BUS260 Business Communications
Chapter 9 Quiz
MULTIPLE CHOICE. Choose the one alternative that best completes the statement or answers the question.
1) When compared to routine positive messages, persuasive messages aim to influence audiences
who are likely to
A) be easily offended.
B) know more than you do about the topic of your message.
C) agree with you right away.
D) resist at first.
1) _______
2) When analyzing your audience for a persuasive message it is important to
A) examine alternative positions.
B) consider how your audience might resist your message.
C) connect your message to your audience's existing desires and interests.
D) all of the above
2) _______
3) Demographics include all of the following about an audience except:
A) income
B) age
C) attitudes
D) education
3) _______
4) Psychographics is information about all of the following except:
A) lifestyle
B) occupation
C) attitudes
D) personality
4) _______
5) When analyzing your audience it is important to consider
A) audience cultural differences.
B) audience psychographics.
C) audience demographics.
D) all of the above
5) _______
6) The best persuasive messages include ________ appeals.
A) only emotional
B) neither emotional or logical
C) only logical
D) a combination of emotional and logical
6) _______
7) When planning your persuasive message, it is important to do all of the following except:
A) write your message
B) select the best medium
C) gather relevant information
D) analyze your situation
7) _______
8) Most persuasive messages use the
A) direct approach.
C) analytic approach.
8) _______
B) convoluted approach.
D) indirect approach.
9) When using the direct approach to craft a persuasive message, remember to include
A) an analysis of the situation.
B) an emotional appeal.
C) a justification or explanation for your main point.
D) all of the above
10) Which of the following is an incorrect statement regarding an audience?
A) German audiences like to see numbers and technical information.
B) Swiss audiences focus on strategic implications.
C) U.S. audiences are concerned about practical matters.
D) French audiences prefer an aggressive, hard-sell technique.
9) _______
10) ______
11) To establish your credibility you should do all of the following except:
A) display your good intentions
B) use jargon and technical terms to show your audience how much you know
C) establish common ground
D) name your sources
11) ______
12) When describing the AIDA Plan, the letters A — I — D — A stand for
A) attention, informal, definition, account.
B) attention, interest, desire, action.
C) amount, insight, distinction, appeal.
D) audience, indirect, design, analysis.
12) ______
13) When using the AIDA approach to persuasion, the opening should
A) make your audience want to hear about your idea.
B) catch your reader's attention.
C) build common ground with your audience.
D) all of the above
13) ______
14) The "desire" step in the AIDA approach should focus on
A) answering in advance any questions the audience might have.
B) backing up your claims with evidence.
C) explaining how the change will benefit the audience.
D) all of the above
14) ______
15) When using the AIDA approach to persuasion, the closing should
A) explain the steps needed to implement your ideas.
B) urge the audience to take the action you are suggesting.
C) provide additional evidence and detail not covered in the "desire" step.
D) all of the above
15) ______
16) The AIDA plan for persuasive messages should be used with
A) an indirect approach only.
B) neither a direct or an indirect approach.
C) either a direct or an indirect approach.
D) a direct approach only.
16) ______
17) When using the AIDA plan to request an action, the opening should
A) avoid extravagant claims.
B) get your reader's attention.
C) be brief and engaging.
D) all of the above
17) ______
18) When requesting an action, your goals should include all of the following except
A) convince readers that helping you will solve a significant problem.
B) be specific.
C) gain credibility for you.
D) all of the above
18) ______
19) Finding the right balance between emotional and logical appeals depends on all of the following
except:
A) the actions you wish to motivate
B) the ethical appeals you plan to use
C) your reader's expectations
D) the degree of resistance you must overcome
19) ______
20) Emotional and logical appeals work together by
A) providing rational support for an idea that an audience has already emotionally accepted.
B) manipulating the audience into focusing on the emotional issues while ignoring the logical
elements.
C) allowing the audience to choose the appeal that will be most effective.
D) all of the above
20) ______
21) An analogy lets you
A) reason from a generalization to a specific conclusion.
B) reason from specific evidence to a general conclusion.
C) reason from one specific evidence to another specific evidence.
D) all of the above
21) ______
22) If you used the results of a taste test in which many individuals preferred your product over the
competitor's to persuade others to buy your product, you would be using what kind of
approach?
A) deduction
B) induction
C) analogy
D) a combination of all three
22) ______
23) Which of the following is an example of an analogy?
A) All employees have health coverage. Therefore, since Tom is an employee, he must have
health coverage.
B) The results of this survey showed that people like our product more than our competitor's
product.
C) Our office operates like a wolf pack with one Alpha male on top and everyone else
answering to him.
D) There is a national trend toward healthier eating; as a result we should see an increase in
the sales of our low-fat items.
23) ______
24) Which of the following uses a deductive approach to persuasion?
A) It is important for our sales force to operate like a well-oiled machine.
B) Because the stock market is expected to fall next month, shares of our company stock will
probably also decline.
C) Our stock price is like a marathon runner, slowly making progress towards our goal.
D) none of the above
24) ______
25) When writing a claim request, you should
A) let the company know how disappointed and upset you are.
B) threaten to withhold payment.
C) convey your negative impression of the company.
D) write in a calm and reasonable tone.
25) ______
26) A good claim letter should
A) include a complete review of the facts.
B) maintain a confident and positive tone.
C) not suggest that the reader is trying to cheat you.
D) all of the above
26) ______
27) In a claim letter, the opening should
A) give the reader a reason for granting your claim.
B) specify a deadline for action.
C) state the problem.
D) all of the above
27) ______
28) To make an effective and persuasive claim, the letter should include
A) benefits to the company and a summary of events leading to the claim.
B) problems with similar products and a critique of the company.
C) a confident and positive tone and a complete review of the facts.
D) a copy of the sales receipt and a request for reimbursement.
28) ______
29) For a successful sales effort, your product's distinguishing benefit must correspond to your
readers'
A) attention focus.
B) social-economic demographic.
C) needs.
D) all of the above
29) ______
30) In marketing and sales messages, what is the primary difference between selling points and
benefits?
A) Selling points are positive whereas benefits are not.
B) Selling points focus on the product rather than the user.
C) Selling points focus on the user rather than the product.
D) none of the above
30) ______
31) All of the following are examples of selling points except:
A) This digital camera can take 10 pictures per minute.
B) Get a car loan with no money down and a 0% interest rate.
C) Your corporate sponsorship will allow your sales manager a five-minute introduction at
the seminar.
D) Our food bank provides food for 200 families daily.
31) ______
32) If the audience for your marketing or sales message promoting a new security system is made
up of wealthy suburbanites, the consumer benefit you would most likely want to emphasize is
A) its easy, do-it-yourself installation.
B) the low cost.
C) the reliability of the system.
D) the availability of a low-interest payment plan.
32) ______
33) Strategies for writing a sales message include all of the following except:
A) anticipate objections
B) analyze your competition
C) determine selling points and benefits
D) all of the above
33) ______
34) When discussing price in a sales message, you should always
A) prepare the readers for it, even if you do not specify the price.
B) highlight the information.
C) downplay the information.
D) none of the above
34) ______
35) If price is not a major selling point, your sales message could
A) leave out the price.
B) place the price in the middle of a paragraph.
C) discuss it after presenting selling points and benefits.
D) all of the above
35) ______
36) Which of the following is not an effective technique for minimizing price?
A) compare your service's price to that of a competitor's
B) emphasize the cost of not buying your product or service
C) compare your product's price to the cost of another product
D) all of the above are effective
36) ______
37) All of the following are effective ways to attract attention at the beginning of a sales letter except:
A) establishing a point of common ground with the audience
B) appealing to your reader's emotions and values
C) asking the readers to buy your product
D) giving a sample or demonstration of your product
37) ______
38) The final section of a sales letter should
A) explain the benefits of your product.
B) persuade the readers to take the next step.
C) pique the readers' interest in the product.
D) all of the above
38) ______
39) When writing a sales letter you are breaking the law if you
A) publicize information about a person's private life.
B) misrepresent the price of a product.
C) use a person's photograph without permission.
D) all of the above
39) ______
40) All of the following may cause legal problems when writing a sales letter except
A) including information about the financial condition of the company.
B) using a customer's name and picture without consent.
C) making offers or promises that you cannot deliver.
D) making claims without providing support.
40) ______
41) In the final section of a sales letter, it is important to get the reader to act quickly because
A) they may forget about your offer.
B) they are less likely to buy if they don't reply immediately.
C) you want to overcome their natural inertia.
D) all of the above
41) ______
42) A postscript is a good place to
A) reiterate your primary benefits.
C) include an additional offer.
42) ______
B) emphasize a deadline.
D) all of the above
43) Unlike electronic junk mail (spam), opt-in e-mail newsletters
A) reflect the "you" attitude.
B) are illegal in some states.
C) force consumers to purchase products before being removed from the mailing list.
D) are considered an unethical way to obtain personal information.
43) ______
TRUE/FALSE. Write 'T' if the statement is true and 'F' if the statement is false.
44) Effective persuasion is the ability to present a message in a way that will lead others to support
it.
44) ______
45) Unlike routine messages, persuasive messages present the added challenge of overcoming the
audience's initial resistance to your request.
45) ______
46) The key to an effective persuasive message is to clearly explain your company's needs to your
audience.
46) ______
47) To better understand your audience, you can refer to demographic and psychological
information.
47) ______
48) Effective persuasive techniques are generally the same from culture to culture.
48) ______
49) Psychographics looks at quantifiable audience characteristics.
49) ______
50) Although a direct approach is sometimes necessary, most effective persuasion uses an indirect
approach.
50) ______