Encounter

For my encounter, I went to a cell phone kiosk at Provo Towne Centre. There I talked with salesman John Smith under the premise that my parents were downgrading their service and my plan with their provider expired in a couple of months. He tried to convince me to switch my service to Verizon.

The WATCO was, "WATCO switching to Verizon on your ability to connect with others?" The enthymeme was, "Switching to Verizon will improve your ability to connect with others... because switching to Verizon gives you better service and coverage." The implicit assumption was that better service and coverage make it easier to connect with people you know.

The argument John made was that Verizon will serve me better than any other phone company and that because of this, I should switch my service to Verizon when the contract is up on my phone a couple months down the road.

The audience being targeted was me––someone who was looking to switch my phone service from T-Mobile to something else if I could find a plan that was better than my parents’ family plan, which I’m currently on.

John’s goal was to persuade me to switch my phone service to Verizon. He made his argument mostly through ethos, building the company’s credibility. He told me Verizon has three times the number of cell phone towers of any other cell phone company, and that it has the largest network of users. (If it has that many cell phone towers, one can trust that his or her calls won’t be dropped, and if the company has a network that large, their service must be superb.) Bringing the argument down to a personal level, John told me he himself is a Verizon customer and described his experiences having service through the company. He said his phone had never dropped a call while he has been with Verizon, and related the experience of one of his friends, who had a problem with his phone; Verizon sent him a brand-new phone.

The argument was effective. John did make concessions, noting that if most of the people I call are on T-Mobile (my current provider) then it would probably be wise to stay with them so I wouldn’t be charged for my calls. He also told me his commission worked differently than that of the salesmen at the other kiosks. This made me less distrustful of him and made me feel more like he had my best interest at heart.

The argument was sufficient; in fact, if I was thinking of changing my provider, I would probably seriously consider Verizon. I also felt the argument was relevant; John asked what I primarily use my phone for, how many minutes I use every month, how many texts I send in a month, etc. and tried to aim me toward a plan that would accomodate my usage.