Deck 9: Developing and Qualifying a Prospect Base

Question 1

In most cases,technicians,receptionists,bank tellers and other non-sales personnel can do little to help with prospecting.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

The process of qualifying prospects includes answering which of the following questions?

A)Is this the senior executive?
B)Does the prospect know who the decisionmaker is in the organization?
C)Can the prospect make the buying decision?
D)Can the prospect pay in cash for the purchase?
E)Has the prospect purchased anything similar before?

Answer 2

C

Question 3

It would be inappropriate to ask for the names of potential buyers immediately after closing the sale.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Joe Girard's "Ferris Wheel" concept assumes which of the following?

A)The optimal ratio of customers to prospects is 66 percent.
B)If the customers are sold the correct product and given good service,a company will not lose customers.
C)A certain number of customers will be lost every year by most companies.
D)Departing customers must be replaced by new customers at an equal rate.
E)Salespeople will do better prospecting when they think of the process as a roller coaster.

Question 5

Networking is another word for prospecting.

Question 6

CRM software cannot be used to track the likelihood that a sale will close.

Question 7

Many banks,accounting firms and consulting companies use seminars to generate new prospects.

Question 8

A major barrier to prospecting is time.Therefore,salespeople should:

A)try to avoid spending time available for actual selling on prospecting
B)try to spend at least 50 percent of every week on prospecting
C)get involved in prospecting only after completion of all regular selling activities
D)assign prospecting to lower-level employees
E)integrate some prospect identification with regular selling duties

Question 9

A typical company will lose approximately what percent of its customers every year?

A)5 to 10
B)15 to 20
C)25 to 30
D)35 to 40
E)45 to 50

Question 10

In most selling situations,prospecting begins with a study of the market for your product or service.

Question 11

When you build value into your sales process,you increase the odds that the customer will give you a referral.

Question 12

Joe Girard's "Ferris Wheel" concept illustrates how many calls it takes to close a sale.

Question 13

When a salesperson asks a customer to prepare a note or letter of introduction that can be delivered to the potential customer,this person is using which prospecting method?

A)networking
B)mail inquiry
C)cold canvass
D)referral
E)trade show

Question 14

The use of friends and acquaintances is not an acceptable way to build a prospect base.

Question 15

Cold calls should not be used to introduce a new product or service.

Question 16

Using an existing customer as an intermediary (presentation of a letter or note)can reduce the amount of time spent on prospecting.

Question 17

Qualifying is the process of identifying prospects who should be contacted.

Question 18

Persons skilled in networking have learned that it is a good idea to conduct business while networking.

Question 19

The"endless chain" prospecting technique is easy to use because it fits naturally into most sales presentations.

Question 20

.The goal of prospecting is to build a prospect base made up of current and potential customers.

Question 21

Educational seminars can be a good source of prospects because:

A)people who pay for a seminar will buy product
B)salespeople need help doing demonstrations
C)more than half of the people who attend seminars will become customers
D)they allow you to educate prospects about your product
E)you can build a close into the keynote speech

Question 22

At-a-glance visualizations that define,monitor,and analyze the relationships existing in the pipeline or sales funnel are referred to as:

A)sales forecasts
B)pipeline analytics
C)pipeline dashboards
D)regression models
E)commission reports

Question 23

Salesforce.com is a leading provider of:

A)industry research
B)placement of salespeople
C)product development research
D)CRM software
E)payroll software

Question 24

Estimating the potential sales volume that might be generated by each new account is part of developing:

A)a prospecting and sales forecasting plan
B)a sales analysis
C)the target market
D)a referral list
E)analytic software

Question 25

A well-connected person who may not make the buying decision but who may have an impact on the person who does is a:

A)gatekeeper
B)referral
C)prospect
D)target market
E)center of influence

Question 26

The sales funnel model of classifying prospects involves:

A)assigning each prospect a rating
B)using multiple factors to classify prospects
C)determining where a prospect is in the sales process
D)counting all prospects equally
E)asking directed questions

Question 27

Which one of the following publications would be a good source of information on prospects if you were involved in the sale of products in the international market?

A)Middle Market Directory from Dun and Bradstreet
B)Directory of Corporate Affiliations from Macmillan
C)Data reports published by U.S.and Foreign Commercial Service
D)Standard and Poor's Corporation Records Service
E)your local Chamber of Commerce directory

Question 28

Which one of the following is a guideline for effective networking?

A)Limit the number of people you meet in a given setting.
B)When you meet someone,tell the person what you do.
C)Follow up on every contact.
D)Don't hesitate to do business while networking.
E)Only offer a business card if the other person asks for it.

Question 29

Which one of the following efforts is used by progressive marketers to improve the quality of the prospecting process?

A)Shorten the sales cycle by quickly determining which of the new prospects are qualified prospects.
B)Reduce the number of prospects who board the "Ferris wheel."
C)Avoid the temptation to develop quality standards that might interrupt the steady supply of prospects.
D)Increase the use of telemarketing to identify prospects.
E)Make more cold calls to increase the volume of the pipeline.

Question 30

Networking,as it applies to the field of selling,is a method of prospecting:

A)with the telephone
B)popular only in the telecommunications field
C)which is seldom used today
D)that is of dubious ethics
E)that relies on making contacts with people and profiting from the connection

Question 31

Which of the following is true regarding prospecting at trade shows?

A)It is hard to identify prospects.
B)It is easier to identify good prospects and close sales at a trade show.
C)It is costly because it is hard to close sales for trade show prospects.
D)It requires over five sales calls to close a sale from trade show prospects.
E)Trade show prospects are less motivated to buy than are other prospects.

Question 32

The portfolio model of classifying prospects involves:

A)assigning each prospect a rating
B)using multiple factors to classify prospects
C)determining where a prospect is in the sales process
D)using a sales forecast to predict which prospects will buy
E)using external industry research

Question 33

The term "social network" refers to:

A)your set of direct and indirect contacts
B)your set of direct contacts
C)your set of indirect contacts
D)an industry affiliation group
E)an industry research group

Question 34

Which of the following is true regarding doing business in Germany?

A)Germany has been described as a "high context" culture.
B)Dinner is the most common meal for business meetings.
C)Flashy brochures will have more impact than statistic-filled ones.
D)There is a strong emphasis on punctuality.
E)Non-verbal communication is more important than the words used to communicate.

Question 35

The responsibility for entering customer information and contact records into the CRM database usually belongs to:

A)the customer
B)the office manager
C)the data entry clerk
D)the sales manager
E)the salesperson

Question 36

Cold calling can be an effective technique for reaching:

A)decisionmakers
B)senior executives
C)potential prospects
D)buying centers
E)qualified leads

Question 37

To increase the odds that customers will give referrals,a salesperson should:

A)build value into the sales process
B)offer free product or discounts for referrals
C)motivate buyers through time pressure
D)provide a rational buying motive
E)ask sales managers for permission to cut prices

Question 38

Networking outside of a salesperson's industry is largely:

A)meaningless
B)time-consuming
C)fruitless
D)neutral
E)beneficial

Question 39

Which of the following is a true statement regarding prospecting?

A)Personal observation is an unlikely prospecting technique.
B)Cold calling prospecting is a systematic approach to identifying prospects.
C)Salespeople should not use friends and acquaintances as a source of prospects.
D)A salesperson cannot afford to spend time calling on persons who are not legitimate prospects.
E)Networking should be avoided as a source of prospects.

Question 40

A key concept in networking is to:

A)follow up with every person you make contact with
B)select who you will follow up with based on their usefulness
C)send an email to every contact
D)follow up on all emails with a phone call three days later
E)keep track of your contacts in CRM software

Question 41

Sales intelligence involves answering which of the following questions?

A)Do you know your role?
B)Do you know your product?
C)Do you know my company?
D)Do you know my social background?
E)Do you have any special discount offers?

Question 42

Describe the major benefits of using a computerized database as a source of prospects.

Question 43

A sales representative has contacted all companies in his territory in the target industry,and is concerned that the territory may be saturated.
What is a new source of prospects in the same territory and industry?

A)people in different departments of current client companies
B)people in locations of the current client companies in different countries
C)companies in different industries in the same territory
D)companies in the same industry and territory that have not been contacted by the sales representative yet
E)competitor companies in the same territory

Question 44

A "balanced funnel" involves:

A)aggressively eliminating non-productive leads
B)combining technical sales with product sales
C)entering prospects from an even balance of industries
D)entering the "Ferris wheel" simultaneously
E)having prospects at many different stages of the sales cycle

Question 45

Grackin Corporation is pushing into a new county in which they are not well-known already,as they are in their current territories.As part of this new push,the sales director decides to use a strategy of aggressive cold-calling by the salespeople.
Because cold calling does not immediately result in a high level of closed sales,some companies feel that it is worthless.However,when done correctly--by researching the prospect and keeping the call bright and focused--it can be:

A)a fast way to make a quick transactional sale
B)a good way to discover which prospects answer their own phones and which ones have assistants who screen calls
C)an effective way to introduce the prospect to the sales representative and company
D)a risk-free way to build rapport with a new prospect
E)a way to finally close sales that have been pending for too long

Question 46

CRM software is useful because:

A)customer information can be shared with competitors
B)customer information is available to many people in the company
C)customer information is stored locally on the salesperson's computer
D)customer information is updated automatically by the CRM provider
E)customer information can be changed only with approval of a supervisor

Question 47

Andrew McIlhern,a software sales representative,is not happy about giving up two days of making sales calls to work his company's booth in the exhibit hall of a major regional trade show.When he consults with his company's exhibit manager,however,she urges him to use the time to prospect wisely.
How can Andrew use those two days in the exhibit hall to increase his pipeline?

A)spend time studying product literature to increase his product knowledge
B)present to visitors to the booth who cannot buy so that he can practice on people who are not prospects,so he does not have to worry about sales
C)make calls to current customers during breaks in the booth to provide after-sale service
D)ask his co-workers to call some of his prospects while he is gone to present the product to them
E)qualify prospects with a few questions when they first enter the booth and capture the contact info of qualified prospects so he can make follow-up calls a few days after the trade show

Question 48

The process of identifying prospects that should be contacted is called ________.

Question 49

Joe Girard,popular sales trainer and consultant,used the "________ ________" concept to illustrate the relationship between prospecting and the loss of customers due to attrition.

Question 50

A prospect list from a CRM database is likely to include which kinds of information?

A)amount,date,and likelihood that a sale will close
B)saleperson bonus information on closed sales
C)amount and dates of sales competitors have made to the prospect
D)salesperson's conclusions on any calls made to the prospect
E)which salespeople earned the highest commissions,in descending order

Question 51

A sales representative has contacted all companies in his territory in the target industry,and is concerned that the territory may be saturated.
How could the sales representative use CRM technology to pinpoint companies that might have more untapped buyers?

A)Compare the names of the contacts for each company in the CRM to the names on the invoices paid by the companies.
B)Run a pipeline report to see how many potential sales could come in in the next 60 days.
C)Run a pipeline report for this year and then one for the same month a year ago to compare numbers of prospects at each stage in the pipeline.
D)Look at the task list to see if there are prospects to be called that salespeople have missed.
E)Look at reports of sales relative to company populations to find sales that are too small to be the entire company and may just be one department.

Question 52

A ________ ________ outlines expected sales for a product or service to a specific target group over a specific period of time.

Question 53

A salesperson is prospecting for new customers almost constantly,but is having problems meeting his sales goals.He has consulted with his sales manager,who concludes that once the salesperson has a meeting with a decisionmaker he does quite well and often closes the sale.
What could the salesperson focus on to better meet his goals?

A)more prospecting to make sure he has a steady supply of potential new customers to present the product to
B)qualifying prospects to make sure that they have the desire and decisionmaking authority to make a purchase
C)presenting to the prospect using a stronger emotional appeal and less logic
D)presenting benefits to the prospect instead of features,and making sure the benefits are as specific as possible
E)working with a more seasoned salesperson from his company to learn techniques for finding more prospects in less time

Question 54

A downside to focusing too much effort on prospects with little potential is:

A)the pipeline may become hard to keep track of without CRM software
B)managers may assign some prospects to other salespeople
C)too little resources are available to focus on prospects with high potential
D)a salesperson may forget customers' names
E)sales commissions may max out the compensation plan

Question 55

Many banks,investment firms,accounting firms and wine merchants use education ________ to generate new prospects.

Question 56

The procedure used to obtain names of potential prospects from current prospects and customers is called ________.

Question 57

When you develop a prospecting plan,three major decisions must be made.List and explain these decisions.

Question 58

A salesperson is prospecting for new customers almost constantly,but is having problems meeting his sales goals.He has consulted with his sales manager,who concludes that once the salesperson has a meeting with a decisionmaker he does quite well and often closes the sale.
The salesperson asks his manager to listen in while he makes calls one day to help him figure out what he could be doing better.The manager concludes that the salesperson is doing an excellent job of building rapport,but is not qualifying prospects as he talks to them.The manager suggests to the salesperson that he spend less time talking about the prospect's personal details and:

A)more time talking about the features of the product
B)focus on non-verbal ways to build rapport with the prospect,such as making active listening noises
C)keep a list of qualifying questions in front of him so he makes sure to ask each one of them during the call
D)practice his elevator pitch so he can help the prospect understand the product more quickly,since they do not have time on the phone to do a long pitch
E)instead,talk about himself so the prospect will be able to trust him more easily

Question 59

Grackin Corporation is pushing into a new county in which they are not well-known already,as they are in their current territories.As part of this new push,the sales director decides to use a strategy of aggressive cold-calling by the salespeople.
How will the sales cycle in this new territory compare in length to the cycle in the established territories in which Grackin Corporation is already known in the industry?

A)It will be shorter,because the salespeople will be calling prospects to introduce the company.
B)It will be shorter,because they will not have to overcome false impressions.
C)It will be longer,because the salespeople will have to introduce the company from scratch in cold calls instead of getting name recognition from prospects.
D)It will be longer,because the county has not had a need for Grackin Corporation's products before.
E)It will be the same,because sales presentations are sales presentations.

Question 60

Andrew McIlhern,a software sales representative,is not happy about giving up two days of making sales calls to work his company's booth in the exhibit hall of a major regional trade show.When he consults with his company's exhibit manager,however,she urges him to use the time to prospect wisely.
From the base of prospects Andrew makes at the trade show,he closes sales on twice as many as his usual close rate,and his sales cycle is only 3/4 as long as usual.What explains this?

A)The prospects he met at the trade show are already qualified and have seen a demo of the software in the booth and have asked to be contacted.
B)The prospects he met at the trade show had more money to spend than do his usual prospects.
C)The prospects he met at the trade show got to know him personally in a way his prospects don't usually,so they bought from him because he was a friend.
D)The trade show only attracted prospects who were ready to buy the products they saw on the exhibit hall floor.
E)The trade show required exhibiting companies at the trade show to offer a discount to attendees.

Question 61

Grackin Corporation is pushing into a new county in which they are not well-known already,as they are in their current territories.As part of this new push,the sales director decides to use a strategy of aggressive cold-calling by the salespeople.
The sheer number of prospects a sales representative cultivates does not indicate the quality of the sales representative's pipeline.Why?

A)A sales representative's pipeline is higher quality if more of the prospects will end up buying than if they will not.
B)Prospects are not valuable unless they are qualified,so a representative with fewer total prospects but all of them qualified is better off than one with more prospects but fewer qualified ones.
C)Of all the prospects in a sales representative's pipeline,the only ones of value are the ones that can make referrals to other buyers.
D)Prospects are more valuable at different points in the pipeline,so it is impossible to determine the value of a sales representative's pipeline.
E)A sales representative who works harder to convince prospects to buy will have a more valuable pipeline than one who simply tries to fill prospects' needs.

Question 62

Charles Lin has just been hired by Frederick Company to replace a sales representative who is retiring after 40 years with the company.The older representative is training Charles on procedures and customers in his territory for three weeks before he retires,and Charles knows this is a huge opportunity to learn about the prospect base.When Charles asks which CRM system the company uses,the older representative says,"Everyone else here uses some computer program called Salesforce,but I won't touch it.I know my customers like the back of my hand! Never needed to write anything down."
Charles is concerned.He used Salesforce in college and knows how vital it is to have customer information,sales records,preferences,and conversations recorded.He talks to the sales manager,who tells him the representative's sales were decent,and all his invoices came in,so they left him alone and never forced him to use the CRM system.
What should Charles do?

A)He should quit the job because there is no way he can succeed in a territory that is disorganized and about which he has little information.
B)He should ask the manager for a list of the representative's customers and their contact information.
C)He should start fresh by developing his own prospect base and forget about the retiring representative's customers.
D)He should start piecing together his prospect base by asking the retiring representative for information and matching that information up with invoices and receipts he gets from the billing and accounts receivable departments.
E)He should ask the other sales representatives in the department to each give him three or four of their prospects so that he can start to put together a prospect base.

Question 63

Charles Lin has just been hired by Frederick Company to replace a sales representative who is retiring after 40 years with the company.The older representative is training Charles on procedures and customers in his territory for three weeks before he retires,and Charles knows this is a huge opportunity to learn about the prospect base.When Charles asks which CRM system the company uses,the older representative says,"Everyone else here uses some computer program called Salesforce,but I won't touch it.I know my customers like the back of my hand! Never needed to write anything down."
Charles is concerned.He used Salesforce in college and knows how vital it is to have customer information,sales records,preferences,and conversations recorded.He talks to the sales manager,who tells him the representative's sales were decent,and all his invoices came in,so they left him alone and never forced him to use the CRM system.
How does the retiring representative's not using a CRM system affect Frederick Company?

A)His customer knowledge is lost when the sales representative leaves instead of being able to be passed on to the rest of the company.
B)The sales representative's territory won't be maximized because everyone he has contacted will not purchase from Frederick Company again.
C)The entire company's pipeline forecasts have been incorrect for years,and cannot be fixed even after the representative leaves.
D)The sales representative must have been skimming money from the company by not reporting sales accurately for years.
E)If the representative has refused to use the CRM system,there must be other procedures he has not complied with accurately that are probably costing the company money.

Question 64

A sales manager runs what she calls "an all-out blitz" with her department to focus on closing sales in the last month of the third quarter.Her department exceeds its quota by 20%.
They focused on closing all the pending sales they could,and moving customers in the evaluation stage to buy.At the end of the fourth quarter,however,although her team closed a higher percentage of sales than they had in the third quarter at a higher average dollar value,the team brought in only 70% of what it brought in in the third quarter.
What critical error did the sales manager make in the all-out blitz month?

A)She focused on sales and forgot about modeling ethical behavior for her team.
B)She pushed the product too strongly and she and her team lost focus on the customers' needs.
C)She relied on the excitement of a sales promotion instead of focusing on the basics of proper sales techniques.
D)She incorrectly calculated commissions relative to sales for her team members.
E)She failed to look at pipeline analytics and notice the lack of prospects in the pipeline.

Question 65

Grackin Corporation is pushing into a new county in which they are not well-known already,as they are in their current territories.As part of this new push,the sales director decides to use a strategy of aggressive cold-calling by the salespeople.
An advantage to hosting educational seminars for potential prospects,aside from developing a list of prospects who have opted in to contact from your company,is:

A)getting the opportunity to present your product for several hours under the pretense of teaching the attendees something
B)forcing the sales representatives who present the seminar to get out of their comfort zones and improve their presentation skills
C)allowing prospects to see your company headquarters so they can start to view you as a trusted partner
D)establishing your company as an expert and positioning it as more education-focused and giving than competitor companies that do not conduct seminars
E)bringing in the extra revenue from the fees you charge to attend these educational seminars and make the required minimum purchase at the seminar

Question 66

A sales manager runs what she calls "an all-out blitz" with her department to focus on closing sales in the last month of the third quarter.Her department exceeds its quota by 20%.
They focused on closing all the pending sales they could,and moving customers in the evaluation stage to buy.At the end of the fourth quarter,however,although her team closed a higher percentage of sales than they had in the third quarter at a higher average dollar value,the team brought in only 70% of what it brought in in the third quarter.
What could be an explanation for this?

A)The prospects the team worked with in the fourth quarter had gone through their budgets and didn't have money to spend.
B)The manager didn't adequately train the team in how to do fourth-quarter sales.
C)Pending sales are the only sales that were tallied in the final figures for each quarter.
D)The team neglected their pipeline and developing prospects,so they did not have enough pending sales to close.
E)The team closed sales in the fourth quarter that were smaller than the ones they closed in the third quarter.

Question 67

Charles Lin has just been hired by Frederick Company to replace a sales representative who is retiring after 40 years with the company.The older representative is training Charles on procedures and customers in his territory for three weeks before he retires,and Charles knows this is a huge opportunity to learn about the prospect base.When Charles asks which CRM system the company uses,the older representative says,"Everyone else here uses some computer program called Salesforce,but I won't touch it.I know my customers like the back of my hand! Never needed to write anything down."
Charles is concerned.He used Salesforce in college and knows how vital it is to have customer information,sales records,preferences,and conversations recorded.He talks to the sales manager,who tells him the representative's sales were decent,and all his invoices came in,so they left him alone and never forced him to use the CRM system.
What are the real-life repercussions of the representative's lack of record-keeping for Charles as he begins his new job?

A)Charles' sales will track way behind those of the retiring representative and he will be docked pay and denied promotion because of this.
B)Charles is starting from almost scratch developing a prospect and customer base and may lose some current customers because he does not know about them.
C)Charles cannot succeed in this new job without customer information and will end up frustrated and doubting his skills.
D)Charles does not need any information from the retiring representative anyway as he is supposed to be developing his own prospects and not renewing business with the old representatives' customers anyway.
E)Charles was hired deliberately by management because he is young and his career won't be affected by this setback,so they will not give him the support he needs.