It has long been understood across industries that in sales, the Pareto Principle applies and only the top quintile brings revenue worth four-fifths of the company’s worth. As standard industry practice, poaching of top sales personnel is a common occurrence. These stars are expected to produce instant results though it has been understood time and again that this does not always hold true. These new recruits often do not do well at the new place as the systems aren’t in place, thus highlighting the importance of the process rather than star personnel. Also, it is more beneficial for the organization to get better value out of the rest four quintiles than try hard to get the few very best. Some core elements need to be put in place for the process to be successful. First of all the people in charge must understand what all goes on in the sales process and tasks within the chain must be clearly defined. The sales process as well as resources invested must be balanced with the purchase process. Any imbalance will lead to a glut or shortfall. Business analytics must be made extensive use of in order to procure exact information for decision making. Metrics that must be tracked include volume data, opportunity costs and conversion data.

Source: https://hbr.org/2016/02/hiring-star-salespeople-isnt-the-best-way-to-grow