The discourse of sales interactions : a qualitative study

Abstract

This dissertation investigates the patterns observable in the discourse utilised during sales interactions by both seller and buyers. In this study, it is claimed that the seller's discourse essentially threatens the buyer's negative face on both interactional and sentential levels. Whilst some of this face - threatening behaviour is inherent to the structure of the salesperson's speech, other acts seem to be product of the individual's own personal style. Since during the interaction, the seller is not only concerned with influencing the customer but also with establishing rapport with the same client, his discourse needs to include both power-related and solidarity-associated devices to coincide such seeming divergent objectives. It is also demonstrated that the social distance between the two parties acts as a major shaping factor on the structure of the encounter. The results of this research also show that generally, customers prefer to take on the role of conversational facilitators. The analysis of buyer's discourse reveals that, overall, customers speak less and employ various linguistic choices that indicate their reluctance to speak.