Most of us know by now—often through hard experience—that humans aren’t very good at multitasking. What we think of as multitasking is actually rapid task switching, which keeps us from achieving deep focus to complete complex projects that require our full attention. Productivity experts say that people accomplish much more during the day when they focus on fewer things.
If this kind of deep, narrow focus can work for individuals, it seems logical that something similar might work on a larger scale—that is, in an organizational setting.
In a 2015 interview to promote his book Do Less Better, consultant John R. Bell describes how he was tasked with turning around a company that was “mired in complexity.” The company was trying to sell too many products and brands in too many categories, and there wasn’t a competitive advantage to any of them. By closing or selling most of the brands and focusing on only one, the company was able to climb out of its “river of red ink” and become profitable again.
While it might sound counterintuitive to eliminate products or services and focus on fewer things, this kind of narrow focus can offer several advantages to an organization. Whether your company is just starting out or offers products or services globally, here are four ways that focusing on fewer things can help you improve results and meet your goals.
4 Reasons to Focus on Fewer Things
1. It can help you meet strategic goals faster.
When Jeff Bezos started selling books online, his idea wasn’t particularly unique; after all, other online bookstores existed. But Bezos’ strategy wasn’t just to be an online bookseller—he wanted to create an online superstore. Starting with a narrow focus on selling books was a way to create a strong customer base that would keep returning. Once that base was established, Amazon could expand its offerings.
Amazon has expanded in ways that Bezos may have never considered when he started Amazon 30 years ago. For many years, Amazon had no products of its own; instead, it dropped-shipped books and other products from independent sellers. As of 2024, most of the products sold on Amazon come from small businesses.
In addition, the company now has enough subscribers to its Amazon Prime service “to populate the eighth-largest country on Earth.” And while Amazon Prime started as a way to offer fast shipping options, the service now includes entertainment streaming options that didn’t exist 30 years ago.
There are several reasons that Bezos started Amazon as a bookstore, but the strategy behind Amazon was always the same—to become an online source for as many products and services as possible. With that overall strategy in mind, it’s clear that keeping a narrow focus on books in the beginning wasn’t a limitation—rather, it was likely an accelerator.
2. It reduces complexity.
Obviously, if a large company decides to narrow its focus by closing divisions or eliminating brands and products, it can reduce complexity very quickly just by virtue of becoming smaller and selling fewer things.
But reducing complexity isn’t just about shrinking the organization or eliminating products. Narrowing the focus to a few key products and services can help leaders align the organization under a more coherent and focused strategy. With a better strategy and a narrower focus, leaders can design processes that deliver products and services more efficiently. Finally, offering fewer products and services can help leaders see where to consolidate staff resources or improve systems.
3. It clarifies your best customers.
Part of deciding where to focus your efforts for maximum results involves determining who your best customers are and how you can serve them better. Your best customers are the ones who not only buy your products and services reliably but who are also easy to serve and continue to promote you to others.
Companies may be reluctant to narrow their focus to a few products or services because they risk losing customers. But the Pareto principle applies to this issue—that is, a small number of very good customers tend to generate most of the company’s revenue. When an organization homes in on that small number of excellent customers through a limited number of products or services, they may actually improve the bottom line faster than taking a broad, generic approach.
4. It focuses your marketing efforts.
Once you clarify your best customers, you will better understand what those customers buy most often, why they buy those products or services, how they interact with your organization, and where you are most likely to connect with them. This process will help focus your marketing efforts to more effectively meet more customers just like them and expand your customer base.
With the plethora of marketing options easily at hand in the modern era, it can be tough to focus on the best options. In a 2020 blog post for automation platform Zapier, the CEO of Tortuga Backpacks describes how one of the company’s marketing team members dedicated all of her time to creating social media posts and analyzing social media data. Despite her efforts, social media channels accounted for only 3.5% of profits.
At the same time, the company’s affiliate program was taking off with almost no effort behind it; in fact, it accounted for 15% of revenue. The social media marketer switched her focus to the affiliate program; one year later, the affiliate program’s revenue had increased 300%. At the time of the post, 40% of the company’s revenue came from its affiliate program.
When focus is concentrated and aimed in the right direction, it can be as powerful as rocket fuel, propelling an organization to new levels of success. If your company feels like it is using cooking oil instead of rocket fuel, it might be time to assess your organizational health and consider focusing on fewer things. Focus could be your key to better business and people results.
Self-check:
- Is there one product or service we offer that seems to require too many resources for the ROI it brings?
- Is there one product or service we offer that we could eliminate without anyone noticing?
- Are all our products and services in line with our overall strategy?
- What is one way we could serve our best customers better?
