promulgated a false illusion of success by having them follow the 80-20 rule. It alleged that I brainwashed them into thinking that the 80-20 rule was a basic law of business and nature. They followed my advice and many of them had gone bankrupt.

I confess, I do quote the 80-20 rule like it is divinely ordained. Called by whatever name, the 80-20 rule reminds us that the relationship between input and output is not balanced. The rule states that a small number of causes is responsible for a large percentage of the effect, in a ratio of about 80-20. For example, it could be said that 80 percent of your profits come from 20 percent of your customers or 80 percent of your budget comes from 20 percent of the items and so forth.

The 80-20 rule is definitely biblical in its origins. It's my mantra. I start all my training sessions with a simple question. Although there are Ten Commandments, which ones do you think generate most of our sins? "Do not covet? " is obviously No. 1. The group usually argues over No. 2. Lately "Honor thy father and mother" has been the runner-up. (I guess with the increase in life expectancy, it has become much more difficult to follow this commandment.) We have a few laughs, and I make my point. Each commandment does not generate an equal amount of sins. "Do not covet" and at least one more could well make up 80 percent of our daily transgressions.

My audience loves the story. True, they would initially argue that the 80-20 rule does not apply to them. Their businesses are unique and such sweeping rules could not include them. However, I show them data and a lot of anecdotal evidence. I can be very persuasive. Finally they succumb and buy my book, training tapes, and subscribe to my Web site in order to follow my latest advice.

I reread the letter. I'm flabbergasted. I call my best customers, but they won't talk to me. They refer all my calls to their attorneys. My attorney warns me that this is not a frivolous lawsuit. I need to have a strong defense. We live in times when consultants are being sued by their clients for a lack of ethics, conflicts of interests, and down right plain stupidity. Consultants are paying hefty fines, even getting jail time.

I started working on my defense at the library. I researched the great scientific discoveries of the Renaissance. I believed that the 80-20 rule could be found in the footnotes of Sir Isaac Newton's manuscripts on the universal laws of gravitation. I was wrong.

An alternative, for sure, would be Charles Darwin's law of the survival of the fittest. The 80-20 breakdown seemed like a natural outgrowth of his studies of competition, genetic mutation, and the animals of the Galapagos Islands. Again no luck. I was starting to worry.

I did find some stuff on an Italian economist of the late 19th century, Vilfredo Pareto. He developed "Pareto's Law" which he presented as: log N = log A + m logX. When dumbed down it is the 80-20 rule. I was very excited. I showed it to my lawyer. "Forget it." I would lose the jury with any math beyond third grade.

I decided to tell my lawyer the truth.

My pals in high school promulgated the 80?20 rule. We were trying to figure out the probability of getting dates on any given Saturday night. We collected data from our classmates. Surprisingly a small percentage of the guys (20 percent to be exact) dated most of the girls (80 percent to be exact). These guys were considered the "in crowd" and always had dates. On the other hand my friends and I, "the nerds," the other 80 percent of guys, were always competing to get one of those few girls (the 20 percent that would date a nerd) to go out with us.

The rule applied in college too. Eighty percent of the beer cans could be found in front of only 20 percent of the dorm rooms. We knew because we collected them for recycling. (OK, we did it to get the five-cents refund available in politically correct California). It just seemed that everywhere I went this 80-20 thing worked.

My lawyer sounded encouraging for the first time. He could use this type of information to convince a jury. Initially, his strategy was to plea bargain and ask the judge for community service. Now he was ready to go for an acquittal and threaten to counter sue my former clients for defaming my professional name and character.

Did you see me on Court TV? Not only did I win, I got the judge and 80 percent of the jury to buy my book.

Hesh Reinfeld writes a syndicated business humor column. You can read additional examples of his columns on his website: http://www.heshreinfeld.com Or contact him at hesh1@comcast.net

---

7 Ways to Evaluate Your Marketing Plan

Business owners often find it difficult to know whether their... Read More

Tracking Your Way to the Top!

I often wonder how people without a plan know where... Read More

The Biggest Needle In The Haystack

Hello everyone! Have you ever been curious about something, and... Read More

Image is Key to Your Marketing Success

In virtually any business first impressions are lasting impressions. Most... Read More

Read Your Markets Mind - 3 Great Market Research Resources

Starting a new online business, developing a new product, launching... Read More

Online Magazine Subscription Services Make Shopping Online Fun For Magazines

If recreating the old experience of subscribing to magazines by... Read More

Create Your Own Rumors

A consultant new in the city asked me how I... Read More

Networking Magic

YES-- it is true that Networking is an art that... Read More

How to Market and Protect Your New Ideas

The intellectual property transfer market is now estimated to be... Read More

Marketing Strategy - Shift the Focus

Most of the service providers I've worked for or with... Read More

CRM: Strategic Engine or Just Another Tool?

CRM?strategic engine or just another technology tool? How would you... Read More

4 Sales Strategies with Your Trade Show Exhibition Booth

Trade show booths can act as an excellent source for... Read More

Eleven Reasons Donors Stop Responding To Fundraising Letter Appeals

Donors will stop responding to your fundraising letter appeals for... Read More

Too Much To Do: Four Keys to Effective Delegating

Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what... Read More

Successful Surveys: 10 Tips for Better Results

Why would you use an email or online survey when... Read More

How to Discover your Primary Market and Where to Find Them

Whether you market online or offline, you already know the... Read More

Brainstorming Techniques as New Product Development Strategies

When developing new products and strategies, coming up with unique... Read More

Tradeshow Booth Cures - Living Color

Feng Shui is the Ancient Chinese practice of configuring home... Read More

Practice Marketing: How to Answer What Do You Do? to Increase Prospects, Publicity and Profits

"What do you do?""I'm a CPA. What do you do?""I'm... Read More

Create a Blueprint for Your Success

Having a strong foundation enables you to build a thriving,... Read More

Spring Cleaning: How To Do It In Your Business To Make More Room For Success

With the arrival of Spring, I decided to get outside... Read More

Effective Marketing

For any business to be successful whether on or offline... Read More

Its Not All about the Cleavage! Or is It?

Times are a changin'! More women today work outside the... Read More

Tips For Developing An Effective Questionnaire

Developing the questionnaire is undoubtedly the most important part of... Read More

Loan Officer Marketing ? Why Realtors® Don?t Read Your Brochures

When you place brochures from every mortgage company side by... Read More