The 80/20 rule states that in any given moment 20 percent of your affiliates are vital to your business and 80 percent are trivial. It can also mean that 20 percent of the issues causing 80 percent of the problems. Affiliate network Managers must identify that 20 percent of specially valuable affiliates because they drive 80 percent of your sales and income. On the other side, 20 per cent of your affiliates drive the 80 of the issues or problems you have to face and 20 per cent of your affiliates will give you 80 per cent of all the valuable feedback you need.

You can apply the 80/20 Rule to almost anything, from the science of management to the physical world.

You know 20 percent of your stock takes up 80 percent of your warehouse space and that 80 percent of your stock comes from 20 percent of your suppliers. Also 80 percent of your sales will come from 20 percent of your sales staff. 20 percent of your staff will cause 80 percent of your problems, but another 20 percent of your staff will provide 80 percent of your production. It works both ways.

How It Can Help You

The value of the Pareto Principle for an affiliate network manager is that it reminds you to focus on the 20 percent that matters. Only 20 percent of the things you do during your day, really matter. Those 20 percent produce 80 percent of your results. Identify and focus on those things. When the fire drills of the day begin to sap your time, remind yourself of the 20 percent you need to focus on. If something in the schedule has to slip, if something isn't going to get done, make sure it's not part of that good 20 percent.

There is a management theory floating around at the moment that proposes to interpret Pareto's Principle in such a way as to produce what is called Superstar Management. The theory's supporters claim that since 20 percent of your people produce 80 percent of your results you should focus your limited time on managing only that 20 percent, the superstars. The theory is flawed, because it overlooks the fact that 80 percent of your time should be spent doing what is really important. Helping the good become better is a better use of your time than helping the great become terrific. Apply the Pareto Principle to all you do, but use it wisely.

Manage This Issue

Pareto's Principle, the 80/20 Rule, should serve as a daily reminder to focus 80 percent of your time and energy on the 20 percent of you work that is really important. Don't just "work smart", work smart on the right things.

Pareto charts are used to graphically display the relative importance of groups or segments of data. This makes it easier to identify which problems are most important. Typically, the data groups in a Pareto chart are displayed as a histogram or vertical bar chart, in descending order of significance.

Be sure you precisely identify your best 20 per cent affiliates, ask them for feedback and give them what they ask you to.