The Sales Agility Code: Deploy Situational Fluency to Win More Sales

CHAPTER 13

How Salespeople Become Experts

Have you ever wondered why your ability to play golf or tennis has plateaued even though you play every week? Have you ever wondered why some people continue to improve while others stagnate? Is it natural talent, or some inherent trait that makes them better? It is common to find recreational golfers, tennis players, and skiers who have not improved their performance after years, or even decades, of regular experience.

There is a common assumption that the more you do something, the better you get at it. Yet studies by K. Anders Ericsson have shown that there is almost no correlation between experience and expertise.¹ Similarly, after the first year of execution, there is only a weak correlation between ...