MAR3025 CHAPTER 8

7. Which of the following statements is true about reps and customer service problems?

a) A customer often wants to deal directly with the supplier c) Manufacturers' reps are good at responding to their regular customers

4. Sales managers are involved in the marketing planning for key product markets to __________.

b) Suggest how to re-engineer sales practices around new product launches c) Propose and provide incentives and rewards for suggested sales process improvements

6. Regardless of the approach used to organize the salesforce, which of the following environmental realities must be recognized by the selling firm?

b) The competition in the market

4. The major difference between a prospect and a qualified prospect is:

d) Qualified prospects have not only the need or desire for your product, but the ability and authority to purchase it

10. At which stage of the personal selling process would you obtain a purchase commitment from the prospect?

e) Close

9. Which statement represents a correct response to postponing an objection?

a) "I think I might be able to explain that better to you after showing you this diagram"

1. What is the first principle of sales management?

a) A company needs to hire people with excellent personal selling skills b) Be able to organize and lead such people, otherwise the company cannot win in the marketplace

3. Which of the following is/are an advantage(s) of employing a rep salesforce?

a) A fast way of building consumer franchise c) Low start-up investment costs

8. Which of the following statements is true about parallel saleforces?

a) A parallel salesforce organization is often created as the result of a takeover or merger b) They exist to avoid organizational politics c) Kraft had four different saleforces which have now been arranged into one with 300 customer service teams

5. Which of the following criteria is more important in selecting salespeople as discussed in the sales module?

a) A personal interview

5. In markets where a company's sales are highly volatile because of frequent and dramatic changes in the trading environment or in the company's marketing strategy:

a) A straight commission approach may not work b) An uncertain link exists between effort and results c) The uncertainty about these external determinants of success makes it less fair and reasonable to tie salesforce rewards directly to salesforce success

2. In some specialized markets, the annual trade show is ________________.

a) An absolute must attend

1. A good trade show team employs ___________.

a) At least two people: a screener and a closer b) A screener at the front of the exhibit to meet people c) A good closer spend his or her time at the back of the booth or in a hotel suite with serious prospects, closing deals

9. Which of the following statement is true for logrolling, as described in the sales module?

a) Both the buyer and seller need to discuss the trading terms that are most important to each b) Each gives on different dimensions to make the deal

9. Total Quality Management (TQM) reengineering of processes:

a) Can be applied to sales b) Can produce the same benefits as it provides in manufacturing and physical distribution

6. Which of the following contributes to the growth of the company culture?

a) Ceremonies b) Rites of passage c) Knighting of the superstars that occur at sales conferences

10. What characteristics does a field staff support have?

a) Comprised of engineering and marketers b) Available to the customer or the salesperson by various communication methods c) Interacts with customer R & D and production on the development of new products, quality control or service problem

9. In determining salesforce size based on profit maximization, which of the following statements is true?

a) Consider the full costs of compensating, training, managing and supporting the salesperson's operational expenses b) If the salesperson's expected incremental dollar contribution min;77us the full cost of the salesperson is positive, then a new salesperson should be hired c) If the existing salespeople generate negative cash flow and the long-term prognosis is not good, you should stop hiring new salespeople

2. The fair and honourable way of handling non-performance is:

a) For the firm to inform the rep that it will follow up any leads if the manufacturer's rep does not

4. In considering whether or not a salesforce be paid a salary or a commission, which is NOT true?

a) For the first year, a salesperson may be paid a lower base salary to compensate for time in training

5. What presentation format is being used when the following statement is conveyed to every prospect? "Hello, Mrs. X, my name is Y. I'm calling for Samantha's fashions. We carry a complete line of little girls' playwear..."

a) Formula-selling presentation

3. Which of the following statements is true about cross-functional team management?

a) Has a dramatic effect on the sales management of key accounts c) May invite a supplier (vendor) to attend a special or occasional meeting

6. What is true in the salesperson selection process?

a) If candidates cannot demonstrate confidence when selling themselves, then they are unlikely to be able to sell other products and services b) Confrontational interviews that incorporate role-playing are often used to see how adaptable and enterprising potential salespeople are under fire

4. What might be the objectives if a salesforce calls on retail accounts?

a) Introducing new product lines b) Making sure merchandising displays are put in place c) Attempting to increase the amount and quality of shelf space given to its product d) Discouraging the account from cooperating with promotion programs

2. Changing a sales territory _________.

a) Is a significant event b) Disturbs established customer relations c) Has repercussions on other territories

5. A seller in a high-growth market faces particular problems, such as:

a) It constantly has to adjust its organization as its sales expand b) If it does not adjust its organization accordingly, it opens up the market to rivals d) Adding salespeople until they no longer generate enough contribution to justify their employment

3. A company may desire to change its incentive schedule to adapt to new competitive realities or company constraints, but changing the scheme has which of the following negative effects?

a) It is likely to confuse the more experienced salespeople who have worked under several different schemes b) Having adapted to them, they may find it difficult to break their behavioral adaptation and to distinguish among the schemes in their memory c) A history of such changes increases the expectations that the scheme will be changed again in the future, thus reducing commitment to the new scheme

7. The old-fashioned geographical sales territory is often still preferred over other sales organizational structures designed around customers or products because:

a) It offers the firm the greatest control at a lower cost

10. The use of technology such as 800 service call numbers, cell phones and home Internet access to account records and members of a sales support team has:

a) Made salespeople so much more efficient and productive c) Made salespeople have less direct, person to person interaction with customers

1. The basic principle behind best practice in increasing salesforce size is ________.

a) Marginal return

3. What are some characteristics described in the module to be a successful salesperson?

a) Obtain a deep reservoir of technical knowledge c) Making the customer's problems your own

5. Which of the following is a best practice in annual sales conferences as discussed in the sales module?

a) Paying $10,000 to $100,000 to have celebrity speakers at sales conferences that salespeople can take photos and shake hands with celebrity speakers b) Signal appreciation to both the salespeople and their families

7. Which of the following is the most powerful motivator for salespeople?

a) Peer recognition

1. Which of the following statement best describe rewarding the salesforce?

a) Sales motivation drives how hard a salesperson wants to work to accomplish a task or achieve a goal b) Many theories and explanations for what motivates people are based on the idea that people want to work hard when outcomes are valued and when effort is linked to performance c) For one salesperson, money may be the strongest motivator, while for another, receiving an award at a banquet is the best incentive

1. A salesforce should be led from front means ____________.

a) Salespeople should not be asked to do things that the sales manager and senior management would not do b) CEOs convey their product enthusiasm to the public and this inspires their salesforce

4. Which of the following is the first step in the process used to determine salesforce size?

a) Set the average time that salespeople are to spend with AA to D accounts

8. Which of the following statements is true while using quotas to reward high performance?

a) Setting quotas too high may encourage customer inventory manipulation distortions at year end b) It is only fair to use exactly the same commission or bonus plan for every territory c) A general bonus scheme encourages overall cooperation and creates a company culture where everyone is aware that the company's competitiveness depends on everyone's performance

7. What type of information needs to be disclosed to salespeople if basing compensation on gross margin is applied?

a) The relative profitability of the item

1. If it takes a rep longer than 3-6 months to start moving the product, then:

a) The rep is more than likely just doing nothing b) The rep is not selling it to his or her existing customers c) The rep may be trying to use the product to break into new markets

1. What may occur if firms do not handle the redefining of the salesperson's role in the new age of team selling?

a) They may lose key salespeople b) They may lose accounts

10. What are the characteristics of successful order getters?

a) They uncover customer needs b) They sell value-added technical and process solutions c) Honest concern for the customer

3. Which of the following is an objective of personal selling?

a) To keep a current customer happy and loyal b) To persuade a current customer to buy more c) To persuade a potential customer to buy a new product or service

8. A firm has a total of 40 of all types of customers and the time required to service all those customers totals 100 hours per year on average for each customer. The firm's salespeople have 1,000 hours of selling time per year, that was calculated by multiplying 25 hours of selling time per week that the salesperson typically has available to be on the job with the customer, multiplied by 40 weeks [remember to subtract vacations (3 weeks), holidays (1 week), sick days (2 weeks) and 30 training days (6 weeks) from 52]. How many salespeople are needed to cover the market?

b) 4

5. According to the sales module, what percentage of time spent with customers is high salesforce efficiency?

b) 50%

2. Which of the following statements is true about a sales representative's job description?

b) A good job description details the specific responsibilities of the position, the skills required and the person to whom the new hire will report

8. As discussed in the sales module, which types of training can increase the loyalty of the salesperson and reduce turnover?

b) Company-specific training

6. Which of the following is the third step in the process used to determine salesforce size?

b) Divide the total time required to service accounts by the selling time available to the average salesperson

8. Which of the following is/are NOT an advantage(s) of employing a rep salesforce?

b) Economies of scale

3. Qualifying is ___________________.

b) Establishing a customer is a hot prospect

8. Which of the following statement is true for bridging, as described in the sales module?

b) Fundamental, long-term trading processes are altered to both seller's and buyer's advantages c) It has happened between Walmart and Procter & Gamble

3. Which of the following statements is true?

b) In the 2000s, the growth of the Internet forced a re-evaluation of sales territories c) Technology innovations in communication sometimes necessitate a complete restructuring of sales-force territories

2. Which of the following is one of the three major benefits from requiring the senior executive team to spend time out on the road with salespeople calling on small accounts?

b) It helps senior executives understand the effects of their decision-making on the salesperson

8. How can recognition at a conference be made even more powerful?

b) Recognition made in front of a "significant other" attending the conference

2. Regarding sales compensation _____________.

b) Sales is typically the best paid entry level job in marketing c) Perhaps the most fundamental principle of sales compensation is to keep it as clear and simple as possible

9. What might be the drawback in using commission compensation schemes as discussed in the sales module?

b) They tend to encourage a short-term and selfish perspective

7. Which statement is true about training salespeople?

b) Training is an investment in human capital that can produce a highly profitable return from each call

7. A firm has a total of 800 of all types of customers and the time required to service all those customers totals 16,000 hours per year. The firm's salespeople have 1,000 hours of selling time per year, 25 hours of selling time per week, multiplied by 40 weeks [remember to subtract vacations (3 weeks), holidays (1 week), sick days (2 weeks) and 30 training days (6 weeks) from 52]. How many salespeople are needed to cover the market?

c) 16

10. Mentoring is about ______________.

c) A mentoring system that encourages members of both groups to see the others as interesting and capable individuals

3. Sensible marketing planners ____________________.

c) Consult and work with sales to ensure they are 100 percent behind the marketing plan

8. The primary objective of the partnering-oriented salesperson is to:

c) Develop long-term relationships with customers

6. Generally, the overall objective of an enterprise is to increase profitability. From this perspective, which factor should a salesforce's compensation scheme be connected to in order to maximize its profitability?

c) Gross margin

4. In selecting salespeople ____________.

c) It is important to conduct a job analysis at regular intervals to identify the typical salesperson's actual daily activities

1. The basic cost involved in a poor recruiting effort is __________.

c) Low start-up investment cost

9. Which of the following is/are NOT a disadvantage(s) of employing a rep salesforce?

c) Low start-up investment cost

6. Which type of sales presentation is represented by the following statement? "What type of driving do you do? How many people will you usually have in the car? Maybe you should look at vans instead of sedans."

c) Need-satisfaction presentation

4. Which of the following is a disadvantage(s) of employing a rep salesforce?

c) Product knowledge training

7. Why does personal selling work better than other communication options available to firms selling in the business-to-business market?

c) Salespeople are able to tailor unique messages for each prospective buyer

6. Many representatives are eager to reduce price because ________.

c) The sale takes less time and energy d) They suffer a minor commission reduction

2. Which of the following statement(s) is NOT true for salespeople?

c) They don't know networks of customers and distributors on a personal level d) They seldom unravel the marketing mistakes made by others

5. Which of the following is the second step in the process used to determine salesforce size?

c) Total the amount of time required in a year to service all accounts by multiplying the number of each account category by the minutes per year to service that category and summing the totals of AA, A, B, C and D accounts

7. Which of the following is NOT a relationship selling tactic?

e) They all are all a relationship selling tactic