Personal Selling Exam #1 Questions & Answers

1. The definition of __________________ is: The communication of information to unselfishly persuade a prospective customer to buy something a) Persuasion b) Sales management c) Personal selling d) Promotion e) Public relations - ANSWERSc) Personal selling 2. Which of the following statements is false? a) Generally, salespeople receive less day-to-day supervision than others in the company. b) Generally, salespeople have less autonomy than others in the company. c) Salespeople have to be able to cope with rejection. d) Salespeople help customers resell their products. e) Salespeople gather market information for their companies. - ANSWERSb) Generally, salespeople have less autonomy than others in the company. 3. A salesperson is referred to as a boundary spanner because: a) The salesperson travels between locations b) The salesperson crosses the boundary of everyday moral standards c) The salesperson must deal with his company and his customers d) The salesperson is assigned a territory e) The salesperson is often paid on commission - ANSWERSc) The salesperson must deal with his company and his customers 4. "The difference between what a person perceives to be the ideal versus the actual state of affairs" is a definition of a(n): a) Need b) Want c) Desire d) Demand e) Emotion - ANSWERSa) Need 5. Immediately following a FAB, the salesperson should: a) Pause to allow the prospect to think b) Demonstrate the FAB c) Ask a trial close d) Provide another FAB (or at the end of all the FAB's ask for the sale) e) None of these is correct - ANSWERSc) Ask a trial close 6. The ethical guideline that asks "does the choice result in the greatest good for the greatest number?" is known as the _______________ criterion: a) Utilitarian b) Maximizer c) Truth d) Responsibility e) None of these is correct - ANSWERSa) Utilitarian 7. The factor that distorts communication is known as: a) Perception b) Noise c) Sound d) Hindrance e) None of these - ANSWERSb) Noise 8. Barriers to communication include all of the following, except: a) Differences in perception b) High selling pressure c) Information overload d) Distractions e) All of these are barriers to communication - ANSWERSe) All of these are barriers to communication 9. A lead and a prospect are the same thing. - ANSWERSFALSE 10. Cognitive Moral Development can be defined as the ability to recognize that a situation has ethical content. - ANSWERSFALSE 11. Perception is the process of selecting, organizing and interpreting information. - ANSWERSTRUE 12. Using the peripheral route to persuasion a person relies on information such as price, brand name or location - ANSWERSTRUE Marketing Mix - ANSWERSProduct Price Place Promotion: Advertising, Sales Promotion, Public Relations, Personal Selling What is Selling? - ANSWERSDefinition: The personal communication of information to unselfishly persuade a prospective customer to buy something. - Communication of information - Persuasion - Helping others Time Wasters vs Value Creators - ANSWERSTime Wasters - Discuss features and sell products - Do not know anything about the customer - Opportunistic Value Creators - Discuss benefits and sell outcomes - Learn about the customer - Altruistic The Golden Rule - ANSWERSUnselfishly treating others as you would like to be treated. - It takes much more time, money, and effort to gain new customers - Loyal customers care less about price, buy more, and give referrals - So it is much better to keep existing customers! Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door - Ralph Waldo Emerson - ANSWERS- (How does the world learn about you?) - (How does the world find you?) - What does "better" mean? - That depends on the target market - What do they value? Value Creating - ANSWERSUncover benefits sought by asking questions about: - Problems - Challenges - Goals Listen and Understand Demonstrate value by showing how the product: - Solves the problems - Overcomes challenges - Achieves goals Relationship-Oriented Value Creators - ANSWERS- Convert more prospects (and reduce wasted time) - Make more sales - Retain more customers - Increase average sales ($ amount and volume) - Reduce selling expenses - Increase referrals - Reduce acquisition costs Sales Jobs are Different - ANSWERS- Boundary Spanning - Supervision - Autonomy - Physical and Mental Demands The Role of a Salesperson - ANSWERS- Create new customers - Sell more to existing customers - Build long-term relationships - Provide solutions to customers problems - Provide service to customers - Help customers resell products - Help customers use products - Build goodwill - Provide company with market information Types of Sales Jobs - ANSWERSOrder-Takers versus Order-Getters - Complexity of job increases - Selling for a retailer - Selling for a wholesaler - Selling for a manufacturer - Direct selling Types of Skills Needed - ANSWERS- Conceptual Skills - Human Skills - Technical Skills Demand is: (Perfect competition theory) - ANSWERSHeterogeneous across industries, homogeneous within industries, and static. Consumer information is: (Perfect competition theory) - ANSWERSPerfect and costless. Human motivation is: (Perfect competition theory) - ANSWERSSelf-interest maximization. The firm's objective is: (Perfect competition theory) - ANSWERSProfit maximization. The firm's information is: (Perfect competition theory) - ANSWERSPerfect and costless. The firm's resources are: (Perfect competition theory) - ANSWERScapital, labor, and land. Resource characteristics are: (Perfect competition theory) - ANSWERSHomogeneous and perfectly mobile. The role of management is: (Perfect competition theory) - ANSWERSTo determine quantity and implement production function. Competitive dynamics are: (Perfect competition theory) - ANSWERSEquilibrium-seeking with innovation exogenous. Demand is: - ANSWERSHeterogeneous across industries, heterogeneous within industries, and dynamic Consumer information is: - ANSWERSImperfect and costly Human motivation is: - ANSWERSConstrained self interest seeking The firms objective is: - ANSWERSSuperior financial performance The firms information is: - ANSWERSImperfect and costly The firms resources are: - ANSWERSFinancial, physical, legal, human, organizational, informational, and relational Resource characteristics are: - ANSWERSHeterogeneous and imperfectly mobile The role of management is: - ANSWERSTo recognize, understand, create, select, implement, and modify strategies Competitive dynamics are: - ANSWERSThis equilibrium provoking, with innovation Endogenous Theory of Competition: Resource-Advantage Theory - ANSWERSTwo types of advantages: - Marketplace positions of competitive advantage (lead to superior financial performance). - Comparative advantages in resources (lead to marketplace positions of competitive advantage). Resources: tangible and intangible entities available to the firm that enable it to produce efficiently and/or effective offerings of value.