title: Ear dominance and telephone sales.
abstract: In a field study, three equally sized sales teams used on of three head-sets--left, right, both ears--for a day's selling of insurance by telephone. This had no effect on sales. In a retrospective study of records, daily sales performance including the percentage conversion rate for sales divided by the number of calls and the number and duration of calls was related to preference for type of head-set. Sales were markedly influenced by the choice of head-set. People who chose to wear the left earpiece significantly out sold the others wearing right and stereohead-sets. Neither the number of incoming calls nor the time spent on the telephone were influenced by the choice of head-set. When sales are analysed in terms of individual differences in personal preference for type of head-set, those who chose the left ear had an advantage. Forced use of the left, versus right ear or both ears for one day had no effect.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University College London.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Furnham
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Richardson
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Miller
mesh_terms: D003132:Commerce / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004423:Ear / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013689:Telephone