Advanced Submitted To:

Dr. Archana Shrivastava

Associate Professor
Head-Business

Writing Communication Area

Report

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 SUBMITTED BY:

Anirudh Sharma 18DM023

Chiranjeeb Mitra 18DM054
Madhav Raj Prakash 18DM108
Piyush Gupta 18DM144
Harsh Rana 18IB327

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CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................................................. 3

LITERATURE REVIEW .................................................................................................................... 4
THE NEED FOR THE STUDY ………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…5

METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................................................... 8
LIMITATIONS ............................................................................................................................... 9
ANALYSIS & INTERPRETATION .................................................................................................... 10
CUSTOMER VARIABLE ANALYSIS ............................................................................................. 11
SALESMEN VARIABLE ANALYSIS .............................................................................................. 14
HYPOTHESIS TESTING: ................................................................................................................ 16
CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................. 18
EXHIBIT ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……20

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The objective of this study is to find the interpersonal listening skills, non-verbal emotional
expressiveness, empathy, communication style and efficiency of salesmen. The study of
consumers and salesmen perception is important to identify the listening effectiveness which directly
affect the sales.

The methodology for this study is initiated with the structured questionnaire for customers and
salesmen. We covered Delhi-NCR retail stores of different industries to understand the perception of
both. Further, the process of personal interview with the customers and salesman recorded the
response on Likert 5 point scale.

Salesmen were contacted through pursuing the managers in order to save time and effort. Customers
were targeted in the stores and outside of the stores.

Our analysis comprises of factor reduction and weightage distribution to identify the
important factor and the parameter in total.
After the analysis has been done we can clearly state that there is a positive correlation
between trust and response, i.e. a part of good listening skill, so we accept the first hypothesis
(Ha)*. However in the case of second hypothesis, i.e. Hb**, we reject it because good listening
skills of salesman has nothing to do with customers turning into brand loyalists.

*Ha: Null Hypothesis

There is a positive association between customers' perceptions of salesperson listening behaviour and their
trust in the salesperson.
**Hb: Null Hypothesis
If the salesperson has got good listening skills, the chance of conversion to a brand loyalist will be high.

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LITERATURE REVIEW

The project is based on two hypotheses that will be tested against already established facts
that have been proved by research analysis. The basic measurement related to this project
was the salesperson skills in NCR region. For this study two questionnaires were designed,
one was related to the salesman and the other was related to customers responding to the
nature and behaviour of a particular salesman. The questionnaires were designed on some
specific parameters in both cases.
For the salesman questionnaire, the variables that were kept in consideration are:

 Sensing
 Evaluating
 Responding
For the customer questionnaire, the variables from the customer’s POV that were kept in
consideration are:

 Trust
 Satisfaction
 Anticipation
 Interaction
These above variables will help us understand how listening as a skill has an effect on sales
and how important is the skill with respect to the sales of the respective brand or how
important is listening a factor for making the customer go back to him. The basic objective is
to find out whatever that has been established through previous researches is true or not for
a specific zone like NCR.
The following are the two hypotheses that will be tested based on the analysis done from the
respective hypotheses:

 Ha: Null Hypothesis

There is a positive association between customers' perceptions of salesperson
listening behaviour and their trust in the salesperson.
 Hb: Null Hypothesis
If the salesperson has got good listening skills, the chance of conversion to a brand
loyalist will be high.
During the course of the project, some of the articles that were referred to for limiting the
scope of their inquiry and convey the importance of the study are:

 The Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management: The research has focussed
on effective listening skills required in the case of personal selling, which is
explained with the help of cognitive process model of interpersonal listening skills.
 Understanding And Assessing Non-Verbal Expressiveness: This report gives an
overview of non-verbal emotional expressiveness that was explored through
Affective Communication Test (ACT).

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 Salesperson Empathy and Listening: Impact on Relationship Outcomes: The study
is done to find the factors that are important and forms a strong positive
relationship between empathy and the following: salesperson listening, trust in the
salesperson, and satisfaction with the salesperson. The listening skill is related
positively to buyer’s trust in and satisfaction with the salesperson.
 Communication Style in the Salesperson-The study’s purpose is exploratory which
provides an assessment of the communication style variable for use in the research
to be done in the future on customer salesperson dyad.

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THE NEED FOR THE STUDY
How does efficient listening skills help in sales?
Active listening is a means of communication that helps to improve a speaker's knowledge
and relationship with a listener. Instead of listening passively to the individual speaking (or
not listening at all), the active listener pays close attention to the other person's word
selection, speech tone, and body language— which accounts for roughly 80% of interaction.
Listening is a wide composition that can be interpersonal, active, empathetic, verbal, non-
verbal which can have multiple dimensions. Listening conceptualizations propose three
dimensions: sensing, assessing, and reacting. The dimensions of learnings are as follows:
1) Sensing: The salesperson initiates the listening process by hearing or sensing the
buyer / customer's verbal and nonverbal signals as well as those messages which
are not sent by the customer. The salesperson must be able to filter out any "noise"
and be conscious of the buyer's message that clients can say when a salesperson
senses what they communicate through eye contact, concentrate on discussion, and
use nonverbal activities.
2) Evaluating: Evaluation is the second phase of the listening process. This comprises
mainly of cognitive processes that allow the salesperson to attribute meaning and
significance from the received texts. This listening dimension often includes
paraphrasing what the client has said in order to prevent distortion of messages.
Assessment also shows the client that the salesperson is attempting to comprehend
what the client is. Effective listener-salesman must first receive verbal and
nonverbal messages and assess the sales encounter signals second.
3) Responding: Responding is the last element of listening; this element of listening is
mainly behavioural. Responses generally involve some buyer intervention such as
informing, sharing emotions, asking questions, etc. At this point, salespeople can
use questioning to acquire or clarify extra data from the customer. This phase also
includes certain nonverbal behaviours such as head nodes, eye contact, language of
the body and facial expressions.
As a salesperson, active listening can not only provide the customer with a fruitful experience
but also help in retention of customers.
• It enables to overcome objections by salesmen: If a salesperson listens more than
he speaks, he will be able to better comprehend all the objections of the customer.
This create uncovering, addressing and overcoming those objections is much
easier for him.
• It enables salesmen to overcome customers ' initial resistance: When salespeople
start a call, they may hear the client say they don't need help or they don't have
time to speak. The salesperson can then use active listening to open the discussion
and demonstrate that he is there to assist solve a issue that the client faces.
• It enables salesperson close the sales: The advantage of active listening is, of
course, that your salespeople will be most enthusiastic about this is that it enables

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 them to attain a greater sales achievement rate. This is how active listening works
because it enables the salesperson to close a sale without being pushy or
offensive.
There are other benefits that a salesperson can achieve from good listening skills such as:

 Builds Rapport
 Avoids Miscommunication
 Building customer relationship
 Performance feedback from customers
 Increase in sales
 Gaining new customers
 Avoiding crises
 Diminishing stereotypes
What can go wrong if a salesperson is not a good listener?
When a salesperson shows inefficiency in his/her listening skills, it explicitly and implicitly
impacts the salesperson, customer and the company as a whole. A dissatisfied customer,
exited the store can have catastrophic impact over the company. The following are some
implications on how ineffective listening skills can scrutinize the entities:
Customer dissatisfaction: Customers would be dissatisfied with the ignorant attitude of a
salesperson when they show lack of empathy and attentiveness. This can manifest into the
customers leaving the store
Brand degradation: A bad experience by a customer can have multi-fold effect as the brand
would have been degraded in their eyes and they would always perceive the salesperson to
be bad listeners
Boycotting the retail outlet: Customers may also share their experience in social media and
the influencers may start boycotting the store
Demoralize: Morale of employees would diminish as their business is being lost due their own
unintentional ignorance
Bad customer reviews: Websites like Yelp, JustDial, etc are very review-oriented websites and
bad experiences of customers may infuse negative reviews for the whole retail outlet
Customer biasness: the salesperson may show biasness in listening to different sets of
shoppers which may end up in a negative consequence
Higher employee turnover: Inefficient salesperson, due to lack of proper listening skills, may
be fired from the company, and hence the brand retail outlet would incur a higher employee
turnover ratio, thereby increasing the costs
Decrease in sales: It’s well-known fact that a sale takes place when the customer is not only
satisfied with the product but also with the serviced, he/she is provided with. A dissatisfied
customer may paint a bigger picture for the company in turn of diminishing sales.
Increase in costs: Higher employee turnover would incur huge hiring and training costs for
the company.

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METHODOLOGY

Who
 Male/Females shoppers and sellers
 Sampling Frame-:
i) 75 respondents as customers
ii) 50 respondents as salesmen

Where
 Delhi-NCR

How
• Convenience sampling
• Pen and Paper Personal Interview / Structured questionnaire
• Causal Research

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LIMITATIONS

Salesman

● Bias responses from salesman

● Lack of attention to questionnaire due to frequent customer engagement
● Unavailability of salesman

Customer

● Lack of attention towards questionnaire

● Due to having less time, customers were not willing to fill the questionnaire

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ANALYSIS & INTERPRETATION

CUSTOMER RESPONSE

VARIABLES VARIABLE AVERAGE

ANTICIPATION 2.8767

INTERACTION 3.1040

SATISFACTION 2.9333

TRUST 2.9840

VARIABLE RANKINGS
3.1500
3.1000
3.0500
3.0000
2.9500
2.9000
2.8500
2.8000
2.7500
ANTICIPATION INTERACTION SATISFACTION TRUST

ANTICIPATION INTERACTION SATISFACTION TRUST

The factors are clustered in 4 broad parameters as mentioned above.

According to the customers, their interaction with the sales executive was rated the highest,
and they have a fair level of trust on the salesperson.
It has been seen that the anticipation level of salesperson in the eyes of customers is quite
low and therefore the total satisfaction of the customer is moderate.

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CUSTOMER VARIABLE ANALYSIS

1. ANTICIPATION
1 It is probable that will contact this salesperson again.
2 I am willing to discuss more with this salesperson
3 I plan to continue going back with this salesperson
4 I will purchase from this salesperson again.

ANTICIPATION PARAMETERS SCORES

2.55 2.60 2.65 2.70 2.75 2.80 2.85 2.90 2.95 3.00 3.05

2. INTERACTION

5 Focused only on me.

6 Kept firm eye contact.
7 Nonverbal gestures suggested he or she was listening to me
8 Seemed bored
9 Asked for more details
10 Paraphrased my questions.
11 Didn't interrupt me.
12 Changed subject too frequently
13 Tried hard to understand what was saying.
14 Used full sentences instead of saying yes or no.

INTERACTION PARAMETERS SCORE

14
13
12
11
10
9
8
7
6
5

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5

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 3. SATISFACTION
15 Offered relevant information to the questions asked.
16 Answered at appropriate times.
17 The amount of contact I have had with this salesperson was adequate
18 I am satisfied with the level of service this salesperson has provided.
19 In general, I am pretty satisfied with my dealings with this
salesperson

SATISFACTION PARAMETERS

19

18

17

16

15

2.6 2.65 2.7 2.75 2.8 2.85 2.9 2.95 3 3.05 3.1

4. TRUST

20 Showed eagerness in his or her responses.

21 This salesperson was friendly and approachable.
22 This salesperson was sincere.
23 This salesperson was honest
24 I felt very little risk was involved when dealing with this salesperson.

TRUST PARAMETERS SCORE

24

23

22

21

20

2.60 2.70 2.80 2.90 3.00 3.10 3.20

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SALESMAN RESPONSE

VARIABLES VARIABLE AVERAGE

EVALUATION 4.44
RESPONSE 4.48
SENSING 4.37

SALESMAN VARIABLE RANKINGS

4.50

4.48

4.46

4.44

4.42

4.40

4.38

4.36

4.34

4.32

4.30
EVALUATION RESPONSE SENSING

When talked to the salespeople, they rated themselves very high on several factors.
We classified these factors into 3 broad parameters namely the sensing, evaluating and
responding to the customer queries.
The analysis shows that salespeople believe that they are a little slow in sensing the customer
queries but good enough to evaluate the problem maybe because they face a lot of clients on
daily basis which has improved their thinking ability and thus rate them high on responding
to customer leading to great interactions.

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SALESMEN VARIABLE ANALYSIS

1. EVALUATION

1 I listen carefully to their queries

2 I don't interrupt them when they talk
3 I try to offer relevant information to the questions they ask
4 I show eagerness to listen to their queries and responses

EVALUATION PARAMETERS SCORES

4.15 4.2 4.25 4.3 4.35 4.4 4.45 4.5 4.55

Series1

2. RESPONSE

5 I stick to the subject and don't try to change the topic

6 I use full sentences instead of saying yes or no
7 I try to give answered to their queries immediately
8 I try to be friendly and approachable
9 I think I show my sincerity through words and actions

RESPONSE PARAMETERS SCORES

3.9 4 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8

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 3. SENSING

10 I keep my focus only on the customer while telling them about the product
11 I maintain firm eye contact
12 I take care that they do not feel bored
13 I ask for more details to get them involved
14 I try to paraphrase my questions so that they understand well
15 I try to understand what they are saying

SENSING PARAMETERS SCORES

4 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6

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Hypothesis Testing:
Ha:
There is a positive association between customers' perceptions of salesperson
listening behaviour and their trust in the salesperson.
The factors we are considering for the hypothesis testing are response and trust:
RESPONSE I stick to the subject and don't try to change the topic 4.4
I use full sentences instead of saying yes or no 4.42
I try to be friendly and approachable 4.62
I think I show my sincerity through words and actions 4.74
TRUST Showed eagerness in his or her responses. 2.78
This salesperson was friendly and approachable. 2.82
This salesperson was honest 3.09
I felt very little risk was involved when dealing with this salesperson. 3.14

Correlation between response of the salesman (one of the factors that determine his listening
skills) and trust of the customers which will help understand and validate Ha.
After applying the formula in excel “=correl (array1, array2)”, it gives the value as
‘0.982299575’.
The below graph shows the relationship between trust and response which has a very high
positive correlation.

Response vs Trust Correlation Graph

3.2

3.15

3.1

3.05

3
Trust

2.95

2.9

2.85

2.8

2.75
4.35 4.4 4.45 4.5 4.55 4.6 4.65 4.7 4.75 4.8
Response

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Hb:
If the salesperson has got good listening skills, the chance of conversion to a brand
loyalist will be high.
The customer response variable weighted average and salesman response weighted average
are taken into consideration for the test of this hypothesis.
Customer Response Salesman Response
VARIABLE VARIABLE
VARIABLES VARIABLES
AVERAGE AVERAGE
ANTICIPATION 2.8767 EVALUATION 4.44

SATISFACTION 2.9333 RESPONSE 4.48

TRUST 2.9840 SENSING 4.37

These above variables in both the respective responses will help us validate this hypothesis.
After applying the formula in excel “correl(array1,array2)”,we get a negative correlation
among the variables, ‘-0.5’, which helps us to infer that the above hypothesis assumed is
wrong and we reject it.
The below graph shows the negative correlation between customer and salesman response
which helps us to validate the fact that only good listening skills of a salesman, doesn’t turn
customers into brand loyalists.

Saleman vs Customer Response

4.6

4.4

4.2
Salesman Response

3.8

3.6

3.4

3.2
2.8 2.9 2.9
ACustomer Response

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CONCLUSION

From the salesperson and customer responses to the questions, following is the conclusion:

 Higher interaction leads to high response, therefore both the parties are in parity.
 With low anticipation from customer, high evaluation and moderate sensing level
from salesperson, there is a disparity among the mapping of the opinions of both the
parties.
 There is no trust issues with the salesperson and the overall satisfaction level is
decent.
 Therefore the positive correlation between trust and response will lead to revisit of
the customer to the store.
 However, in case of the second hypothesis we are testing, we cannot say that good
listening skills of salesman, will make the customer turn into a brand loyalist.

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EXHIBIT(Salesman Questionnaire Data)
Ratings
Variable Statements 1 2 3 4 5 Sum of Total Statement Variable
Respondents Average Average
1 EVALUATION I listen carefully to their queries 0 0 3 20 27 50 0 0 9 80 135 4.48 4.4384
2 I don't interrupt them when they 0 0 5 18 27 50 0 0 15 72 135 4.44
talk
3 I try to offer relevant information 0 0 2 20 28 50 0 0 6 80 140 4.52
to the questions they ask
4 I show eagerness to listen to their 0 0 8 19 23 50 0 0 24 76 120 4.31
queries and responses
5 RESPONSE I stick to the subject and don't try 0 0 3 24 23 50 0 0 9 96 115 4.4 4.4800
to change the topic
6 I use full sentences instead of 0 0 5 19 26 50 0 0 15 76 130 4.42
saying yes or no
7 I try to give answered to their 0 0 10 19 21 50 0 0 30 76 105 4.22
queries immediately
8 I try to be friendly and 0 0 4 11 35 50 0 0 12 44 175 4.62
approachable
9 I think I show my sincerity through 0 0 1 11 38 50 0 0 3 44 190 4.74
words and actions
10 SENSING I keep my focus only on the 0 1 2 22 25 50 0 2 6 88 125 4.42 4.3700
customer while telling them
about the product
11 I maintain firm eye contact 0 0 7 22 21 50 0 0 21 88 105 4.28
12 I take care that they do not feel 0 0 7 25 18 50 0 0 21 100 90 4.22
bored
13 I ask for more details to get them 0 0 4 23 23 50 0 0 12 92 115 4.38
involved
14 I try to paraphrase my questions 0 0 5 21 24 50 0 0 15 84 120 4.38
so that they understand well
15 I try to understand what they are 0 0 4 15 31 50 0 0 12 60 155 4.54
saying

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Customer Questionnaire Data
Ratings
Variable Statements 1 2 3 4 5 SUM OF TOTAL STATEMENT VARIABLE
RESPONDENTS AVERAGE AVERAGE
1 ANTICIPATION It is probable that will 21 8 12 17 17 75 21 16 36 68 85 3.01 2.8767
contact this salesperson
again.
2 I am willing to discuss more 17 11 20 12 15 75 17 22 60 48 75 2.96
with this salesperson
3 I plan to continue going 16 19 18 14 8 75 16 38 54 56 40 2.72
back with this salesperson
4 I will purchase from this 20 15 10 19 11 75 20 30 30 76 55 2.81
salesperson again.
5 INTERACTION Focused only on me. 18 15 9 12 21 75 18 30 27 48 105 3.04 3.1040
6 Kept firm eye contact. 13 17 13 12 20 75 13 34 39 48 100 3.12
7 Nonverbal gestures 12 20 11 13 19 75 12 40 33 52 95 3.09
suggested he or she was
listening to me
8 Seemed bored 11 16 16 13 19 75 11 32 48 52 95 3.17
9 Asked for more details 19 19 12 14 11 75 19 38 36 56 55 2.72
1 Paraphrased my questions. 10 19 15 16 15 75 10 38 45 64 75 3.09
0
1 Didn't interrupt me. 13 16 14 12 20 75 13 32 42 48 100 3.13
1
1 Changed subject too 9 16 14 20 16 75 9 32 42 80 80 3.24
2 frequently
1 Tried hard to understand 10 15 12 17 21 75 10 30 36 68 105 3.32
3 what was saying.
1 Used full sentences instead 11 17 15 17 15 75 11 34 45 68 75 3.11
4 of saying yes or no.
1 SATISFACTION Offered relevant 18 10 19 13 15 75 18 20 57 52 75 2.96 2.9333
5 information to the
questions asked.
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1 Answered at appropriate 16 14 16 16 13 75 16 28 48 64 65 2.95
6 times.
1 The amount of contact I 19 16 8 16 16 75 19 32 24 64 80 2.92
7 have had with this
salesperson was adequate
1 I am satisfied with the level 20 14 16 13 12 75 20 28 48 52 60 2.77
8 of service this salesperson
has provided.
1 In general, I am pretty 15 11 16 20 13 75 15 22 48 80 65 3.07
9 satisfied with my dealings
with this salesperson
2 TRUST Showed eagerness in his or 20 13 15 17 10 75 20 26 45 68 50 2.79 2.9840
0 her responses.
2 This salesperson was 16 18 15 15 11 75 16 36 45 60 55 2.83
1 friendly and approachable.
2 This salesperson was 15 13 16 14 17 75 15 26 48 56 85 3.07
2 sincere.
2 This salesperson was 16 13 10 20 16 75 16 26 30 80 80 3.09
3 honest
2 I felt very little risk was 16 8 18 15 18 75 16 16 54 60 90 3.15
4 involved when dealing with
this salesperson.

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