Tasks described as “low-hanging fruit” are inconsequential to the larger challenges. Much like the easy but low priority items on your to-do list, they might be quick for you to dispatch but relatively insignificant given your larger challenges. And just as time management experts suggest, focusing on the most important priorities will yield the best results. Business professionals should avoid spending too much time reaching for low-hanging fruit
Low-Hanging Fruit in Business
Some of the goals you set for your organization will be easier to achieve than others. For example, if you’ve completed a customer satisfaction survey that showed that customers are dissatisfied with your telephone support service, you might set a number of goals designed to fix the areas they critiqued. You might set one goal to answer all incoming calls within a certain period of time, and another goal might be to resolve 90% of customer support issues on the first call. The first goal is considerably easier to achieve. Improving the time-to-answer can be managed quickly by hiring more telephone representatives and buying any necessary additional equipment. Of course, adding staff and equipment requires access to capital, but this goal would still be considered the low-hanging fruit. The second goal is more challenging than the first, potentially requiring you to increase the technical know-how of the customer service representatives as part of improving the overall customer experience. It involves employee evaluation, training, potentially eliminating some workers and hiring new ones, and a variety of other activities.
Examples of Low Hanging Fruit in Business
The low-hanging fruit is tempting, but potentially less valuable than more challenging issues. Other examples of low-hanging fruit might include:
Customers who regularly reorder a product, requiring little more than an occasional reminder call from a sales representativeQuality defects in manufacturing that are easily identified and repairedBoosting employee morale through positive feedbackand recognitionRemedying performance problems with constructive feedbackSatisfying a customer by accommodating a return requestCasual employee goal setting where the goals do not directly tie to the firm’s strategiesProcess improvement initiatives where the simpler processes are attacked and improved before more complicated processes are evaluated
Ideally, those items we designate as low-hanging fruit are easily handled in the normal course of business. However, when we simplify our goals to focus on these simple items, we are potentially short-changing the firm.
Business Goal Selection and Low-Hanging Fruit
Goals shouldn’t be selected and pursued because they’re easy. Business goals should be prioritized in terms of overall importance toward achieving the organizational strategy. Proper goal establishment includes linking goals to key strategic priorities and building the mechanism for measuring and monitoring performance. If the goal does not directly connect to a firm’s key strategy, it likely should not be pursued.
Low-Hanging Fruit Beyond Business Goals
Low-hanging fruit doesn’t only refer to goals. It can also refer to targets. Sales professionals will tell you that it’s easier to get an existing customer to buy more than it is to gain a new customer. Some salespeople target repeat sales to existing customers because they consider them to be low-hanging fruit. However, if a firm’s overall health is predicated upon regularly capturing new customers, focusing on this easy-to-access business can be dangerous.
The Bottom Line
Beware the easiest to reach tasks and goals. While going for the low-hanging fruit may be tempting, the true rewards often come from climbing higher and stretching for the fruit in the higher branches.
