ABC’s of Relationship Selling, 13e (Futrell)
Chapter 3 The Psychology of Selling: Why People Buy
1) A salesperson following the Core Principles of Professional Selling is helpful and honest with
customers even if that means losing sales.
2) In the stimulus-response model of consumer behavior, information about why consumers do
or do not buy is hidden in the black box.
3) The stimulus-response model of buyer behavior assumes a prospect will respond in some
unpredictable manner to a sales presentation.
4) In organizational buying process, formal guidelines are not necessarily followed.
5) Consumer buying process is often impacted by individual’s emotions.
6) The buying center comprises all of the people performing different roles in the buying process
based on their expertise and responsibilities within their organization.
7) The organizational buying process is impacted by a variety of factors, including social and
organizational factors but not individual factors.
8) A person’s needs are wants that are learned by a person, while wants result from a lack of
something desirable.
9) Economic needs refer to the buyer’s need to behave in an economically rational manner and
buy the lowest priced item available.
10) People with strong economic needs will consider only price in a purchase situation.
11) Four levels of need awareness have been identified—conscious, preconscious, post-
conscious, and unconscious.
12) At the unconscious need level, people do not know why they buy a product—only that they
do buy.
13) A feature is the performance characteristic of a product that describes how it will help the
buyer.
14) The size, color, and price of a product are all examples of product benefits.
15) When a salesperson says, “This glue will form a stronger bond than any other glue on the
market,” he is stating a product benefit.
16) The salesperson should answer the prospect’s question of “What’s in it for me?” with a
product advantage.
17) You should stress a product’s benefits more than its features and advantages because the
product’s benefits are what the customer will buy.
18) One way to remember to incorporate a trial close into your presentation is the FAB
Sequence.
19) Benefits that would satisfy buyers’ unimportant needs should be deemphasized in the sales
presentation.
20) The salesperson asks the prospect to buy during the trial close.
21) The trial close should be used after the salesperson finishes listing all of the selling points in
the sales presentation.
22) The “S” in the SELL Sequence reminds the salesperson to show the benefits first.
23) According to the SELL sequence, the first thing you should do in your sales presentation is
to show the advantages of your product.
24) The easiest type of person to sell a product to is a buyer who is at the unconscious need level.
25) A sales presentation that focuses primarily on product features is highly persuasive.
26) Security, comfort, self-preservation, and personal pleasure are common psychological needs
of buyers.
27) During a trial close, an effective salesperson asks a prospect to purchase a product.
28) In the SELL Sequence, the final step involves asking for feedback from the prospect and
conducting a trial close.
29) In a limited decision making situation, buyers are already in the habit of buying a specific
product or brand.
30) For most people, purchasing a house or a car demands extensive decision making.
31) Social, psychological, and personal factors influence the buying decisions of most
consumers.
32) According to the consumer buying decision process, need arousal is immediately followed
by information evaluation.
33) Martin recently purchased a Nissan Maxima and is concerned that he may have overpaid for
the car. Martin is experiencing emotional dissonance.
34) A high-involvement type of purchase typically requires routine decision making.
35) The buying decision involves five basic steps beginning with need arousal.
36) A beneficial promotional device for a company is having its sales force help prospects and
customers to evaluate products on the market.
37) The decision process ends for the buyer once a product is purchased.
38) Dissonance increases with the importance of the decision and the difficulty of choosing
between products.
39) You can help the buyer be satisfied with the product through continually reinforcing buyers’
decisions by reminding them how well the product actually fulfills their needs.
40) Before developing a sales presentation, a salesperson should consider what psychological
factors may influence the buyer’s decision.
41) LeAnn, a salesperson for a home building company, has spent the last 20 minutes with a
customer who came to the office. LeAnn listened carefully to the customer and asked questions
about the customer’s needs and interests. LeAnn has determined that the customer most likely is
interested in buying a new townhome. What should LeAnn do next?
A) Share the information with the customer on both a single family home and a townhome
B) Discuss the number of newly built townhomes in the area
C) Share the drawbacks of renting a place
D) Discuss the benefits of owning a newly built townhome
E) Determine monthly costs for buying a townhome
42) Which of the following statement regarding organizational buying is most likely to be
incorrect?
A) Organizational buyers tend to focus on very rational goals such as reducing expenses or
increasing sales
B) The buying process involves many individuals, multiple goals, and potentially conflicting
decision criteria
C) Organizational buyers almost always make very quick decisions
D) An organizational buying situation begins when the firm perceives a business problem
E) Establishing the decision criteria is an important step in organizational buying process
43) Which of the following is NOT a step in organizational buying process?
A) Establish the decision criteria
B) Define the problem
C) Identify decision makers
D) Evaluate alternatives
E) Select appropriate solution
44) The process by which prospective buyers “internalize” or consider the information presented
by the salesperson is referred to as a black box because:
A) sales actions lead to buyer reactions.
B) salespeople cannot read a buyer’s mind.
C) psychological needs outweigh social wants.
D) for every stimulus, there must be a response.
E) salespeople seem untrustworthy to most buyers.
45) A prospect internalizes the information presented by a salesperson and then makes a buying
decision. Because we cannot see into the buyer’s mind, this internalization process is referred to
as a(n):
A) black hole.
B) suppressed representation.
C) mirage.
D) black box.
E) echo chamber.
46) The ________ model of buyer behavior assumes a prospect will respond to the sales
presentation in some predictable manner.
A) perceptual
B) stimulus-response
C) buying process
D) FAB
E) needs hierarchy
47) Selena is hungry. She has learned to meet that need by seeking out the CiCi’s Pizza all-you-
can-eat buffet. By preferring this type of eating opportunity, Selena is satisfying a(n):
A) belief.
B) perception.
C) want.
D) attitude.
E) opportunity.
48) Which of the following is most likely a want rather than a need?
A) shelter
B) water
C) transportation
D) steak
E) clothing
49) Different individuals have different reasons for wanting to buy, so when developing a sales
presentation, the salesperson must:
A) be sure to have his/her product available to the prospect when the relevant need occurs.
B) be sure to have his/her product available to the prospect when the relevant want occurs.
C) rely on the prospect to see that the good or service will satisfy his/her relevant need/want.
D) make sure his/her sales presentation appeals to all possible needs/wants.
E) determine a prospect’s needs and then match the product’s benefits to that particular prospect’s
needs and wants.
50) Which of the following statements about economic needs is true?
A) Economic needs refer to the buyer’s need to purchase the most satisfying product for the
money.
B) Economic needs are rarely considered during times of economic recession.
C) Economic needs refer to the buyer’s need to behave in an economically rational manner and
buy the lowest priced item available.
D) Economic needs are unimportant to most consumers.
E) A product priced higher than the competition’s is doomed to failure because it satisfies no
economic need.
51) The easiest people to sell to are people at the ________ level of need awareness.
A) conscious
B) preconscious
C) unconscious
D) subconscious
E) postconscious
52) At the ________ level of need awareness, the consumer may not be sure why he/she wants to
buy a product, but will go ahead with the purchase anyway.
A) Conscious
B) Preconscious
C) unconscious
D) subconscious
E) postconscious
53) Rachel has just walked into her local Serta mattress outlet and told the salesperson, “I’d like
to buy a pillow-top mattress with individually wrapped coils and a five-year warranty. What can
you show me?” At what level of need awareness is Rachel?
A) Conscious
B) Preconscious
C) Postconscious
D) Unconscious
E) Subconscious