The generic product is the basic, substantive product you are selling.
A salesperson’s performance evaluation is typically based entirely on qualitative items
of measurement because quantitative criteria are viewed as unfair and subjective.
In many cases, intrinsic motivators have a more long-term effect on the attitudes of
salespeople than extrinsic motivators do.
A salesperson should plan for full-line selling during the preapproach step of the sales
process.
Newspaper advertisements can attract well-qualified sales job applicants.
People buy expectations, not products, according to Ted Levitt, author of The
Marketing Imagination.
In a single sales call or a multi-call situation, the salesperson should always plan to go
through all four parts of the Consultative Sales Presentation Guide during the initial
contact.
Salespeople today need to have more education and skills than salespeople did in the
past.
Maintaining a positive relationship with company support staff is a key element of
building partnership relationships.
RealPlan sells a calendar/messaging/paperwork center that helps working parents
organize their families’ schedules and paperwork. The product has received positive
feedback from buyers, and it is priced comparably to normal planners even though it
offers more features and benefits. RealPlan has been selling various planning products
to consumers for 10 years, and managers at the firm see an opportunity to move into the
business market with a software version of the popular planner.
A consumer who purchases the RealPlan product for the first time would most likely be
engaging in a(n) ________ buying decision.
A) straight rebuy
B) variety-seeking
C) modified rebuy
D) habitual
E) complex
Product buying motives include:
A) engineering preference
B) social preference
C) method preference
D) purchase preference
E) frequency preference
Charles Lin has just been hired by Frederick Company to replace a sales representative
who is retiring after 40 years with the company. The older representative is training
Charles on procedures and customers in his territory for three weeks before he retires,
and Charles knows this is a huge opportunity to learn about the prospect base. When
Charles asks which CRM system the company uses, the older representative says,
“Everyone else here uses some computer program called Salesforce, but I won’t touch
it. I know my customers like the back of my hand! I never needed to write anything
down.”
Charles is concerned. He used Salesforce in college and knows how vital it is to have
customer information, sales records, preferences, and conversations recorded. He talks
to the sales manager, who tells him the representative’s sales were decent, and all his
invoices came in, so they left him alone and never forced him to use the CRM system.
What will be the most likely outcome for Charles due to the retiring representative’s
lack of record-keeping?
A) Charles’ sales will track way behind those of the retiring representative, and he will
be docked pay and denied promotions.
B) Since Charles is starting from almost scratch developing a prospect and customer
base, he will lose some current customers because he does not know about them.
C) Charles will be unlikely to develop sales presentation skills because of the time
required to track referrals.
D) Since Charles does not need any information from the retiring representative, he will
conduct more cold calls and develop a larger base of qualified customers.
E) Charles will continue maintaining the retiring representative’s accounts as usual
without any changes in strategy or implementation.
According to the text, Ashley Pineda of the Pulte Group needs to do which of the
following before meeting with customers?
A) Rehearse her sales presentation until she has it memorized.
B) Conduct research to determine each customer’s specific needs.
C) Contact the home office to confirm the customer’s address.
D) Meet with her sales manager about her flagging sales.
E) Implement a systems selling strategy director.
A front desk clerk at a ReView Hotel receives a call from a ReView Gold Rewards
Member guest complaining that the wireless Internet in her room is fading in and out.
Without Internet access, she won’t be able to make her deadline for this business trip.
What could the desk clerk do to maintain the guest’s cluster of satisfactions?
A) The desk clerk cannot do anything, as the desk clerk does not have the technical
skills to fix the wireless connection.
B) The desk clerk should not do anything, as the desk clerk is not a salesperson and
therefore does not have responsibility for creating the cluster of satisfactions.
C) The desk clerk should offer to put the guest in an empty room as close to the original
room as possible, to avoid inconveniencing the guest further.
D) The desk clerk should offer the guest the use of the lobby wireless, which the clerk
knows to be problem-free, along with a discount off the charge for the room.
E) The desk clerk should refund the guest’s full payment for the hotel room and find the
guest a room at another hotel that can guarantee that its wireless service is
problem-free.
Terrance Simpson is a sales representative for Swim-Tex, a swimming pool service and
supply company. Swim-Tex sells the chemicals needed for pool maintenance as well as
pool accessories like slides, ladders, and diving boards. Swim-Tex sells to both
consumers and businesses.
Terrance should most likely understand a customer€s emotional buying motives
because such motives are:
A) only overcome by nonverbal communication
B) foundations for rational buying motives
C) influential in most buying decisions
D) factors in cost/benefit analyses
E) barriers to most high-end sales
According to the Action Selling training course, the key to sales success is:
A) telling customers about product benefits
B) asking customers effective questions
C) closing deals with customers
D) providing adequate reasoning
E) making many sales calls
Withholding information is most likely:
A) another name for reciprocity
B) legal and always ethical
C) only unethical if done under duress
D) the only logical course of action
E) similar to lying in some cases
AdVance Corporation is a company that formulates and manufactures fertilizers for the
farming industry. The company produces several standardized formulas that can be
purchased directly through the retail arms of the company, but it also formulates custom
fertilizers for farms.
A sales rep from AdVance spends several months with the buyer for a company that
owns a dozen farms understanding the buyer’s needs, and puts together a proposal for
several fertilizers produced for the company’s specific needs. When the sale is about to
close, the buyer decides to purchase a cheaper, pre-made, standardized formula from
another supplier. What is the most likely explanation of the outcome of the interaction?
A) The salesperson saw the sale as a partnering relationship while the buyer saw it as a
transactional sale.
B) The salesperson saw the sale as a transactional relationship while the buyer saw it as
a partnering sale.
C) The salesperson and buyer did not get along personally, so the buyer did not buy
from the salesperson on principle.
D) The salesperson did not understand the buyer’s needs and proposed fertilizer
formulas that weren’t exactly right for the buyer.
E) The buyer never intended to purchase from AdVance.
According to Ted Levitt, author of The Marketing Imagination, once the customer buys
your product, expectations:
A) increase
B) stay the same
C) decrease
D) are fulfilled
E) become less important
When a sale is lost, it is important to review the chain of events because:
A) a client that has been lost once will be lost again
B) the sales manager must take disciplinary action against the salesperson
C) the salesperson should determine how to retaliate against the competition
D) the salesperson will be able to learn from mistakes
E) the client must decide to offer referrals
Roni sees a job posting for a “Business Development Manager in the hospitality
industry.” Which of the following most accurately describes the duties of this position?
A) soliciting donations from charitable donors and foundations for an organization that
promotes hospitality
B) selling guest and conference hotel rooms and other hotel services to organizations
C) working as a front desk clerk at a hotel
D) servicing requests from guests at an upscale resort
E) managing the banquet hall at a large restaurant/catering facility
In general, U.S. ethical codes when doing business in foreign countries tend to be:
A) more accepting of bribery but less accepting of libel
B) more accepting of libel but less accepting of bribery
C) more relaxed than the codes of other countries
D) the same as the codes of other countries
E) stricter than the codes of other countries
Sharon Wiley is a sales representative employed by a leading producer of
pharmaceuticals used in veterinary medicine. Recently she attended a
university-sponsored seminar that focused on new research findings in selected areas of
veterinary medicine. Ms. Wiley is most likely attempting to develop a:
A) relationship strategy
B) customer strategy
C) service strategy
D) presentation strategy
E) product strategy
What are the steps in order of the six-step presentation plan?
A) rehearsing, initial contact, presenting, demonstrating, closing, and servicing
B) approach, needs discovery, presentation, negotiation, close, and servicing the sale
C) custom fitting, presentation, demonstration, negotiating, communicating, and closing
D) initial contact, presentation, demonstration, communication, closing, and servicing
E) preapproach, approach, rehearsing, presentation, negotiation, and closing
Juan Alcobar is junior sales representative for a large equipment manufacturer. Sarah
Gittins, a senior sales representative, has requested that Juan help her to prepare a sales
presentation for a new prospect.
As Sarah and Juan begin to put together the actual presentation, what should they do
first?
A) Clarify the objectives for the presentation using their company’s standard form.
B) Anticipate the prospect’s needs based on the financial data gathered through public
records.
C) Search the CRM system for information on purchase records of similarly-sized
clients.
D) Find the correct format and graphics for the physical PowerPoint presentation.
E) List all the features of the equipment they offer in a way that’s easy for the prospect
to read.
Ahmed ElShatif sells life and disability insurance to members of a large union in the
Willamette Valley region. His company is the only approved insurance vendor for the
union. Although he is not competing against other insurance agents, his prospects are
not required to buy any insurance coverage at all. He spends an average of 20 minutes
with each prospect, learning about their needs and explaining the various insurance
products, and choosing the right combination for each prospect.
Ahmed knows the insurance he sells is a good value and that it is beneficial to
customers. Moreover, Ahmed is confident that most prospects have already decided to
purchase the insurance. What type of close will Ahmed most likely use?
A) assumptive
B) direct appeal
C) trial
D) special options
E) management
When a customer raises a valid objection that cannot be answered with a denial, the
salesperson should most likely take which of the following actions?
A) discuss superior benefits
B) engage in back-pedaling
C) begin a pricing approach
D) re-start the presentation
E) criticize the competition