Tool Box
Issue No. 18 - August/September 2004
Can you beat the 80-20 rule?
improving your sales force
by Les Leane
Most everyone has heard of, or experienced the 80/20 rule—80% of the sales come from 20% of the salespeople. In sales based businesses it’s very common to discover that the top producer generates 3 or 4 times the production of the bottom producer, and it’s pretty obvious that it would be desirable to have more top producers! For businesses with a small number of salespeople, it’s critical that these positions either be filled with top producers or we identify how to lift the bottom producers to the top level.
While few experienced sales managers doubt the “rule”, equally few know what causes it, or how to fix it. A US study started in 1997 and finished in 1999, then re-validated in 2000 and 2001, came to some interesting conclusions. The study’s sample included over 25,000 working salespeople in 160 industries, making it one of the most comprehensive ever attempted in this field.
Conclusion #1: 55% of all working salespeople are not well-suited for sales at all. The process by which most working salespeople end up in those positions is rarely one of choice, seldom includes very much training, and often cannot be explained in any rational fashion, even by the salesperson involved! While we can agree that sales is critical to any business success we sort of assume that success in sales “just happens.”
Conclusion #2: Of the remaining 45%, over half are selling the wrong thing in the wrong place for them. …which leaves the 20% or so that...
