Salesman-Customer Interview Situation

Appendix and Supplementary Exercises

Anyone who has ever taught a course in speech communication realizes that there is often a major gap between the theory and the application of that theory. This appendix includes some supplementary exercises which may be used to help bridge the above-mentioned gap. For maximum benefit, however, the behaviors stimulated by these exercises should be discussed to show their relationship to the conceptual material presented in this text and to class lectures. It is important to keep in mind that the exercises are a means of increasing student learning and are not an end in themselves.

Two-Person Role-Play Exercises

Student-Professor Conference

Jane: You are a college sophomore in Dr. Patterson's speech communication class. You are dissatisfied with a grade for one of your class projects and are trying to persuade Dr. Patterson to give you a higher grade.

Dr. Patterson: You have had ten students come to your office to complain about their low grades. Jane has been an uninterested student all semester long. Now she enters your office.

Parent-Son Episode

Parent: You have been looking for a lost article of your son's clothing and you find some pornographic pictures in one of the drawers of his dresser.

Seventeen- You have just been out with some friends and you find your parent in
Year-Old your room.

Son:

Employer-Applicant Interview

Employer: You are looking for a man or woman to hire as a summer salesperson in your

department store. You are primarily looking for someone who can relate to your college

Applicant: You are a twenty-year-old college student who desperately needs a summer job to help

finance your way through school. You have had no sales experience but are popular and personable.

Employer-Employee Interview

Employer: You have noticed that the work of one of your employees has been substandard lately. He has worked for you as a used car salesman for the past five years and has been a better than average salesman. You have just received a call from his wife that he has been drinking some­what lately and that she suspects him of having spent several nights with another woman. She is completely against any drinking, and she gets upset when he drinks even one beer or mixed drink. You call him in for a discussion.

Employee: You have been disappointed about your level of pay lately and you would like to be

considered for a promotion as a used car sales manager. You have been moonlighting at a second job lately to buy your wife a special birthday gift.

Counselor-Student Interview

Student: You are a college student who has become involved in drug use to an extent that you feel it is becoming a problem. You go to the university counseling center to get some help.

Counselor: You are employed by the university counseling center to give help to students who seem to have problems of various kinds. You are eager to help in any way you can. A student has just entered your office.

Salesman-Customer Interview Situation

Problem: You as a salesman sold two cars to two brothers. You assured them that the cars would be delivered in approximately five to six weeks. Under normal operating conditions this would have been a true statement, one which you could very easily fulfill. However, just before both cars are scheduled for production, the company goes on strike. As the salesman it is your duty to assure both brothers that:

1.The strike won't last too long.

2..They will get their cars as soon as the strike is over.

3.You are doing all you can to get their cars here as soon as possible.

The problem is further intensified after the strike ends. Delivery is already three weeks late, but to make matters worse, the car was shipped, but it has in some way gotten lost while en route and no one seems to have any idea where it is.

Situation: The two brothers are calling everyday to ask about their cars. Each time they call they tell you that they are getting less and less interested in the cars. In fact, toward the end they are both talking about canceling their orders. They both think that in some way you have pulled a fast deal on them. It is your job to make them understand (1) the reason the cars are delayed, and (2) that the cars will be along shortly.

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 786