Personal Selling and Sales Promotion with Answers Part 3

Which of the following involves marking a reduced price directly on a product's packaging and often results in the stimulation of short-term sales? A) promotional products B) patronage rewards price packs D) samples E) rebates Answer: C 69) ________ are goods offered either free or at low cost as an incentive to buy a product. A) Coupons B) Premiums C) Price packs D) Cash refund offers E) Point-of-purchase promotions Answer: B 70) A ________ has the advertiser's name on it and is given as a gift to consumers. A) sample B) price pack C) cents-off deal D) promotional product E) corporate identity material Answer: D Which consumer promotion offers consumers the chance to win something by presenting them with an item such as a scratch-off card or a bingo number ? game B) contest C) price pack D) sweepstakes E) point-of-purchase promotion Answer: A 72) Marathons, concerts, and festivals with corporate sponsors are examples of ________. A) point-of-purchase promotions B) business promotions C) trade promotions D) event marketing E) personal selling Answer: D A) generate business leads B) stimulate purchases C) reward customers ) motivate salespeople Answer: E 74) Trade shows offer manufacturers the opportunity to do all of the following EXCEPT ________. A) establish a sales contest B) find new sales leads C) contact customers D) introduce new products E) educate customers Answer: A 75) Which of the following questions would be the best one to help a marketer evaluate the return on a sales promotion investment? A) Did the promotion run too long or too short? B) Did customers enjoy the events associated with the promotion? C) Did customers search the promotion's Web site for additional product information? D) Did the promotion increase purchases from current customers or attract new customers? E) Did the distribution of the promotional information match consumer expectations and needs? Answer: D 76) Today, most salespeople are well-educated, well-trained professionals who work to build and maintain long-term customer relationships by listening to their customers, assessing their needs, and organizing the company's efforts to solve customer problems. Answer: TRUE 77) Personal selling is the interpersonal component of the promotion mix. Answer: TRUE 78) Some corporations have no sales force, while others utilize sales agents, brokers, or manufacturer's reps. Answer: TRUE 79) Developing sales force strategy and structure is a minor element of sales force management and is an aspect that most companies fail to spend much time considering. Answer: FALSE 80) Of all the ways to structure a sales force, product sales force structure is most effective in helping the company to become more customer focused and build closer relationships with important customers. Answer: FALSE 81) The growth of product management has contributed to the increasing adoption of customer sales force structures. Answer: FALSE 82) Ken Klein is a Superior Frozen Foods salesman responsible for customers in the southwest region of Texas. Superior Frozen Foods most likely uses a territorial sales force structure. Answer: TRUE 83) Blackstone Tools manufactures screwdrivers, wrenches, and pliers, which are sold at large hardware stores. John Garcia handles the Home Depot account, while Melinda West manages the Lowe's account. Blackstone Tools most likely uses a product sales force structure. Answer: FALSE 84) Complex sales force structures include specialization by customer and territory, by product and territory, by product and customer, and by territory, product, and customer. Answer: TRUE 85) Hewlett-Packard salespeople spend more time with customers now that their administrative requirements have been decreased. Answer: TRUE 86) The workload approach to set sales force size is outdated. Answer: FALSE 87) Blue Star Supply Company wants its outside salespeople to spend more time with customers. One way for Blue Star to accomplish this goal would be for the company to hire additional technical support people and sales assistants. Answer: TRUE 88) As a result of the federal government's Do Not Call Registry, telemarketing is now rarely used. Answer: FALSE 89) Team selling is ideal when customer problems become more complex and customers become larger and more demanding. Sales teams have the advantage of uncovering problems that an individual would not, and sales teams can develop new opportunities as well. Answer: TRUE 90) A-1 Pharmaceuticals requires new salespeople to receive training through seminars, sales meetings, and e-learning sessions before they meeting customers. The program used by A-1 is typical for U.S. companies that rely on skilled and knowledgeable salespeople. Answer: TRUE 91) To discourage a salesperson from ruining a customer relationship by pushing too hard to close a deal in order to earn a commission, companies are designing compensation plans that reward salespeople for building customer relationships and growing the long-run value of each customer. Answer: TRUE 92) Sales force automation systems have been developed for improving how salespeople feel about their opportunities and value. Answer: FALSE 93) If Johnny Page's company is like most consumer goods companies today, he can boost sales force morale and performance through his organizational climate, sales quotas, and positive incentives. Answer: TRUE 94) Formal sales force evaluations require management to develop and communicate clear standards for judging performance, and they provide salespeople with constructive feedback and motivation to perform well. Answer: TRUE 95) During the presentation step of the selling process, the salesperson tells the customer the "value story" of the product. Answer: TRUE 96) Because customers almost always have objections during the presentation or closing step of the selling process, all salespeople need special training in how to deal with customer objections. Answer: TRUE 97) Sales promotion consists of long-term incentives to encourage purchases or sales of a product or service. Answer: FALSE 98) A product demonstration that occurs in a grocery store or a department store is an example of a point-of-purchase promotion. Answer: TRUE 99) Manufacturers direct more sales promotion dollars toward final consumers than toward retailers. Answer: FALSE 100) Manufacturers may offer an allowance in return for the retailer's agreement to feature the manufacturer's products in some way. Answer: TRUE 101) In a short essay, describe the nature of personal selling and the role of the sales force. Answer: Today, most salespeople are well-educated and well-trained professionals who work to build and maintain long-term customer relationships by listening to their customers, assessing customer needs, and organizing the company's efforts to solve customer problems. Salespeople act as order takers, order getters, and creative sellers. Personal selling is the interpersonal arm of the promotion mix. The sales force acts as a critical link between a company and its customers. Salespeople represent the company to the customer and the customer to the company to produce customer satisfaction and company profit. 102) Discuss the differences between the three major sales force structures. What are the potential benefits of each structure? Answer: In the territorial sales force structure, each salesperson is assigned to an exclusive geographic area and sells the company's full line of products or services to all customers in that territory. This organization clearly defines each person's job, fixes accountability, and increases the person's desire to build local business relationships that improve selling effectiveness. The product sales force structure allows the sales force to sell along product lines; the seller becomes very knowledgeable about products. This method can cause duplication of efforts and several salespersons calling on the same accounts. The customer sales force structure organizes along customer or industry lines; this can help a company to become more customer focused and build closer relationships with important customers. 103) Why are more companies using team selling? What are its pros and cons? Answer: Team selling is useful to service large, complex accounts. Sales teams can uncover problems, solutions, and sales opportunities that no individual salesperson could. The move to team selling is in part a reaction to similar changes within customers' buying organizations; selling teams now call on buying teams. Some pitfalls exist in the team approach. Selling teams can confuse or overwhelm customers who are used to working with only one salesperson. Some salespersons have trouble working with others. Finally, difficulties in evaluating individual contributions to the team selling effort can create some sticky compensation issues. 104) How do successful companies recruit and train their salespeople? What are the objectives of most sales force training programs? Answer: During the recruitment step, a company should assess the sales job itself and the characteristics of its most successful salespeople to determine the traits needed by a successful salesperson in that industry. Some companies give sales applicants formal tests, while others only interview applicants. Following selection, orientation and training must be conducted based upon the knowledge and skill levels of the recruits. Most companies train their new salespeople through seminars, sales meetings, and e-learning sessions. Training programs should teach salespeople about customers, about selling effectively, and about the company's products. 105) Describe some of the methods used to supervise salespeople and help them work more efficiently. Answer: Through supervision, or helping salespeople "work smart," management can help salespeople do the right things in the right way. This includes helping salespeople identify target customers and manage their time. A weekly, monthly, or annual call plan is used in many companies to show salespeople which customers and potential customers to call on within a given time period. And because companies are always looking for ways to make their employees more efficient, they often use a time-and-duty-analysis to identify how salespeople spend their time and how they can spend more time actively selling. To increase efficiency, many companies use sales force automation systems–including laptops, smart phones, videoconferencing, and relationship management software so that their sales force can work anywhere, anytime. 106) In a brief essay, explain methods of evaluating the performance of a sales force. Why is it important for a sales force to be evaluated? Answer: To evaluate its sales force, management needs to get regular information about the performance of its salespeople. Sales reports, including weekly or monthly work plans and longer-term marketing plans, are the most important source. Management also uses salespeople's expense reports and call reports to gauge sales call volume and success rates. In addition, management can use sales and profit performance data in each salesperson's territory, along with personal observation and customer surveys, to identify strengths and weaknesses in the sales force. Taking information gathered from these sources into consideration, management should provide salespeople with constructive feedback aimed at helping each salesperson succeed. Evaluating a sales force is important because that is how a company can measure its return on sales investment. 107) Provide the seven steps in the selling process. What would be the two most difficult steps for most salespeople and why? Answer: Prospecting and qualifying begin the process, followed by the preapproach. Next, the salesperson makes an approach to make a presentation or demonstration. Handling objections follows, leading into closing the sale. Each sale requires a follow up to make it complete. For most salespeople, especially new ones, the prospecting and closing steps are the most difficult and require much skill. For a salesperson unfamiliar with how to identify good leads with bad ones, prospecting can be difficult. Closing can be difficult because salespeople may lack the confidence to ask for an order, or they may not recognize the appropriate moment to close a sale. 108) What is the follow-up step of the selling process?Why is it important? Answer: The follow-up step is important if the salesperson wants to ensure customer satisfaction and repeat business. Right after closing, the salesperson should complete any details on delivery time, purchase terms, and other matters. The salesperson then should schedule a follow-up call when the initial order is received, to make sure there is proper installation, instruction, and servicing. This visit would reveal any problems, assure the buyer of the salesperson's interest, and reduce any buyer concerns that might have arisen since the sale. 109) What is the relationship between the personal selling process and the management of customer relationships? Answer: The selling process should be understood in the context of building and maintaining profitable customer relationships, as companies are interested in more than simply securing a one-time sale. Instead, they are interested in winning and keeping major customers, creating ongoing, mutually beneficial relationships. Because they have significant contact with customers, salespeople play an important role in building and managing profitable customer relationships. Salespeople need to think of the first sale as the beginning of a relationship that will involve listening to customers, understanding their needs, and helping to coordinate the company's efforts to create customer value. 110) In a short essay, explain how sales promotion campaigns are developed and implemented. Answer: Sales promotion campaigns first call for setting sales promotions objectives and selecting consumer, trade, business, and/or sales force promotion tools to achieve those objectives. Other necessary decisions include the size of the incentive, the conditions for participation, how to promote and distribute the promotion package, and the length of the promotion. After the campaign has been implemented, the company evaluates the results. 111) Happy Pet is a large petfood company that sells its petfood to retail pet supply stores as well as wholesalers. The sales force at Happy Pet is LEAST likely to do which of the following? A) work directly with final customers B) build relationships with wholesalers C) help retailers effectively sell the company's products D) communicate regularly with business customers E) represent wholesalers and retailers to the company Answer: A