- Message production: Constructivist Theory, Action Assembly Theory
- Message processing: Elaboration Likelihood Model, Inoculation theory
- Discourse and interaction: Speech Acts Theory, Coordinated Management of Meaning
- Developing relationships: Uncertainty Reduction Theory, Social Penetration Theory, Predicted Outcome Value Theory
- Ongoing relationships: Relational Systems Theory, Relational Dialectics
- Organizational: Structuration Theory, Unobtrusive and Concertive Control Theory
- Small group: Functional Theory, Symbolic Convergence Theory
- Media processing and effects: Social Cognitive Theory, Uses and Gratifications Theory
- Media and society: Agenda Setting, Information deficit model, Spiral of silence, Symbolic Convergence Theory
- Culture: Speech Codes Theory, Face-saving Theory
- Making social worlds: Coordinated Management of Meaning, Symbolic Interactionism
- Science communication: Gateway Belief Model
Understanding this as a whole is a task rewarding, yet unapproachable to the most sales teams and even to the sales leaders.
The key idea is that there are so many things, that clearly nobody understands nothing.
Theories is one resource for this knowledge. The second is real world practice. When you do something and it works – it works. You don’t need a theory for it if it works, unless you’re writing a journal paper. On the contrary, if something works – you can build a theory out of it and make your own journal.