If you want to develop an informed philosophy of life, it is important to understand the power of ratios. This power can be explained in a simple sentence: if you do something often enough, you’ll get a ratio of good results to bad results. The understanding of ratios is particularly essential in the leadership arena, because if you’re leading others, you’ve got to have some means to evaluate their performance… as well as your own.
What do I (Jim Rohn) mean by ratios? Let’s say you’re in sales, and you have just joined a new company as a representative of their products or services. You talk to ten prospects. Nine of them say, “No, I wouldn’t care for any.” One says, “Yes, I’ll take some.” This is your opening ratio: one out of ten.
Is this a good ratio? It all depends on what you’re selling. Any ratio can be a good ratio, however, if you keep this in mind: once a ratio starts, it tends to continue. If you talk to ten more prospects, chances are excellent that you’ll get another sale. If you talk to ten more beyond that, chances are excellent you’ll get a third sale. It’s uncanny. I don’t even know how it works, but it’s less important to know how it works than it is to know that you can count on it. Understanding the process will save you a lot of frustration.
Once you know that your ratio is pretty well established at one out of ten, you can start to compete. Testing your skill against someone else’s skill is valuable. What someone else can do is a good benchmark for what you might do if you stretch yourself. In that sense, competition is a very healthy pursuit.
If you decide that you’d like to compete with the top salesman in your company, the one who has been there the longest, you may feel like you’ve taken on an impossible task. That doesn’t have to be the case, however, if you use the power of ratios. Let’s say that top salesman is Pete, and he is so good that he’s built a ratio of nine sales out of ten calls. You have a thirty-day contest with Pete to see who can get the most prospects to buy.
Even though your ratio is only one out of ten, you can win. You may say, “Well, I’ve only been here a short time, I can’t get nine out of ten, so how could I possibly beat him?” It might not be easy, but it would be very simple. During the month, while Pete talks to ten prospects and gets nine sales, you will talk to one hundred and get ten sales. At the end of those thirty days, Pete will have nine and you will have ten. You beat him. Isn’t that clever?
You see, you can make up in numbers what you lack in skill. After thirty days, you may be fairly exhausted, but you’ve definitely accomplished a lot more than you thought you could. You’ve been a worthy competitor. The key is to be bright enough to understand ratios.
Here’s the second clue about ratios: they can be increased. You may talk to ten, get one; talk to ten, get one; talk to ten, get one; talk to ten, get two. What is it about that fourth time you talk to ten that enables you to get two instead of one? You’ve put in the time and effort, and you’re getting better. Anybody who tries to can get better. All you have to do is play the numbers. Your brain is as functional as anybody else’s. Your chances are as good. All you’ve got to do is use the power of ratios and put out the extra effort. That’s how you do ordinary things extraordinarily well.
* Source: Leading an Inspired Life by Jim Rohn