WGU D099 RELIABLE SALES MANAGEMENTN 2025/2026 FINAL EXAM PREPARATION QUESTIONS AND VERIFIED ANSWERS | GRADED A+

Strategic business units (SBUs) - Answer A profit center that focuses on product offering and market segment Sustainable competitive advantage - Answer Company assets, attributes, or abilities that are difficult to duplicate or exceed and provide a superior or favorable long-term position over competitors Factors that can help a business develop a sustainable competitive advantage - Answer Customer loyalty, location, distribution and information systems (Getting products at a cheap price and selling them at a reasonable price), unique merchandise, vendor relations, customer service, and multiple source advantage (being widely recognized by your strengths) Business intelligence (BI) - Answer The use of data in an enterprise to facilitate decision-making Big data analytics - Answer Large, complex data sets that require non-traditional data processing software to predict trends and forecasts Four elements that make up ethical behavior within an organization - Answer A written code of ethics and standards. Ethics training to executives, managers, and employees. Availability of advice on ethical situations (advice lines or ethics offices). A system for confidential reporting. Functional relationships - Answer Limited, ongoing relationships that develop when a buyer continues to purchase a product from a seller out of habit, as long as its needs are met Modular structure - Answer Divides the business into small, tightly knit strategic business units (SBUs), which focus on specific elements of the organizational process Value chain - Answer The process or activities by which a company adds value to a product, including production, marketing, and the provision of after-sales service Integrated marketing communications (IMC) - Answer The careful coordination of all promotional activities—media advertising, sales promotion, personal selling, and public relations, as well as direct marketing, packaging, and other forms of promotion—to produce a consistent, unified message that is customer focused Marketing concept - Answer Identifying consumer needs and then producing the goods or services that will satisfy those needs while making a profit for the organization Promotional techniques - Answer Advertising, sales promotion, and publicity, or creating new sales channels or new products Promotional mix - Answer The combination of advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, and public relations used to promote a product The main limitation of the AIDA model - Answer The model assumes consumers are passive and marketers are active during most of the buying process. What is the main difference between the AIDA model of the buyer's journey and the six steps model of the buying process? - Answer The AIDA model assumes that the customer experience ends at the purchase while the six-step process considers the after-purchase relationship with the customer. Transactional selling - Answer Focuses on short-term, often single, transactions. Relationship selling - Answer Focused on long-term relationship building to keep customers satisfied and consequently convince them to return and make multiple purchases. Adaptive selling - Answer Using social styles to customize a sales approach to the specific customer "right" principle - Answer Getting the right goods or services to the right people at the right place, time, and price, using the right promotional techniques 360-degree customer view - Answer A process of collecting aggregated data from various customer touchpoints for complete understanding of the customer and to guide interactions with the customer 401(k) plans - Answer A qualified retirement plan that allows eligible employees of a company to save and invest for their own retirement on a tax-deferred basis 80/20 rule - Answer Suggests that 20 percent of your activities will account for 80 percent of your results absolute error percentage - Answer A measure of error that can be calculated by subtracting the absolute value of the difference between the actual sales and the forecasted sales divided by the actual sales absorption costing - Answer Companies treat all manufacturing costs, including both fixed and variable manufacturing costs, as product costs account management - Answer Maintaining a long-term relationship with customers who purchased from the firm in the past account-based marketing (ABM) - Answer Concentrates sales and marketing resources on a clearly defined set of target accounts within a market and employs personalized campaigns designed to resonate with each account accounts - Answer Current business clients' records of transactions achievement test - Answer A type of test that measures someone's current knowledge Active accounts - Answer Have consistent transactions and engagement with the business activity center - Answer An activity center is a unit of the organization that performs some activity activity goals - Answer A metric that measures how many sales calls of each type a representative has to make in a certain period of time Activity-based costing - Answer A costing method that first assigns costs to activities, then assigns costs to products based on their consumption of activities adaptive selling - Answer Using social styles to customize a sales approach to the specific customer Affective job satisfaction - Answer A person's emotional feeling about the job as a whole Affiliative selling relationships - Answer A situation where the buyer needs extensive expertise from the seller to make a decision algorithm - Answer A process or set of rules to be followed in calculations or other problem-solving operations, especially by a computer Alliance agreements - Answer A formal agreement among companies who want to share resources to create a competitive advantage American Marketing Association Code of Conduct/Ethics (AMA) - Answer American Marketing Association's standard of professional ethical norms and values for its members (practitioners, academics and students) Analytical decision-making - Answer An approach where a leader or manager only makes important business decisions with solid data or information in hand Multiple companies are working together to target different kinds of customers for similar types of products. The heads of an industry are endorsing a particular company and its respective products for a fee. A firm is advertising a product on television during a popular program that the majority of the population watches. - Answer A firm is advertising a product on television during a popular program that the majority of the population watches. A company is looking at all marketing data associated with attracting prospects from the last year in order to gain insights into prospective customers. The data contains multimedia and unstructured data. Which big data characteristic does this data represent? Distributed Velocity Variety Relational - Answer Variety A company analyst seeks input from the sales department on which business objective it wants to address so the analyst can develop a survey instrument. Which step in the data analysis process is illustrated by this action? Interpretation Collection Processing Analysis - Answer Collection Why should a company use open-source frameworks? To adapt coding based on needs To increase profit with single supplier To reduce enterprise resource planning To increase material requirements planning - Answer To adapt coding based on needs A company recently conducted a focus group to determine which features and benefits customers are interested in receiving from its brand. The company plans to redesign its offerings based on the customer feedback. Which factor will the company need to consider when developing sales forecasts? Personnel Competitor Product Economy - Answer Product A large manufacturer wants to replace its aging machines. The manufacturer determines what the machines must do and then seeks to have suppliers submit bids on the price, quality, and after-sales service. What should the manufacturer use to solicit the suppliers' bids? Requests for proposal Single-source bid Performance review Quality survey - Answer Requests for proposal A company offering online tax preparation software finds that despite stellar sales numbers, its revenue is lower than expected. Upon further analysis, the company determines that customer satisfaction drops significantly after the first year, and only 25% of customers maintain the service after three years of use. How should this company remedy its problem? Evaluate website visits Conduct sales forecasting Develop retention strategies Monitor sales performance - Answer Develop retention strategies A company is concerned about a future decrease in sales so the sales manager begins monitoring and tracking historical trends of why customers are discontinuing the purchase of their products. Which type of predictive analytics is being used by this sales manager? Lead scoring Customer attrition Sales cycle efficiency Predictive forecasting - Answer Customer attrition Which type of organizational structure causes conflict in a salesperson's performance due to having multiple bosses? Matrix Function Hierarchy Department - Answer Matrix What is a disadvantage of a matrix structure? Skills are pooled together. Teams can be disbanded quickly. Employees have two direct supervisors. Specialized staff are underused. - Answer Employees have two direct supervisors. A firm operates using a formal structure in which decision-making authority resides with the executive leadership. Which type of organizational structure is being used by this firm? Decentralized Centralized Customer Product - Answer Centralized What is true of a sale in which the customer has a limited problem-solving mindset? The customer is swayed directly by advertising and promotion. The salesperson will need to focus on spending time with the customer. The salesperson should focus on relationship building, not quick sales. The customer will become well educated about the product prior to purchase. - Answer The customer is swayed directly by advertising and promotion. A car salesperson is under pressure to sell one additional new vehicle by the end of the day to meet a quota. A consumer arrives at the dealership and explains she just had a baby and is looking for a used car with better safety features than her current vehicle. The salesperson sees an opportunity and shows the consumer a new model and explains why the new model is safer and a better value. The consumer decides to purchase the new model. How did this salesperson use sales role perception to achieve this sale? By recognizing the need to achieve only the consumer's objectives By recognizing the need to achieve only the salesperson's objectives By recognizing the need to achieve both the salesperson's and the consumer's objectives By recognizing the need to achieve both the salesperson's and the dealership's objectives - Answer By recognizing the need to achieve both the salesperson's and the consumer's objectives A solar panel company publishes a white paper on the advantages and disadvantages of various solar panels. A customer carefully reads the paper before making a decision to purchase a particular model. Which factor of product perception is influencing this consumer's buying process? Social Object Personal Situational - Answer Object A hiring manager is deciding between two candidates for a technical sales position. One candidate has more sales experience but, if hired, would be the only female salesperson in the organization. The hiring manager decides to hire the female candidate but at a lower exempt salary status than what the other salespeople have received when hired. Which statute is the hiring manager violating? Fair Labor Standards Act Equal Pay Act of 1963 Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 - Answer Equal Pay Act of 1963 A sales manager at a diaper factory has been tasked with forecasting potential staff needs for the toddler pull-up diaper division and is analyzing the relevant external factors that will cause an impact. Which factor should the manager analyze? New laws Financial strength Production levels International expansion plans - Answer New laws A company wants to hire a technical salesperson and posts the job opening on popular online business networking platforms. Which type of recruiting is this company conducting? Social recruiting Headhunting College recruiting Employee referral program - Answer Social recruiting Which benefit will a manager who is hiring a new salesperson gain from using resume-parsing software? Broaden the pool of viable candidates Eliminate the need for initial interviews Save time in the overall hiring process Assess candidate personality fit - Answer Save time in the overall hiring process A hiring manager has narrowed the candidate pool of qualified salespeople to two. During a final review, the older of the two candidates is chosen due to a perceived higher level of maturity and the firm's dissatisfaction with previous younger hires. Which form of discrimination is this manager committing? Disparate impact Educational Financial Disparate treatment - Answer Disparate treatment A firm is using situational interview questions to help select a candidate for a sales management position. Which question aligns with this interview format? What interested you in this position? What experience do you have with sales technology? How would you construct a sales compensation package? How have you resolved previous customer conflicts? - Answer How would you construct a sales compensation package? How should a sales manager ethically conduct employment testing in the sales recruitment process? Testing should be consistently applied to all candidates Testing should be provided based on a candidate's needs Testing should be conducted without a candidate's consent Testing should be randomly selected for all candidates - Answer Testing should be consistently applied to all candidates A sales manager has used the same interview question for many years to determine the degree of candidates' fit with the company's culture. Over time, the sales manager has discovered that applicants' answers rated as positive consistently align with a high degree of cultural fit and the success of the new hires. Which issue regarding the data did the manager discover? Reliability Weighted responses Problem-solving Motivation - Answer Reliability A business-to-business (B2B) company discovers its margins are lower than that of its competitors. In response, the company implements a new sales training program to help salespeople better communicate product value to organizations. The result is increased sales and profitability. Which direct benefit has this company achieved? Improved productivity Greater employee morale Lower staff turnover Less stress among sales staff - Answer Improved productivity Even though its sales numbers are high, a company is concerned that it has a low percentage of repeat sales. It decides to invest more heavily in sales training so salespeople will learn how to maintain regular communication with clients. The company sees a marked improvement in repeat sales. Which direct benefit has this company achieved? Less stress among sales staff Greater employee morale Lower staff turnover Improved customer relationships - Answer Improved customer relationships A company recently decided to pursue government contracts. The sales staff was hired to work on business-to-business (B2B) sales, not on sales to the federal government. The sales manager is constructing a professional development series that will provide advanced training for sales staff to secure government contracts. Which statement is true about this activity? The training should be applicable to all company employees. The sales exercises should be focused on business-to-business scenarios. The skills should extend beyond the initial qualifications of a job position. The success of the training will be based on number of attendees. - Answer The skills should extend beyond the initial qualifications of a job position. A sales manager meets with a newly hired salesperson to explain the roles and responsibilities of the salesperson's new position. Which goal is the sales manager trying to achieve? Set job expectations Reduce start-up costs Reduce employee turnover Save time for coworkers - Answer Set job expectations At a real estate office, all employees earn $1,000 per sale, but employees with less than twelve months experience are paid under a new employee compensation rule that pays them $3,000 monthly for sales made. These new employees can earn more money if they exceed three sales in any given month, and they do not return any money if the three sales are not achieved in a given month. Which compensation system is being used for new employees by this office? Salary Straight commission Recoverable draw Non-recoverable draw - Answer Non-recoverable draw A sales manager sets sales goals for employees and tells them they will receive a 10% bonus at the end of the quarter if all sales goals are met. Which type of reward program is being provided by the manager? Gain sharing Performance incentive Deferred compensation Intrinsic bonus - Answer Performance incentive A vendor sells hot dogs and lemonade to people in their seats at a stadium and is compensated per unit sold. Which form of compensation does this represent? Profit sharing Standard salary Deferred compensation Piece-rate - Answer Piece-rate What is a potential negative effect of using individual incentive systems with salespeople? Lower levels of individual performance Increased competition in targeting clients Higher turnover rates for existing clients Reduced levels of customer prospecting - Answer Increased competition in targeting clients A pharmaceutical sales manager has decided to conduct a sales contest and reward its top salesperson for the upcoming quarter with an all-expense paid trip to Hawaii. Which component of the firm's sales compensation plan covers the associated expenses for this incentive? First in-first out Quota Salary Sales performance incentive fund - Answer Sales performance incentive fund A company needs to determine the cost of converting prospects to actual customers over a period of one year. Which type of ratio category should the company use for this purpose? Expense Account development Call activity Job knowledge - Answer Expense A sales manager wants to evaluate how a salesperson's characteristics have aided in closing sales. Which type of sales performance measurement is being used? Subjective Objective Expense Benchmark - Answer Subjective A manager and subordinate work together to establish relevant, quantitative performance goals. They then assess the extent to which these goals have been completed during the review period. Which performance evaluation method is being used by the manager? Management by objectives Critical incident technique Behaviorally anchored rating scale Subjective performance measures - Answer Management by objectives A manager is trying to base an employee's rating on the entire evaluation period rather than focusing on the last two months of the year. Which performance appraisal problem is the manager trying to avoid? Central tendency error Halo effect Recency error Personal bias - Answer Recency error A sales manager meets with a salesperson to establish goals and expected outcomes for the upcoming sales cycle. The salesperson leaves the meeting understanding how performance will be evaluated. Which approach is the sales manager using for this performance appraisal? Management by objectives Behavioral observation scales Behaviorally anchored rating scales Critical incident technique - Answer Management by objectives A sales manager is designing a commission structure for sales team members. The commissions will be based on each salesperson's monthly sales less variable expenses. Which income statement is the basis for the sales commission structure? Contribution margin Full costing Traditional Balance sheet - Answer Contribution margin A sales manager explains to the chief executive officer (CEO) that they can reduce costs by outsourcing the sales of the product. Which loss should concern the CEO if this change is approved? Control Market access Buyers Production - Answer Control A sales manager wants to improve the return on assets managed and assumes that the profit margin will remain constant. Which action should the sales manager take? Increase its asset turnover rate Decrease its account development rate Decrease its use of quotas for salespeople Increase its focus on transactional selling - Answer Increase its asset turnover rate A sales manager applies a costing method that is focused on reporting all direct costs associated with product sales for internal financial reporting. Which costing method is the sales manager using? Activity-based Full product Contract Job - Answer Activity-based Managers in a company are evaluating external and internal factors in order to develop the sales plan. Which level of decision-making are the managers performing? Tactical Strategic Executive Programmed - Answer Strategic A company fails to meet current annual sales goals. The sales manager is tasked with developing a plan to increase sales without incurring additional costs. Which solution should this sales manager choose? Offering customer discounts Focusing on product customization Creating new products Upselling prospective customers - Answer Upselling prospective customers What is an advantage of using customer surveys as a means to collect data for forecasting and quota development? It provides detailed user information. It involves inexpensive data collection. It generates rich data for consumer goods. It collects generically valuable information. - Answer It provides detailed user information. What is a disadvantage of using the Delphi method as a means to collect data for forecasting and quota development? Possibility of a dominating voice Time consuming in generating results Prevalence of argumentative discussion Discouragement in equal participation by introverts - Answer Time consuming in generating results A sales manager for a manufacturing company is developing a sales forecast based on past sales trends in order to estimate a similar growth rate in sales. The sales data are divided into four segments for analysis. Which approach to sales forecasting is the sales manager using? Qualitative Time series Test market Buying plan - Answer Time series A sales manager is considering all sales data since the start of the business. To develop a sales forecast for the upcoming year, the manager assigns a higher factor to recent sales and a lower factor to sales that were over seven years ago. Which approach to sales forecasting is being used by this sales manager? Market test Trend evaluation Exponential smoothing Decomposition analysis - Answer Exponential smoothing A director of sales has been asked to create a sales forecast for the upcoming fiscal year for a company that manufactures various household goods. The director of sales wants to analyze data by using quantitative analysis. Which method should be used to meet this goal? Expert opinion Subjective approach Statistical review Delphi technique - Answer Statistical review A director of sales has been asked to create a sales forecast for the upcoming fiscal year for a company that manufactures various snack foods. The director of sales is considering using a quantitative forecasting approach. Which approach should be used to meet this goal? Delphi method Time series technique Sales force composite Jury of executive opinion - Answer Time series technique How are sales forecasting and quota development used to help a company make effective decisions? A sales forecast is developed after quotas are established. ...