Question 1

Which of the following logical fallacies involves offering as evidence statements such as "everybody knows"?

Accepted Answer

A) An appeal to popular opinion involves offering as evidence statements such as "everybody knows."

Question 2

________ involves reducing the audience's resistance to the sales message, which is especially important when you create unsolicited sales communication.

Accepted Answer

B) Creating a sense of desire involves reducing the audience's resistance to the sales message, which is especially important when you create unsolicited sales communication. You create desire through authority, social proof, or perceived scarcity.

Question 3

You need to ask a coworker to take your place and present a proposal at an upcoming departmental meeting. Which of the following statements made by you is most likely to convince your coworker to grant this favor?

Accepted Answer

D) When you're requesting a favor, you will need to make a persuasive request that helps the audience feel good about doing the favor. If possible, the request will also show how the audience will benefit from helping you. This choice highlights a potential audience benefit while the others focus more on the writer of the request.

Question 4

Ending a persuasive claim letter with a closing that expresses the desire of purchasing from the store in the future ________.

Accepted Answer

A) If you want a merchant to make an exception for you, you need to persuade them that the policy should not apply in your situation, or that it is in the seller's best interest to fulfill your request. Suggesting that a positive outcome will keep you a loyal customer to the store is a benefit the store will realize from granting your request.

Question 5

Which of the following types of fallacies involves supporting an idea by comparing it to something that is not comparable?

Accepted Answer

A) False analogy involves supporting an idea by comparing it to something that is not comparable.

Question 6

Which of the following fallacies involves focusing on an irrelevant issue to draw attention away from a central issue?

Accepted Answer

A) The fallacy of red herring involves focusing on an irrelevant issue to draw attention away from a central issue.

Question 7

You are writing to persuade your boss that your department needs additional staff to achieve its annual goals. Presently a hiring freeze and a moratorium on overtime are in effect, so your recommendation will need to be very persuasive.
-Given this situation, your message ________.

Accepted Answer

D) In this situation, your boss may not be aware of the understaffing in your department and will be reluctant to approve the additional expenditures this recommendation proposes. So using indirect organization, and building up to the specific recommendation gradually, is the favored approach.

Question 8

Which of the following persuasive elements is NOT used in recommendations?

Accepted Answer

A) The content of a recommendation can include a range of persuasive elements: focusing on benefits, anticipating objections, building credibility, constructing a logical argument, and appealing to the audience's emotion.

Question 9

You are an educational consultant. A local elementary school has asked you to submit a recommendation regarding its inefficient and problematic enrollment process. After reviewing the situation it seems that just a few easy and inexpensive changes will result in a much more orderly system. When writing up your recommendation you should ________.

Accepted Answer

B) Since your audience has requested the recommendation and your solution will likely please them (as it is easy and inexpensive) the direct approach is favored in this situation.

Question 10

You decide to email this recommendation to your boss. Which of the following would be the best subject line for this message?

Accepted Answer

C) In this situation, your boss may not be aware of the understaffing in your department and will be reluctant to approve the additional expenditures this recommendation proposes. So using indirect organization is the favored approach. In such a case your subject line should not directly identify your recommendation, but rather hint at it as this one does. Several of the choices incorrectly identify the proposal, and one of them is very vague and gives no idea about what the email is about.

Question 11

A recommendation is a business message that ________.

Accepted Answer

C) In a recommendation, you establish that a problem or a need exists, and then you show how your solution is effective.

Question 12

Which of the following would most likely be considered to be a persuasive customer claim instead of a routine customer claim?

Accepted Answer

B) A claim that asks a store or manufacturer to make an exception and do something that violates its standard policies would require persuasion. Asking for a repair to an item not covered by its warranty would be such a case.

Question 13

A request to your audience to do you a favor requires more persuasion when ________.

Accepted Answer

C) In such a case, you will need to make a persuasive request that helps the audience feel good about doing the favor.

Question 14

Emphasizing how your product or service meets your audience's needs is part of which aspect of the AIDA approach for organizing sales messages?

Accepted Answer

D) In the acronym AIDA the I stands for interest. To build your audience's interest emphasize how your product or service meets their needs.

Question 15

Which of the following types of communication typically requires persuasion to influence and motivate the audience?

Accepted Answer

D) Of all the options, only job application letters need to be persuasive. Routine messages, like customer claims for exchanges, sales reports etc., are short and straightforward and not sensitive. They do not require you to persuade your audience to accept your point.

Question 16

When using direct organization for recommendation messages, you must begin with ________.

Accepted Answer

D) When using the direct organization for recommendation messages, the message must begin with proposing a specific recommendation. The writer then must go on to identify the issue and justify the issue by providing solid evidence.

Question 17

According to the AIDA approach, which of the following would be most likely to grab an audience's attention?

Accepted Answer

B) In order to grab your audience's attention your wording should make your audience want to read or hear more about your product or service. Citing the startling fact that a company's range of cars saves up to 50% more in gas mileage than the rest of the models is more compelling than any of the other choices.

Question 18

Email recommendations written using direct and indirect organization have notable differences, but they also contain many similar elements. Which of the following is a similarity?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Email recommendations written using direct and indirect...

Question 19

Which of the following is an example of the attention-grabbing technique of asking a motivating question?

Accepted Answer

B) A motivating question is one that inspires your audience to imagine that they can achieve the goal you are asking about, like losing weight without visiting the gym.

Question 20

If you want a store to grant you a return when this is against their company policy, you should ________.

Accepted Answer

E) If you want a merchant to make an exception for you, you need to persuade them that the policy should not apply in your situation, or that it is in the seller's best interest to fulfill your request.

Quiz 5: Communicating Persuasive Messages