I have been talking recently – a lot – about taking baby steps. We understand how taking small steps towards a goal will still get you there but slower – and that’s OK!
However, I wanted to revisit a topic I have introduced a few times in the last couple of years – and I make no apologies for talking about it again – Marginal Gains!
Some of you may remember – the story of the British Cycling team who rose to completely dominate world cycling – winning everything, including a ton of Olympic Gold medals? At the time there were two people involved in this success – Steve Peters (and the Chimp Paradox – which dealt with the athletes’ mindset) and Sir David Brailsford.
It’s a system that has now been followed by elite athletes and teams worldwide and the principles behind their success are still valid.
The Aggregation of Marginal Gains
It’s a lot simpler than it sounds.
The cycling success was the sum total of a lot of little changes e.g.:
• Tyre composition
• Frame weight
• Riders’ helmets
• Riders socks
• Diet
• Training schedules including rests
• Sleep schedules
EACH of those might shave .01 second off a lap – ADDED UP then they might add up to 1/10 of a second – and that would bring a win over several laps! That is it – essentially! Lots and lots of little changes add up to a big improvement!
So how does this apply in business – and in YOUR small business?
Well – every small improvement you can make will add up to BIG business improvements here are some examples (you will be able to think of more):
• Followers on social media
• Comments on posts
• Click through rates on emails
• Quotes sent
• Quotes accepted
• Average invoice value
• Order frequency
Here’s an example – Imagine you have 10 customers ordering 10 times with an average order value of £10 – total £1000. Now imagine you have 11 customers ordering 11 times with an average order value of £11 (10% increase on each) – and that adds up to £1,331 – that’s an increase of 33%
Tiny increases in each metric add up to a bigger total sales income.
So what would your strategy be to get one more customer? Get them to order more frequently? Order more each time?
One thing you do have to keep in mind (and I will say this again, because it’s important). You have to MEASURE – record what your performance is like now and then compare with after you have made the changes – that’s what the team did. And if you try different options you will have to record what happens with each option.
The other point I’d like to make is that it works the other way too- and small decreases can be as damaging as one big one. Yes we all know what happened when lockdown hit last year – we noticed one BIG change – but if you are not measuring you won’t notice when small changes happen – and before you know it the curve goes the other way.
So MEASURE!
And remember – it’s not necessarily One Big Change that will deliver success – lots of small changes, which are easier to implement can bring big improvements in your business.
What small changes can you make today to deliver big improvements?