Exam 9: Developing and Qualifying Prospects and Accounts

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

A sales representative has contacted all companies in his territory in the target industry and is concerned that the territory may be saturated. -What should the salesperson most likely do to identify new prospects in the same territory and industry? A)Contact people in different departments of current client companies. B)Use the firm's website to develop a global contact network. C)Develop an elevator pitch for an educational seminar. D)Write an article for a national trade publication. E)Network with support staff at a competing firm.

The C in the acronym CRM stands for ________.

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 exceeded its quota by 20%. The strategy involved a focus on closing as many pending sales as possible and moving customers in the evaluation stage to the buying stage. During the fourth quarter, the team closed fewer sales than in the third quarter and only generated 50% of the amount that was made in the third quarter. -What critical error did the sales manager most likely 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 lost focus on the customers' needs. C)She relied on the excitement of a sales promotion instead of focusing on personal selling. 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.

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 e-mail to every contact on a regular basis D)follow up on all e-mails with a phone call three days later E)offer a business card to select individuals

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 Andrew 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 twice as many sales as normal,and he cuts his sales cycle in half. What most likely explains this? A)The prospects at the trade show were both qualified and interested in the product. B)The prospects at the trade show had more money to spend than most customers. C)The prospects at the trade show developed a high degree of trust in Andrew and his firm. D)The trade show only attracted prospects that had been referred to Andrew and his firm. E)The trade show required exhibiting companies to offer discounts to all attendees.

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 you meet. D)Always conduct business while networking. E)Only offer a business card if the other person asks for it.

One of the important things a salesperson needs to determine while qualifying a prospect is: A)whether the prospect needs the product B)whether the prospect has already purchased a similar product C)whether the prospect sells a similar product D)how long the prospect has been in this industry E)how long the prospect has worked for this organization

Salesforce.com is a leading provider of: A)industry research B)account metrics C)product development research D)CRM software E)payroll software

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 exceeded its quota by 20%. The strategy involved a focus on closing as many pending sales as possible and moving customers in the evaluation stage to the buying stage. During the fourth quarter, the team closed fewer sales than in the third quarter and only generated 50% of the amount that was made in the third quarter. -In the first quarter following these decreased fourth quarter sales,what should the sales manager focus on when building up pipelines? A)acquiring as many prospects as possible to enter into the CRM system B)qualifying prospects so salespeople don't waste effort C)contacting only prospects who have already purchased because they are proven leads D)developing new schedules for how often to contact prospects to shorten the sales cycle E)asking for proof of payment upfront before the entire process has been completed to avoid unpaid invoices

Which term best refers to a well-connected person who does not make the buying decision but has an impact on the person who does? A)gatekeeper B)referral C)prospect D)intermediary E)center of influence

Grackin Corporation is expanding into a new territory in which they are not as well-known as they are in their current territories. As part of this new push, the sales director decides to use a strategy that involves making aggressive cold-calls and hosting frequent educational seminars. -How will the sales cycle in this new territory most likely compare in length to the cycle in the established territories of Grackin Corporation?

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 exceeded its quota by 20%. The strategy involved a focus on closing as many pending sales as possible and moving customers in the evaluation stage to the buying stage. During the fourth quarter, the team closed fewer sales than in the third quarter and only generated 50% of the amount that was made in the third quarter. -What is the most likely explanation for this difference? A)The prospects the team worked with in the fourth quarter had maximized their budgets. B)The manager didn't adequately train the team in how to conduct fourth-quarter sales. C)Pending sales are the only sales that were tallied in the final figures for each quarter. D)The team neglected the pipeline and prospect development. E)The team failed to align the selling and buying process.

Which publication would most likely provide a salesperson with detailed information on the citizens of a specific community? A)Middle Market Directory B)Thomas Register of American Manufacturers C)Polk City Directory D)Standard and Poor's Corporation Records Service E)Encyclopedia of Associations

What should Charles most likely do? A)He should quit the job because he cannot succeed in a territory that is disorganized and about which he has little information. B)He should ask the manager for a list of orphaned customers and their contact information to develop potential referrals. C)He should start fresh by developing his own prospect base and forget about the retiring representative's customers. D)He should piece together his prospect base by asking the retiring representative for information and matching that information up with invoices from the billing department. 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.

The responsibility for entering customer information and contact records into the CRM database usually belongs to the: A)customer B)office manager C)data entry clerk D)sales manager E)salesperson

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

Networking,as it applies to the field of selling,is a method of prospecting that: A)utilizes the telephone and cold calling strategies B)remains popular only in the telecommunications field C)is seldom used today because of the rise of social media D)is considered unethical in most industries because of lawsuits E)relies on making contacts with people and profiting from the connections

When qualifying a prospect,it is important to determine if the person the salesperson is talking to has the authority to buy,and also: A)if that person is the only person who makes the decision to buy or if it is made by a group of people B)what purchase code the sale will be assigned in the purchasing process C)whether that person is used to making purchasing decisions for the organization or not D)how the person's position will be affected by making the decision to buy or not to buy E)when the person was given the authority to make purchasing decisions for the organization

Sales intelligence refers to information available about what topics?