Exam 15: Personal Selling and Customer Service

Order getters complete most sales transactions.

Dale Jetta sells life insurance. The company provides a list of prospects and Dale starts each sales call by asking the potential customer to explain his or her financial goals. Dale is probably using the

Personal selling techniques include all of the following EXCEPT:

The "selling formula approach" to sales presentations assumes that something is known about the target customer's needs and attitudes.

Toll-free telephone lines are not very practical for getting direct feedback from final consumers.

A _____ is the salesperson's request for an order.

It is primarily the sales manager's job to decide what types of information technology tools salespeople need and how they will be used.

Use this information for questions that refer to the "Salespeople" case. Wilson Alvaro graduated with a marketing degree almost a year ago. Like many of his friends, he took a job in sales and really enjoys it. A description of Wilson's job and those of some of his friends are noted below. Wilson Alvaro loves biking and has his dream job. He works for a wholesale company that sells mountain bikes for a manufacturer. He works with a small group of people who call on the buying offices for two large retail chains, Wal-Mart and Toys R Us. The group includes a finance person and a production person, and they all work together to meet the specific needs of these two big accounts; for example, sometimes they recommend a model of bike that will be available from only that retailer's stores. However, Wilson's main job focuses on building relationships and solving customer problems. Only occasionally is he expected to try to persuade the retailers to buy more bikes. Amy Bowden sells life insurance. She calls on new parents and persuades them to buy insurance products. It is difficult for a manager to control Amy's work, but she has incentive to work hard because her job security and income depend on getting sales. She is a confident self-starter, so she likes it that way. Ben Peterson works for a fashionable men's clothing store. He enjoys spending time with customers who come in, learning about their fashion needs, and helping them pick clothes that really work for them. While the store manager can easily observe and direct Ben's activities, the manager wants Ben to have the incentive to increase customer purchases and satisfaction. Emily Winters handles inside sales for a major industrial distributor. She deals with a regular set of established customers, most of whom know what they want. Emily talks to them on the phone and answers questions about products, delivery time, and pricing. She sometimes works with outside sales reps who visit customers and help introduce new products. Emily is the first person her customers call when there's a problem with a purchase, so she spends a lot of time dealing with customer problems. As an inside salesperson, Emily's work is easily supervised by a sales manager - and she has little influence on how much her customers buy. Melissa Tran works for a company that sells paper products (like napkins, paper towels, and paper plates) primarily through small independent grocers. Most of the grocers are regular customers, but sometimes she makes cold calls to new grocery stores. Melissa's job is to develop goodwill and try to increase sales. For example, she often sets up special promotional displays in stores. Her compensation plan gives her income security, but she also can receive a bonus for sales growth in her territory. Charlie Riggs is a telemarketer for an Internet service provider. He calls people on a list provided by his firm and tries to sign them up for Internet service. Charlie relies heavily on a presentation he learned during his training. Charlie is very good at what he does and loves that the more success he has the more he earns. -Which salesperson's main sales task is supporting?

At least ________ percent of the total U.S. labor force do sales work.

Use this information for questions that refer to the "Salespeople" case. Wilson Alvaro graduated with a marketing degree almost a year ago. Like many of his friends, he took a job in sales and really enjoys it. A description of Wilson's job and those of some of his friends are noted below. Wilson Alvaro loves biking and has his dream job. He works for a wholesale company that sells mountain bikes for a manufacturer. He works with a small group of people who call on the buying offices for two large retail chains, Wal-Mart and Toys R Us. The group includes a finance person and a production person, and they all work together to meet the specific needs of these two big accounts; for example, sometimes they recommend a model of bike that will be available from only that retailer's stores. However, Wilson's main job focuses on building relationships and solving customer problems. Only occasionally is he expected to try to persuade the retailers to buy more bikes. Amy Bowden sells life insurance. She calls on new parents and persuades them to buy insurance products. It is difficult for a manager to control Amy's work, but she has incentive to work hard because her job security and income depend on getting sales. She is a confident self-starter, so she likes it that way. Ben Peterson works for a fashionable men's clothing store. He enjoys spending time with customers who come in, learning about their fashion needs, and helping them pick clothes that really work for them. While the store manager can easily observe and direct Ben's activities, the manager wants Ben to have the incentive to increase customer purchases and satisfaction. Emily Winters handles inside sales for a major industrial distributor. She deals with a regular set of established customers, most of whom know what they want. Emily talks to them on the phone and answers questions about products, delivery time, and pricing. She sometimes works with outside sales reps who visit customers and help introduce new products. Emily is the first person her customers call when there's a problem with a purchase, so she spends a lot of time dealing with customer problems. As an inside salesperson, Emily's work is easily supervised by a sales manager - and she has little influence on how much her customers buy. Melissa Tran works for a company that sells paper products (like napkins, paper towels, and paper plates) primarily through small independent grocers. Most of the grocers are regular customers, but sometimes she makes cold calls to new grocery stores. Melissa's job is to develop goodwill and try to increase sales. For example, she often sets up special promotional displays in stores. Her compensation plan gives her income security, but she also can receive a bonus for sales growth in her territory. Charlie Riggs is a telemarketer for an Internet service provider. He calls people on a list provided by his firm and tries to sign them up for Internet service. Charlie relies heavily on a presentation he learned during his training. Charlie is very good at what he does and loves that the more success he has the more he earns. -Which salesperson probably does the most prospecting?

Customer service reps are usually specialists who are involved in helping potential customers before a purchase is made.

Most sales presentations follow the AIDA sequence which stands for

A major accounts sales force is used when a company wants to be certain that its most important customers get a special selling effort.

Providing effective customer service is relatively simple--because it is usually clearer how to repair a negative experience than it is to provide an initial purchase experience that is satisfying to the customer.

Byron Coffey is a sales rep for a producer of fiberglass roofing shingles. He tries to persuade building materials wholesalers to switch from competing producers. Byron is:

Team selling might involve a technical specialist, an order getter, and a customer service rep all working together on a specific account.

Using sales reps who are paid a straight commission is similar to using manufacturers' reps.

Salespeople may represent their company to customers and, in turn, represent their customers within the company.

CeCe Springer works for a large cosmetics company. She calls on retailers to tell them about her firm's new products, to train the retailers' salespeople, and to set up promotion displays. Her boss actually handles the order-related activities. CeCe is:

With the ___________ approach, the sales rep begins by making some general benefit statements to get the customer's attention and interest.