Interpersonal persuasion: techniques and effectiveness

Interpersonal Persuasion

How has the media age influenced personal selling? Please provide examples to illustrate your discussion. Have electronic media made it more difficult for salespersons to persuade audience members?

The media age has transformed the nature of personal selling. Consumers have access to a wealth of information about the products and services available to them: from broad Google searches to browsing through customer reviews on specific vendor websites or on Consumer Reports (Chapter 14). Social media also enhances the ability of the consumer to acquire information about products, as friends share information about their experiences with a product, service, or brand. A more educated consumer challenges the personal sales representatives to be able to answer questions and be completely honest with the answers.

New media has also altered the actual practice of personal selling. Sales representatives have at their disposal a wealth of possibilities for reaching consumers: from emails to Facebook pages. Sales representatives can use chatting and instant messaging to speak with consumers about their questions, using new media in ways that were not possible a few decades ago. Personal sellers need to master a whole range of information systems and tools. This is especially true for business-to-business selling, in which the sales representative might need to interact with potential clients from different departments in the same company. Some clients might require sales data in Excel, accompanied by a video conference; other clients might want a fancy Power Point presentation.

Another way the media age has influenced personal selling is the nature of the persuasive process. Because consumers are more educated, and demand more accurate and up-to-date information, the sales representative must also raise their level of understanding of the products and services they offer. The personal seller needs to be keenly aware of the competition in order to persuade the consumer that their product or service is the right choice.

2. What is the importance of climate in conflict resolution? How might individuals involved in a conflict create a supportive climate? What should individuals avoid in order to reduce a defensive, or negative, climate? Use examples from a recent experience of yours to illustrate your answer.

Conflict is inevitable in human communications (Chapter 14). Understanding how to moderate and even learn from conflict is not inevitable, and requires foresight, training, and practice. Some of the variables that impact effective conflict resolution include relationship variables and contextual variables. One of the most important contextual variables influencing conflict resolution is climate. The "the environment or atmosphere of the disagreement -- can influence the conflict resolution process," (Chapter 14, p. 13).