Application of the Elaboration Likelihood Model to Teaching Personal Selling

Abstract

Academicians and practitioners have for years attempted to solve the mystery of successful selling. Researchers have vigorously examined who and what it takes to produce successful salespeople. The authors introduce a new model that, if incorporated into sales classes, has the potential to help students better understand effective selling. The model not only provides a framework for teaching sales students, but also contributes to sales theory by further developing understanding of the decoding process in sales communications. The authors present information on the elaboration likelihood model (ELM), which originally was examined in an advertising context, and demonstrate how it can be effectively applied to teaching personal selling.