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ABC’s of Relationship Selling, 13e (Futrell)
Chapter 5 Sales Knowledge: Customers, Products, Technologies
1) According to the Core Principles of Professional Selling, most customers do not care how
much a salesperson knows about a product until the salesperson shows honesty and caring.
2) According to the text, salespeople who are product experts develop ethical, long-term
relationships with customers.
3) Sales training is the effort put forth by an employer to provide the opportunity for the
salesperson to receive job-related skills and knowledge that improve sales success.
4) Knowledge of selling is gained only through the company’s formal training program.
5) Salesperson knowledge is simply about a product or service.
6) Nowadays, salespeople are not expected to be knowledge brokers for their sellers.
7) Prospects want to do business with salespeople who know their business and the products they
sell.
8) To reduce the amount of time that must be devoted to sales training, modern companies do not
teach their salespeople about the company’s history.
9) A successful salesperson focuses only on gaining knowledge about the specific product being
sold because that is the only information that customers demand.
10) Salespeople should familiarize themselves with the company’s price, discount, and credit
policies so that they can use them as a competitive advantage.
11) Many companies offer customers various types of discounts, which are usually developed at
the business unit level by the firm’s product managers.
12) One method to obtain information on competitors is through advertisements.
13) Monitoring advertising and sales promotion activities enables salespeople to include current
data and prices into sales presentations.
14) Brenda Hernandez is a manager of a plant that processes recycled plastic to prepare them for
sale to retail supermarkets. She recently saw an advertisement for a machine her company could
buy to reduce the cost of reclaiming the recycled plastic by 20 percent. This ad is an example of
trade advertising.
15) In the area of sales promotions, the letters POP stand for priced-on-purchase.
16) Shelf-facing refers to the number of individual products placed side-by-side on the shelf.
17) A premium is an article of merchandise offered as an incentive to the user to sample a
product or visit a store.
18) Premiums are used solely to get customers to come into the retailer‘s store.
19) The three major categories of premiums are contests and sweepstakes, consumer premiums,
and dealer premiums.
20) The use of technology provides salespeople with more efficient account control and better
time and territory management.
21) Customer Relationship Management (CRM), is a technology system that helps companies
manage information about existing and potential customers.
22) According to the text, time is the most vulnerable asset a salesperson has to manage.
23) According to the text, The value of a CRM system lies in its ability to manage knowledge.
24) Electronic calendar management can result in improved time management.
25) Sales force automation systems are used for managing customer follow-up calls.
26) A GIS is capable of revealing customer buying patterns.
27) For salespeople who need to be constantly in touch with their clients, technology allows a
functioning virtual office in the salesperson’s home, their vehicle, hotel room, or even local
coffee shop.
28) E-mails sent to customers can be written in a more casual format than business letters sent by
conventional mail.
29) Salespeople who use a virtual office are not as efficient as those who work out of a stable
office.
30) The emergence of the cloud technology has restricted more mobile, portable opportunities
for salespeople.
31) Increased worldwide interaction requires access and exchange of data on a global basis.
32) In sales, the need for netiquette mostly arises when using cell phones.
33) The rules of netiquette encourage you to use all capital letters in e-mail that needs to be
communicated quickly.
34) Etiquette rules for using a cell phone advise users to avoid cell yell.
35) Net price is the standard price charged to customers.
36) FOB shipping point means the buyer pays all shipping costs.
37) Cumulative quantity discounts are price reductions received for buying a certain amount of a
product over a stated period of time.
38) Sterling Industries offers customers cash discounts for paying their bills within 10 days.
Assume a Sterling Industries customer purchases $10,000 worth of goods on October 1 and the
cash discount is “2/10 net 30.” If the customer pays his bill on October 9, the amount due will be
$9,000.
39) Markup is the dollar amount of money added to the product cost to determine its selling
price.
40) Gross profit is the money that remains after paying the costs of marketing and operating the
business.
41) Markup can only be derived from the product’s cost.
42) Which term refers to an employer’s effort to provide the opportunity for salespeople to learn
about the job-related skills, knowledge, and attitudes that lead to sales success?
A) Market positioning
B) Sales training
C) Sales enhancement
D) Market delegation
E) Job development
43) Which of the following statements about sales training is true?
A) Sales training ends when the salesperson actually begins the selling job.
B) An understanding of sales training is only gained through the company’s formal training
program.
C) Sales training is irrelevant once a salesperson receives the designation of “master sales
representative.”
D) Sales knowledge gained from sales training benefits not only the salesperson and the
company but also the customer.
E) Periodic sales training is intended to keep salespeople humble and aware of their
shortcomings.
44) Identify the correct statement about sales training.
A) Knowledge of selling is primarily developed through experience.
B) Most salespeople only go through about two weeks of sales training during their entire selling
career.
C) Sales knowledge gained from sales training typically does not benefit the salesperson.
D) The only reason companies engage in sales training is to abide by federal government laws
that require equity in positioning.
E) A salesperson has to undergo sales training only at the beginning of a sales career.
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45) According to the text, salespeople need to have sales knowledge to:
A) comply with Green River Ordinances.
B) build the buyer’s confidence in the salesperson.
C) eliminate inequities in sales experience.
D) more efficiently manage inventory.
E) win their employers’ confidence.
46) Identify the incorrect statement about the buyer’s expectations from a knowledgeable
salesperson.
A) Buyers want salespeople to aid them in meeting their professional goals.
B) Buyers want salespeople to have knowledge about product and service, only.
C) Buyers want salespeople to aid them in meeting their organizational goals.
D) Buyers want salespeople to aid them in meeting their personal goals
E) Buyers want salespeople to be able to furnish important information on the environment and
help interpret the information.
47) Salespeople need to have knowledge for all of the following EXCEPT:
A) increasing the individual salesperson’s self-confidence.
B) meeting buyer’s expectations
C) building relationships with their customers.
D) building the buyer’s confidence in the individual salesperson.
E) increasing cognitive dissonance among customers.
48) As per the text, in order to be a knowledge broker, which one of the following pieces of
information would be LEAST important for a salesperson?
A) their customers
B) their customer’s business and industry
C) their customer’s organization
D) key dynamics and trends that can impact their customer
E) their customer’s political beliefs
49) A salesperson selling ________ to ________ would most likely have the most extensive
product knowledge.
A) skis; consumers
B) jewelry; retailers
C) televisions; consumers
D) computers; small businesses
E) rocket components; engineers
50) Salespeople trying to gather general information about their own company may be LEAST
interested in learning about:
A) company growth and accomplishment
B) policies and procedures
C) production facilities
D) service facilities
E) architectural details of the company’s building
51) Which of the following pieces of information would be LEAST important for a salesperson
to know about the product she sells?
A) How the product performs
B) How well the product is selling in the marketplace
C) Specific features, advantages, and benefits of the product
D) Physical size and characteristics of the product
E) How to make the product
52) A typical salesperson’s product knowledge should primarily include:
A) the product’s FAB.
B) the product’s SELL sequence.
C) the product’s AIDA sequence.
D) who invented the product.
E) how the product is made.
53) To truly know channels of distribution, a salesperson should know:
A) the financial history of each channel member.
B) when the channel member began operation.
C) what product lines the channel member stock.
D) the names of all the channel member’s employees.
E) the number of competitors the channel members have.
54) Which information is the LEAST important for a salesperson to know about a channel
member that sells the same products as the salesperson’s employer?
A) The channel member’s distribution policies
B) Product lines and assortments carried
C) The channel members’ pricing policies
D) Past purchases of the salesperson’s product
E) Details on inventory, storage, and distribution