Looking for 'Superstars' in All the Wrong Places

Many sales gurus and consultants suggest we study (for several hundred thousand dollars) how these superstars sell and then train everybody else to use the same techniques. But the average performers, no matter how many new sales techniques they learn, never produce even half as much as the superstars.

| January 23, 2012

By Howard Stevens

Everybody has heard of the 80/20 rule. This concept is based on the research of Wilfried Fritz Pareto, an Italian engineer, sociologist, and economist, who discovered that 80% of the land in 19th century Italy was owned by only 20 percent of the population…. and it tended to stay that way over time. The concept is often applied to sales. It assumes that 80 percent of your sales will come from 20 percent of your best salespeople.

Based on their anecdotal experience, most sales execs would agree with you. The actual ratio, based on Chally Group Worldwide's analysis of 900+ B-B sales forces across different industries, reveals that 52 percent of sales come from the top performers. Still an impressive effort and they are compensated handsomely for it.

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