Question 1

Carefully set territories

Accepted Answer

Carefully set territories can reduce travel time and the cost of sales calls. Assigning territories can also help reduce confusion about who has responsibility for a set of sales tasks.

Question 2

It is usually the _________ job, perhaps with help from specialists in technology, to decide what types of sales technology tools are needed and how they will be used.

Accepted Answer

It is usually the sales manager's job, perhaps with help from specialists in technology, to decide what types of tools are needed and how they will be used.

Question 3

Customer service reps:

Accepted Answer

Customer service reps are required to solve a problem that a customer encounters with a purchase. All of these alternatives are true regarding customer service reps.

Question 4

When customers have questions about a product they've purchased, or problems using it, they can go online to the company's website to search for answers or interact with others with a similar problem. This is an example of:

Accepted Answer

A community support forum is an online forum where customers interact with each other. Many customers visit the forum to ask questions or to search for others with a similar problem; some visit just because they enjoy answering questions.

Question 5

Emphasis on standardized e-commerce is appropriate for a business selling situation that requires:

Accepted Answer

Emphasis on standardized e-commerce is appropriate for selling situations where relationship-building requirements are low and standardized information exchange requirements are high.

Question 6

Rothbart Inc. has a quality control manager, order-taking salesperson and financial manager as part of the personnel involved in helping to improve a customer relationship. Which of the following approaches is Rothbart using?

Accepted Answer

If different people handle different sales tasks, firms often rely on team selling-when different people work together on a specific account. Sometimes members of a sales team are not from the sales department at all. If improving the relationship with the customer calls for input from the quality control manager, then that person becomes a part of the team, at least temporarily.

Question 7

Hannah Spiritway works for a cable TV company in a large city. She handles telephone calls from customers who are having problems with their cable service. Hannah is

Accepted Answer

Customer service reps are required to solve a problem that a customer encounters with a purchase.

Question 8

Edward Seaton owns a firm that manufactures custom-made carpets. He has a regular sales force to call on smaller customers and an elite force to call on larger accounts. The elite sales force is called:

Accepted Answer

The elite sales force is called a major accounts sales force. A major accounts sales force sells directly to large accounts.

Question 9

Jeffrey O'Donnell works for a producer of dairy products and knows all about these products. He is responsible for only two very large chain customers. Other sales reps, like Jeffrey, call on other large chains for this producer. They regularly call on the central offices of these big retail chains and encourage them to buy the company's full line. Jeffrey is:

Accepted Answer

A major accounts sales force sells directly to large accounts.

Question 10

Allied Corp. has found that an effective salesperson should call on each account about six times a year and spend about two hours per sales call. Every salesperson works a 40-hour week and takes off two weeks for vacation each year. A salesperson must spend half of the time on travel and administration. Approximately how many salespeople does Allied need to service 1000 accounts?

Accepted Answer

The size of the sales force depends on the workload. The company needs to service 1000 customers × 6 sales calls per year × 2 hours per sales call - so it needs 12000 hours of "selling time." One salesperson works 40 hours/week × 50 weeks = 2000 hours per year but only half of that time is selling - so they sell 1000 hours per year. They would need to hire 12 salespeople to get the 12,000 hours of selling time needed.

Question 11

A good marketing manager organizing a new sales force knows that:

Accepted Answer

Firms often rely on team selling-when different people work together on a specific account. Different specialists handle different parts of the job but the whole team coordinates its efforts to achieve the desired result.

Question 12

Which of the following alternatives about telephone selling by an inside sales group is FALSE?

Accepted Answer

Telephone selling in business markets is often used to extend personal selling efforts to new target markets or increase the frequency of contact with current customers. An advantage of telephone selling by an inside sales group is that it saves time and money for the seller, and it gives customers a fast and easy way to solve a purchasing problem.

Question 13

Splash World Pool Supplies wants its salespeople to call on pool wholesalers five times per year and to spend two hours on each sales call. Every salesperson works a 40-hour week and takes off two weeks for vacation each year. A salesperson must spend half of the time on travel and administration. Approximately how many salespeople does Splash World need to service 1000 accounts?

Accepted Answer

The size of the sales force depends on the workload. The company needs to service 1000 customers × 5 sales calls per year × 2 hours per sales call - so it needs 10,000 hours of "selling time." One salesperson works 40 hours/week × 50 weeks = 2000 hours per year but only half of that time is selling - so they sell 1000 hours per year. They would need to hire 10 salespeople to get the 10,000 hours of selling time needed.

Question 14

Charles Brothers Bakery's sales efforts to local schools emphasizes personal selling without any e-commerce support. If Charles Brothers Bakery is doing things right, we would expect that the situation of selling to schools requires:

Accepted Answer

Emphasis on personal selling is appropriate for selling situations where relationship building requirements are high, but there is a low need for standardized information to be exchanged on a recurring basis.

Question 15

Jonquil, Inc., located in Walla Walla, Washington, is a major manufacturer of class rings for colleges. It is one of two ring companies trying to become the solely authorized class ring distributor for Carter Glass University in Virginia-a large university of over 25,000 students. When invited to make a sales presentation to the buying group at Carter Glass University, Jonquil sent the national vice-president of marketing, the national customer service director, the national design director, the regional sales manager, and the local sales representative in Virginia. During the sales presentation, each person discussed what role he/she would have in serving the Carter Glass University account. Jonquil, Inc. seems to be doing:

Accepted Answer

Firms often rely on team selling-when different people work together on a specific account. Different specialists handle different parts of the job but the whole team coordinates its efforts to achieve the desired result.

Question 16

When an AFLAC insurance agent calls a competitor's small-business customers to try to convince them to switch insurance companies, what type of sales activity is this?

Accepted Answer

Telemarketing is using the telephone to call on customers or prospects.

Question 17

Which of the following statements about telemarketing is False?

Accepted Answer

In business markets, an "inside" sales force can often build profitable relationships with small or hard-to-reach customers. In final consumer markets, telemarketing has a bad name. The National Do Not Call Registry in the U.S. (and similar laws in other countries) have largely eliminated telemarketing to consumers.

Question 18

DrainClear Plumbing Supply has found that an effective salesperson should call on each account about four times a year and spend about three hours per sales call. Every salesperson at DrainClear works a 40-hour week and takes off two weeks for vacation each year. A salesperson must spend one quarter of the time on travel and administration. Approximately how many salespeople does DrainClear need to service 1000 accounts?

Accepted Answer

The size of the sales force depends on the workload. The company needs to service 1000 customers × 4 sales calls per year × 3 hours per sales call - so it needs 12,000 hours of "selling time." One salesperson works 40 hours/week × 50 weeks = 2000 hours per year but only three quarters of that time is selling - so each "sells" 1500 hours per year. They would need to hire 8 salespeople to get the 12,000 hours of selling time needed.

Question 19

Which of the following statements about customer service is true?

Accepted Answer

Sometimes the marketing mix is fine, but the customer makes a purchase that is a mistake. Or customers may simply change their minds. Either way, customers usually expect sellers to help fix purchasing errors. Customer service reps have to find a way to deal with such customers and not alienate them.

Question 20

A breakdown in any element of the marketing mix can result in a requirement for

Accepted Answer

A breakdown in any element of the marketing mix can result in a requirement for customer service. Ideally, a firm should deliver what it promises but a marketing mix, being a human process, can have errors.

Quiz 14: Personal Selling and Customer Service