Eastern Michigan University

MKT 510A

Chapter 17-Managing Personal Communications

True/FalseQuestions

1)Direct marketing is the use of direct channels to reach and deliver goods and services to marketing middlemen.

2. A direct marketing campaign’s success is judged by the response rate.

3. Telesales, telecoverage, and teleprospecting are all forms of telemarketing.

4. Some important benefits of interactive marketing are that it is highly accountable and that its effects can be easily traced.

5. It has been estimated that over half of all online searches are for products and services.

6. One important guideline for email marketing is to make it easy for customers and potential customers to “unsubscribe.”

7. Closing a sale typically requires four calls, and the total cost to complete a sale can be as high as $1,200.

8. A salesperson who relies on creative methods for selling tangible products or intangibles is called an order taker.

9. When drug reps (pharmaceutical salespeople, also called “detailers”) call on physicians to inform them of new prescription products and help the doctors keep up on the latest research on the use of drugs in medical treatments, they are performing in the role of missionary salesperson.

10. A technician sales representative is one who has a high level of technical knowledge about the product being sold.

11. Companies often specialize their sales forces along industry or customer lines in a market type of sales force structure.

12. One-third of companies use a combination of base salary plus commission in compensating their sales force.

13. Companies may use mathematical models to determine the size of their sales force.

14. A fixed sales force compensation plan works best when individual initiative is high and product sales are cyclical.

15. Straight salary should be emphasized more in sales jobs with a high ratio of non- selling duties to selling duties.

16. If all other factors are equal, sales representatives on straight commission need less supervision than those on straight salary.
17. A sales force with many new hires is less productive.

18. A time-and-duty analysis is a planning tool that helps salespeople understand how they spend their time and how they might increase their productivity.

19. The time for the salesperson to learn as much about a potential customer as possible is in the approach stage of the personal selling process.

20. Once a salesperson has identified a hot prospect, she is now ready to enter the approach stage of the personal selling process. False

Multiple Choice Questions

21. Which of the following is a customer benefit of direct marketing?

1. Ability to customize the message.
2. Ease of segmentation through mailing lists.
3. Time savings.
4. Ability to test messages.
5. Ease of measuring campaign results.

22. Ying Yin Corp. sells DVDs of animated and dramatized Buddhist stories. The company has had a direct mail program for years. With a current campaign, they chose to send the offer to 10,000 possible customers. Half on the list received the offer in a pale yellow envelope with a slightly crooked first class stamp. The other half of the list received an identical offer, but in an envelope that was a bolder yellow and the stamp was an obviously machine-applied, and bulk-rate. Ying Yin Corp.  management is probably

                            for the campaign?

1. setting the objectives
2. choosing the target markets and prospects
3. deciding on offer elements
4. testing the elements
5. measuring the success

23. Euli Chaves wants to sell difficult-to-find Korean grocery items to Chinese customers, via a mailed catalog. He has read that a 2 percent response rate is considered good. He decides that he wants 4 percent of those who receive the catalog to make a purchase. At what stage of the direct mail campaign is Chaves?

1. Objectives.
2. Target markets and prospects.

3. Offer elements.
4. Testing elements.
5. Measuring success.

24. In direct mail, the       consists of five elements—product, offer, medium, distribution method, and creative strategy.

1. offer strategy
2. R-F-M formula
3. marketplace conditions
4. break-even response rate
5. order response rate

25. Outbound telemarketing is used to perform which kind of telemarketing?

1. Telesales.
2. Telecoverage.
3. Teleprospecting.
4. More than one of the above.
5. None of the above.

26. With broadband Internet connections becoming more common, marketers can do more communicating online with customers. Which is NOT really associated with this growing ability to market?

1. Better animation possibilities.
2. Direct-to-customer video.
3. Increased sophistication in sound.
4. Stronger strategic thinking.
5. Ability to interact with the customer.

27. Which of the following is NOT an important guideline for those that market using email?

1. Give the customer a reason to respond.
2. Personalize the email content.
3. Only use email with customers who have agreed to receive it.
4. Offer something the customer could not get via direct mail.
5. Make it easy to “unsubscribe.”

28. Wong drives a bread truck from the Zhonghua Food Corp. to grocery stores and convenience stores all over the northeast quadrant within China. He stocks the racks, gives the managers their bills, and collects the money. Wong is a(n)                                                                                                                                .

1. demand creator
2. deliverer
3. missionary
4. solution provider
5. order taker

29. Which of the following best describes the engineering salesperson who is primarily a consultant to client companies?

1. Deliverer.
2. Order taker.
3. Technician.
4. Demand creator.
5. Solution vendor.

30. Which of the following best describes a salesperson whose expertise lies in solving a customer’s problem, often with a system of the firm’s goods and services?

1. Deliverer.
2. Order taker.
3. Technician.
4. Demand creator.
5. Solution vendor.

31. Amanda Tso is a sales representative for Scünci hair products. She visits independent grocery and drug stores several times a year and encourages them to use the company’s display material in their stores. Tso is a(n)   .

1. demand creator
2. deliverer
3. missionary salesperson
4. order taker
5. solution provider

32. The first step in designing a sales force to sell Tupperware industrial storage shelving to warehouse operators is to   .

1. select a sales force strategy
2. decide on sales force size
3. decide on sales force structure
4. set sales force quotas
5. set sales force objectives

33. Which of the following is NOT a generally a part of the salesperson’s job?

1. Using.
2. Targeting.
3. Communicating.
4. Information gathering.
5. Servicing.

34. Which of the following is NOT part of the job expected of a salesperson who is a major account manager?

1. Acting as a single point of contact between buyer and seller.
2. Looking for ways to add value through solving customer problems.
3. Negotiating contracts with customers.
4. Prospecting for new major accounts.
5. Providing customized customer service.

35. The workload approach method of determining sales force size includes all the following steps EXCEPT:

1. grouping customers into size classes.
2. determining the number of sales calls a rep can make in a year.
3. establishing call frequencies.
4. multiplying the number of calls needed by the number of current sales reps.
5. dividing the total annual calls required by the average number a rep can make.

36.   receives more emphasis in jobs with a high ratio of nonselling to selling duties and when the selling task is technically complex and involves teamwork.

1. Fixed compensation
2. Variable compensation
3. Demand compensation
4. Supply compensation
5. Combination compensation

37.   receives more emphasis in jobs where sales are cyclical or depend on individual initiative.

1. Fixed compensation
2. Variable compensation
3. Demand compensation
4. Supply compensation
5. Mixed compensation

38. Moisés sells Gibson and Epiphone guitars. He is a self-starter. He spends at least 80 percent of his time in selling activities and, at most, 20 percent of his time on nonselling activities such as filling out paperwork, placing orders, and managing territories. Which sort of compensation would most likely appeal to Moisés?

1. Straight commission.
2. Salary and quarterly bonuses.
3. Expense allowance and salary.
4. Salary and commission.
5. Annual bonus and salary.

39. Ethel Cantu a salesperson for a company that makes moisture monitoring equipment for corporate farms. She spends about 20 percent of her time actually selling the product, and about 80 percent of her time installing the computer systems, training customers in their use, and generally troubleshooting. Which sort of compensation would keep Cantu satisfied with her job?

1. A commission and quarterly bonuses.
2. Base plus commission.
3. Benefit package and a commission.
4. Straight salary.
5. Profit sharing, annual performance bonuses, and a commission.

40. A(n)             is a planning tool that helps salespeople understand how they spend their time and how they might increase their productivity.

1. time-and-motion study
2. call report
3. territory marketing plan
4. time-and-duty analysis
5. activity plan

41. Which of the following is NOT one of the ways salespeople generally spend their time?

1. Producing products.
2. Traveling to appointments.

3. Waiting for clients.
4. Selling.
5. Planning.

42. Which of the following types of salespeople provide technical information and answers to customers’ questions?

1. Technical support people.
2. Sales assistants.
3. Telemarketers.
4. Market researchers.
5. Interviewers.

43.   provide clerical backup for the outside reps by confirming appointments, carrying out credit checks, following up on deliveries, and answering customers’ questions.

1. Technical support people
2. Sales assistants
3. Telemarketers
4. Market researchers
5. Interviewers

44. The most-valued reward to motivate a salesperson has been determined to be

                           .

1. pay
2. promotion
3. respect
4. security
5. recognition

45. Lin was hired to answer Chinese customers’ questions at the Service Hotline Center of China Mobile in Beijing. He would be considered a(n)                                                                                                                   .

1. telemarketer
2. sales assistant
3. inside salesperson
4. technical support person
5. agent sales rep

46. Bajneesh takes care of the clerical needs of her company’s sales force while they are on the road. She would be considered a(n)          .

1. telemarketer
2. sales assistant
3. inside salesperson
4. technical support person
5. agent sales rep

47. Judith “cold calls” prospective clients to make appointments for the sales force in order to help them use their time more efficiently. Judith would be considered a(n)

                           .

1. telemarketer
2. sales assistant
3. inside salesperson
4. technical support person
5. agent sales rep

48. Which of the following is one of the least valued rewards by salespeople?

1. Pay.
2. Promotion.
3. Personal growth.
4. Sense of accomplishment.
5. Respect.

49. Which of the following is NOT about sales quotas?

1. You can fail to make the quota and the company can still make its sales forecast.
2. Sales quotas can be established for regions.
3. If all of a company’s sales force missed their quota, the company could not meet its overall sales forecast.
4. An individual’s quota is normally derived by dividing up the total area’s quota.
5. Sales quotas can be established for territories.

50. Management can obtain information about sales reps in all of the following ways EXCEPT:

1. sales reports
2. personal observation

3. customer letters and complaints
4. customer surveys
5. territory management

51. The                approach to selling trains salespeople in customer problem solving in which the rep learns to listen and ask questions in order to identify customer needs and come up with sound product solutions.

1. customer-oriented
2. relationship marketing
3. sales-oriented
4. transformational marketing
5. negotiation-based

52. Once a salesperson has identified a hot prospect, she is now ready to enter the

                            stage of the personal selling process.

1. preapproach
2. qualifying
3. approach
4. presentation
5. canvassing

53. Orlando Solis is a successful Nissan salesman. He is the type of salesperson who has many regular customers return and buy their next car with him. His ability to retain customers would lead you to believe that Orlando is effectively performing the

                            stage of the personal selling process.

1. prospecting
2. closing
3. presenting
4. demonstrating
5. follow up

54. Jordan sells network systems for small businesses, and spends lots of time nurturing all his accounts, answering their concerns, and spending time making sure they know how everything works. Jordan is most likely selling the product on what type of basis?

1. Short-term marketing.
2. Relationship marketing.
3. Global marketing.
4. Quick-hit marketing.
5. B2C marketing.

Essay Questions

55. Amanda Webber has established a new company to sell vehicle parts and accessories. She sees three distinct target audiences for her company’s products—mechanics for installation, agricultural fleets, and government clients. Which of the four basic sales

force structures should she use and why? Discuss the advantages and limitations of the structure that is most appropriate for her company.

56. Rick Greene has established a new company to sell lawn and garden products nationwide. Discuss why Greene’s sales managers should worry about motivation. How can they motivate his salespeople to be as productive as they possibly can?

57. Discuss the types of raw data that sales managers might use to monitor the sales performance of their sales force.

58. How could the creation of an inside sales force help a paper products company that has been losing major accounts because its outside sales force had to spend so much time dealing with smaller accounts and following up orders?

59. CINTAS provides industrial uniform services to businesses of many types. The CINTAS sales force is under constant pressure to find new customers. Once the customer signs up for the service, the salesperson turns the account over to the fulfillment group and goes on to find more new customers. In a brief essay, explain the relevant steps to effective selling for a CINTAS salesperson.

Mini-Cases

Mini-Case 17-1

Adam Wetzel manages sixteen salespeople in a territory that covers an area including eastern China over to western China. They market payroll systems for small, independent

companies. Adam’s salespeople vary in their earnings from ¥36,000 per year to over

¥100,000 per year. They are all provided with a mobile phone, but only make more than

¥2,000 per month if they sell a minimum number of systems in the measured period.

60. Refer to Mini-Case 17-1. Adam’s sales force is paid on what type of compensation plan?

1. Fixed amount.
2. Expense allowances.
3. Combination salary and commission.
4. Straight commission.
5. Straight salary.

61. Refer to Mini-Case 17-1. If Adam’s salespeople are like most, they are most motivated by what kind of reward?

1. Personal growth.
2. Authority.
3. Security.
4. Pay.
5. Sense of accomplishment.

Mini-Case 17-2

Bjorn Landis is the sales manager for an established plastic manufacturer. The sales force is older, experienced, loyal, productive, and highly resistant to technology. An earlier effort to get sales representatives to use computers, faxes, and voice mail failed miserably. The company wants to emphasize selling, hold down sales costs, attract high- performing salespeople, and weed out low performers. Landis has discovered that his sales force is only spending about 20 percent of its time in face-to-face selling because the sales representatives spend most of their time completing paperwork related to the orders, customers forgetting appointments and having to reschedule, and following up on deliveries.

Once Landis finished evaluating the sales force as a whole, he began to look at the performance of individual salespeople. Supriya “Super” Satpathy is one of the older sales representatives of the company and has the longest tenure, having started when the owner began the company 20 years ago. She has balanced a career and is raising five children.

62. Refer to Mini-Case 17-2. Given the number of different uses for plastic, what would be the best sales force structure for this company to use?

1. Territorial.

2. Product.
3. Market.
4. Matrix.
5. Major account.

63. Refer to Mini-Case 17-2. If Landis wants to help Super become more productive, he could encourage her to do a(n)         .

1. expense-activity report
2. territory marketing plan
3. time-and-duty analysis
4. call report
5. workload plan