Exam 1 - Selling (Ch.1-4 Quizzes)

Vincent works for Lensa, a company that sells scientific equipment to research laboratories and universities. His sales manager tells him that relationship selling is extremely important at Lensa. Which of the following demonstrates Vincent's commitment to relationship selling?

A university administrator tells Vincent that the school's budget has been cut this year, so Vincent arranges a price discount with the goal of maintaining and building the relationship over the long term.

Why is prospecting so challenging in sales?

Buyers are inundated with requests for meetings from salespeople but also are limited by time constraints. Buyers are often hesitant to explore the possibility that they have a need for the product or service. Salespeople may have to overcome issues based on the company they sell for or the products and/or services they sell. Prospecting can be a very inefficient activity compared to others performed by salespeople.

Ella uses specialized software produced by a company called Saleforce to help her manage relationships and interactions with her customers and potential customers. Salesforce is a type of ________ system.

CRM

A(n) ________ system enables the salesperson to see everything in one place—a customer's previous history with the firm, the status of their orders, any outstanding customer service issues, and more.

CRM explanation: CRM systems offer sales personnel and others a "one-stop shop" to access key customer information.

Which of the following is not one of the changes we are seeing from buyers in recent years due to technological advancements?

Customers have come to rely upon salespeople as their primary source of information.

In terms of salesperson ethics in prospecting, what question must the salesperson first be honest in assessing when assessing whether a potential prospect?

Does a need exist?

Imani is a sales manager for a garden supply company. She receives an email from Owen, the manager of a chain of assisted-care facilities whose parent company plans to build ten large new buildings in Imani's region in the coming year. Owen writes, "Our architects and designers have very specific and inflexible needs, so can you please assign a rep to my account who has a proven track record of meeting his or her customer's expectations precisely?" Which sales rep should Imani assign to the account?

Ellie, who has a reputation for being highly dependable

________ are often easy to measure but tend to be difficult to quickly or directly improve or influence.

Lagging indicators

Why is prospecting so important in sales?

Salespeople may lose some of their current customers because they go out of business. Salespeople must be able to sell more to their existing customers while also identifying and engaging new customers. Salespeople may lose some of their current customers because they cease operations in the category they sell in. Salespeople may lose some of their current customers because they become dissatisfied.

Attempting to sell a product or service to a customer when there is no need is unethical.

True

In sales today, given the focus on relationship selling, it is impossible to succeed if your customers do not feel they can trust you.

True Explanation: Trust provides a necessary foundation for sales success; it has to be there.

Claire is a junior sales rep who sells imported foods to grocery stores and specialty shops. Her manager asks her to develop a social media profile and presence that will enhance buyer perceptions of her credibility. All of the following are good pieces of advice for Claire to follow EXCEPT:

Use words and phrases that will grab the attention of job recruiters. Explanation: If Claire emphasizes her employability, she loses the opportunity to show prospective customers how she can solve their problems.

Jim is a financial planning expert. He writes columns in the local newspaper, and even makes radio and television appearances to discuss the importance of financial planning. He also holds seminars in which he talks with audiences about specific things they should be doing to ensure their financial security into retirement. As described, Jim operates as a

center of influence

refers to the connection that exists between the salesperson, the selling firm, and the customer.

customer engagement

In the ________ phase of the relationship, the customer receives increasing benefits and becomes increasingly dependent on the salesperson and the selling firm.

expansion

Which of the following roles on the buying team has been most affected by technological advancements in recent years?

gatekeeper

A salesperson with a(n) ________orientation tends to focus more on securing new customers through lead generation, prospecting, precall planning, and delivering sales presentations.

hunting

If a salesperson develops a profile of organizational characteristics shared by current, highly desirable customers, and prioritizes prospects based on their level of similarity with this profile, the salesperson is utilizing a(n)

ideal customer profile

Which member of the buying team helps determine the priorities to be addressed when making the purchase decision and expresses their opinions regarding potential solutions?

influencer

________ perform selling activities at the employer's location, typically using email and the telephone.

inside salespeople

Number of leads or referrals from social selling and the contract value of deals generated from social selling are examples of

lagging indicators

Based on the chapter discussion, which of the following character-based trust builders is least important?

likeability Explanation: Although other characteristics are more influential than likeability in determining sales success, salespeople generally want their customers to like them.

Social ________ is the continuous scanning of social media channels for customer feedback.

listening

A ________ is a set of information and precisely organized data about a product, such as a product description, a detailed list of components, and how to use, maintain, and safely dispose of the product.

product specification sheet

If you are a salesperson and you know that you are selling in a straight-rebuy type purchasing situation, who should you seek out?

purchaser

Erin is responsible for creating both standardized and ad hoc reports for the VP of Global Sales. Her position is designed to help sales management utilize existing customer data to create added opportunities and create more accurate forecasts of future sales in each of the vertical and regional markets the firm serves. Erin would best be described as a(n)

sales analyst

Inside salespeople tasked with the responsibility of generating leads are alternatively referred to as

sales development representatives

Landing a position as a(n) ________ in a high-tech firm usually requires an educational background in a technical field like engineering, computer science, or physics.

sales engineer

Prospecting refers to

the process through which salespeople identify and engage with new customers or new areas of business with existing customers.

Which of the following lead-generation methods is most likely to product hot leads?

trade shows

Chris goes to a business conference to represent his company at which he talks face-to-face with many professionals in his field. This allows him to build several professional and social relationships. This is an example of

traditional networking

When a salesperson utilizes LinkedIn in an attempt to generate sales leads, the salesperson is utilizing what lead-generation technique?

virtual networking

One recent study found that more than ________ percent of sales and marketing managers believe their salespeople have lied on a sales call.

50

One recent study suggests social sellers realize around a ________ percent higher likelihood of quota attainment compared to those using traditional prospecting techniques.

65

One commonly cited industry report suggests that B2B customers are, on average, nearly ________ percent of the way through the purchase process before they ever engage with a sales professional.

60

Malik is a sales rep for Coupon Mailers, Inc., which creates coupons for local businesses, packages about 50 coupons into one envelope, and then mails those coupons to local homes and offices. As Malik tries to sell the company's services to local businesses, he relies on social proof that the coupons greatly increase a company's sales. Which of the following is an example of social proof that Coupon Mailers' services work?

Malik has a list of glowing compliments and recommendations from clients who rave about the increased sales they experienced after purchasing Coupon Mailers' coupon services.

What type of selling is a sales approach that involves building and maintaining customer trust over a long period of time?

Relationship selling

LinkedIn's ________ is a metric that uses a variety of social selling criteria to measure how a seller's personal brand ranks in people's minds.

SSI

The promotion mix consists of four main elements of marketing communication: advertising, sales promotion, personal selling, and public relations.

True Explanation: Personal selling is part of the promotion mix along with sales promotion, advertising, and public relations

Since it is much more costly to acquire new customers than to retain existing ones, many firms are now emphasizing the importance of

customer lifetime value Explanation: By focusing on retaining existing customers, many firms have recognized that they can generate excess revenue over the lifetime of the customer relationship.

________ are sometimes referred to as case studies or testimonials.

customer success stories

Research has shown that establishing a strong ________ climate within a sales organization contributes significantly to building long-term customer relationships and financial profitability.

ethical

Jeff encourages his sales reps to use high-pressure tactics. He regularly berates them for not pushing a certain high-margin product, even when the rep knows it is not a good match for the prospect's needs. By doing these things, Jeff is creating significant _________ dilemmas for his employees.

ethical dilemmas Explanation: By encouraging his sales employees to breach norms of moral conduct in sales settings, Jeff's conduct itself is highly unethical.

A gray paper is an authoritative document intended to fully inform the reader on a particular topic.

false Explanation: white paper

A salesperson's Social Selling Index (SSI) score from LinkedIn would be an example of a lagging indicator.

false Explantion: SSI is a leading indicator, it is process-oriented

Social selling metrics like the amount of content shared by a seller or the level of customer engagement (views, likes, comments) per post would be examples of ________ indicators.

leading Explanation: These metrics are process-oriented, meaning that they precede or are steps toward achievement of business objectives.

In which of the following purchase situations is the CEO most likely to be the key decision maker?

new-task

If Meghan asks a current customer for the name of another individual or organization who may benefit from the products and/or service her company offers, she is seeking a

referral

________ selling refers to a sales approach whose primary strategy is building and maintaining customer trust over a long period of time.

relationship Explanation: In relationship selling, the personal interactions and ongoing efforts of the salesperson to build and maintain the relationship largely determine the level of value and the satisfaction provided the customer.

The ________ is a performance metric that measures the extent to which online customer interactions with sales personnel or social content leads to a phone conversation or face-to-face meeting.

social-to-real-life conversion rate

Which of the following is not a feature that characterizes a major difference between most B2B and B2C sales?

steps in the sales process Explanation: B2B and B2C differ in many ways; however, the steps in the sales process itself are typically very similar.

Rosalyn works as a purchasing manager for her company. In this role, Rosalyn ensures that all "routine" orders are being handled correctly via the company's electronic data interchange (EDI) system. Knowing this, what type of purchases is Rosalyn overseeing in her role?

straight rebuy

According to social selling expert Jamie Shanks, socially ________ a buyer is the activity of finding the buyer, organizing relevant information about the buyer, and then taking a sales action.

surrounding

________ (or customer success stories) are content that showcase the positive experiences of customers as the result of using a firm's products or services.

testimonials

A ________ is an authoritative document that combines expert knowledge and research into a document that argues for a specific solution or recommendation.

white paper

Inbound leads are those in which the firm proactively contacts the lead.

False Explanation: Outbound leads are those in which the firm proactively contacts the lead.

Mateo has graduated from college and wants to pursue a career in sales. Because he wants to earn a lot of money, he wants to sell a product for which personal selling makes a strong difference in getting the sale. Based on this criterion, which of the following five job offers should he accept?

A job selling an extremely expensive and highly complicated missile defense system

Jing sells cloud storage systems to companies that make heavy use of data. Today she did a sales presentation for the buying team at GenX, a biotechnology company. The following people attended the presentation: Gabriel, who was the first person at GenX to recognize the need for more cloud storage; Sofia, who frequently backs up large amounts of research to the cloud; Scarlett, who has a great deal of experience with cloud storage and is involved in deciding how much storage GenX needs to buy; Ari, who is in charge of choosing the supplier and signing the contract for cloud storage services; and Drue, the buying team's assistant who manages their calendars and appointments. Which member of the buying team is the purchaser?

Ari

Skylar was offered a job at IBM because the hiring manager was impressed by her ability to speak comfortably with strangers. She now sells mainframe solutions to companies with extremely complicated logistical needs, such as airlines (for scheduling flights) and trucking companies (for scheduling deliveries). Which of the following behaviors will not help Skylar succeed at her sales job?

Because Skylar is so organized, she plans everything she will say in advance, and she focuses on what she will say next while a potential customer is speaking to her. Explanation: Skylar can become a better, more active listener by really listening to her clients rather than just thinking about what she will say next.

Which of the following salespeople is engaging in unethical behavior on the job?

Brooklyn, who slightly exaggerates the health benefits of the vitamins and supplements that she sells Explanation: "Exaggerating the benefits" is a euphemism for lying, which is unethical behavior.

Which of the following people is not involved in personal selling?

Evan, who is the director of advertising at a cosmetics company Explanation: Personal selling requires the two-way flow of information between a buyer and a seller. Advertising is typically one-directional; it communicates the seller's message to the buyer.

Since it costs about the same to acquire new customers as it does to retain existing ones, many firms are now emphasizing the importance of customer lifetime value. Explanation: It is much less costly to retain existing customers than acquire new ones; this is what is motivating firms to emphasize CLV.

False

Most firms today can still survive by relying on profits generated from one-time transactional sales.

False Explanation: Increasingly, firms are recognizing that it is more profitable to retain and grow existing customer relationships.

The first step in most customer's decision-making process is information search.

False Explanation: The first step in most customer's decision-making process is problem recognition.

Personal selling is almost always the most cost-effective element of the promotion mix.

False Explanation: There are many contexts in which personal selling is not the appropriate promotional tool.

Due to its inefficiency, hardly any companies still rely upon cold-calling when prospecting.

False Explanation: While many have criticized cold-calling due to its inefficiency, sales organizations still use it as a means to identify new customers.

According to a recent report from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), each day one in fifteen Americans earn their living trying to convince others to make purchases.

False explanation: The statistic is one in nine Americans are categorized in sales occupations.

Customer relationship management (CRM) focuses on the net present value of a customer's business over the span of its expected relationship with the selling organization.

False Explanation: Customer lifetime value (CLV focuses on the NPV of a customer's business over its lifetime.

A group of college friends all graduate at the same time, and all five take jobs that involve selling. Natalie sells sophisticated film-editing software to Hollywood filmmakers by visiting their studios in person. Samira uses social media platforms, such as Twitter and LinkedIn, to sell home-security devices, such as security cameras and high-tech doorbells. Juan sells printing services to publishers. Omar sells iPhones, iPads, and other Apple products at a local Apple Store. Aiden sells contemporary office furnishings, such as desks and chairs, to small- and medium-sized companies that want an open floor plan for their office. Which of the friends is engaged in social selling?

Samira Explanation: Social selling is the process of developing, nurturing, and leveraging online relationships to sell products or services. It often involves the use of social media.

Which of the following is not required in order for a lead to be transitioned to a prospect?

The lead must demonstrate adequate potential. The lead must possess the authority and the ability to purchase. The lead must demonstrate a need for the product or service being offered. There must be purchasing alignment between the lead and selling company.

Noncompeting salespeople can be a valuable resource through which leads are generated.

True

Which of the following is the first phase in the overall customer relationship life cycle?

awareness

Why is it so important for salespeople to be able to quantify opportunity costs when selling?

because doing so helps buyers understand the true costs associated with doing nothing or with other alternatives

If a salesperson seeks to avoid customer interactions, what are they suffering from?

call reluctance

If a salesperson randomly stops someone at a trade show to initiate a conversation about the products and/or services your company sells, the individual he or she is talking to would be categorized as a

cold lead

In terms of crafting effective customer success stories, experts suggest it is best if sellers look to base their content around customers who

come from recognizable firms. are knowledgeable. have achieved quantifiable results.

Personal selling is more effective than other promotion mix elements when the good or service is

customizable

Which of the following things should a salesperson do first when formulating a prospecting strategy?

develop a prospecting plan

Jack leads the construction team at Contemporary Home Builders. He has been buying lumber from Quicken Brothers Lumber for more than ten years. However, in the past few years, he has become displeased with Quicken Brothers' prices, delivery, and customer service. After conducting a great deal of research into other possible lumber suppliers, he has decided to go with Washington Lumber for all of his company's lumber needs. In terms of the relationship life cycle, Jack is in the ________ phase with Quicken Brothers.

dissolution

Melanie is taking the time to go back and examine her success rates with the different cold-calling scripts she utilizes. In doing so, which of the following prospecting strategy steps is Melanie addressing?

evaluate lead-generation methods and overall prospecting processes

The only requirement for trust is that the other person act reliably.

false Explanation: In order for trust to develop, the other person must act with integrity on a reliable basis. Reliability only addresses consistency and an ability to predict behavior, it does not capture the desirability of the behavior (i.e., a person could reliably act in an unethical fashion).

Today, more so than ever, buyers are relying upon the salesperson as they begin their search process when uncovering a need.

false Explanation: Today, customers do much of their initial search electronically. They are relying upon salespeople much later in the process.

From a company's perspective, the most desirable type of loyalty a customer can exhibit is spurious loyalty.

false Explanation: affective loyalty

Salesperson knowledge plays a pivotal role in the development of character-based trust.

false Explanation: competence-based trust

Within the buying team, the product user is the individual or group of individuals who first recognizes the customer's need.

false Explanation: the initiator

Joseph works for a wholesale organization and is responsible for selling fresh produce and other agricultural products to regional grocery chains. His sales processes rely heavily on building strong relationships with organizational buyers and establishing long-term contracts with the chains. Based on this description, Joseph is most likely a(n)

field sales representative

When a retailer conducts a line review (i.e., a review to decide which products that will regularly stock in the coming year), it is an example of a

modified rebuy

Marsha is a salesperson for Modular Design, a company that sells modular additions to existing production facilities. Marsha is working with a company that needs an addition, as they do not have the space necessary to keep up with their current demand. The company has never had to purchase an addition like this and is hesitant because the total cost is approximately $500,000. Mindful of this, the company is involving many people in the decision-making process. Marsha should recognize that this is what type of purchase for the company?

new-task Explanation: In a new-task purchase: (1) the level of importance associated with the purchase is high; (2) the information needs for the customer are high; (3) the dollar volume associated with the purchase may be high; (4) many participants may be involved in the purchase decision; and (5) there is an extended timeline.

A two-way flow of seller-paid for communication between a buyer and a seller that is intended to influence a buyer's purchase decision is often referred to as

personal selling explanation: Personal selling is distinguished from other forms of promotion by three characteristics: bidirectional communication, seller paid, attempts to influence buyer decision making.

Social ________ refers to independent, third-party verification that a salesperson or organization can be counted on to deliver on their promises.

proof Explanation: Social proof facilitates persuasion by providing independent verification of the seller's claims.

In the absence of a ________ plan, it is unlikely that the salesperson will do what is required to acquire new business.

prospecting

According to the text, ________ is at the core of all modern selling strategies.

relationship selling explanation: Relational sales approaches are central to selling today.

A key benefit of ________ is the ability for companies to interact with customers across multiple social and interpersonal channels.

social CRM

________ represents the fusion of social media and customer relationship management.

social CRM

Erica has set up a Google Alert using a set of keywords and topics that help her monitor digital channels for direct mentions of her firm's brand as well as for key topics and events that are relevant to her buyers. Erica is engaged in activities that are associated with the concept of

social listening

Which of the following would not be described as a social selling activity?

social referrals

Phillip is a salesperson for Diamond Products, a company that sells low-end, inexpensive shelves that retailers can use to stock goods. Phillip is working with a company he has been selling to for a number of years; they understand his product and how it works within their store. He is going to meet with a buyer for the company, who has informed him that he will be the only one involved in the purchase decision. Phillip should recognize that this is what type of purchase for the company?

straight-rebuy

Key Performance Indifcators (KPIs) are measurable, reliable metrics and milestones that demonstrate how effectively a company is achieving key business objectives.

true

The 5:3:2 rule for digital marketing relates to the

types of content that social sellers should share Explanation: The 5:3:2 rule relates to the types of content that should be shared. Fifty percent should be curated from third-party sources. Thirty percent should be content created by your company about your brands. Twenty percent should be personal and fun.

Which of the following lead-generation methods has seen explosive growth (in terms of use) in recent years?

virtual networking