Module 6: Sales Role Perceptions

Question 1

Role perceptions

Answer 1

Beliefs about one’s job and job expectations

Question 2

boundary spanners

Answer 2

An individual who has the role of connecting an organization’s internal network with external sources of information

Question 3

job aptitude

Answer 3

A employee’s ability to perform in a particular role

Question 4

skill level

Answer 4

Special ability in a task or job; ability acquired by training

Question 5

motivation

Answer 5

The general desire or willingness of someone to do something

Question 6

Top 5 Personal Traits of Salespeople

Answer 6

Assertiveness
Self-awareness
Empathy
Problem-solving
Optimism

Question 7

Internal stakeholders

Answer 7

Entities within a business (e.g., employees, managers, the board of directors, investors)

Question 8

External stakeholders

Answer 8

Entities not within a business itself but who care about or are affected by its performance (e.g., consumers, regulators, investors, suppliers)

Question 9

role ambiguity

Answer 9

A situation where people are unclear or uncertain about their role expectations

Question 10

role conflict

Answer 10

A situation where there are incompatible demands placed upon a person relating to his or her job or position

Question 11

role inaccuracy

Answer 11

A mistaken perception of role expectations

Question 12

role stress

Answer 12

The pressures experienced by people because of their role (job) in the organization

Question 13

Role ambiguity has been found to lead to several negative stress-related outcomes:

Answer 13

Produces psychological strain and dissatisfaction.
Leads to underutilization of human resources.
Leads to feelings of futility on how to cope with the organizational environment.

Question 14

matrix structure

Answer 14

An organizational structure that combines people from different functional areas of the organization

Question 15

Job satisfaction

Answer 15

The level of contentment a person feels regarding his or her job

Question 16

Affective job satisfaction

Answer 16

A person’s emotional feeling about the job as a whole

Question 17

Cognitive job satisfaction

Answer 17

How satisfied employees feel concerning some aspect of their job, such as pay, hours, or benefits

Question 18

When developing the sales force structure, sales managers must do the following:

Answer 18

Figure out the right mix of generalists, product, market, or activity specialists with the objective of balancing sales force productivity. What is the right mix? That depends on the company and its offerings.
Design a reporting structure that makes it easy to both coordinate and control the sales process and the activities of the salespeople.
Help the salespeople achieve their goals (and reduce stress) by providing training, coaching, incentives, information support, and performance management.

Question 19

Sales territories

Answer 19

A geographical area or type of customers assigned to a sales unit such as salesperson, sales team, or sales manager

Question 20

sales targets

Answer 20

A goal set for a sales representative or sales department in terms of revenue or units sold in a specific time period

Question 21

buying power

Answer 21

Purchasing power

Question 22

. When setting quotas, successful sales managers tend to

Answer 22

ask for less than they think the salesperson can deliver;
compare results to past performance, not forecasts; and
ensure that the compensation scheme allows the sales force to make money when the company does.1

Question 23

departmentalization

Answer 23

Dividing an organization into different departments, which perform tasks according to the departments’ specializations in the organization

Question 24

Product structure

Answer 24

An organizational structure based on the goods or services produced or sold by the organizational unit

Question 25

Customer structure

Answer 25

An organizational structure based on the primary type of customer served by the organizational unit

Question 26

Geography structure

Answer 26

An organizational structure based on the geographic segmentation of organizational units

Question 27

advantages to adopting a matrix structure

Answer 27

Teamwork, efficient use of resources, flexibility, ability to balance conflicting objectives, higher performance, opportunities for personal and professional development

Question 28

Disadvantages of Matrix Structure

Answer 28

Power struggles, confusion among team members, lack of cohesiveness.

Question 29

Centralization

Answer 29

The concentration of control of an activity under a single authority

Question 30

Decentralization

Answer 30

Decision-making responsibilities are delegated by top management to middle and lower-level managers

Question 31

four main factors influence a consumer’s experience, involvement, and satisfaction with a product, which in turn create perception.

Answer 31

Personal, object, situational, social

Question 32

Personal

Answer 32

Personal or individual factors such as gender, age, income level or social class, ethnicity, sexual orientation, lifestyle, religious beliefs, and culture can substantially influence a person’s perceptions and therefore determine his or her experience and involvement with a product or brand.

Question 33

Object

Answer 33

The degree of information that a consumer has about a product, including how well he or she can distinguish its characteristics, can also affect his or her experience, involvement, and satisfaction.

Question 34

Situational

Answer 34

Products that can easily conform to and enrich a consumer’s lifestyle tend to be consumed with more frequency and involvement. For example, a busy working mother might rely heavily on her smartphone to keep her organized and effective in an effortless manner.

Question 35

Social

Answer 35

Social influence can deeply affect consumer behavior, especially as related to the products they consider and consume. A consumer’s social network has a strong influence on the products he or she uses, as individuals tend to rely on the opinions and advice of friends and family.