WGU D099 Sales Management Study Guide 2026 Version
Please use the assigned course readings to answer these questions. Please do not
use the internet, AI, or other outside sources. The course textbook is the only
place where all the Objective Assessment (OA) answers can be found.
Module 1
Q1: Discuss the 4 key objectives of a sales department, giving an example for each.
• Generate customers and convert sales
• Retain customers
• Developing a sales forecast
• Ensuring product market fit
Q2: Define Customer Relationship Management (CRM)? Identify few goals of CRM.
• Process implemented by a company to handle its contact with customers with the goal of creating a defined customer
experience to maximize retention
• Capture new leads/customer acquisition
• Support and manage relationshipa/customer retention
• Boost productivity and lower costs/customer profitability (automating outreach and communication that lowers the business
costs of doing that relationship)
Q3: What are the four elements that make up ethical behavior within an organization?
• A code of ethics
• Ethics training at all levels
• Advice on ethical situations (offices, officers, call in lines)
• A system of confidential reporting
Q4: What is the relationship between sales and marketing?
• Sales is subset of marketing, like a category
• Sales is marketing by definition
• Marketing is about exchanges
• Marketing sets up customer wants and interest, and sales closes it and completes the sale
• Marketing: 4 Ps, promotional mix (IMCs), motivates customer action, builds relationships, interacts with sales, focused on
needs
• Sales: identifies customers to engage, interacts 1-to-1, converts, personal relationships, feedback, feedback to marketing,
focused on needs
Q5: Describe the buyer’s journey?
• AIDA process (attention, interest, desire and action)
• Seek information and behave as active participants
• Consumers can jump around in the process
Q6: Identify differences between Transactional, and Relationship selling?
• Transactional selling is a sales strategy on achieving quick sales without a significant attempt to form a long term customer
relationship (only doing business once)
• Relationsh ip selling is a sales technique that focuses on the interaction between the buyer and the salesperson, rather than the
price or details of the product (getting to know the buying and building trust and rapport)
,WGU D099 Sales Management Study Guide 2026 Version
Q7: How does the Social Style Matrix help in Adaptive selling?
• Adaptive selling is a model for understanding the relationship between sales and consumers based on the social style matrix
• Buyers have some sort of typical personality traits, and as sales person if you are able to recognize the buyers personality
traits, you can adjust your sales approach in order to be more effective with the buyer
• Analytical (they want to know how)
o Factual and understand details, decisions based on data
• Drivers (they want to know what)
o Action-oriented, goal-centric, result-driven, be clear and specific
• Amiables (they want to know why)
o Approachable and engaging, team players and want to build relationships, we can do this together
• Expressives (they want to know who)
o Social and engaging, motivate and encourage, and express their feelings, how it makes me feel
Q8: Define Customer lifetime value (CLV)? How is CLV calculated?
• CLV is a prediction, the net profit attributed to the entire future relationship with a single customer
Q9: When a Business sells at a no loss no profit, for e.g. a company invests $20/- in making a product and then sells it to customers
at $20/-, what is the Return on Investment (ROI)? Is a metric that measures how much value a business can create per customer, a
method of analyzing customer-centric investments like time, effort, and money
Module 2
Q1: Identify 5 points of differences between B2B and B2C markets.
• B2B
o Few customers
o Larger purchases
o Longer selling cycle
o Multiple decision makers
o Harder to identify decision makers (gatekeepers)
• B2C
o Many customers
o Smaller purchases
o Shorter selling cycles
o Fewer decision makers
o Easier to identify decision makers
Q2: What are the different sales channels used by companies.
• Producer to Consumer (direct buy)
,WGU D099 Sales Management Study Guide 2026 Version
• Producer to retailer to consumer (indirect retail)
• Producer to wholesaler to retailer to consumer (indirect wholesaler, retailer)
• Producer to distributor to retailer to consumer (indirect distributor, retailer)
• Producer to agent/broker to wholesaler/distributor to retailer to consumer
Q3: What is Key Account Management (KAM)? How does Pareto principle
apply to KAM?
• A dedicated support person to our active accounts according to the Pareto
principle
Pareto decides who gets a KAM, the law of the vital few
80% of the effect comes from 20% of the causes
80% of revenue is coming from the top 20% of your accounts
Q4: Identify the difference between power skills and hard skills of salespeople.
• Power skills: empathy, verbal communication, listening, conflict resolution,
analytical decision making
• Hard skills: product knowledge, proposals, contracts, technology
proficiency, software skills
Q5: What are four essential skills needed for any salesperson to do the job
well?
• Sale s s kil ls: ability to build rapport, time management, ability to conduct
research, critical thinking and problem solving
• Sales managers skills: coaching, leadership, strategic thinking, performance
management
Q6: Identify the six steps in the sales process. Give at least two characteristics
in each of the six steps.
1. Prospecting and qualifying: searching for potential customers (ability and
desire to make purchase)
2. Approaching customers: reaching out to the customer and trying to set an
appointment to actually follow up with a fill sales call and/or
,WGU D099 Sales Management Study Guide 2026 Version
demonstration (important)
3. Presenting and demonstrating product: explain how the product meets the
customer’s needs,
4. Handling objections: questions being asked by the customer
5. Closing the sale: customer committing to the purchase and signing for it
6. Following up on sale: work out on remaining details after purchase,
thanking customer for purchasing the product, additional sales, seek
referrals
Q7: What are the different phases in the sales funnel?
• Sales funnel: is they buying process that companies lead customers through
when purchasing products (what the company uses for customer)
o Lead (attention) is a potential buyer
o Suspec t (in terest) is a potential customer who meets the minimum
qualifications but haven’t shown interest
o Prospect (desire) is a suspect who has now shown some interest
o Customer (action) is the person who has made a purchase
• Buyer’s journey (what the customer goes through)
o Attention, they become aware and get information, interest they get
when they have the information, desire to own the product, and action
to purchase
Q8: Identify the characteristics of the following levels in the sales funnel: Top
of the Funnel; Middle of the Funnel; Bottom of the funnel?
• Top of the funnel: (Leads and attention) Marketing, get customers attention
• Middle of the funnel (s uspects/prospects and attention/desire) the sales team
turn to move customers through high level information and answer
objections
• Bottom of funnel: (customer and action): marketing, engage and follow up
Module 3
Q1: What are buying centers?
Please use the assigned course readings to answer these questions. Please do not
use the internet, AI, or other outside sources. The course textbook is the only
place where all the Objective Assessment (OA) answers can be found.
Module 1
Q1: Discuss the 4 key objectives of a sales department, giving an example for each.
• Generate customers and convert sales
• Retain customers
• Developing a sales forecast
• Ensuring product market fit
Q2: Define Customer Relationship Management (CRM)? Identify few goals of CRM.
• Process implemented by a company to handle its contact with customers with the goal of creating a defined customer
experience to maximize retention
• Capture new leads/customer acquisition
• Support and manage relationshipa/customer retention
• Boost productivity and lower costs/customer profitability (automating outreach and communication that lowers the business
costs of doing that relationship)
Q3: What are the four elements that make up ethical behavior within an organization?
• A code of ethics
• Ethics training at all levels
• Advice on ethical situations (offices, officers, call in lines)
• A system of confidential reporting
Q4: What is the relationship between sales and marketing?
• Sales is subset of marketing, like a category
• Sales is marketing by definition
• Marketing is about exchanges
• Marketing sets up customer wants and interest, and sales closes it and completes the sale
• Marketing: 4 Ps, promotional mix (IMCs), motivates customer action, builds relationships, interacts with sales, focused on
needs
• Sales: identifies customers to engage, interacts 1-to-1, converts, personal relationships, feedback, feedback to marketing,
focused on needs
Q5: Describe the buyer’s journey?
• AIDA process (attention, interest, desire and action)
• Seek information and behave as active participants
• Consumers can jump around in the process
Q6: Identify differences between Transactional, and Relationship selling?
• Transactional selling is a sales strategy on achieving quick sales without a significant attempt to form a long term customer
relationship (only doing business once)
• Relationsh ip selling is a sales technique that focuses on the interaction between the buyer and the salesperson, rather than the
price or details of the product (getting to know the buying and building trust and rapport)
,WGU D099 Sales Management Study Guide 2026 Version
Q7: How does the Social Style Matrix help in Adaptive selling?
• Adaptive selling is a model for understanding the relationship between sales and consumers based on the social style matrix
• Buyers have some sort of typical personality traits, and as sales person if you are able to recognize the buyers personality
traits, you can adjust your sales approach in order to be more effective with the buyer
• Analytical (they want to know how)
o Factual and understand details, decisions based on data
• Drivers (they want to know what)
o Action-oriented, goal-centric, result-driven, be clear and specific
• Amiables (they want to know why)
o Approachable and engaging, team players and want to build relationships, we can do this together
• Expressives (they want to know who)
o Social and engaging, motivate and encourage, and express their feelings, how it makes me feel
Q8: Define Customer lifetime value (CLV)? How is CLV calculated?
• CLV is a prediction, the net profit attributed to the entire future relationship with a single customer
Q9: When a Business sells at a no loss no profit, for e.g. a company invests $20/- in making a product and then sells it to customers
at $20/-, what is the Return on Investment (ROI)? Is a metric that measures how much value a business can create per customer, a
method of analyzing customer-centric investments like time, effort, and money
Module 2
Q1: Identify 5 points of differences between B2B and B2C markets.
• B2B
o Few customers
o Larger purchases
o Longer selling cycle
o Multiple decision makers
o Harder to identify decision makers (gatekeepers)
• B2C
o Many customers
o Smaller purchases
o Shorter selling cycles
o Fewer decision makers
o Easier to identify decision makers
Q2: What are the different sales channels used by companies.
• Producer to Consumer (direct buy)
,WGU D099 Sales Management Study Guide 2026 Version
• Producer to retailer to consumer (indirect retail)
• Producer to wholesaler to retailer to consumer (indirect wholesaler, retailer)
• Producer to distributor to retailer to consumer (indirect distributor, retailer)
• Producer to agent/broker to wholesaler/distributor to retailer to consumer
Q3: What is Key Account Management (KAM)? How does Pareto principle
apply to KAM?
• A dedicated support person to our active accounts according to the Pareto
principle
Pareto decides who gets a KAM, the law of the vital few
80% of the effect comes from 20% of the causes
80% of revenue is coming from the top 20% of your accounts
Q4: Identify the difference between power skills and hard skills of salespeople.
• Power skills: empathy, verbal communication, listening, conflict resolution,
analytical decision making
• Hard skills: product knowledge, proposals, contracts, technology
proficiency, software skills
Q5: What are four essential skills needed for any salesperson to do the job
well?
• Sale s s kil ls: ability to build rapport, time management, ability to conduct
research, critical thinking and problem solving
• Sales managers skills: coaching, leadership, strategic thinking, performance
management
Q6: Identify the six steps in the sales process. Give at least two characteristics
in each of the six steps.
1. Prospecting and qualifying: searching for potential customers (ability and
desire to make purchase)
2. Approaching customers: reaching out to the customer and trying to set an
appointment to actually follow up with a fill sales call and/or
,WGU D099 Sales Management Study Guide 2026 Version
demonstration (important)
3. Presenting and demonstrating product: explain how the product meets the
customer’s needs,
4. Handling objections: questions being asked by the customer
5. Closing the sale: customer committing to the purchase and signing for it
6. Following up on sale: work out on remaining details after purchase,
thanking customer for purchasing the product, additional sales, seek
referrals
Q7: What are the different phases in the sales funnel?
• Sales funnel: is they buying process that companies lead customers through
when purchasing products (what the company uses for customer)
o Lead (attention) is a potential buyer
o Suspec t (in terest) is a potential customer who meets the minimum
qualifications but haven’t shown interest
o Prospect (desire) is a suspect who has now shown some interest
o Customer (action) is the person who has made a purchase
• Buyer’s journey (what the customer goes through)
o Attention, they become aware and get information, interest they get
when they have the information, desire to own the product, and action
to purchase
Q8: Identify the characteristics of the following levels in the sales funnel: Top
of the Funnel; Middle of the Funnel; Bottom of the funnel?
• Top of the funnel: (Leads and attention) Marketing, get customers attention
• Middle of the funnel (s uspects/prospects and attention/desire) the sales team
turn to move customers through high level information and answer
objections
• Bottom of funnel: (customer and action): marketing, engage and follow up
Module 3
Q1: What are buying centers?
