Situation Adaptability EvaluationFor Sales Personnel


     This text has been designed to evaluate reactions of sales personnel to various situations. The situations are based on actual case studies from a well known educational institution and represent a cross section of test data correlated to evaluate both reaction time to difficult situations as well as the soundness of each decision selected.
     There are 8 multiple choice questions. Read each carefully. Then answer each question in your mind which you feel is the correct response to the situation given.

1.    You have prepared a proposal for the regional director of purchasing, for your largest customer. The success of this presentation will mean increasing your sales to his company by 200%. In the middle of your proposal the customer leans over to look at your report and spits into your coffee. You:
     A.    Tell him you prefer your coffee black.
     B.    Ask to have him checked for any communicable diseases.
     C.    Take a leak in his "OUT" basket.

2.    You are having lunch with a prospective customer talking about what could be your biggest sale of the year. During the conversation, a blonde walks into the restaurant and she is so stunning, you draw your companion's attention to her and give a vivid description of what you would do if you had her alone in a motel. She walks over to the table and introduces herself as your clients daughter. Your next move is to:
     A.    Ask for her hand in marriage.
     B.    Pretend you've forgotten how to speak English.
     C.    Repeat the conversation to the daughter and just hope for the best.

3.    You are making a sales presentation to a group of corporate executives in the plushest office you've ever seen. The hot enchilada casserole and egg salad sandwich you had for lunch react, creating a severe pressure. Your sphincter loses its control and you break wind in a most convincing manner causing three water tumblers to shatter and a secretary to pass out. What you should do next is:
     A.    Offer to come back next week when the odor has gone away.
     B.    Point out their chief executive and accuse him of the offense.
     C.    Challenge anyone in the room to do better.

4.    You are at a business lunch when you are suddenly overcome by an uncontrollable desire to pick your nose. Remembering this is definitely a NO-NO, you:
     A.    Pretend to wave to someone across the room and with one fluid motion, bury your forefinger in your nostril to the 4th joint.
     B.    Get everyone drunk and organize a nose-picking contest with a prize to the one who makes his nose bleed first.
     C.    Drop you napkin on the floor and when you bend over to pick it up, blow your nose on your sock.

5.    You've just spent the evening with a supplier who invited you to an all-night boilermaker drinking party. You get home just in time to go to work. You stagger to the men's room and spend 1/2 hour vomiting. As you're washing up at the sink, the sales director walks up, blows his cigar in your face, and asks you to join him for drinks after work. You:
     A.    Look him straight in the eye and launch one last convulsive torrent at his new Hart Shaffner & Marx suit.
     B.    Nail him right in the crotch, banking on the fact he'll never recognize your green face.
     C.    Grasp his hand and pump it until he pees in his pants.

6.    You are at dinner with a customer and his wife, who looks like the runner-up for the Majorie Main look-a-like contest. Halfway through dinner you feel a hand on your lap. If you are resourceful you will:
     A.    Accidentally spill hot coffee in your lap.
     B.    Slip a note to the waiter to have your customer paged and see if the hand goes away when HE does.
     C.    Excuse yourself and go to the men's room. If he follows, don't come out until you have a signed order.

7.    You're on your way to see your best account when your zipper breaks and you discover that you forgot to put underwear on this morning. You decide to:
     A.    Call on the customer's secretary.
     B.    Put on a baggy raincoat and head for any school playground.
     C.    Ask if your client will join you in a game of pocket pool.

8.    You've just returned from a trip to Green Bay, Wisconsin in January and you tell your boss that nobody but whores and football players live there. Your boss mentions that his wife is from Green Bay. You:
     A.    Ask what position she played.
     B.    Ask if she's still working the streets.
     C.    Pretend you're suffering amnesia and don't remember your own name.

Well that's it! What kind of salesperson would you make. There are no real answers to this quiz, but we hope you enjoyed reading the situations and imagining what you would do in those everyday situations.