1. Brand: All the combined impressions and experiences associated with a particular company, good, or service.
2. Brand Ambassadors: Individuals, usually employees, who communicate the company’s values, vision, and personality to those they have contact with.
3. Brand Champion: The person in a business who is responsible for making the brand come alive and for sustaining it; usually the business owner, president, or CEO.
4. Brand Cues: Elements that remind customers and employees of brands and their values.
5. Brand Erosion: The deterioration or destruction of a corporate or product brand.
6. Brand Identifiers: Company or product names and logos.
7. Brand Identity: Those elements that are instantly recognized as representing a particular business or product.
8. Brand Image: Impressions of a corporate brand within customers’ minds which represent what the brand stands for.
9. Brand Insistence: The stage of brand loyalty in which consumers insist upon buying a specific brand.
10. Brand Licensing: The legal authorization by a brand owner to allow another company to use the brand in exchange for a fee.
11. Brand Loyalty: Customers’ allegiance to a particular brand.
12. Brand Mark: A distinctive symbol, design, sound, or group of letters which is seen or heard but cannot be spoken.
13. Brand Name: That part of brand identity that can be spoken, including words, phrases, letters, numbers, or any combination of these.
14. Brand Personality: The projection of a brand that encompasses its values and emotional connections with consumers. How your brand would behave or a detailed personal profile of your business in order to create and maintain an emotional connection with your customers.
15. Brand Positioning: A branding strategy in which marketers create a certain image or impression of a brand as compared to those of competitors’ brands.
16. Brand Preference: The stage of brand loyalty in which consumers prefer to purchase a certain brand but will accept substitutes if the brand is not available.
17. Branded Product: An item that features only the logo of the manufacturer and not another company's trademark.
18. Brand Promise: A business’s agreement (spoken or unspoken) with customers that it will consistently meet their expectations and deliver on its brand characteristics and values.
19. Brand Recognition: The stage of brand loyalty in which consumers are made aware of a brand’s existence.
20. Brand Strategies: The actions a business takes with a brand in order to accomplish its goals.
21. Brand Symbol: A business’s distinctive logo, design, or group of letters that cannot be spoken but are used to establish brand identity; often used in conjunction with a brand name. 22. Brand Value: A brand’s worth in terms of income, potential income, and prestige.
23. Brand Values: Core values; beliefs or qualities that a corporate brand stands for and is built around.
24. Branding: The ongoing decision-making process about the use of brands.
25. Core values: Beliefs or qualities that a brand stands for and is built around.
26. Customer Experience Management: The strategies, processes, and policies a business uses to meet or exceed customer expectations and to provide customers with outstanding experiences at every touch point.
27. Mission Statement: A brief summary of what a business owner wants a business to be doing.
28. Post-Purchase Touch Points: All the opportunities that businesses have after sales transactions to connect with customers and reinforce their brand values.
29. Pre-Purchase Touch Points: All the opportunities that businesses have before sales transactions to connect with customers and reinforce their brand values.
30. Purchase Touch Points: All the opportunities that businesses have during sales transactions to connect with customers and reinforce their brand values.
31. Touch Points: All the opportunities which businesses have to connect with customers and reinforce their brand value.
32. Trademark: Legal method for protecting brands from misuse externally; represented by the registration mark (®), TM trademark (™), or (sm) service mark.
33. U.S. Patent and Trademark Office: Office of the federal government responsible for issuing, administering, and enforcing U.S. patents and trademarks.
34. Vision statement: A summary of what a business owner wants a business to become.
2. Brand Ambassadors: Individuals, usually employees, who communicate the company’s values, vision, and personality to those they have contact with.
3. Brand Champion: The person in a business who is responsible for making the brand come alive and for sustaining it; usually the business owner, president, or CEO.
4. Brand Cues: Elements that remind customers and employees of brands and their values.
5. Brand Erosion: The deterioration or destruction of a corporate or product brand.
6. Brand Identifiers: Company or product names and logos.
7. Brand Identity: Those elements that are instantly recognized as representing a particular business or product.
8. Brand Image: Impressions of a corporate brand within customers’ minds which represent what the brand stands for.
9. Brand Insistence: The stage of brand loyalty in which consumers insist upon buying a specific brand.
10. Brand Licensing: The legal authorization by a brand owner to allow another company to use the brand in exchange for a fee.
11. Brand Loyalty: Customers’ allegiance to a particular brand.
12. Brand Mark: A distinctive symbol, design, sound, or group of letters which is seen or heard but cannot be spoken.
13. Brand Name: That part of brand identity that can be spoken, including words, phrases, letters, numbers, or any combination of these.
14. Brand Personality: The projection of a brand that encompasses its values and emotional connections with consumers. How your brand would behave or a detailed personal profile of your business in order to create and maintain an emotional connection with your customers.
15. Brand Positioning: A branding strategy in which marketers create a certain image or impression of a brand as compared to those of competitors’ brands.
16. Brand Preference: The stage of brand loyalty in which consumers prefer to purchase a certain brand but will accept substitutes if the brand is not available.
17. Branded Product: An item that features only the logo of the manufacturer and not another company's trademark.
18. Brand Promise: A business’s agreement (spoken or unspoken) with customers that it will consistently meet their expectations and deliver on its brand characteristics and values.
19. Brand Recognition: The stage of brand loyalty in which consumers are made aware of a brand’s existence.
20. Brand Strategies: The actions a business takes with a brand in order to accomplish its goals.
21. Brand Symbol: A business’s distinctive logo, design, or group of letters that cannot be spoken but are used to establish brand identity; often used in conjunction with a brand name. 22. Brand Value: A brand’s worth in terms of income, potential income, and prestige.
23. Brand Values: Core values; beliefs or qualities that a corporate brand stands for and is built around.
24. Branding: The ongoing decision-making process about the use of brands.
25. Core values: Beliefs or qualities that a brand stands for and is built around.
26. Customer Experience Management: The strategies, processes, and policies a business uses to meet or exceed customer expectations and to provide customers with outstanding experiences at every touch point.
27. Mission Statement: A brief summary of what a business owner wants a business to be doing.
28. Post-Purchase Touch Points: All the opportunities that businesses have after sales transactions to connect with customers and reinforce their brand values.
29. Pre-Purchase Touch Points: All the opportunities that businesses have before sales transactions to connect with customers and reinforce their brand values.
30. Purchase Touch Points: All the opportunities that businesses have during sales transactions to connect with customers and reinforce their brand values.
31. Touch Points: All the opportunities which businesses have to connect with customers and reinforce their brand value.
32. Trademark: Legal method for protecting brands from misuse externally; represented by the registration mark (®), TM trademark (™), or (sm) service mark.
33. U.S. Patent and Trademark Office: Office of the federal government responsible for issuing, administering, and enforcing U.S. patents and trademarks.
34. Vision statement: A summary of what a business owner wants a business to become.
Questions and Answers:
1. Why is using the selling process important?
• An efficient, effective sales process may increase company profits.
• Salespeople appear organized, gaining customer confidence.
• The process ensures that customers’ needs and wants are met.
2. List the six phases of the selling process.
1. Preparing to sell
2. Establishing relationships with customers
3. Discovering customer needs
4. Prescribing solutions to customer needs
5. Reaching closure
6. Reaffirming buyer-seller relationships
3. How do salespeople prepare to sell?
The first thing a salesperson must do is acquire knowledge about the product. In some situations, this could be a lengthy and involved process. Another aspect of preparing to sell is being able to identify the product’s features and benefits. The last part of preparing to sell is planning the sales presentation. In many selling situations, the salesperson must have a “pitch” ready to give customers more information about the product, point out its benefits, and convince them to buy.
4. How do salespeople establish relationships with customers? The completion of a sale is largely determined by the first few minutes that a salesperson spends with his/her customers. During this time, the company may gain a valuable customer for years to come or lose a customer forever. Salespeople can use their initial contact time with customers to: • Put customers at ease. • Encourage customers to want to hear about the product(s). • Gain customer confidence. • Create favorable impressions of themselves and the business.
5. Why is it important to discover customer needs?
• Reduces the amount of selling time required
• Reduces dissatisfaction and customer returns
• Allows salespeople to serve more customers, leading to greater potential profit for their firm and greater potential commission for themselves
6. Describe the two parts of a sales presentation.
Prescribing solutions to customer needs: The fourth phase of the selling process is the prescription phase. The salesperson should now offer solutions to the customers’ needs based on the diagnosis that s/he has made for a particular customer. The prescription phase includes the sales presentation (prepared in the first phase), which often consists of two parts—the sales talk and the product demonstration. The sales talk should convince the customer of the benefits to be derived from purchasing the product.
Reaching closure:
Reaching closure is the fifth phase of the selling process. Many salespeople feel that the closing actually has two purposes—identifying any remaining objections (resistance) the customer may have and getting the order. An objection is a question or concern raised by customers after they have been shown a product.
7. What are three ways that salespeople can address customer objections?
• Welcome them! Clearing up objections can serve as a chance for you to demonstrate your knowledge and further solidify the product’s benefits. • Listen from the customer’s point of view to identify the real objection. • Restate the objection to be sure that you understand it. • Answer and overcome each objection completely, without arguing with the customer or losing your poise. • Review customer benefits. • Try to develop customer conviction for the product.
8. What are four ways that salespeople can follow up on a sale?
• Supervising installation or adjustment of the product. Supervising installation will indicate your desire for everything to be “just right” for the customer. • Training the customer’s personnel in the use or sale of the product. By assisting with training, salespeople display their commitment to the customer’s needs. • Calling the customer to ensure s/he is satisfied. A brief phone call to ensure that the customer is pleased and to express appreciation for the sale requires little effort, yet builds a significant amount of goodwill. And call
9. Describe at least two similarities in the use of the selling process.
-Relationship building
-determination of customer wants and needs
10. Explain how the selling process differs according to product and customer.
• Customers may raise more objections when buying expensive products than less expensive items. This will make the close more difficult and will require additional follow-up to satisfy the client. • Home sales require the salesperson to take the customer to the product, increasing the time required for the sales presentation and the close. On the other hand, samples of smaller products, such as office supplies or cosmetics, can be brought to the customer and effectively demonstrated for an immediate sale. • When selling intangible products such as insurance, financial products, or interior-design services, salespeople often spend more time establishing relationships, determining needs, and prescribing solutions than they would if they were selling tangible products.
And generally with customers, retail salespeople tend to spend little or no time generating and qualifying leads, establishing relationships, or determining customer needs. This is not because they don’t care about their customers, but because customers frequently know what they want and simply desire to make the purchase. Customers purchasing frequently bought items of clothing, such as socks, require little sales assistance.
• An efficient, effective sales process may increase company profits.
• Salespeople appear organized, gaining customer confidence.
• The process ensures that customers’ needs and wants are met.
2. List the six phases of the selling process.
1. Preparing to sell
2. Establishing relationships with customers
3. Discovering customer needs
4. Prescribing solutions to customer needs
5. Reaching closure
6. Reaffirming buyer-seller relationships
3. How do salespeople prepare to sell?
The first thing a salesperson must do is acquire knowledge about the product. In some situations, this could be a lengthy and involved process. Another aspect of preparing to sell is being able to identify the product’s features and benefits. The last part of preparing to sell is planning the sales presentation. In many selling situations, the salesperson must have a “pitch” ready to give customers more information about the product, point out its benefits, and convince them to buy.
4. How do salespeople establish relationships with customers? The completion of a sale is largely determined by the first few minutes that a salesperson spends with his/her customers. During this time, the company may gain a valuable customer for years to come or lose a customer forever. Salespeople can use their initial contact time with customers to: • Put customers at ease. • Encourage customers to want to hear about the product(s). • Gain customer confidence. • Create favorable impressions of themselves and the business.
5. Why is it important to discover customer needs?
• Reduces the amount of selling time required
• Reduces dissatisfaction and customer returns
• Allows salespeople to serve more customers, leading to greater potential profit for their firm and greater potential commission for themselves
6. Describe the two parts of a sales presentation.
Prescribing solutions to customer needs: The fourth phase of the selling process is the prescription phase. The salesperson should now offer solutions to the customers’ needs based on the diagnosis that s/he has made for a particular customer. The prescription phase includes the sales presentation (prepared in the first phase), which often consists of two parts—the sales talk and the product demonstration. The sales talk should convince the customer of the benefits to be derived from purchasing the product.
Reaching closure:
Reaching closure is the fifth phase of the selling process. Many salespeople feel that the closing actually has two purposes—identifying any remaining objections (resistance) the customer may have and getting the order. An objection is a question or concern raised by customers after they have been shown a product.
7. What are three ways that salespeople can address customer objections?
• Welcome them! Clearing up objections can serve as a chance for you to demonstrate your knowledge and further solidify the product’s benefits. • Listen from the customer’s point of view to identify the real objection. • Restate the objection to be sure that you understand it. • Answer and overcome each objection completely, without arguing with the customer or losing your poise. • Review customer benefits. • Try to develop customer conviction for the product.
8. What are four ways that salespeople can follow up on a sale?
• Supervising installation or adjustment of the product. Supervising installation will indicate your desire for everything to be “just right” for the customer. • Training the customer’s personnel in the use or sale of the product. By assisting with training, salespeople display their commitment to the customer’s needs. • Calling the customer to ensure s/he is satisfied. A brief phone call to ensure that the customer is pleased and to express appreciation for the sale requires little effort, yet builds a significant amount of goodwill. And call
9. Describe at least two similarities in the use of the selling process.
-Relationship building
-determination of customer wants and needs
10. Explain how the selling process differs according to product and customer.
• Customers may raise more objections when buying expensive products than less expensive items. This will make the close more difficult and will require additional follow-up to satisfy the client. • Home sales require the salesperson to take the customer to the product, increasing the time required for the sales presentation and the close. On the other hand, samples of smaller products, such as office supplies or cosmetics, can be brought to the customer and effectively demonstrated for an immediate sale. • When selling intangible products such as insurance, financial products, or interior-design services, salespeople often spend more time establishing relationships, determining needs, and prescribing solutions than they would if they were selling tangible products.
And generally with customers, retail salespeople tend to spend little or no time generating and qualifying leads, establishing relationships, or determining customer needs. This is not because they don’t care about their customers, but because customers frequently know what they want and simply desire to make the purchase. Customers purchasing frequently bought items of clothing, such as socks, require little sales assistance.
Practice Test
1. one way a company can reinforce its image is by
A. developing a financial plan.
B. training its employees.
C. conducting a competitive analysis.
D. identifying economic resources.
2. Which of the following is a policy that the WNJ Company might implement to reinforce its image as an efficient and responsive business?
A. Requiring employees to respond to customer inquiries within 24 hours
B. Requesting that employees sign their timecards at the end of a pay period
C. Ensuring that employees wear clean uniforms during their shifts.
D. Allowing employees to establish their own service standards.
3. When a business publicly pledges to provide all of its customers with quick, courteous service, what is it doing?
A. Making a brand promise
B. Developing a campaign platform
C. Stating industry policies
D. Establishing product position
4. A business's brand promise is what the business intends to
A. name its product.
B. sell to the target market.
C. provide the customer.
D. use as a trademark.
5. John communicates through all advertisements that his employees go through extensive training. What is John doing?
A. Making a brand promise
B. Developing a campaign platform
C. Stating industry policies
D. Establishing product position
6. One way of reinforcing the company's image through employee performance is by making sure employees have
A. thorough knowledge of the products.
B. comfortable work stations.
C. generous pay and benefit plans.
D. full access to customer databases.
7. What will probably happen to a business if it continuously fails to deliver on its brand promise?
A. Lose credibility
B. Improve sales volume
C. Increase market share
D. Decrease liability
8. What is an example of an employee reinforcing a firm's image through his/her job performance?
A. A customer waits on the telephone for several minutes while Matt confirms shipping information.
B. Susan advises her customer that the sofa is only available by special order.
C. Jack politely asks if his customer would like a beverage while s/he waits for car service.
D. Angela, a human resources manager, prepares the firm's employee newsletter every month.
9. Determine whether the following statement is true or false: All salespeople should use the step of the selling process in which a relationship is established with the customer.
A. False, retail salespeople do not need this step.
B. True, all salespeople make every contact permanent.
C. False, industrial salespeople do not need this step.
D. True, this is an important step for all salespeople.
10. What should a salesperson remember to do during the closing phase of the selling process?
A. Show the customer a product
B. Put the customer at ease
C. Ask the customer questions
D. Ask the customer to buy
11. By what will the emphasis put on each phase of the selling process vary most significantly?
A. State and local laws
B. Economic climate
C. Product and client
D. Geographic area
12. The phase of the selling process that includes writing up the order is
A. discovering needs.
B. prescribing solutions.
C. reaching closure.
D. establishing relationships.
13. After learning that a customer is interested in a computer that can produce sophisticated graphics, what should be the salesperson's next step?
A. Trying to reach closure with the customer
B. Suggesting a specific computer to the customer
C. Trying to make the customer feel more relaxed
D. Giving the customer a price list
14. Which of the following is part of establishing relationships with customers:
A. Using suggestion selling
B. Probing
C. Reaching closure
D. Sizing up the customer
15. On what does the speed of asking customers questions depend?
A. Type of product that is being sold
B. Number of other customers waiting
C. Amount of time left before the business closes
D. Pace of the customer's responses to your questions
16. Judy sold customers substitute computers for the iPad. What should she explain to the customers about the substitute computers?
A. Buying motives
B. Exchange policies
C. Comparable features
D. Fringe benefits
17. What should a salesperson explain to a customer when recommending a substitute item?
A. Buying motives
B. Exchange policies
C. Comparable features
D. Fringe benefits
18. If you feel you are asking too many questions but have not determined the customer's need or want, what can you do to vary your approach?
A. Use questioning statements
B. Wait for the customer to ask questions
C. Ask questions more slowly
D. Speed up the pace of your questions
19. A customer has been looking at different brands of the same product for several minutes. What is the most appropriate sales approach to use under these circumstances?
A. "May I help you?"
B. "Good morning. How are you?"
C. "Brand X is on sale today."
D. "What can I do for you today?"
20. What should the salesperson do when s/he is helping a customer and another customer enters the selling area?
A. Apologize to the first customer for helping the second customer
B. Leave the first customer to help the second customer
C. Acknowledge the second customer as soon as possible.
D. Ignore the second customer until finished with the first customer
21. Tim could not think of any more questions to determine a customer's need for a new stove. What should Tim do?
A. Use questioning statements
B. Wait for the customer to ask questions
C. Ask questions more slowly
D. Speed up the pace of your questions.
22. What is good advice for a salesperson to follow when questioning customers?
A. Ask each customer the same questions
B. Ask impersonal questions
C. The more questions you ask, the better
D. Make sure customers answer your questions
23. Analyze the following situation to determine how the sale was lost: Ms. Garcia asked a sales representative for a handheld scanner she'd seen at a trade show. The sales representative said, "You don't want that scanner. It's too slow and inaccurate. For a few more dollars, you can have this quality scanner instead."
Ms. Garcia didn't buy. What had the sales representative done?
A. Pointed out features of the scanner
B. Suggested trading-down
C. Criticized the original request
D. Referred to the new item as a substitute
A. developing a financial plan.
B. training its employees.
C. conducting a competitive analysis.
D. identifying economic resources.
2. Which of the following is a policy that the WNJ Company might implement to reinforce its image as an efficient and responsive business?
A. Requiring employees to respond to customer inquiries within 24 hours
B. Requesting that employees sign their timecards at the end of a pay period
C. Ensuring that employees wear clean uniforms during their shifts.
D. Allowing employees to establish their own service standards.
3. When a business publicly pledges to provide all of its customers with quick, courteous service, what is it doing?
A. Making a brand promise
B. Developing a campaign platform
C. Stating industry policies
D. Establishing product position
4. A business's brand promise is what the business intends to
A. name its product.
B. sell to the target market.
C. provide the customer.
D. use as a trademark.
5. John communicates through all advertisements that his employees go through extensive training. What is John doing?
A. Making a brand promise
B. Developing a campaign platform
C. Stating industry policies
D. Establishing product position
6. One way of reinforcing the company's image through employee performance is by making sure employees have
A. thorough knowledge of the products.
B. comfortable work stations.
C. generous pay and benefit plans.
D. full access to customer databases.
7. What will probably happen to a business if it continuously fails to deliver on its brand promise?
A. Lose credibility
B. Improve sales volume
C. Increase market share
D. Decrease liability
8. What is an example of an employee reinforcing a firm's image through his/her job performance?
A. A customer waits on the telephone for several minutes while Matt confirms shipping information.
B. Susan advises her customer that the sofa is only available by special order.
C. Jack politely asks if his customer would like a beverage while s/he waits for car service.
D. Angela, a human resources manager, prepares the firm's employee newsletter every month.
9. Determine whether the following statement is true or false: All salespeople should use the step of the selling process in which a relationship is established with the customer.
A. False, retail salespeople do not need this step.
B. True, all salespeople make every contact permanent.
C. False, industrial salespeople do not need this step.
D. True, this is an important step for all salespeople.
10. What should a salesperson remember to do during the closing phase of the selling process?
A. Show the customer a product
B. Put the customer at ease
C. Ask the customer questions
D. Ask the customer to buy
11. By what will the emphasis put on each phase of the selling process vary most significantly?
A. State and local laws
B. Economic climate
C. Product and client
D. Geographic area
12. The phase of the selling process that includes writing up the order is
A. discovering needs.
B. prescribing solutions.
C. reaching closure.
D. establishing relationships.
13. After learning that a customer is interested in a computer that can produce sophisticated graphics, what should be the salesperson's next step?
A. Trying to reach closure with the customer
B. Suggesting a specific computer to the customer
C. Trying to make the customer feel more relaxed
D. Giving the customer a price list
14. Which of the following is part of establishing relationships with customers:
A. Using suggestion selling
B. Probing
C. Reaching closure
D. Sizing up the customer
15. On what does the speed of asking customers questions depend?
A. Type of product that is being sold
B. Number of other customers waiting
C. Amount of time left before the business closes
D. Pace of the customer's responses to your questions
16. Judy sold customers substitute computers for the iPad. What should she explain to the customers about the substitute computers?
A. Buying motives
B. Exchange policies
C. Comparable features
D. Fringe benefits
17. What should a salesperson explain to a customer when recommending a substitute item?
A. Buying motives
B. Exchange policies
C. Comparable features
D. Fringe benefits
18. If you feel you are asking too many questions but have not determined the customer's need or want, what can you do to vary your approach?
A. Use questioning statements
B. Wait for the customer to ask questions
C. Ask questions more slowly
D. Speed up the pace of your questions
19. A customer has been looking at different brands of the same product for several minutes. What is the most appropriate sales approach to use under these circumstances?
A. "May I help you?"
B. "Good morning. How are you?"
C. "Brand X is on sale today."
D. "What can I do for you today?"
20. What should the salesperson do when s/he is helping a customer and another customer enters the selling area?
A. Apologize to the first customer for helping the second customer
B. Leave the first customer to help the second customer
C. Acknowledge the second customer as soon as possible.
D. Ignore the second customer until finished with the first customer
21. Tim could not think of any more questions to determine a customer's need for a new stove. What should Tim do?
A. Use questioning statements
B. Wait for the customer to ask questions
C. Ask questions more slowly
D. Speed up the pace of your questions.
22. What is good advice for a salesperson to follow when questioning customers?
A. Ask each customer the same questions
B. Ask impersonal questions
C. The more questions you ask, the better
D. Make sure customers answer your questions
23. Analyze the following situation to determine how the sale was lost: Ms. Garcia asked a sales representative for a handheld scanner she'd seen at a trade show. The sales representative said, "You don't want that scanner. It's too slow and inaccurate. For a few more dollars, you can have this quality scanner instead."
Ms. Garcia didn't buy. What had the sales representative done?
A. Pointed out features of the scanner
B. Suggested trading-down
C. Criticized the original request
D. Referred to the new item as a substitute
Practice Test Answers:
- B
- A
- A
- C
- A
- A
- A
- C
- D
- D
- C
- C
- B
- D
- D
- C
- C
- A
- C
- C
- A
- B
- C