The Business Death Dealer, happy that people don’t know the 80/20 rule. All images courtesy of Mark Simon.

(This article is best read with a thick, deep Ian McKellen accent in your head.)

Gooood Evening… I am the death dealer of business. I stay quite busy when freelancers and small business owners are not familiar with one of the basic rules of business, the 80/20 rule.

Aarghh, the 80/20 rule. Every death dealer hates it. People who understand this rule tend to thrive and survive in business. Trust me, I don’t want to share this with you, but I’ve gotten so many parking tickets while dealing death to businesses, I’m under a court order to provide community service, so here goes.

The 80/20 rule. 80% of your income will come from 20% of your clients.

Pretty simple. That’s it. Heh heh. Of course you have to understand it and know how to apply it before it benefits you.

One of the hardest parts of running a business, whether it’s owning a company or freelancing, is landing new clients. Many people try over and over to get new clients. All their time is spent trying to impress someone new to pay for their services, sometimes to the detriment of their existing customers. New clients are great, but it’s much more time-consuming and expensive to always land new clients than it is to offer outstanding service to get repeat business from your existing clients.

All clients want the same thing. They want suppliers to do a great job, to work with someone professional, for each project to go smoothly, each project to be delivered on time and to find reasonably priced services. Actually, they will sometimes forgo reasonably priced services if someone is fantastic to work with and makes them look good.

A client who is happy with your service and feels that you treated them with respect will come back. Clients that continue to come back are likely to be your biggest moneymakers. Consistent cash flow comes from returning clients.

There are other benefits to providing a great service with a great attitude. Your clients will be easier to work with. Clients who feel well taken care of will treat you with more respect. Your working conditions will be nicer. You will feel better about what you do. Your portfolio will continually improve and you will make more money. Ooh, it hurts just saying that.

Death Dealers lose their business when you provide more to your clients.

The 80/20 Rule has other abilities to keep your business from going six feet under. Your existing clients are the best people to inform of any new or unknown services or products you provide. Happy clients already like working with you and/or enjoy the products you sell. They are predisposed to buy your new products and services. It will take less effort to sell to them than to new customers.

Consider that a client is like a fan of your work. Much like fans of authors will always buy their next novel or comic book fans buy whatever new title their favorite artist is on, your clients will more than likely take advantage of your new or unknown services.