Allocating Time to Customers
The important few – the unimportant many
This article first appeared in print sometime around 1986. It was written by Porter Henry, President of Porter Henry & Co. This is an exact reproduction of the original article, although obviously the tables and charts have had to be recreated. Reproduction here is not intended to infringe the copyright of the original author or the unknown publisher of the original article. Attempts have been made to contact Porter Henry and Co, and the original publisher is unknown, as the photocopied article has no identifying marks.
Theoretically, for every customer, there is a call frequency that will give you your maximum volume, or profit, per call. There is a bell-shaped curve for every customer – a little curve for a little customer, a big curve for a big customer. The maximum return per call might be realized from 3 calls per year for one customer, 6 for another, and 17 for another. It’s just not practical to establish a different call frequency for each customer, however, so we advocate using a short-cut. Presented here is an accurate method of allocating your time based on both your present and your potential business. This method, which requires you to divide your customers into three categories, is based on a principle we call ‘IFUM’ – the Important Few and the Unimportant Many.
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