CHAPTER 7
AVOID THIS RULE AT YOUR OWN RISK
The key to the successful home-selling approach is a revolutionary finding discovered by an Italian economist. His name was Vilfredo Pareto. The most important thing we can learn from him is the Pareto principle, better known informally as the 80/20 rule. The 80/20 rule applies to all aspects of life. In 1906, Vilfredo found an intriguing correlation. He noticed that 20 percent of the pea pods in his garden held 80 percent of the seeds. Studying the seeds prompted him to take a closer look at this ratio. In one of his initial discoveries, he discovered that 80 percent of the land in his area was owned by 20 percent of the people. After detailed study, he observed this ratio held true in many aspects of life. The Pareto principle—or the 80/20 rule—is a result of his findings. The 20 percent is vital, and the 80 percent is trivial. For example: + 80 percent of your income is derived from 20 percent of your work. + 80 percent of a business’ income is derived from 20 percent of their customers. + 80 percent of your value to an employer is derived from 20 percent of your work. You might wonder what all of this means. In a nutshell, it means some things are substantially more important than other things. In other words, things aren’t equal. Approximately 20 percent of what you do matters. The other 80 percent is insignificant.
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