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

Figures & data

Table 1. Ranking of skill improvement and ratings for relevance and frequency of study 1.

	Relevance		Frequency
Rank from top to bottom	M	SD	M	SD
Preparation	3.80	2.25	3.10	1.02
Asking Questions & probing	4.50	1.04	3.20	0.97
Concluding & assessing afterward	4.50	1.08	2.80	1.22
Exploring new strategies	3.90	1.21	2.70	0.75
Mental simulation	3.20	1.05	2.60	1.19
Asking for feedback	4.10	1.08	2.40	0.98
Consulting colleagues	3.50	0.72	3.60	1.30
Observing others	3.80	1.10	2.90	0.95
Attending workshops & training sessions	3.60	1.06	2.60	1.04
Consulting domain experts	3.60	1.03	2.60	1.19
Formal meetings	2.80	1.20	3.50	1.12
Informal meetings	3.10	1.17	3.00	1.00
Private conversations	2.50	1.02	3.30	0.96
Professional reading	3.20	0.94	2.10	1.00

M = mean, SD = standard deviation, scoring: 1 = not relevant/not frequent, 5 = very relevant/very frequent

Table 2. Mean ratings (standard deviations in brackets) of all 11 practice activities related to sales.

Practice activity		Frequency			Duration^a			Relevance			Effort			Enjoyment
		N	EP	E	N	EP	E	N	EP	E	N	EP	E	N	EP	E
Preparation	M	1.33	1.35	1.48	23.75	25.40	28.76	1.25	1.30	1.38	2.42	2.25	2.19	2.08	2.20	2.00
	(SD)	(0.49)	(0.59)	(0.60)	(13.40)	(13.20)	(20.56)	(0.45)	(0.57)	(0.59)	(0.79)	(1.12)	(1.17)	(0.79)	(0.77)	(0.89)
Asking Questions & probing	M	1.64	1.25	1.33	32.82	27.25	28.90	1.08	1.20	1.19	2.75	2.30	1.95	2.00	1.70	1.76
	(SD)	(1.03)	(0.55)	(0.48)	(27.97)	(20.51)	(24.29)	(0.29)	(0.41)	(0.40)	(1.22)	(1.38)	(1.12)	(0.85)	(0.73)	(0.77)
Concluding & assessing afterward	M	1.25	1.37	1.52	18.91	19.35	23.43	1.33	1.20	1.33	2.17	2.20	2.05	2.17	1.95	1.81
	(SD)	(0.62)	(0.60)	(0.68)	(12.41)	(13.45)	(21.51)	(0.49)	(0.41)	(0.58)	(1.12)	(1.28)	(1.12)	(0.94)	(0.76)	(0.87)
Exploring new strategies	M	1.83	2.47	2.76	12.91	12.10	14.38	1.33	1.40	1.43	2.42	2.20	2.14	2.17	1.60	1.86
	(SD)	(0.84)	(0.84)	(0.89)	(10.52)	(9.75)	(12.68)	(0.49)	(0.60)	(0.51)	(1.24)	(1.06)	(1.11)	(0.84)	(0.68)	(0.91)
Observing others	M	1.67	2.05	2.19	12.09	19.26	26.24	1.25	1.45	1.38	2.92	2.40	2.24	1.92	1.65	1.86
	(SD)	(0.89)	(1.05)	(1.17)	(9.41)	(24.10)	(27.06)	(0.45)	(0.69)	(0.74)	(1.38)	(1.31)	(1.26)	(0.67)	(0.75)	(0.96)
Asking for feedback	M	2.08	2.20	2.67	10.09	9.30	10.29	1.33	1.45	1.29	2.83	2.30	2.10	2.25	2.10	1.95
	(SD)	(1.08)	(1.06)	(1.07)	(8.57)	(8.36)	(11.52)	(0.49)	(0.61)	(0.56)	(1.34)	(1.17)	(1.14)	(0.87)	(0.85)	(1.07)
Mental simulation	M	1.67	2.10	2.52	12.55	10.00	18.60	1.67	1.75	1.38	2.83	2.25	2.33	2.42	2.10	1.90
	(SD)	(0.89)	(1.21)	(1.21)	(14.17)	(7.26)	(23.17)	(0.78)	(0.64)	(0.67)	(1.03)	(0.79)	(1.35)	(0.67)	(0.79)	(0.77)
Attending workshops & training sessions	M	3.67	3.75	3.71	11.73	9.17	12.10	1.17	1.55	1.43	2.50	2.35	2.25	1.83	1.85	1.62
	(SD)	(0.65)	(0.44)	(0.56)	(13.68)	(9.88)	(15.39)	(0.39)	(0.69)	(0.51)	(1.45)	(1.23)	(1.12)	(0.58)	(0.93)	(0.67)
Consulting domain experts	M	3.09	2.90	3.71	9.90	9.13	9.21	1.50	1.95	1.67	2.50	2.70	2.71	2.17	2.10	1.90
	(SD)	(1.58)	(1.59)	(0.96)	(14.43)	(7.76)	(13.01)	(0.67)	(0.89)	(0.66)	(1.09)	(0.92)	(1.27)	(0.97)	(0.79)	(0.77)
Consulting colleagues	M	1.58	1.75	2.19	12.45	13.50	17.48	1.17	1.20	1.52	3.17	2.30	2.81	1.83	1.40	1.57
	(SD)	(0.90)	(0.85)	(0.93)	(11.12)	(12.39)	(23.01)	(0.39)	(0.41)	(0.60)	(1.40)	(1.53)	(1.25)	(0.72)	(0.60)	(0.60)
Formal meetings	M	3.08	2.29	2.30	13.55	16.00	24.24	1.42	1.75	1.52	2.67	2.10	2.33	2.08	2.10	1.90
	(SD)	(1.08)	(0.85)	(1.03)	(10.62)	(12.94)	(24.58)	(0.52)	(0.72)	(0.68)	(1.23)	(1.17)	(1.20)	(0.79)	(0.72)	(0.89)

^aDuration in hours per month; scoring: 1 = strong agreement, 5 = strong disagreement; M = mean, SD = standard deviation;

N = Novices, EP = Experienced professionals, E = Experts

Table 3. Percentage of sales persons that perform purposeful practice activities.

Practice activity	Performing the activity			Performing the activity at least once a week			Performing activity with goal of competence improvement			Performing activity as purposeful practice*
	N	EP	E	N	EP	E	N	EP	E	N	EP	E
Preparation	100	100	100	100	95	95	25	30	20	25	30	19
Asking Questions & probing	100	100	100	82	95	100	8	40	67	8	40	67
Concluding & assessing afterward	100	100	100	92	95	91	42	65	67	42	50	62
Exploring new strategies	100	100	100	75	53	43	33	40	24	25	25	10
Observing others	100	100	100	92	55	52	75	65	62	67	30	38
Asking for feedback	100	100	95	75	55	52	92	70	62	67	35	33
Mental simulation	100	95	95	75	70	52	8	20	20	0	10	14
Attending workshops & training sessions	100	100	100	8	0	5	100	95	67	8	0	5
Consulting domain experts	73	75	81	27	50	14	42	35	48	8	15	14
Consulting colleagues	100	100	100	92	85	67	42	40	20	42	30	14
Formal meetings	100	100	100	33	59	60	17	15	10	8	5	10

*Performing activity at least once a week and with goal of competence improvement

N = Novices, EP = Experienced professionals, E = Experts

Table 4. U test for domain-specific practice activities between groups in frequency.

Practice activity	Novices	Experienced professionals	Novices/Experienced professionals ^a			Novices	Experts	Novices/Experts ^b			Experienced professionals	Experts	Experienced professionals/Experts ^c
	M	M	U	z	r	M	M	U	z	r		M	U	z	r
Exploring new strategies	12.29	18.34	69.50	−1.91	.06	11.50	20.14	60.00	−2.58	.01*	18.71	22.12	165.00	−.98	.36
Testing innovative ways how to approach customers	11.33	19.60	58.00	−2.54	.01*	10.17	20.90	44.00	−3.24	.00*	19.68	22.26	183.50	−.73	.46
Exploring new approaches how to excite and inspire customers	12.75	18.75	75.00	−1.87	.06	10.50	20.71	48.00	−3.03	.00*	17.88	23.98	147.50	−1.69	.09
I am actively consulting my colleagues	15.00	17.40	102.00	−.79	.43	12.00	19.86	66.00	−2.43	.02*	17.25	24.57	135.00	−2.13	.03*
When reaching out to my colleagues I get valuable advice	13.83	18.10	88.00	−1.40	.16	10.50	20.71	48.00	−3.17	.00*	17.33	24.50	136.50	−2.07	.04*
I am actively consulting colleagues with a different view	13.00	18.60	78.00	−1.79	.07	10.50	20.71	48.00	−3.17	.00*	18.65	23.24	163.00	−1.31	.19

^acomparison between novices and experienced professionals; ^b comparison between novices and experts; ^c comparison between experienced professionals and experts

M = mean, U = Mann-Whitney U value, z = z score, r = Bivariate correlation coefficient

*Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed)

Table A1. Summary of deliberate and purposeful practice activities examined in previous studies in the domain of sales relevant work contexts.

Purposeful Practice Activity	Sonnentag and Kleine (2000)	Dunn and Shriner (1999)	Van de Wiel et al. (2004)	Unger et al. (2009)	Dew et al. (2018)
Participants	Insurance Agents (N = 100)^a	Teacher (N = 136)^a	Consultants (N = 23)^b	Small Business Owners (N = 90)^a	Entrepreneurs Conceptual work
Preparation	√	√	√	√
Asking questions & probing					√
Concluding and assessing afterward	√
Exploring new strategies	√		√	√
Observing others		√		√
Asking for feedback	√			√
Mental simulations	√	√		√
Workshops and training sessions		√		√
Consulting domain experts	√		√	√
Consulting colleagues	√		√	√
Formal meetings	√			√
Private conversations	√			√
Professional reading		√	√	√
Informal meetings	√

^aNo distinction between expertise levels.

^bContrastive approach with two expertise level groups.

Sonnentag, S., & Kleine, B. M. (2000). Deliberate practice at work: A study with insurance agents. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 73(1), 87–102. https://doi.org/10.1348/096317900166895

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