Authentic assessment of experiential learning in sport sales.

Pierce, David ; Petersen, Jeffrey ; Meadows, Bradley 等

Authentic Assessment of Experiential Learning in Sport Sales

Experiential learning has been identified within the field of sport management as a critical element for sport-industry career preparation (Foster, Schwarz, & Hatlem, 2009; McGlone & Rockey, 2010; McKelvey & Southall, 2008), and course projects designed through this teaching methodology have been noted in content areas such as sport marketing (Pauline & Pauline, 2008; Petersen, 2009) and event management (Charlton, 2007; Walker & Lim, 2007). In recent years, sport sales has become a hotbed for experiential learning projects (Irwin, Southall, & Sutton, 2007; Irwin, Sutton, & McCarthy, 2008; McKelvey & Southall, 2008; Pierce & Petersen, 2010; Southall, Dick, & Van Stone, 2008).

Effective sales education requires a move from a teaching orientation to a learning orientation, and a shift from a passive lecture approach to an active experiential learning approach (Anderson et al., 2005). This pedagogical technique creates a needed link between sport organizations and the academic curriculum while simultaneously providing students with field experiences highly valued by those making hiring decisions in the sport industry (Petersen & Pierce, 2009). With 26.8% of undergraduate sport management programs offering a course in sport sales and promotion (Eagleman & McNary, 2010), sport sales continues to grow as a course offering within sport management programs. Sport management educators have been challenged to not only create experiential learning opportunities, but also to assess the outcomes of these learning experiences (McKelvey & Southall, 2008). Consequently, assessment methods to directly measure the outcomes of student participation in experiential projects are now needed.

Background

The addition of experiential learning projects within the sport management curriculum has created the need to assess these projects regarding the impact made on student learning. Gentile (2010) noted that learning assessment should be focused on embedded course activities that provide students the opportunity to learn about sport management and their professional future in the sport industry. Both internal and external forces within higher education have created an environment where assessment measures have become vital in providing evidence for outcome-based programs (Williams & Colles, 2009). The Commission on Sport Management Accreditation (COSMA) identified outcomes assessment as 1 of 17 characteristics of excellence within sport management education, and it noted that outcomes assessment promotes continuous improvement within sport management programs (COSMA, 2010a). The commission further emphasized the importance of outcomes assessment within their philosophy statement (COSMA, 2010b).

This study demonstrates how three outcome assessment measures can be implemented to provide evidence of student learning as a result of an experiential, client-based sport sales course grounded in Irwin et al.'s (2007) Pentagon of Sports Sales Training (PSST) model. This study attempts to answer the following research questions regarding a client-based sport sales course: (1) did students enrolled in the course improve their content knowledge of sport sales compared to the control group?; (2) did students enrolled in the course change their perception of sport sales compared to the control group?; and (3) did students enrolled in the course improve their sales skills compared to the control group?

Methodology

Participants

All participants (N = 44) in this study were undergraduate sport management students at a Midwestern university. Participants included an experimental group of students enrolled in a sport sales course (n = 24) and a control group (n = 20) of students not enrolled in the course. There were two exclusion criteria for both groups of students. First, students were excluded from the study if they had already completed the sport sales course or a professional sales course (i.e., in the business school) during college. Second, students were excluded if they had already completed an internship or practicum in the area of sport sales. The enrolled group was recruited through the sport management program's course registration process. The course was an elective course for three-fourths of the class, but required for one-fourth of the class, depending on whether the student fell under the program's newly implemented admission standards. The control group was recruited via email, fliers on campus, and word-of-mouth Three-fourths of the participants in the study were male, and over 90% were white. The control group was predominantly comprised of freshman and sophomore students (65%), while the students enrolled in the course were predominantly juniors and seniors (92%). However, the exclusion criteria ensured that none of the students had experience or exposure to sport sales. Approval for the study was obtained from the university's institutional review board. Written informed consent was obtained from all participants before initiation of the study.

Intervention

The intervention process included a comprehensive learning experience aligned with the PSST Model including philosophy, product knowledge, prospect knowledge, practice, and performance (Irwin et al., 2007). This intervention, designed with four teaching components, was created as an experiential sport sales program embedded within a 3 credit-hour, undergraduate level course. Teaching components were developed to incorporate the five modules in the PSST Model. Only the experimental group received the intervention.

Students made sales calls on behalf of an intercollegiate athletic department selling football, men's basketball, and women's basketball ticket packages. The initial component of intervention began with a site visit to the sport organization front offices by all students enrolled in the course. The site visit included a tour of the competitive venue, including all special amenities and features to be included in the sales process, and a tour of the front office working areas. This trip to the organization's front office provided students with the opportunity to directly interact with team management and the sales staff. The visit concluded with a seminar-based sales training conducted with the organization's director of sales. This experience provided each student with concrete connections to the sport organization's philosophy of sales as well as providing direct product contact to initiate development of product knowledge.

The second component of the intervention included follow-up sales training with front office staff at the university in a classroom setting. This additional training with the sport organization was supplemented by input and interaction from the course instructor and from peer mentors, a selected group of students who had successfully completed the course in previous semesters. During this training session, call lists were distributed, and the students were given information regarding the profile of their prospects and the methods used by the sport organization to generate the call list. This intervention component concluded with mock sales calls and direct feedback from the director of sales, the course instructor, and peer mentors. The second component directly impacted four of the five PSST modules. First, the direct input of the sport organization staff reinforced the organization's sales philosophy. Second, product training with the sales staff representatives served to enhance product knowledge. Third, analysis of the sport organization's provision of foundational data, regarding the prospects and their connections to the product within the call lists, impacted prospect knowledge. The mock sales calls in this portion of the intervention created the first direct practice in the sales process for the experimental group.

Once the sales training process was completed, the third component of the intervention process was conducted via a written product knowledge assessment in order to demonstrate that each student possessed the requisite knowledge base to effectively present the product to consumers. This 25-item assessment provided a direct measure of the product knowledge portion of the PSST model. Also, this assessment served as gateway to participation in the sales center because a score indicting proficiency at 80% or higher was required. Students who did not achieve 80% proficiency were required to study the product further and retake the test during the next class period.

The fourth component of the intervention was a five-week sales call center experience. During this time the regular classroom meeting was replaced with time spent making calls in the sales center. Each student completed shifts in the sales center utilizing voice over internet protocol technology (Skype[TM]) in a computer lab. This included the completion of sales calls and the documentation of outcomes for all calls within a database system. At all times, the call center was under the supervision of the sport management faculty member, director of sales, or the peer mentors. The sales center experience directly related to the practice and performance elements of the PSST model. Students practiced their skills with each call, and they were provided the opportunity to complete the sales process by closing the sale over the phone.

Instruments

Three instruments were utilized to collect data in this study. First, the Sport Sales Perception Survey (SSPS) was adopted from the work of Pierce and Petersen (2010). This instrument was originally developed from Irwin et al.'s (2007) Sport Sales Knowledge, Skill, and Attitude Inventory (SSKSAI) and Bristow, Gulati, Amyx, and Slack's (2006) survey on student attitudes toward a career in professional selling. Pierce and Petersen performed an exploratory factor analysis on 168 completed surveys and identified a three-factor model that satisfied all reliability measurements. This study utilized the same three factors as Pierce and Petersen to examine student perceptions of sport sales: expectations of a career in sport sales, perception of sport sales skills, and perceived preparation for sport sales.

The first factor, called "Expectations of a Career in Sport Sales," was formed by eight questions asking students if a sales career would (1) be rewarding; (2) offer more career opportunities; (3) offer career growth opportunities; (4) be satisfying; and (5) be fun and exciting. This factor also asked students if (6) the challenges would be enjoyable; (7) the student is interested in pursuing a sport sales position immediately after graduation; and (8) it is likely that the student will at some point hold a position in sport sales. The second factor, called "Perception of Sport Sales Skills," was formed by nine questions asking if students were confident in their ability to (1) communicate with customers; (2) call people they didn't know; (3) recognize customer needs; (4) prospect for new customers; (5) make an effective sales pitch; (6) deal with client objections; (7) close a sale; (8) provide service after the sale; and (9) negotiate with customers. The third factor called "Perceived Preparation for Sport Sales" was formed from three questions asking students if they (1) feel prepared for success working in a sport sales position; (2) believe they can achieve success working in a sport sales position; and (3) were prepared for an entry level job in sport sales. Students responded to these questions on a five-point Likert scale with five indicating strong agreement. A score for each of the three factors was determined by calculating the mean score of the questions within that particular factor.

The second instrument utilized in the study was a Background Knowledge Probe (BKP), which examined how well students acquired basic facts regarding the sales process. BKPs are short questionnaires utilized at the beginning of a course (Angelo & Cross, 1993, p. 121). Angelo and Cross (1993) recommend using BKPs as pre-test and post-test measurements to determine students' baseline knowledge level before the class and to examine how well they learned the material immediately after the course. A focused listing format was employed to count the number of correct responses students gave on the pre-test and post-test (Pierce & Middendorf, 2008). Students were asked to list as many items as possible for each of the following items: (1) traits of a successful salesperson; (2) ways to convey empathy to a customer; (3) questions to probe a customer for information, attitudes, and interest in the product; (4) methods of prospecting; and (5) possible objections to purchasing tickets and an explanation of how to respond to those objections.

While the SSPS is useful for examining student perceptions, and the BKP is appropriate for determining how well students have acquired basic facts, authentic assessment is a useful method for determining how well students can apply their knowledge (Ryan, 1994). According to Wiggins and McTighe (2005), an authentic task possesses the following six characteristics: (1) realistically contextualized; (2) requires judgment and innovation; (3) asks the student to "do" the subject; (4) replicates challenging situations in which adults are truly "tested" in the workplace; (5) assesses the student's ability to effectively use a repertoire of knowledge and skill to negotiate a complex and multistage task; and (6) allows appropriate opportunities to rehearse, practice, consult resources, and get feedback on and refine performances.

Making sales calls in the sports sales class described above meets Wiggins and McTighe's (2005) definition of an authentic task for the following reasons. First, the sport sales call center following the PSST model replicates a real-world situation because students are placed in the role of an account executive for a sport organization. Second, in order to make a sale, students must use their sales skills to overcome a variety of objections posed by customers. Third, the call center environment replicates the kind of work done by sport sales personnel in the industry. Fourth, students are calling the same prospects that would be called by sport sales professionals. Fifth, in order to complete a successful sales call, students must put all of the pieces of the sales process together. For instance, they must utilize a strong opening, generate rapport with the customer, be enthusiastic and confident about the product and their own skills, ask probing questions, conduct a relevant needs analysis, overcome objections and demonstrate persistence, and close the sale. While students may be able to answer BKP questions regarding effective techniques in each of those areas, actually doing it on the phone with a live customer requires a different skill set. Finally, mock sales calls, two book review assignments, the course instructor, peer mentors, staff members from the client organization, call recordings, and fellow students provide students the opportunity to get feedback on and refine their sales approach and performance on the phone.

In order to assess the authentic task of making a sales call, the investigators developed an analytic rubric using Mueller's Authentic Assessment Toolbox (2005). An analytic rubric articulates levels of performance for each criterion in order to assess performance on each criterion (Mueller, 2003). Seven criteria were identified as important sales skills: (1) opening--student establishes interest and engages the customer through the opening statement at the beginning of the call; (2) enthusiasm--student exudes enthusiasm and positive attitude throughout the call; (3) interpersonal communication skills--student demonstrates strong interpersonal communication skills by choosing appropriate wording, showing empathy, and acknowledging needs; (4) confidence--student sounds confident in product knowledge and sales ability while making sales calls; (5) persistence--student demonstrates persistence in pursuing the sale by responding to objections appropriately and not giving up at signs of rejection; (6) questioning--student asks customer quality questions, including conducting a needs analysis to identify customer needs; and (7) solutions--student presents solutions to the customer by presenting value in terms of customer benefits and solutions to problems.

Each skill was rated on three levels of performance, creating a rubric consisting of 21 cells that comprised the Authentic Assessment of Sales Calls (AASC; see Figure 1). Descriptors were added to each cell to assist external raters in assessing the performance. Descriptors identify behaviors associated with specific levels of performance for specific criteria (Mueller, 2003). Descriptors assisted the raters by providing concrete examples of performances at particular levels.

Data Collection Procedure

During the first week of class, students in the experimental group completed the SSPS and BKP instruments. After completing a sport sales training program during the first month of class, the participants in the experimental group began making sales calls. During the first week of students working in the call center, the investigators recorded five sales calls for each participant utilizing the call recorder feature in Skype[TM] for the pre-test of the AASC. If a sales conversation did not take place within the first five phone calls (i.e., all calls were voicemails), then the investigators continued to record the participant's calls until contact was made with a prospect. During the final week in the call center, the same procedure was utilized to collect post-test call recordings for the AASC. Students also completed the SSPS and BKP instruments after the completion of the call center experience.

Students in the control group completed the SSPS, BKP, and AASC at the beginning of the semester, and they completed the post-test of all three instruments at the end of the semester. The SSPS and BKP were administered immediately prior to control group participants making sales calls in order to ensure that the perception of their abilities was not affected by the phone conversations. Control group participants called a standardized customer because the client organization did not want untrained individuals speaking to actual prospects. Four standardized customers were trained to portray a customer. Standardized customers were based upon standardized patients that are commonly used in athletic training, nursing, and medical education (Beullens, Rethans, Goedhuys, & Buntinx, 1997).

Six individuals working in sport sales were chosen to rate the recorded phone conversations of the experimental and control group at the time of pre-test and post-test. The raters were trained through group meetings and written instructions on how to utilize the rubric, and they engaged in discussions on how to rate the sales calls. Compact discs containing 30 sound recording files were distributed to the raters. The sound files were distributed randomly, and the file names were disguised in order to ensure the raters were unaware of whether the student was assigned to the control or experimental group, or whether the student was calling during the pre-test or post-test. Each file contained between one and three sound files depending on the length of the phone conversation. For example, if a student did not have a substantive phone conversation on their first call, additional files were included to ensure the raters had enough evidence from which to make a rating. Two raters independently rated each file in order to examine inter-rater reliability. The score entered for each student was the mean score from the two raters' assessments.

Data Analysis

A quasi-experimental nonequivalent control group research design was conducted on the SSPS, BKP, and AASC. Data from all three instruments were analyzed with repeated-measure ANOVA using SPSS version 18.0 software. A 2 (group) X 2 (time) factorial ANOVA was utilized for each instrument to evaluate the changes across treatment conditions over time. In order to assess whether the course had any effect on the experimental group, the interaction effect of Group x Time was examined. The level of significance was established at the 0.05 level for all analyses. Cohen's (1988) f values of 0.10 (small), 0.25 (medium), and 0.40 (large) were utilized to examine effect size. Inter-rater reliability for the AASC was examined using the weighted kappa (K) statistic, which was chosen because the ratings came from an ordered state as opposed to a categorical state. Altman's (1991) interpretation of K < .20 (poor), .21 .40 (fair), .41-.60 (moderate), .61-.80 (good), and .81-1.0 (very good) were utilized to examine inter-rater reliability. Any K values deemed "poor" were not subjected to further statistical analysis.

Results

Background Knowledge Probes

A significant Group x Time interaction was present with large effect sizes for each of the five questions in the BKP (see Table 1). The experimental group significantly improved its ability compared to the control group to do the following: (1) identify traits of a successful salesperson [F(1,44) = 19.89, p < .001, f = .68]; (2) identify ways to convey empathy [F(1,44) = 7.17, p < .05, f = .41]; (3) identify probing questions [F(1,44) = 14.83, p < .001, f = .59]; (4) identify methods of prospecting [F(1,44) = 20.11, p < .001, f = .69]; and (5) identify responses to objections [F(1,44) = 16.35, p < .001, f = .62].

Sport Sales Perception Survey

No significant Group x Time interaction was present for any of the three factors in the SSPS (see Table 2). The experimental group did not change its perception of sport sales compared to the control group on the following factors: (1) expectation for a sport sales career, [F(1,44) = 0.054, p >.05, f = .11], (2) perception of sport sales skills, [F(1,44) = 1.28, p > .05, f =.17], and (3) perceived preparation for a career in sport sales, [F(1,44) = 1.73, p > .05, f = .20].

Authentic Assessment of Sales Calls

Sales calls were recorded at the pre-test and post-test for the experimental and control group, yielding 88 sales recordings. Because raters occasionally did not fully complete each form, 84 recordings were examined for inter-rater reliability on the basis of 7 skills, yielding 588 total observations. Descriptively, the raters were in complete agreement on the AASC (see Figure 1) in 45% of the cases, and they were in complete disagreement in only 15% of the cases. In the remaining 40% of cases, the raters disagreed by one. The weighted kappa (K) statistic was used to calculate inter-rater reliability. Four of the seven skills were determined to have at least fair reliability. Enthusiasm (K = .41) possessed moderate reliability, while Confidence (K = .30), Opening (K = .26), and Questioning (K = .23) possessed fair reliability. Interpersonal Communication (K = .18), Persistence (k = .15), and Solutions (K = .13) were not reliable.

Two of the four skills that were reliably rated possessed significant Group x Time interactions with medium effect sizes (see Table 3). The experimental group improved compared to the control group in its ability to open the sales call [F(1,44) = 5.27, p < .05, f = .35] and exude enthusiasm [F(1,44) = 4.4, p < .05, f = .32]. However, the ability of the experimental group to demonstrate confidence [F(1,44) = 1.35, p > .05, f = .18] and ask probing questions [F(1,44) = 0.08, p > .05, f = .04] did not change.

Discussion

This article aimed to demonstrate how outcome assessment measures can be implemented to provide evidence of student learning as a result of an experiential, client-based sport sales course following the PSST model established by Irwin et al. (2007). This study adds to the existing sport sales and sport management education literature by utilizing authentic assessment as a means for measuring student performance. Previous studies examining experiential sport sales classes have solely relied on student perception surveys, which do not assist educators in assessing student performance.

Evidence was found that supports the use of the PSST model as a pedagogical strategy for delivering a sport sales course in the sport management curriculum. First, the experimental group significantly improved its ability compared to the control group to open the sales call and demonstrate enthusiasm during the sales call. In addition to improvements in the ability to demonstrate enthusiasm, the experimental group also significantly improved its ability to answer traditional content knowledge questions on the BKP. While the experimental group had similar content knowledge compared to the content knowledge of the control group at the beginning of the semester, by the end of the call center experience the experimental group demonstrated a more comprehensive understanding of what it takes to be a successful salesperson, how to convey empathy, how to ask probing questions during a needs analysis, how to prospect for new customers, and how to respond to objections.

While the experimental group demonstrated an increase in content knowledge and the ability to open the sale and sound enthusiastic, they did not significantly change their perception of sport sales compared to the control group as measured by the three factors in the SSPS--expectation for a sport sales career, perception of sport sales skills, and perceived preparation for a career in sport sales. Despite mean score increases by the experimental group on each of the three factors in the SSPS, the control group demonstrated similar increases, which statistically resulted in no significant change. One possible explanation was that the control group subjects who chose to be in the study were already interested in sales and became even more interested after completing the instruments during the pre-test.

The lack of significant change on the three SSPS factors differs from Pierce and Petersen (2010), who found that students significantly decreased their expectation for a career in sport sales after the completion of an experiential, client-based sport sales course. While the experimental group did not significantly decrease their expectations in this study, it is important to note that neither did their expectations increase. Pierce and Petersen posited that one possible explanation for expectations decreasing is the repeated rejection faced by students working in the call center. The experiences that students had during the simulation serves as a realistic job preview, which is a human resources tool that realistically previews the types of experiences they would have while employed in a sport sales position. Realistic job previews lower initial job expectations and increase the number of candidates who drop out of the application process (Premack & Wanous, 1985).

This study also has implications for sport management educators. First, this study demonstrates how Irwin et al.'s (2007) PSST model can be implemented in the sport management curriculum. Second, this study demonstrates how an experiential, client-based sport sales course can be evaluated using content knowledge, student perception, and student performance data. These assessment tools are important for the program faculty as they prepare future professionals in the sport industry and meet the expectations of accrediting bodies and university administrators in today's outcome-focused climate (Gentile, 2010). Third, this study demonstrates how authentic assessment can be utilized to assess the performance of sport management students on important skills needed for success when they enter the job market. Specifically, the use of external raters who are employed in sport sales is important because it introduces an expert, external voice to the assessment process. Moreover, these external raters are likely similar in mindset to the individuals who will be evaluating the performance of the students once they enter the field.

Limitations

It is important to recognize three limitations in this study. First, the sample size of the experimental (n = 24) and control group (n = 20) is small. Not only does a small sample size result in a lack of generalizability, but it also resulted in small to medium effect sizes in some of the statistical results. A larger sample size, which could include data from multiple institutions, would improve the power of the statistical results and the study's generalizability. Second, despite efforts to train the standardized customers, they may not have adequately portrayed real customers. Additionally, it was only the control group that called standardized customers, a limitation necessitated by the needs of the client organization who did not want untrained control group participants calling real prospects. This issue represents the tradeoffs that must be made when trying to meet the needs of the client and academic research.

Finally, the inter-rater reliability for the AASC was low. The weighted kappa was below .50 for all seven skills, and below .20 for three skills. The lack of inter-rater reliability can partially be explained by the exploratory nature of this research. A lack of research has been conducted on the use of authentic assessment in sport sales. Additional work needs to be done with possible revision to the rubric and with enhanced training of raters to improve inter-rater reliability.

Future Research

First, future research should examine whether performance measurements such as sales productivity and grade point average, in addition to demographic variables such as age and gender, predict performance ratings on the authentic assessment or scores on the three factors in the SSPS. This could allow for possible identification of skills or traits that might be correlated with sales success and these assessment outcomes. Second, research should examine the extent to which self-efficacy predicts performance ratings and perceptions of sport sales. Self-efficacy theory could be a theoretical model upon which these assessment results could be further explored and interpreted. The creation of a longitudinal study to follow students who performed well in the class setting could be used to determine if this mode of training is a predictor of future success within the industry. Additionally, an in-depth exploration of sales training research and a comparison of these sport sales assessments to other sales training methodologies and assessments could better connect the sport industry to other fields of business and sales. Finally, future research should be done to improve the reliability of the rubric utilized by external raters as the low levels of reliability for this initial instrument limit the full potential of the external rating process.

Conclusion

This study assessed the effect of an experiential, client-based sport sales course on undergraduate sport management students. The results revealed that compared to the control group, students enrolled in the course improved their content knowledge in the area of sport sales, and students improved their ability to open the sale and demonstrate enthusiasm during the sales calls. These findings demonstrate not only the general value of this teaching methodology, but also the value of these assessments of student learning for this pedagogical approach.

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David Pierce, PhD, is an assistant professor of sport administration in the School of Physical Education, Sport, and Exercise Science at Ball State University. His research interests include assessment of experiential learning experiences in sport sales, corporate sponsorship in interscholastic athletics, and NCAA policy.

Jeffrey Petersen, PhD, is an assistant professor and sport management graduate program director in the Department of Health, Human Performance, and Recreation at Baylor University. His research interests include youth sport, experiential learning, and facility design and development.

Bradley Meadows is a graduate student in the School of Physical Education, Sport, and Exercise Science at Ball State University.

Table 1.
Statistical summary of Background Knowledge Probes (BKP)

 Pre-test Post-Test

Group N M (SD) M (SD)

Traits of Salesperson
 Experimental 24 5.46 (1.64) 7.92 (2.69)
 Control 20 4.20 (1.58) 4.15 (1.23)
Conveying Empathy
 Experimental 24 1.96 (1.46) 3.33 (1.69)
 Control 20 1.35 (1.09) 1.65 (1.42)
Probing Questions
 Experimental 24 2.75 (1.15) 5.00 (1.14)
 Control 20 1.30 (1.34) 2.20 (1.28)
Methods of Prospecting
 Experimental 24 1.29 (1.08) 4.46 (2.02)
 Control 20 0.80 (1.32) 1.55 (1.50)
Response to Objections
 Experimental 24 2.58 (0.97) 4.71 (2.03)
 Control 20 2.25 (1.25) 2.45 (1.32)

 Interaction Effect

Group F p f

Traits of Salesperson 19.89 .001 .68
 Experimental
 Control
Conveying Empathy 7.17 .011 .41
 Experimental
 Control
Probing Questions 14.83 .001 .59
 Experimental
 Control
Methods of Prospecting 20.11 .001 .69
 Experimental
 Control
Response to Objections 16.35 .001 .62
 Experimental
 Control

Table 2.
Statistical summary of Sport Sales Perception Survey (SSPS)

 Pre-test Post-Test

Group N M (SD) M (SD)

Expectation for
 Sales Career
 Experimental 24 3.61 (0.57) 3.85 (0.68)
 Control 20 3.37 (0.68) 3.71 (0.58)
Sales Skills
 Experimental 24 3.52 (0.89) 3.97 (0.75)
 Control 20 3.58 (1.09) 3.82 (0.67)
Preparation
 Experimental 24 3.35 (0.90) 4.00 (0.66)
 Control 20 3.45 (0.65) 3.75 (0.81)

 Interaction Effect

Group F P f

Expectation for
 Sales Career .054 .466 .11
 Experimental
 Control
Sales Skills 1.28 .264 .17
 Experimental
 Control
Preparation 1.73 .196 .20
 Experimental
 Control

Table 3.
Statistical summary of Authentic Assessment of Sales Calls (AASC)

 Pre-test Post-Test

Group N M (SD) M (SD)

Opening
 Experimental 24 1.67 (0.68) 2.17 (0.65)
 Control 20 2.15 (0.64) 2.05 (0.71)
Enthusiasm
 Experimental 24 1.83 (0.67) 2.29 (0.73)
 Control 20 2.08 (0.72) 2.0 (0.58)
Confidence
 Experimental 24 1.75 (0.69) 2.29 (0.74)
 Control 20 1.88 (0.62) 2.06 (0.65)
Questioning
 Experimental 24 1.71 (0.76) 1.6 (0.48)
 Control 20 1.92 (0.82) 1.73 (0.47)

 Interaction Effect

Group F P f

Opening 5.27 .027 .35
 Experimental
 Control
Enthusiasm 4.4 .042 .32
 Experimental
 Control
Confidence 1.35 .252 .18
 Experimental
 Control
Questioning 0.08 .773 .04
 Experimental
 Control

Figure 1.
Authentic Assessment of Sales Call (AASC) Rubric

Criterion 1--Not evident 2--Partially 3--Fully evident
 or completely included and and outstanding
 lacking average

Opening Poor or Average opening, Outstanding
 nonexistent but did not opening used
 opening to engage the that interests
 engage the consumer and engages the
 customer immediately customer early
 in the call

Enthusiasm Lacked positive Demonstrated Outstanding
 attitude and periods of positive
 enthusiasm enthusiasm, but attitude and
 through the not maintained enthusiasm
 entire call for the entire maintained
 call through entire
 call

Interpersonal Demonstrated Demonstrated Demonstrated
Communication poor word average outstanding and
 choice, lacked proficiency in proficient word
 empathy, and some but not all choice, empathy,
 failed to areas and ability to
 connect to the relate to the
 customer customer

Confidence No confidence Displayed Outstanding
 demonstrated in confidence in confidence
 sales ability or either product displayed in
 product knowledge or both product
 knowledge sales ability, knowledge and
 but not both sales ability

Persistence No persistence Average response Demonstrated
 demonstrated and to objection to outstanding
 discontinued continue persistence by
 call at first conversation responding to
 sign of objections with
 objection positive
 responses and
 redirection

Questioning Asked no Asked at least Asked multiple
 questions one average outstanding
 leading toward a question related questions that
 needs analysis to needs provided a needs
 analysis analysis

Solutions Did not present Generated Crafted
 solutions to the average outstanding
 customer solutions based solutions for
 on benefits and/ the customer
 or needs focused upon
 analysis benefits and/or
 solutions to
 problems