Question 1

What are the common instructions given to sales managers using evaluation forms?

Accepted Answer

Read the definitions of each trait thoroughly and carefully before rating. Guard against the common tendency to overrate. Do not let personal like or dislike influence your rating. Have sound reasons for your ratings. Never rate an employee on several instances of good or poor work but rather on his or her general success or failure over the whole appraisal period. Base your rating on the observed performance of the salesperson.

Question 2

Which of the following is an example of an objective evaluation method?
A) Personality rating factors
B) Active and new prospect account tallies
C) Behaviorally anchored rating scales
D) Technical skills
E) Good customer relationship tallies

Accepted Answer

Objective evaluation methods rely on quantifiable data. "Active and new prospect account tallies" involve counting accounts, which is a measurable and objective method.

Question 3

Which of the following ratios does NOT reflect how well a salesperson is capturing the potential business that exists in his or her territory?
A) Account penetration ratio
B) The cost per call ratio
C) The new account conversion ratio
D) The sales per account ratio
E) The average order size ratio

Accepted Answer

The cost per call ratio reflects how efficiently the salesperson is using their resources, specifically in terms of how much it costs them to make each sales call. It does not directly reflect how well they are capturing potential business. The other ratios listed all directly relate to the salesperson's ability to capture potential business in their territory.

Question 4

In 360-degree sales performance feedback, which of the following people would NOT be included?
A) The customer
B) The sales team
C) The sales manager
D) The competitors
E) The delivery personnel

Accepted Answer

Competitors would not be included in 360-degree sales performance feedback as they are not part of the sales team or organization. The other options - customer, sales team, sales manager, and delivery personnel - are relevant stakeholders who could provide valuable feedback.

Question 5

Which of the following would NOT be an advisable instruction to management for the completion of performance rating forms?
A) Guard against the common tendency to overrate
B) Do not let personal like or dislike influence your rating
C) Have sound reasons for your ratings
D) Never rate an employee on several instances of good or poor work, but rather, on his or her general success or failure over the whole appraisal period
E) Base your rating on the salesperson's potential ability

Accepted Answer

Basing the rating solely on potential ability is not advisable as it does not reflect the actual performance of the employee during the appraisal period. It is important to evaluate employees based on their actual work performance and achievements during the appraisal period.

Question 6

Interpersonal bias, lack of an outcome focus and the halo effect are all problems encountered with:
A) Marketing audits
B) Cost/profitability analyses
C) Performance measures based on a salesperson's service record
D) The BARS system
E) Subjective performance rating forms

Accepted Answer

Interpersonal bias, lack of an outcome focus, and the halo effect are all common problems with subjective performance rating forms. These issues can arise when managers rate employees based on personal relationships or other subjective factors rather than objective outcomes or job-related criteria. It is important to address these biases and focus on measurable outcomes when evaluating employee performance.

Question 7

The customer relationship management philosophy embraces the idea that the customer is a customer of:
A) The sales representative
B) The sales team
C) The sales manager
D) The company
E) The customer

Accepted Answer

The customer relationship management philosophy emphasizes the value of the customer to the company, making the customer a customer of the company. This approach aims to develop long-term relationships with customers and enhance customer satisfaction, retention, and loyalty. While sales representatives, teams, and managers all play a role in implementing the CRM strategy, ultimately the focus is on meeting the needs and expectations of the customer to benefit the company as a whole.

Question 8

Which of the following is NOT a commonly evaluated subjective attribute used in merit rating forms?
A) Customer and company relations
B) Job knowledge
C) Sales results
D) Dependability
E) Resourcefulness

Accepted Answer

Sales results are typically considered an objective attribute, as they can be quantitatively measured, unlike subjective attributes which are based on personal judgment and perception.

Question 9

The instruction, ""Do not permit your evaluation of one factor to influence your evaluation of another,"" would prevent _____ from affecting a performance measurement rating form.
A) Organizational use influences
B) A lack of outcome focus
C) The halo effect
D) The central tendency effect
E) Interpersonal bias

Accepted Answer

The instruction, "Do not permit your evaluation of one factor to influence your evaluation of another," would prevent the halo effect from affecting a performance measurement rating form. The halo effect is the tendency to let one's overall impression of an individual or entity influence evaluations of their specific traits, behaviors, or performance. By following this instruction, evaluators would be forced to evaluate each factor separately, without letting their overall impression bias their evaluation.

Question 10

A BARS system focuses on:
A) A full range of factors that affect any employee's performance
B) A few critical success factors
C) Only objective performance indexes
D) The one critical incident that separates successful salespeople from unsuccessful ones
E) Only those factors that motivate employees

Accepted Answer

A BARS (Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales) system focuses on a few critical success factors by using specific behavioral examples to rate performance.

Question 11

A salesperson's hit ratio or batting average is the:
A) Number of new accounts/total number of accounts
B) Sales dollar volume/total sales volume in dollars
C) Number of orders/total number of sales
D) Total costs/number of calls
E) Number of new accounts/total number of accounts.

Accepted Answer

A salesperson's hit ratio or batting average is the number of orders divided by the total number of sales. This ratio helps the salesperson understand how many sales pitches they need to make to close a deal. Option C is the only choice that calculates this ratio.

Question 12

Which of the following statements about methods of measuring a salesperson's performance is true?
A) Number of days worked x calls per day is used to determine a salesperson's optimum territory size
B) Non-selling activities are hard to measure because the data must be collected from current and potential customers
C) A salesperson who makes 30 calls 20 planned and 10 unplanned) and collects 24 orders has a batting average of .8 and a planned call ratio of 2
D) Days worked x call rate x batting average x average order size = sales
E) Account share is a key measure for companies that rely on team selling

Accepted Answer

This statement provides an accurate formula for measuring a salesperson's performance, taking into account the number of days worked, call rate, batting average, and average order size to calculate total sales. The other statements either provide incomplete or inaccurate methods of measurement.

Question 13

Which of the following is an example of a productivity ratio that a sales manager might use to evaluate a sales representative?
A) Order cancellation ratio
B) Lost account ratio
C) Planned call ratio
D) Average order size ratio
E) All of the above

Accepted Answer

A planned call ratio measures how many planned sales calls a representative actually makes, giving insight into their efficiency and productivity. The other ratios listed are not specifically related to productivity and may instead indicate issues with customer retention or sales performance.

Question 14

A review of a salesperson's evaluations shows that the average score given, on a 7-point scale, was 4.5 with a variance of 1.0. This indicates that the appraiser may have been adversely affected by:
A) The central tendency effect
B) The halo effect
C) Organizational use influence
D) Leniency
E) An interpersonal bias

Accepted Answer

The central tendency effect occurs when evaluators rate most items as average, which is indicated by the average score of 4.5 on a 7-point scale.

Question 15

If promotion and monetary rewards hinge on ratings, management can be affected by:
A) The halo effect
B) Leniency
C) The lack of outcome focus
D) The central tendency
E) An interpersonal bias

Accepted Answer

Leniency bias occurs when a manager gives higher ratings to employees than they actually deserve, which can lead to undeserved promotions and rewards for those employees.

Question 16

The account penetration ratio:
A) Provides a direct measure of whether the salesperson is skimming the cream off the territory
B) Measures how well a salesperson is able to keep prior accounts as active customers
C) Measures how successful a salesperson is at turning leads into suspects
D) Indicates a salesperson's average success per account
E) Reveals the salesperson's call patterns

Accepted Answer

The account penetration ratio provides insight into whether a salesperson is focusing only on easy or high-value accounts ("skimming the cream") rather than fully engaging with the entire territory.

Question 17

Outcome bias occurs when a sales manager:
A) Allows the outcome of a mistake made by a salesperson to overly influence the his or her decision
B) Allows the basis of a decision made by the manager to overly influence the salesperson
C) Allows the basis of a decision made by a salesperson to overly influence the his or her decision
D) Allows the input of a decision or a series of decisions made by a manager to overly influence the performance ratings made by the manager
E) Allows the outcome of a decision or a series of decisions made by a salesperson to overly influence the performance ratings made by the manager

Accepted Answer

Outcome bias occurs when the outcome of a decision disproportionately influences the evaluation of the decision-making process, regardless of the quality of the decision itself.

Question 18

Which of the following statements about BARS (behaviorally anchored rating scale) systems is true?
A) There are often many factors that are critical to the success of a salesperson and these are identified in the procedure for developing a BARS system
B) A BARS system emphasizes behavior rather than performance and effectiveness
C) Unlike other performance appraisal systems, a BARS system requires appropriate personnel to consider in detail the components of a salesperson's performance
D) One advantage of a BARS system over other performance appraisal systems is the fact that it is an inexpensive system to implement
E) A BARS system is a sophisticated type of merit rating form

Accepted Answer

BARS systems are designed to provide a more objective and detailed evaluation of an employee's performance by anchoring ratings to specific behaviors or examples of behavior. This allows for more specific feedback and provides a basis for identifying areas for improvement. In order to develop a BARS system, it is necessary to identify the critical factors that are relevant to the job being evaluated. Therefore, statement A is true. Statements B, C, D, and E are all false.

Question 19

Which of the following describes an advantage inherent in the BARS (behaviorally anchored rating scale) system?
A) A BARS system removes the possibility of bias
B) A BARS system is inexpensive to develop and implement
C) A BARS system emphasizes behavior and performance rather than effectiveness
D) A BARS system provides an accurate measure of behavior, performance and effectiveness
E) A BARS system gives management the ability to develop one scale to assess the performance of all types of salespeople within their firm

Accepted Answer

A BARS system emphasizes behavior and performance rather than effectiveness

Question 20

The worst type of merit rating forms:
A) Are superior to all other subjective performance appraisal methods
B) Burden managers by requiring written justification for each rating
C) Are overly concerned with behaviors and not with actual performance
D) Simply list attributes of interest along one side of the form and evaluation adjectives along the other
E) Require mangers to assess such hard-to-measure attributes as job knowledge and customer relations

Accepted Answer

Simply listing attributes of interest along one side of the form and evaluation adjectives along the other is not an effective way to measure performance. It does not provide specific feedback to employees and is not based on measurable outcomes.

Quiz 13: Evaluating Salesperson Performance

What are the common instructions given to sales managers using evaluation forms?

Which of the following is an example of an objective evaluation method?

Which of the following ratios does NOT reflect how well a salesperson is capturing the potential business that exists in his or her territory?

In 360-degree sales performance feedback, which of the following people would NOT be included?

Which of the following would NOT be an advisable instruction to management for the completion of performance rating forms?

Interpersonal bias, lack of an outcome focus and the halo effect are all problems encountered with:

The customer relationship management philosophy embraces the idea that the customer is a customer of:

Which of the following is NOT a commonly evaluated subjective attribute used in merit rating forms?

The instruction, ""Do not permit your evaluation of one factor to influence your evaluation of another,"" would prevent _____ from affecting a performance measurement rating form.

A BARS system focuses on:

A salesperson's hit ratio or batting average is the:

Which of the following statements about methods of measuring a salesperson's performance is true?

Which of the following is an example of a productivity ratio that a sales manager might use to evaluate a sales representative?

A review of a salesperson's evaluations shows that the average score given, on a 7-point scale, was 4.5 with a variance of 1.0. This indicates that the appraiser may have been adversely affected by:

If promotion and monetary rewards hinge on ratings, management can be affected by:

The account penetration ratio:

Outcome bias occurs when a sales manager:

Which of the following statements about BARS (behaviorally anchored rating scale) systems is true?

Which of the following describes an advantage inherent in the BARS (behaviorally anchored rating scale) system?

The worst type of merit rating forms: