Purposeful practice as the key to superior sales performance: An exploratory analysis

: Taylor Anja, Jossberger Helen, Gruber Hans

: 2023

Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice

: JOURNAL OF MARKETING THEORY AND PRACTICE

: J MARKET THEORY PRAC

: 17

: 1069-6679

: 1944-7175

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10696679.2022.2159838

: https://doi.org/10.1080/10696679.2022.2159838

Although sales performance is well researched, relatively little is known about what salespeople actively do to improve and achieve superior reproducible performance. We extend existing research by examining purposeful practice, a core concept from expertise research, as a potential contribution to skill development in sales, a heretofore unexplored framework. The exploratory research sets out for a better understanding of purposeful sales practice and potential activities that successful professionals engage in for self-improvement using a sequential two-phase research approach. By comparing different expertise level groups, particular characteristics of expert performance are identified and can be used so less-skilled salespeople become better.