I have written about the 80/20 Rule for Tourism Pros before, but I thought I would give all my readers a refresher course along with some worksheets I created for workshops on this topic. Never heard of the 80/20 rule? Read on!
80/20 explained
In a nutshell, the 80/20 rule explains why some actions create big results, and why many other actions create little to no results. Basically, 20% of something ( your clients, your time working, your grocery list) is responsible for 80% of the results. So 20% of your customers bring in 80% of your income ( Crazy, right?!)
The second part of the 80/20 rule is that 80% of something only provides 20% of the benefit. That means most of the time we aren’t that productive, and we waste time on activities that make no difference.
One of the phrases often associated with the rule is ” The vital few and the trivial many”. As tourism professionals, I am sure you never have enough time or resources. Our industry is not the same as it was just a few years ago and all these changes are requiring new ways to work. Using this law of nature will give you an advantage.
If you haven’t read the 80/20 Principle by Richard Koch, it’s one of the books I recommend at TourismProAcademy.com. It is an easy read and will open your eyes to how this can change your professional and personal life.
Secondly, the actions you have been taking will change based on the new awareness you will have. Change can be hard; it has been for me. But when you make changes you make progress.
Three areas for 80/20 change for Tourism Pros
Clients and customers
In my first 80/20 blog post, I wrote about how this rule can impact your sales efforts with clients. I will let you go back and read that, but in a nutshell, you will see that not all your clients are created equal. A few of your clients are vitally important, and most of them are only marginally important to your success.
If you list your top 10 clients by the amount of business they bring you (either revenue or the number of customers) you will see that the top 3 to 5 bring in most of your business. I don’t have to look at your worksheet to know that it’s true- the 80/20 rule is like a law of physics or a law of nature. Those top customers are your ‘vital few’. This is where you should spend your time and resources.
In this post, I will go into some detail on the impact of this rule with your staff and yourself.
Staff and the 80/20 rule
If you have staff, consider their work using the 80/20 lens. A few things that they do regularly will make a big difference in your business. What is that? Is it answering the phone professionally and taking reservations? Maybe meeting with local and regional partners to strengthen partnerships? Or perhaps leveraging your social media accounts by creating interactions with potential guests?
Write down the most important tasks as you see them. Then ask your staff what is the 20% of their activities that they believe make the biggest difference? You might be surprised at your different answers.
Does the job description reflect the most important skills needed?
Once you have agreed on those actions, make sure they are 
Eliminate and delegate
You will also see that 80% of their activities and responsibilities are not as important. That is where delegating and outsourcing can come in. Is there a way to eliminate any of the responsibilities? Are they important, or have things just always been done this way?
If you have frontline staff, volunteers, or interns, are there some tasks they could take on? Virtual job sites such as Upwork and Fiverr can connect you with virtual assistants, or qualified people to take on more basic tasks. Your staff will thank you for helping them be more efficient and less stressed.
You and the 80/20 rule
Yes, you! If you apply the principle to your work life, you will gradually find that you now have free time. Don’t make the mistake I did and squander it on scrolling through social media ( damn you Pinterest!).
I was able to stop taking work home at night and on the weekends. I had to realize that I had to make plans for my free time, or it would just disappear. When is the last time you read a book? I switch back and forth between non-fiction and fiction, but I usually read 1 or 2 books a month.
How about hobbies? Want to learn something new? Try a Meetup group- they have events and gatherings for everything. The point is, once you do your most important work at your job, you can then concentrate your newfound time on your most important resource of all – your well-being.
Now comes the homework!
If you haven’t read the 80/20 Principle yet, start here. And then I have created a free 2-page worksheet that you can download here.
You will see that it is broken down into 3 sections: your customers, your staff, and you. It is a great tool for getting your thoughts on paper. When I present this topic at a workshop, someone always comes up to me afterwards and says they are going to completely change their work life and home life based on the information they wrote down. You can do it too!
Check out TourismPro Academy!
TourismProAcademy.com was created in 2019 for people like you. Hospitality professionals with questions about how to be successful in this industry. How to get more Group tours. What does that acronym mean? Check out TourismProAcademy for the free resources, and courses created to make your life easier. Or click here to see my video review of several 80/20 books! (And I give you permission to laugh at all my different hairstyles during Covid!)
Interested in a 80/20 Workshop?
Do you belong to an organization that can benefit from this information? I am available for in-person or Zoom based events where we discuss this strategy in depth and create an action plan to implement. You can check out more details at my Online Tourism Training Program page or reply to this email to schedule a call with me!