Reference no: EM133378330
A. Review Questions
1. Explain how personal selling can help solve the problem of information overload.
2. According to the Strategic/Consultative Selling Model ( Fig. 1.1 ), what are the three prescriptions for developing a successful personal selling philosophy?
3. List and describe the four employment settings for people who are considering a selling career.
4. What future is there in selling for women?
5. Some salespeople have an opportunity to earn certification in a sales or sales-related area. How can a salesperson benefit from certification?
6. Explain why high-performance value-added salespeople earn much more than high-performance transactional salespeople.
7. List three titles commonly used to describe manufacturing salespeople. Describe the duties of each.
8. Develop a list of eight selling career opportunities in the service field.
9. Explain why personal selling is an important auxiliary skill needed by lawyers, engineers, accountants, and other professionals.
10. List and briefly describe the four major sources of sales training.
B. Application Questions
1. Examine a magazine or newspaper ad for a new product or service that you have never seen. Evaluate its chances for receiving wide customer acceptance. Does this product require a large amount of personal selling effort? What types of salespeople (service, manufacturing, wholesale, or retail) are involved in selling this product?
2. For each of the following job classifications, list the name of at least one person you know in that field:
a. Full-time person who sells a service
b. Full-time inside wholesale salesperson
c. Full-time manufacturer's salesperson
d. Full-time retail salesperson Interview one of the people you have listed and ask the following questions concerning their duties and responsibilities:
a. What is your immediate supervisor's title?
b. What would be a general description of your position?
c. What specific duties and responsibilities do you have?
d. What is the compensation plan and salary range for a position like yours? Write job description from this information.
3. When Shelly Jones, a vice president and partner in the consulting firm Korn/Ferry International, looks into the future, he sees some new challenges for salespeople. He recently shared the following predictions with Selling Power magazine:
a. Salespeople will spend more time extending the range of applications or finding new markets for the products they sell.
b. The selling function will be less pitching your product and more integrating your product into the business equation of your client. Understanding the business environment in which your client operates will be critical.
c. In the future you will have to be a financial engineer for your client. You need to understand how your client makes money and be able to explain how your product or service contributes to profitable operation of the client's firm. Interview a salesperson who is involved in business-to-business selling-a manufacturer's representative, for example-and determine whether this person agrees with the views of Shelly Jones.
4. There are many information sources on selling careers and career opportunities on the Internet. Three examples include SalesJobsCanada.com , Monster.ca, and CareerBuilder.ca. Search the Internet for information on selling careers. Use your search engine to find career information on a pharmaceutical representative, a field sales engineer, and a retail salesperson.
5. Sales managers are frequently asked what personal characteristics are most important to success in selling. Among the criteria often cited are sociability, aggressiveness, enthusiasm, empathy, verbal ability, and time management. Which of these do you believe are the most important? Least important? Are there important personal characteristics that are missing from this list?