95. The sales force’s reports should be exclusively used to evaluate a sales person’s performance.

96. The majority of sales representatives do not need any special encouragement and/or special incentives.

97. Regarding the setting of sales quotas, one general view is that a salesperson’s should be at least equal to last year’s actual sales plus some percentage increase.

 

98. Sales research is suggesting that today’s sales reps are spending the right amount of time selling and servicing their “key” customers.

99. At the heart of a successful sales force is the selection of effective representatives.

100. New representatives may spend as little as four weeks to as much as 28 weeks in training depending upon the complexity of the products and the industry.

Essay

101. The extraordinary growth of direct marketing can be attributed to many factors with both consumers and business are benefiting. List some of the factors that are contributing to the growth of direct marketing.

102. Direct-mail marketing involves sending an offer, announcement, reminder, or other item to a person. In the past number of years, direct-mail marketing has passed through a number of stages. List these stages and explain

–

103. Interactive marketing offers many unique benefits to the direct marketer. Explain some of the benefits afforded to marketers of using interactive marketing.

.

104. Clearly all companies need to consider and evaluate e-marketing and e-purchasing opportunities. A key challenge is designing a site that is attractive on first viewing and interesting enough to encourage repeat visits. Rayport and Jaworski have proposed that effective Web sites feature seven design elements that they call the 7Cs. List and explain each of these Cs.

105. The original and oldest form of direct marketing is the field sales call. No one debates the importance of the sales force in its marketing program. However, the term “sales representative” covers a broad range of positions, tasks, and responsibilities. List and briefly describe each of the “positions.”

106. The days when all the sales force did was “sell, sell, and sell” are long gone. Today companies need to define the specific objectives they want their sales force to achieve. The specific allocation scheme depends upon the kind of products and customers that the salesperson is selling. However, regardless of the selling context, salespeople will have one or more specific tasks to perform. List these tasks and explain.

107. Personal selling is an ancient art. Today companies spend hundreds of millions of dollars each year to train salespeople. Most training programs agree on the major steps involved in any effective sales process. List these six steps.

108. The majority of sales representatives require encouragement and special incentives. Most marketers believe that the higher the salesperson’s motivation, the greater the effort and the resulting performance, rewards, and satisfaction—and thus further motivation. This thinking is based upon two assumptions. List and describe these two sales motivating assumptions.

109. Most companies set annual quotas. Quotas can be on dollar sales, unit volume, margin, selling effort or activity and product type. Compensation is often tied to the degree of quota attainment. What problems does the setting of quotas present to both the company and to the sales representative?

.

110. At the heart of a successful sales force is the selection of effective representatives. Managing the sales force consists of five steps beginning with recruiting and selecting the sales representatives. List the other four steps in the process of managing a sales force.

APPLICATION QUESTIONS

Multiple Choice

111. You receive the “summer catalog” in the mail in the middle of February. This is an example of you participating in ________, one of the fastest growing segment for marketers.

a. advertising

b. sales force marketing

c. direct marketing

d. sales promotions

e. direct-order marketing

112. Market demassification has benefited direct marketers. An example of this ever-increasing number of market niches would be ________.

a. a full-service clothing firm

b. a general supply firm

c. tools for “left-handed” individuals

d. Wal-Mart’s e-commerce site

e. none of the above

 

113. Direct marketers can time their offer to reach their prospects at the right moment and as a result receive higher readership because of its applicability. An example of such “right moment” timing would be ________.

a. senior citizens receiving offers on retirement planning

b. parents of new born babies receiving coupons in the mail

c. “baby-boomers” receiving information on first time home ownership

d. generation Xers receiving retirement planning offers

e. none of the above

114. Some of the public and ethical issues in direct marketing include irritation, unfairness, deception and fraud, and ________.

a. invasion of privacy

b. smoothness of the commercials

c. phone calls at the dinner hour

d. prying on the less sophisticated

e. downright illegal activities

115. Your company uses direct marketing to reach its customers. Your direct mail pieces include a telephone number and a Web address. Your company directs the consumer to visit your Web site and print coupons for your products. This is an example of what stage of direct marketing?

a. Carpet bombing

b. Lifetime value marketing

c. Database marketing

d. Real-time personalized marketing

e. Interactive marketing

116. An objective of a direct-mail campaign is to solicit an order from the prospects. Your firm’s latest direct-mail offer was mailed to 100,000-targeted consumers. To date, you have received 2,000 orders to your offer. Based upon what the industry’s historical order rate runs, has this campaign been successful?

a. Yes, a 2 percent rate is considered good.

b. No, the 2 percent is below acceptable standards for a mailing.

c. No, the 2,000 orders does not cover the marginal costs of the mailing.

d. No, the level is below acceptable levels.

e. Cannot tell without more information.

 

117. You have identified those customers who have purchased “any” product from your firm within the last six months. Additionally, you have identified those customers who have spent at least “$100” and those customers who purchase something from your firm three to six times a year. What formula are you using to select customers for your mailing?

a. distribution, dollar amount, frequency

b. key customer, minimum amount, frequency

c. recent, often, dollar

d. product, offer, distribution

e. recency, frequency, monetary amount

:

118. Because only 2 percent of the prospects of a direct-mail campaign results in an order, today direct marketers are measuring the impact of the direct-mail promotion on ________.

a. exposure

b. “buzz”

c. interest

d. awareness

e. none of the above

119. Catalog marketing is big business—about 71 percent of Americans shop from home using catalogs. One of the factors in the success of a catalog business for a company is in its ________.

a. the company’s management team

b. the company’s product teams

c. how the company manages its market-management organization

d. how carefully the company manages its customer lists

e. the strength of the company’s customer-management organization

120. You have been hired by a firm that receives calls from customers. This is an example of a ________.

a. inbound call center

b. outbound call center

c. telemarketers

d. direct marketing

e. direct-response marketing

 

121. You call the 800 number from the catalog to order a new CD. Your call is answered and while you are on the phone, the telemarketer suggests some additional CDs that you might like based upon your personal preferences. You agree to purchase these CDs along with membership in the company’s CD club. You have participated in ________.

a. telecoverage

b. telesales

c. teleprospecting

d. customer service

e. none of the above

122. An infomercial is the combination of the “sell” of commercials and the draw of “educational information.” This is a form of ________.

a. interactive marketing

b. direct-response advertising

c. telesales

d. telemarketing

e. all of the above

123. The Web offers the advantage of “contextual placements.” Marketers can buy ads from sites that are related to their offerings. An example of a “contextual placement” ad would be ________.

a. Johnson and Johnson ads that appear when a consumer types in the term “baby”

b. an ad for new cars when the user logs on to a Web site

c. Johnson and Johnson ads that appear on a new car dealer’s Web site

d. new car ads that appear when the user types in the term “baby”

e. ads for expensive yachts when the term “bankruptcy” is typed

124. You are calling on a buyer at a mid-west industrial supplier and are in the process of using the AIDA and the FABV approaches. Of the six, generally accepted steps in the sales process, which step uses these two selling approaches?

a. Presentation and demonstration

b. Overcoming objections

c. Preapproach

d. Closing

e. Prospecting and qualifying

 

125. You are about to conduct a performance appraisal of one of your salespeople. Included in your portfolio is the salesperson’s activity plans, write-ups of activity plans, call reports, and annual territory marketing plan. One type of evaluation that you can conduct ________.

a. compares current performance to the groups performance

b. compares current performance to quota

c. compares current performance to past performance

d. compares current performance to “mean”

e. compares current performance to other individual’s performances

126. The majority of sales representatives require encouragement and special incentives. The use of cash, company cars, vacations, and special “gifts” to motivate salespeople are examples of what type of rewards?

a. Monetary

b. Physical

c. Value driven

d. Intrinsic

e. Extrinsic

127. Conventional wisdom is that profits are maximized by sales reps focusing on the more important products and more profitable products. When the firm launches or is planning on launching a number of new products in succession, how should the company adjust the sales force?

a. Increase the quotas on the new items to the sales force.

b. Increase the compensation on the existing line of products.

c. Tell the sales force to sell the new items at the expense of existing lines.

d. Increase the compensation on the new items.

e. It should expand the sales force.

128. Selecting the right sales representatives is the heart of a successful sales force. The characteristics of a “successful” sales representative are well known. A successful sales representative will possess ________.

a. attitude

b. reliable

c. knowledgeable

d. lifestyle

e. all of the above

 

129. The term “sales representative” covers a broad range of positions. You have been hired by a firm as a sales representative. Your job description reads as follows:

“The key duty of the sales representative is to solve the customer’s problems, using the company’s products.” You are a ________ sales representative.

a. deliverer

b. technician

c. missionary

d. demand creator

e. solution vendor

130. Your company has customer service representatives who provide you with leads, writes up proposals, fulfill orders, and provide postsale support. Your responsibilities are to concentrate on the larger accounts, with more complex and customized needs. This is an example of a(n) ________.

a. telemarketer

b. account management sales force

c. leveraged sales force

d. direct sales force

e. none of the above

Short Answer

131. In direct-order marketing, most direct marketers seek a measurable response. Define what the direct marketer is looking for.

132. Direct marketing benefits customers in many ways. List some of the ways that direct marketing benefits the consumer.

.

133. Why is direct mail a popular medium with marketers today?

134. One of the great advantages of direct marketing is the ability to test, under real marketplace conditions, different elements of an offer strategy. The response rate is only a part of the campaign’s impact. Explain what other factors direct mail influences that direct marketers’ measure?

135. List the ways television is used by direct marketers.

136. The Internet provides marketers and consumers with opportunities for much greater interaction and individualization. The exchange process in the age of information, however, has become increasingly customer-initiated and customer-controlled. Explain this statement.

137. Interactive marketing offers many unique benefits. List and identify these benefits.

138. One of the important guidelines for pioneering e-mail marketing is for the provider to “give the customer a reason to respond.” Explain.

139. Salespeople have specific tasks to perform to make a sale. List these specific tasks.

140. To attract top-quality sales reps, a company has to develop an attractive compensation package. The four components of sales force compensation include?

141. With compensation plans that combine fixed and variable pay, companies may link the variable portion of a salesperson’s pay to a wide variety of goals. Some of these other “goals” include?

142. Studies have shown that the best sales reps are those who manage their time efficiently. One planning tool is time-and-duty analysis. Describe this analysis.

143. Some companies are dropping quotas as a means of measuring the effectiveness of its sales representatives in favor of other types of measures. Define and explain what some of these other measures might be.

 

144. An effective sales presentation contains six steps. List these steps in the order that they occur.

145. You are about to enter into a negotiated exchange for the sale of computer mainframes to a key customer. What issues are generally negotiated or up for negotiation?

.

146. Why does where the company’s products are sold and to whom they are sold have implications for the sales force structure?

147. Today in order to maintain a market focus companies are requiring that its salespeople are marketers as well as salespeople. Explain some of the additional skills required of salespeople in their role as marketers.

148. The hottest growth area for online promotions is in the area of search-related ads. Define and explain search-related ads in the context of Internet advertising.

 

Sales personnel serve as the company’s personal link to the customers. List some of the “services” provided by sales representatives.

.

150. You work for a company that “manages its customers” as much as it “manages its products,” and whose focus is on providing value to their customers. This firm is practicing what form of marketing?