Salesperson Communication Style: The Neglected Dimension in Sales Performance

Abstract

This article reports two studies which investigated the relationship between com munication style variables and sales performance. Norton's (1978) communication style construct was used as a guiding framework. Study 1 examined 74 real estate agents' self-reports of communication style, performance and the general sales prac tices they used. The precise dimension of communication style was found to be strongly associated with effective sales performance in a real estate organization. Study 2 ex perimentally tested whether different combinations of the precise and friendly sub- constructs affect sales performance. Four groups of students viewed videotapes of a sales interaction and the experimental findings confirmed those obtained in the field study.