Deck 6: Salesperson Performance: Behavior, Role Perceptions, and Satisfaction

Question 1

Yolanda has a quarterly gathering of her salespeople, giving out awards, announcing promotions and describing the incentives offered for the next quarter. Yolanda is appealing to salespeople's

A) Intrinsic needs
B) Low-order needs
C) Organizational citizenship behavior
D) Perceived role conflicts
E) None of the above

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Kerry knows a salesperson's role is defined through a three-step process. The three-step process, in the order they occur is:

A) Role partners communicate expectations, salespeople develop perceptions and salespeople convert perceptions into behaviors
B) Salespeople develop perceptions, role partners communicate expectations and salespeople convert perceptions into behaviors
C) Salespeople convert perceptions into behaviors, role partners communicate expectations and salespeople develop perceptions
D) Role partners communicate expectations, salespeople convert perceptions into behaviors and salespeople develop perceptions
E) There is no three-step process

Answer 2

A

Question 3

When handling highly technical or engineered products or when encountering non-routine problems or prospecting for new accounts, it is important that the sales representative have the ability to:

A) Be innovative, creative and flexible
B) Use hard-sell tactics
C) Rewrite company policies to satisfy customers
D) Ask his or her role set for their opinions and inputs
E) Look to a paternalistic sales manager for support

Answer 3

A

Question 4

The Army recruiter is trying to sell the recent high school graduate on a career in the military. With the phrase, ""Be all that you can be,"" the recruiter is using _____ as a recruitment tool.

A) An intrinsic reward
B) Job satisfaction
C) Instrumentality
D) An extrinsic reward
E) A lower-level need

Question 5

With increasing complexity in relationships between companies and customers, many sales organizations are using more:

A) Role ambiguity motivation
B) Team selling
C) Sales performance marketing
D) Occupational adjustment assistance
E) Advertising

Question 6

Which of the following statements about rewards is true?

A) Intrinsic rewards relate to lower order human needs
B) Intrinsic rewards include security and recognition
C) Extrinsic rewards include pay and promotion
D) Extrinsic rewards are those salespeople primarily attain for themselves
E) Intrinsic rewards satisfy physiological needs

Question 7

Which of the following is a dimension of intrinsic job satisfaction?

A) Pay
B) Fellow workers
C) Supervision
D) Customers
E) The job itself

Question 8

With increased use of remote offices, research indicates salespeople perceive:

A) Increased role stress
B) Decreased dependency on technology
C) Increased self-assurance
D) Increased support from sales management
E) All of the above

Question 9

Because salespeople occupy boundary positions they face the potential of demands from:

A) Customers
B) Sales managers
C) The company
D) All of the above
E) None of the above

Question 10

Which of the following organizational citizenship behaviors is exemplified by mentoring younger salespeople?

A) Sportsmanship
B) Civic virtue
C) Conscientiousness
D) Altruism
E) Competition

Question 11

The expectations associated with organizational citizenship behaviors are consistent with

A) Transactions selling
B) Instrumentalities
C) The Better Business Bureau
D) Relationship selling
E) Perceived role ambiguities

Question 12

Which of the following organizational citizenship behaviors is a proactive behavior that includes making recommendations to management that will improve the overall performance of the organization?

A) Sportsmanship
B) Civic virtue
C) Conscientiousness
D) Altruism
E) Competition

Question 13

Perceived role inaccuracy is distinguishable from the other role perception variables by the fact that it:

A) Is not directly the fault of the person occupying the role
B) Has no psychological impact
C) Is an obvious problem that is readily fixed
D) Is largely an unrealized perception
E) Causes the individual to adopt conflicting roles

Question 14

Which of the following individuals is most likely to have a boundary position in a company that manufactures modular homes?

A) A person who receives inbound telemarketing
B) A person who sells the modular homes in the field
C) The sales manager
D) The marketing manager
E) The manufacturer's advertising agency

Question 15

The job itself, fellow workers, supervision, company policies, pay, promotion and advancement opportunities and customers are all dimensions of:

A) The sales performance model
B) Job satisfaction
C) Motivation
D) Job aptitude
E) Organization culture

Question 16

Mallory frequently hears her salespeople comment that their work is not very exciting. Which of the following dimensions of job satisfaction will she hopefully assess and attempt to change?

A) The job itself
B) Coworkers
C) Company policies
D) Pay
E) Customers

Question 17

Roger, a sales rep for an office furniture company is not sure whether he should be spending time showing customers how to assemble the furniture. Roger is experiencing a __________ concern.

A) Role expectancy
B) Role ambiguity
C) Role conflict
D) Role inaccuracy
E) Role rotation

Question 18

Which of the following statements about the salesperson's perception of his or her role in the organization is true?

A) Because the salesperson is in a boundary position, he or she is more likely to experience role conflict and inaccuracy and less likely to experience role ambiguity
B) Occupants of innovative roles experience less conflict than other organizational members because they can be flexible and because they perform their jobs independently
C) Salespeople are said to be operating at the boundary of a firm because they are the most visible of all of the integrated marketing tools that an organization can use
D) Occupants of innovative roles frequently face situations where they have no standard procedures or past experiences to guide them
E) Because the salesperson is in a boundary position, he or she is less likely to experience role conflict than other members of the organization

Question 19

The salesperson's role is particularly susceptible to problems with role perception because:

A) Sales managers typically closely supervise their sales forces
B) Sales territories are frequently modified
C) The salesperson has a large number of people he or she must satisfy
D) There are few people the salesperson can confide in when he or she has a problem
E) Selling is the only source of one-to-one communication for a company that wants to use integrated marketing communications

Question 20

Petra is trying to increase the sense of job satisfaction among her salespeople. She will likely consider which of the following dimensions of job satisfaction?

A) Promotion and advancement opportunities
B) Supervision
C) Customers
D) Coworkers
E) All of the above

Question 21

What are the three steps in the process of defining a salesperson's role?

Question 22

How have website sales affected traditional salespeople?

Question 23

In small doses, role conflict and ambiguity provide the salesperson and the organization with some stress. This stress:

A) Produces an unhappy situation because stress reduces productivity
B) Can be eliminated by more training and closer supervision
C) Is a healthy situation since low levels of stress lead to adaptation and change
D) Prevents salespeople from taking on any innovative roles
E) Is the normal state of affairs for everyday existence and businesses could not operate without it

Question 24

What are the possible psychological consequences of role accuracy, ambiguity and conflict?

Question 25

Role expectations:

A) Have been developed in a general form to cover every industry and every type of sales position
B) Are very similar from one type of role partner to another
C) Are inconsistent among salespeople
D) Seldom conflict with expectations of family members or supervisors
E) Are accurately described by none of the above

Question 26

What are the determinants of a salesperson's performance?

Question 27

Which of the following statements about role accuracy is true?

A) General role accuracy arises when a salesperson does not perceive the general link among effort, performance and reward
B) Linkage-specific role inaccuracy involves such considerations as to whether salespeople correctly think they can negotiate on price, promise shorter delivery times than normal and handle adjustments for customers
C) There is a low probability for linkage role inaccuracy among salespeople because activities, dimensions and rewards are multidimensional
D) General role inaccuracy can occur at almost any job dimension that also gives rise to role ambiguity and conflict
E) A salesperson who does not see the link between increased trade promotions and increased selling opportunities is experiencing a general role inaccuracy

Question 28

Sales managers can reduce the amount of role ambiguity and conflict the sales force experiences by:

A) Giving them an input in determining the standards by which they are evaluated
B) Providing them with sales training opportunities
C) Giving salespeople a greater voice in what they do and how they do it
D) Altering the organization's span of control
E) Any or all of the above

Question 29

In sales motivation, what are expectancies and valences?

Question 30

What are the relationships among sales expectations, valences for performance, instrumentalities and valences for rewards?

Question 31

Describe examples of organizational and personal variables that influence sales performance?

Question 32

There is a level of hostility below which _____ may be benign but above which it will be malign.

A) Competition
B) Motivation
C) Role perception inaccuracy
D) Role ambiguity and perception
E) Sales performance

Question 33

Describe examples of intrinsic rewards.

Question 34

Describe examples of extrinsic rewards used in sales management.

Question 35

Close supervision of the sales force by the sales manager has been referred to as a two-edged sword because it:

A) Reduces both role conflict and role ambiguity
B) Requires the boundary-spanning salesperson to please both internal and external stakeholders
C) Helps reduce role inaccuracy while increasing role ambiguity
D) Improves sales force performance while using up a huge amount of the sales manager's time
E) Encourages linkage role inaccuracies while increasing motivation levels

Question 36

Which of the following statements BEST describes the relationship between supervision and role conflict and ambiguity?

A) Close supervision can increase job ambiguity
B) When sales managers structure and define the salesperson's role, he or she seems to experience more conflict
C) Regular and frequent contact and interactions between role partners and close supervision will insure low levels of role conflict
D) Sales managers can do nothing to hold role conflicts and ambiguities at a management level
E) Newly hired salespeople perceive less role conflict than experienced salespeople do

Question 37

General role inaccuracy:

A) Produces consequences similar to those caused by role conflict and ambiguity
B) Arises because the salesperson incorrectly perceives the relationships between the activities and performance dimensions or between the performance dimensions and the rewards
C) Is only found in sales positions
D) Arises from conditions that are dramatically different from those that create role conflict and ambiguity
E) None of the above

Question 38

Describe the four types of behavior associated with organizational citizenship.

Question 39

Use examples to describe the seven dimensions to sales job satisfaction.

Question 40

What does having a ""boundary"" position mean in sales?

Question 41

It is nearly impossible to develop one set of expectations common to all sales jobs.

Question 42

Perceived role conflict occurs when a salesperson is uncertain about how his or her performance will be evaluated.

Question 43

Which of the following statements about how personal, organizational and environmental variables relate to the model of sales performance is true?

A) These variables have little or no effect on sales performance
B) There appears to be no relationship among personal and organizational variables and role perceptions
C) Environmental variables have been more widely studied than personal or organizational variables
D) Overall, many questions concerning how personal, organizational and environmental variables affect sales performance remain unanswered
E) Motivation is unrelated to personal variables

Question 44

Sales managers can do nothing to minimize the negative consequences associated with role perceptions.

Question 45

Role inaccuracy is never linkage-specific.

Question 46

Role inaccuracy is another term used to describe role ambiguity.

Question 47

Salespeople are likely to experience more role conflict than most organization members because salespeople occupy positions at the boundaries of the firm.

Question 48

What is meant by a salesperson's skill level?

Question 49

Perceived role conflict is unaffected by how closely salespeople are supervised.

Question 50

Innovative salespeople are likely to experience less role ambiguity and more accurate role perceptions than non-innovative salespeople.

Question 51

The definition of sales aptitude is the same whether you are talking to the owner of a furniture store or a sales manager for IBM.

Question 52

A salesperson who is highly motivated but lacking people skills will perform poorly.

Question 53

Perceived role conflict primarily affects intrinsic job satisfaction.

Question 54

The first step in defining the salesperson's role is the creation of a job description.

Question 55

The complex nature of the relationship between company and customer has created a need for team selling.

Question 56

What does it mean in sales management to say ""close supervision can be a two-edged sword?""

Question 57

A textbook salesperson who cannot tell his customers when texts will be shipped to the bookstores is experiencing perceived role ambiguity.

Question 58

Operating from remote offices tends to reduce role stress.

Question 59

Skill levels refer to the individual's learned proficiency at performing the tasks necessary to get the job done.

Question 60

What is the difference between perceived role conflict and perceived role ambiguity?

Question 61

A salesperson's role is:

A) Unaffected by external pressures such as family or customers
B) Defined by the job description
C) Defined as the activities and behaviors performed by any individual occupying the sales position
D) Determined by the perceived expectations of media
E) Typically not a cause of job dissatisfaction

Question 62

Which of the following statements about skills as a component of the model of sales performance is true?

A) Sales skill is basically the same as sales aptitude
B) Selling is not a trainable skill
C) Skill refers to a relatively enduring personal ability
D) A skill is a learned proficiency at performing a task
E) Skill is less important as a factor in sales performance than motivation, aptitude, role perception and organizational, personal and environmental variables

Question 63

There is great potential for linkage role inaccuracy among salespeople because all three components-activities, performance dimensions and rewards-are multidimensional

Question 64

Sara Davis believes that she could easily improve her selling performance by working a bit harder, but she also thinks that management would not reward her more for any performance improvement. Which of the following statements describes Davis?

A) She has high expectancy and low instrumentality
B) She has high expectancy and low valence for rewards
C) She has high valence for performance and low expectancy
D) She has high valence for rewards and low instrumentality
E) She has high valence for performance and high instrumentality

Question 65

Which of the following statements is NOT true?

A) There is almost no published research concerning the effects of training programs on skill levels
B) Different kinds of skills are needed for different types of selling tasks
C) Aptitude and skill levels are related constructs
D) Salespeople's past experience does not influence skill level
E) The skill set needed for technical sales is different from the skill set needed for automobile sales

Question 66

Researchers measuring aptitude have learned that:

A) Broad measures of aptitude are most effective
B) Aptitude varies only slightly from industry to industry
C) Aptitude is very task-specific
D) Aptitudes can be increased through training
E) Aptitude is unaffected by an individual's physical characteristics

Question 67

Which of the following is NOT one of the basic factors influencing a worker's job performance?

A) Government
B) Aptitude
C) Skill level
D) Motivation
E) Role perceptions

Question 68

Bill Jason overheard a salesperson ask, ""If I put more effort into my job, will I increase my performance?"" In terms of motivation, this question deals with:

A) Role accuracy
B) Valence for rewards
C) Instrumentality
D) Valence for performance
E) Expectancy

Question 69

The valence for the performance of a person in sales is a function of:

A) The person's estimate of the probability that increased performance will yield increased rewards
B) Instrumentality and valence for rewards
C) The person's relative desire for rewards
D) How the person perceives the desirability of improved performance
E) How the person perceives the linkage between performance and rewards

Question 70

The Caribbean cruise that Tyler Mays won for selling more plastic extruding machines than any other salesperson in the company is an example of an extrinsic reward.

Question 71

Researchers do not understand how personal, organizational and environmental variables impact sales performances.

Question 72

Regina is highly motivated, willing to expend significant ___________ on each activity or task.

A) Effort
B) Valence
C) Money
D) Sill
E) Instrumentality

Question 73

The amount of job satisfaction salespeople obtain from their jobs is influenced by their role perceptions.

Question 74

Which of the following statements about the components of role perceptions is true?

A) Perceived role ambiguity occurs when a salesperson believes the role demands of two or more of his partners are incompatible
B) Perceived role conflict arises when salespeople believe they do not have the information necessary to perform the job adequately
C) Role inaccuracy is another term for role ambiguity
D) Business to business salespeople are particularly vulnerable to role inaccuracy, conflict and ambiguity
E) All of the above

Question 75

Skill levels include all of the following EXCEPT:

A) Motivation
B) Interpersonal skills
C) Leadership
D) Technical knowledge
E) Presentation skills

Question 76

The sales performance model suggests that personal, organizational and environmental variables influence sales performance directly and:

A) Through organizational citizenship behavior
B) Competitive pressure from alternative suppliers
C) By influencing other performance determinants such as role perceptions and motivation
D) Through advertising incentives used to recruit salespeople
E) All of the above

Question 77

Which of the following statements about the salesperson's role in the organization is true?

A) Role is defined by the expectations and demands communicated by members of one's own role set, by the personal perceptions of those expectations and demands, and finally by the personal behavior of the individual
B) What salespeople think they should be doing has less impact on their actual performance than what management and company say they should be doing
C) A role set represents the activities and behaviors of any person that occupies a position in an organization
D) Role ambiguity occurs when a salesperson inaccurately perceives the demands being placed on him
E) A salesperson who is unsure of how her customers are evaluating her performance is experiencing role conflict

Question 78

Nicole wants to win the trip to Hawaii being offered to the top salesperson this month. Nicole has a high:

A) Valence for rewards
B) Expectancy for reward
C) Instrumentality
D) Performance valence
E) All of the above

Question 79

Environmental constraints such as inflation, consumer trends and natural disasters have a dramatic impact on the magnitude of instrumentality estimates.

Question 80

Which of the following statements about the aptitude component of the model of sales performance is true?

A) Aptitude is the same whether the salesperson is asked to sell roofing shingles or x-ray equipment
B) Aptitude includes verbal intelligence, mathematical ability and sales expertise
C) A salesperson's aptitude is unaffected by her height, sex, age and physical attractiveness
D) Aptitude has no affect on a salesperson's motivation to perform
E) Aptitude will not affect sales performance if two job candidates have identical motivation, role perceptions and skills