A Study on the Communication Strategies in Seller-Customer Interactions in Sari

The present study examines the verbal communication strategies used by sellers in interacting with customers in Sari. According to Lakoff (1975), these strategies are divided into items such as persuasive, respectful, assertive, affirmative, intensifiers, and so on. The data of this study were collected by recording the voices of sellers and customers in the market and stores of Sari and after transcription, the application of each strategy was calculated and analyzed with descriptive and inferential statistics. The results of data analysis showed that sellers in interaction with customers mainly use verbal supportive strategies such as persuasive expressions, respectful expressions and intensifiers. Considering the gender variable, it was found that among female sellers, persuasive, respectful and affirmative expressions have the highest usage. Among male salespeople, persuasive expressions, hedges, and intensifiers are the most commonly used strategies. It was also found that there was no significant difference between male and female sellers in using supportive verbal strategies, but in the case of aggressive verbal strategies, male sellers used more aggressive verbal strategies than female sellers.