80/20 Power Curve

80/20 Power Curve

Use this skill to find where a small minority of inputs creates most of the value, cost, waste, demand, or opportunity. It is based on 80/20 Sales and Marketing by Perry Marshall.

Source Traceability

Primary source: 80/20 Sales and Marketing, chapters 1, 5, 14, and the appendix.

• Chapter 1 introduces compounding 80/20 behavior and warns against average thinking.
• Chapter 5 applies the power curve to business opportunity and resource shifts.
• Chapter 14 explains why positive feedback creates non-linear outcomes.
• The appendix gives the math-oriented version of the power curve.

Workflow

1. Name The Population

Define the set being ranked:

• Customers, leads, products, pages, ads, keywords, salespeople, tasks, support issues, markets, partners, content assets, or campaigns.
• Time window.
• Outcome metric: revenue, profit, conversions, usage, retention, attention, qualified pipeline, cost, complaints, or effort.

If the user provides only averages, ask for raw counts or ranked items. If raw data is unavailable, create an explicit estimate and label it.

2. Rank By The Outcome That Matters

Sort items from strongest to weakest. Prefer profit or qualified action over surface volume.

Use these questions:

• Which few items create most of the upside?
• Which few items create most of the waste?