CHAPTER 4
CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
AND
THE COMMUNICATION AGENDA

• The set of actions that make up an individual's consideration, purchase and use of products and services.
• Includes the purchase as well as consumption of the products and services.

• What is motivating the customer to buy. This enables you to convert features into benefits for that particular individual
• In which step of the purchase decision process is the buyer.

1. May occur when the consumer receives information from advertising or from conversation with friends that causes awareness of a need.
2. In consultative selling sometimes hinges on the seller's ability to uncover a need.
3. May occur when the consumer reevaluates the current situation and perceives an area of void or dissatisfaction.
4. No matter what kind of need exists some prospects do not consciously recognize it until the seller brings it out into the open.

1. Time and cost.
2. Experience and urgency.
3. Value of purchase.
4. risk involved in the purchase

1. Evoked Set is the list of alternatives
2. Salient attributes are used to evaluate products.
3. Determinate attributes are motives used to make a decision.

1. Several alternatives may seem equally acceptable;
2. Can be made easier by a professional seller
3. Involves a set of related decisions.
4. Decision criteria
1. Tangible features of the product.
2. Financial considerations such as price, discounts, credit policies, etc.
3. Intangible factors: reputation, past performance of the seller, possible delivery dates, etc.

• post-purchase anxiety
• Depends upon the importance of the decision and the attractiveness of rejected alternatives.

• by selling products that meet needs,
• by reinforcing the buyer's belief that the right decision was made
• by demonstrating the capabilities and quality of the product,
• By post purchase follow-up to be sure that deliveries are prompt, quantities are correct, and the product is functioning as expected.

• Buyer is not always consciously aware of attitudes.
• Attitudes are habitual patterns of response to previous experiences.
• Preconceived attitudes do not always make the selling process difficult.
• A negative attitude must be overcome before a sale can be made.
• Attitudes are the mind’s paintbrush. They can color or affect any situation.

• self-image impacts the problem recognition phase of consumer behavior
• Many of our permanent beliefs about our self-image are developed in our childhood.
• Our concept of self-image can change through our lives.
• Advertisements that are consistent with our self-image are more persuasive.
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• Self-image and public-image are not always the same.
• Much behavior can be explained if the self-image is understood.

1. Culture is an influence that is completely learned and handed down way of life.
2. Cross-Culture Business Considerations
3. Physical Environment
4. Social Class
1. Might impact the information search phase of consumer behavior
2. Marketing and advertising campaigns must differ in their attempts to reach the various social classes.
5. Reference Groups

• Words
• Distractions
• Timing
• Interruptions
• Technical Erudition
• Poor Listening Habits
• Make Use of Feedback - your message has been transmitted successfully when the prospect's understanding of the message is the same as yours.

• Clarity or Articulation
• Volume
• Uniqueness
• Silence
• Rhythm
• Rate of Speech

1. Body language includes facial expressions, shifts in posture and stance, as well as the movement of body limbs.
1. Understand the Body Language of Gestures
2. Body Signals
3. Hand Movements
4. Your mannerisms should be calm and unhurried.
2. Facial expressions convey a larger percentage of the nonverbal message than body movement does.
3. If you can read a prospect's body language and control your own body signals then you are more likely to be understood.
4. Warning signals that the prospect is either not understanding or not accepting the message.
1. Rubbing the nose.
2. Leaning back in the chair with hands behind the head.
3. Resting the head in the hands with elbows on the desk.
4. Finger under collar or rubbing back of neck.
5. The Non Verbal Dictionary
6. Analyzing the walk
7. Biomotion Lab

1. Successful sellers tend to move closer to aclient when closing a sale.
2. It is best to carefully test for a prospect's comfort zone.
3. Comfort zones tend to change with sex, status, or age.
4. Four to twelve feet from the client could be a good distance in which to begin a sales interview.
5. In a selling situation, the intimate zone should be entered only by invitation or during a handshake.

• Americans use a firm, solid grip;
• Middle Easterners and Asians prefer a gentle grip a firm grip to them suggests unnecessary aggressiveness

• Americans are taught to look directly
• Japanese and Koreans are taught to avoid direct eye contact, direct eye contact to them is considered a weakness, and may indicate sexual overtones

• For Americans, forming a circle with thumb and forefinger to signal O.K.
• Means "zero" or worthless in France
• Means money in Japan
• Means calling someone a very bad name in Germany.

• For Americans, up and down means yes, side to side means no
• in Bulgaria, the nods are reversed in meaning.

• An American gesture is found to be offensive to nearly every other country around the globe

1. Body language does not mean exactly the same between a man and a woman as it means between two men or two women
2. Websites
   1. Genderspeak
   2. http://www.adrr.com/lingua/12lwma.htm
   3. Genderspeak: Men, Women, and the Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense
3. A woman's smile
   1. May be interpreted as an attempt to substitute personal charm for competence
   2. If she doesn't smile, she may be considered cold and impersonal.
4. Both men and women may unconsciously join in a game of talking business but using body language that says, "Let's flirt."