Be a Sales Superstar

17Apply the 80/20 Rule to Everything

Nothing can add more power toyour life than concentrating all of yourenergies on a limited set of targets.

— NIDO QUBEIN

In 1895 in Italy, an economist named Vilfredo Pareto discovered a principle that has had an enormous impact on economics and business ever since. He found that you could divide members of society into the “vital few,” the 20 percent of the population who controlled 80 percent of the wealth, and the “trivial many,” those who possessed only 20 percent of the wealth.

This is now called the Pareto Principle, and it has proven to be universally valid in virtually every study of economic activity. We call it the 80/20 Rule, and you can apply it to every area of selling.

The 80/20 Rule says that ...