Roll No…………

Plot No. 2, Knowledge Park-III, Greater Noida (U.P.) –201306

POST GRADUATE DIPLOMA IN MANAGEMENT (2023-25)
END TERM EXAMINATION (TERM -III)
Subject Name: Sales Management Time: 02.00 hrs
Sub. Code: PGM31 Max Marks: 40
Note: All questions are compulsory. Section A carries5 marks: 5 questions of 1marks each,
Section B carries 21 marks having 3 questions (with internal choice question in each) of 7 marks
each and Section C carries 14 marks one Case Study having 2 questions of 7 marks each.
SECTION - A
Attempt all questions. All questions are compulsory. 1×5 = 5 Marks
Q. 1 (A): List the different problems of poor selection in sales force management.
Q. 1 (B): Explain the Hopscotch (Straight-line) and Lover leaf methods of routing and
Circumstances under which they are used.
Q. 1 (C): Explain how third-party evidence can be used to close sales.
Q. 1 (D): Briefly explain the Smart Moving Average method and the Delphi technique for sales
forecasting, and discuss the situations where each method is most effective.
Q. 1 (E): Briefly explain Adaptive Lean Selling with suitable example.
(CO1), L2
SECTION - B
All questions are compulsory (Each question have an internal choice. Attempt any one (either A or
B) from the internal choice) 7 x 3 = 21 Marks

Q. 2: (A). “You are a sales manager at a technology company negotiating a contract with a
potential client for a large software implementation project. During the negotiation, the client
expresses concerns about the proposed timeline and asks for a significant discount, mentioning
they have received offers from other software providers”. Outline the steps you would take to
determine your BATNA in this situation. Explain how knowing your BATNA can help you respond
to the client's requests for a discount and address their concerns about the timeline. (CO3) L3

Or
Q. 2: (B). A district sales manager of a company, decides which salespeople to assign to which
territories. Among his territories are two which have very low sales potential according to Sales &
Marketing Management magazine’s latest annual estimates. He is thinking about assigning his two
lowest performing salespeople to these two territories because he thinks this extra challenge will
either motivate them or cause them to quit which would be okay since it would allow him to avoid
the unpleasant task of possibly firing them later anyway. No matter what the outcome, it seems like
a win-win from his perspective. If you were the sales Manager, what would be your perspective?
What would you do? Justify your answer. (CO3), L3

Q. 3: (A). Describe the personal selling process for an e-commerce company, and discuss different
prospecting methods that can help identify and target potential customers effectively. How would
you integrate these prospecting methods into your sales strategy to maximize customer engagement
and sales? (CO3), L4
Or

Q. 3: (B). Imagine you are the sales manager for Fab Hotels, responsible for the Delhi NCR territory.
Your goal is to increase bookings and occupancy rates across the hotels in your area. Suggest a
prospecting strategy that targets potential corporate clients and leisure travelers. Make suitable
assumptions about the market trends, customer preferences, and competition in the region. Describe
how you would identify and approach potential clients, including the types of outreach methods you
would use. (5marks X 2)
(CO3), L4

Q. 4: (A). A health insurance company utilizes both direct sales from its team and through
consultants, leading to frequent conflicts between the managers overseeing direct sales and those
managing consultant or channel partner sales. As a senior manager, how would you address the
conflict between the managers overseeing direct sales and consultant sales? Propose a strategy that
balances the interests of both sales channels while optimizing lead management through Sales Force
Automation. (CO4), L5
Or
Q. 4: (B). Consider a sales organization that sells home automation products. Describe the lead
management flow using Sales Force Automation (SFA). Explain how the organization uses SFA
tools to track and manage leads from initial contact to conversion, citing features like lead scoring,
automated follow-ups, and customer segmentation. Evaluate how this process enhances sales team
performance and customer satisfaction.
(CO4), L5
SECTION - C
Read the case and answer the questions 7×02 = 14 Marks
Q. 5: Case Study:

Mr. Shah VP- ABC Systems Ltd was worried to find 20% decline in order booking in the first and
second quarter as compared to order booking target. He wondered where the company had gone
wrong in the process of getting business from the customers located mainly in US and Europe. He
wanted to review the business model for IT Marketing and Sales (ITMS), developed by the company
earlier (as below). Mr. Shah thought that some changes should be done to achieve the target of 30%
growth in order booking so that sales target can be achieved in third &fourth quarter.

PRESALES
Sales Proposal Business Case Project Estimation Proof of concepts
(Inside/Field) Presentation
Post Sales
Research and Lead Cusomer inquiry,
Generation(Tele Comercial info and
sales /Emails) Technical Info
CLIENT
Conference Call
Inter organistion
Face to Face Meeting Coordination
Video Conferencing
Follow up sales
Marketing PR Advertising
RFI/RFP Seminar Press Release Traditional Media
Followup Webinar PSA Banner
Closeup Collaterals Coorporate sponsors Blogs
Brochure and Fliers Commiunity Awards E-direct

Company Background:
It is a global Information Technology solution and services firm with offices in India, U.S. and
Europe. The company had 40 sales people in US & Europe and 40 sales &marketing staff in India.
Services Offered: Some of the services offered by the company were:
• Application management
• Testing
• E-Business
• Enterprise resource planning (ERP)
• Customer relationship management (CRM)
The employee who had expertise in above mentioned services were known as solution experts or
technology experts, and are a part of horizontals.
Target Market Segments: The Company focused on the following target market segments:
 • Finance and Insurance
• Pharmaceutical and Healthcare
• Telecommunication
• Manufacturing and logistics
• Retailing
Sales Team:
The sales team in ABC systems Ltd, consist of two groups. One group, call Inside (or offshore),
include sales tam located in India. The second group consist of Field(or Onshore) sales team, located
in US and Europe. Inside sales team generate leads by using telephones (i.e. telemarketing) and e-
mails. These leads are passed onto the second group i.e. Field (or Onshore) sales team, who contact
the leads (also called probable prospects or suspects) on phone, conference call or face to face
meetings. The field sales team in US or Europe would first qualify the lead to the prospect or potential
customer based on the level of interest in the services being sold and financial capacity.

Only 4% to 5 % of the sales leads are interested to go to the next level, which include Request for
Information (RFI) and /or Request for Proposal (RFP). The prospect evaluate the vendor by seeking
detailed information (RFI) about the vendor infrastructure, technologies, expertise, product, services
etc. RFP is given when the prospect evaluates the vendor for particular need of I.T. outsourcing such
as RFP for ERP or CRM. The prospect generally obtained RFP’s from numbers of vendors and
finalized the project on one vendor after evaluation and negotiations. Mr. Shah looked up to company
statistics and was concerned to find that the conversion ratio of the projects obtained to RFP’s
submitted was around 10% in 2013-14, as compared to about 15% to 20% in previous years. He
wondered whether this was due to increase in competition.

Competition: Large IT firms like IBM, H.P. are competitors to ABC systems Ltd., had invested in
offshore presence in India, China and Brazil to become cost competitive with IT firms. At one time,
Indian IT firms like ABC system had cost advantage, which helped them to secure more projects and
to have higher conversion ratio. Beside the large global IT firms have big budget for promotions.

Marketing Team: The marketing tam in ABC systems gave support to sales team by carrying out
certain activities like advertising, seminars, webinars, PR events, brochure design and relationship
management program which not only help for brand building but also generates leads. Mr. Shah
noticed that the lead generations is also declined. He thought whether company was performing
adequately in lead generation as well as in lead conversion to RFP’s and from RFP’s to orders (or
projects). He was not sure whether the ITMS model needed any changes.

Mr. Shah decide to call meeting of the leaders of various teams like sales, marketing, presales and
post-sales to discuss and decide future course of activities.
Questions:
Q5 (A): What are your suggestions to change in IT MS model to increase lead generation? (CO4),
L5
Q5 (B): What should be corrective actions needed to improve the conversion ratio of the orders
received to RFP’s submitted? (CO4), L6

Mapping of Questions with Course Learning Outcome

Question Number COs Bloom’s Marks Allocated

taxonomy level
Q. 1: CO1 L2 5 marks
Q. 2: CO2 L3 7 marks
Q. 3: CO3 L4 7 marks
Q. 4: CO4 L5 7 marks
Q. 5: CO4 L5, L6 14 marks