Answer to Question 1
Understanding the stages of listening supports understanding the listening process. In the sensing stage, listeners select or ignore one or more multiple stimuli. Sensing capabilities are affected by gender, age, cultural background, bias, emotion, and environmental distractions. In the interpreting stage, listeners assign meaning. Some of the most serious listening problems occur in this stage due to semantic barriers, assumption of understanding, jumping to conclusions, fatigue, information overload, and the communication fallacy. In the evaluating stage, listeners evaluate and judge the speaker, which are influenced by attitudes toward the speaker, previous experience, expectations, and beliefs and emotions. In the responding stage, listeners give verbal and nonverbal feedback to the speaker. In the memory stage, listeners decide what if any parts of the message to remember. Listeners can fail to transfer information from short-term to long-term memory.
Answer to Question 2
Recently, the customer has changed radically, along with technological changes. Millennial customers grew up with handheld digitally bundled communication and want a seamless and simple user interface. They regularly use social media and want commercial experiences that they can share on social networks. They are passionate about values, including those of companies, and want to promote equality, with every voice mattering. They are looking for adventure, are guided by word of mouth, and view shopping as both an experience and a necessary transaction. They want to share good and bad product experiences with their peers, and they value collaboration and cooperation.