Sales Test
This is a Questionnaire designed to test your sales attitudes and knowledge.

It consists of 72 questions which may be answered:

T = TRUE U = UNDECIDED F = FALSE

Choose one of the alternatives for each question by a tick ( )

Question T U F

1. Selling is not the type of job you’d rave about to your friends, but it can
be a good entry point for a career in business.
2. People do not always know when they need something.
3. Most professional buyers rely heavily on sales people for advice on what
to buy.
4. If the customer becomes aware that the sales person is trying to exert
control over the interview, they will usually start to express resistance.
5. Low cost is a feature, low price is a benefit.
6. When the customer’s response to a closing question is a flat refusal to
buy, the sales person should accept it gracefully.
7. Sales people should involve the customer in their presentation even if
they are afraid that they may try to take control of it.
8. The more experienced a salesperson becomes, the less preparation time
they need for their sales phone calls and meetings.
9. Most of the time people remember less than 20% of what they hear.
10. People will ensure they satisfy their needs before spending money on
satisfying their wants.
11. The key to selling is relationship building verses asking quality questions.

 
  
 

Question T U F

12. Genuine objections are those raised by customers who have decided
they don’t want to buy.
13. The only really honest way for a salesperson to close a sale is with a
direct request for the customer to buy.
14. By presenting the main features of their product or service in detail,
salespeople will usually provide their customers with the information
they need on which to base their buying decision.
15. Normally, our behaviour is influenced more strongly by our “will” than by
our attitude.
16. The most important barrier to good listening is our attitude to the
speaker.
17. Emotions have little influence over the professional buyer’s purchasing
decisions.
18. Features are facts, benefits are promises.
19. By developing “Tension for Change” the salesperson increases the
probability that the customer will concentrate on what they are saying.
20. If sales people were to ask questions about objections before attempting
to answer them it would appear to their customer that they were trying
to avoid the issue.
21. For most buyers there are other issues that are more important than the
price issue.
22. If the customer takes the initiative and asks to buy, then the salesperson
has not done their job properly.
23. A professional sales interview places equal emphasis on telling, showing
and doing.
24. Closed questions have little place in a well conducted sales interview.
25. People buy similar things for similar reasons.
26. The only source of benefits is product features.

 
  
 

Question T U F

27. Most customers want to feel that they are the ones in control of a sales
interview.
28. Salespeople should not necessarily deal with objections as their
customers raise them, but develop the ability to put them aside and deal
with them when the time is right.
29. It is the salesperson’s attitude to their price that often causes their
customer to raise an objection to it.
30. Direct closing methods are designed to put stress on the customer in
order to press them into a buying decision.
31. As interruptions can distort the flow of their presentation, salespeople
should ask their customers to refrain from asking questions until the end.
32. Confidence in the supplier is usually more important to a buyer than is
confidence in what they are supplying.
33. If sales people were detailed and meticulous about explaining the
features of their product or service, their customers would easily work
out the benefits for themselves.
34. While “Do you prefer the black or the blue?” is a trail close, “Do you want
the black or the blue?” is NOT.
35. Experienced, competent salespeople usually look forward to their
customers raising objections.
36. From the point of view of the customer, price and cost are the same.
37. Indirect closes are best used by the salesperson when the customer is
hesitating over a major decision.
38. A problem with highly prepared and organised sales presentation is they
can lose spontaneity and sound flat and unexciting.
39. The quickest way for a salesperson to improve their sales results is to
make more calls per day.

 
  
 

Question T U F

40. Our popularity is influenced more by our attitudes towards other people
than it is by how we feel about ourselves.
41. Clear, precise explanations are more likely to have an influence on a
serious purchaser than are appeals to their emotions.
42. For the customer, the main advantages of a product or service are the
features it has that are different from those of its competitors.
43. Often, a price objection indicates no more than a token protest.
44. If a customer hesitates when asked to buy, it is a good tactic for the
salesperson to offer an inducement to help them make up their mind.
45. It is better that salespeople make their presentation as short and concise
as possible so as not to waste their customer’s time.
46. Our education, skills and abilities play a more influential role in our
success than do our attitude.
47. Before we conduct a demonstration, we should be sure that the
customer is in the best position to watch what is going on.
48. That a product carries a guarantee is a “benefit”.
49. The customer will usually place more confidence in the messages they
receive from the salesperson’s body language than they do in what they
say verbally.
50. A small discount say 10%, is often the best inducement for a reluctant
customer.
51. A skilled salesperson would know up to four different types of closing
methods.
52. It is better not to allow the customer to decide to buy prior to the end of
a prepared sales presentation in case they make a bad decision due to
incomplete information
53. Working as a team member is inclined to slow down really good
salespeople who are best left to work on their own.

 
  
 

Question T U F

54. Listening is passive, speaking is active.

55. For most salespeople, on hour per week devoted to studying their
product or service would maintain their product knowledge at a high
level.
56. By asking the customer to express their views, you keep control of the
sales interview.
57. It is better that the salesperson explains their price and why they can’t
reduce it, before the customer raises it as an issue.
58. A buying signal is something done or said by the salesperson to indicate
to the customer that it is time they made up their minds.
59. If you take your boss to meet a customer you should limit your personal
talk time.
60. Words convey less than ten percent of the information that passes
between the parties in a face to face conversation.
61. The modern salesperson should be so expert in their field, that their
customers value them as much or even more for their knowledge as
they do for the service they provide.
62. If the salesperson tries to obtain a whole series of agreements
throughout the sales interview it is very likely that the customer will start
to feel cornered and want out!
63. Give referrals to your customers is a great way to build currency with
them.
64. “Your price is too high” means just what it says – that the customer
thinks you are charging too much.
65. It is preferable not to give customers a pamphlet or other printed
literature while the sale person in making the presentation.
66. To be able to use their product knowledge effectively, salespeople
should be almost as good at teaching as they are at selling.

 
  
 

Question T U F

67. Most salespeople start their product pitch far too early in their sales
meetings.
68. Gaining small commitments during a face to face meeting is important
when closing.
69. The salesperson should always treat price objections as though they
were genuine, even when they suspect that the customer may be simply
testing their willingness to move on it.
70. The purpose of a presentation is to give the customer an opportunity to
work out for themselves how they will benefit from the product or
service being presented.
71. Simulated sales situations may be useful in some circumstances but is
too artificial to be a really valuable way of practising selling.
72. Finding a coach or a mentor is critical to your success as a salesperson.