This should come as no affect at all - it is merely a standard expression of the well-known Pareto Principle. This is why it is generally considered wise to pay sales forces based at least partly on commissions as that will back up the "supersuccessful" to stay and back up at least the bottom 20% to get. It is OK that this is so - that 80% of the revenues keep the whole affiliate employed. And as long as the other 80% of the sales force are doing their bring home the bacon to "grind out" the other 20% they too are making a valuable contribution (even if it is less valuable on a per-staff-member basis).
I would only add the phrase profitable sales. In fact it is largely the top management that is responsible for driving the next 20% sales which is for strategic reasons other than purely bottomline driven one - invariably it adds to marketshare type of customers (elite rural emerging markets niche etc) self promoting interests (CEOs frequented area club etc). It is the lack of hard nosing the business analysis that is behind this inefficiency. Most professionals are not solely business orientated or driven.
My opinion would be nearer from the Neil and Chris's one but it depends on the organization: indeed the 80% salesforce may have peculiar territories and/or customers categories. In this case you may be induced to get those territories and/or customers. You must be careful in doing that because it might have disastrous strategic consequences with regard to reputation competitors production scale range scope acquire market share business intelligence and so on. If it is not the case to be sure you have better having "good" vendors taking the place of "bad" ones. Thus before making any decision carefully chew over the situation with clear figures for each parameter by agent product territory customer and don't limit your investigations to the purely commercial side. Study several scenarii showing potential economies and losses.
open production goals for each person on the sales force to shoot for. They should total the overall revenue change magnitude you project for your company. These should include at least a cost of living change magnitude and possibly a modest price increase - it is amazing how small increases can boost profitability. Each person would dilate and track their daily/weekly activities - calls letters emails presentation proposals - required to hit those goals. I would tie incentives for meeting/exceeding the new goals..
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