B2B Marketing Quiz

1. Write your own definition of business-to-business marketing in about 15 words.

Key point is that answer must refer to the nature of the customer rather than to the nature of the

product. B2B customers are organizations. B2B marketing is marketing to organizations.

2. Allocate each of the products/companies to one of the following product categories …

(A) Entering goods – raw materials

(B) Entering goods – manufactured materials and parts

(C) Foundation goods – installations

(D) Foundation goods – accessory equipment

(E) Facilitating goods – supplies

(F) Facilitating goods – maintenance & repair services

(G) Facilitating goods – business advisory services

Product/company CategoryOffice cleaning company FManagement consultancy firm GA manufacturing plant (factory) COffice water coolers DCar windscreens (windshields) BAluminium ore AComputer processor chip BMerchant bank GIndustrial crane C

3. What is the fundamental difference between an ‘original equipment manufacturer’

transaction and an ‘after-market’ transaction?

In an OEM transaction the customer buys a component for incorporation into a final product;

the final product will be sold under the OEM brand name. Examples are DELL computers

(which use components from many different manufacturers) and a Nokia mobile phone.

After-market transactions take place after the OEM product has been sold to an end-user. For

example, a memory upgrade to a Dell PC using components bought at PC World.

Business to Business Marketing, by Brennan, Canning & McDowell, Sage, 2010

Indicate whether the following are OEM transactions or after-market transactions

Transaction Write in ‘OEM’ or ‘Aftermarket’ (AM)4. Intel sells Pentium processors to Dell OEM5. Motorola sells 4Gb RAM chips to PC

World to sell through retail outlets

AM

6. Microsoft sells Windows 7 software to

Toshiba to install on new laptops

OEM

7. VARTA sells car batteries to Kwik-Fit

(tyre & exhaust garages)

AM

8. VARTA sells car batteries to Nissan to use

on new Micras

OEM

9. Tesco buys car mats from Autostyle to sell

in-store

AM

True or false?

Insert ‘True’ or ‘False’10. We say that the demand for B2B products and services is

‘direct’False

11. The key difference between B2B markets and B2C markets is

the nature of the products bought and sold (for example, cranes in

B2B markets, washing powder in B2C markets)

False

12. In B2B markets customers often exercise a lot of buying

powerTrue

13. The ‘buying centre’ is the office in which buyers and

purchasing managers are locatedFalse

14. A straight rebuy can become a modified rebuy if the ‘in-

supplier’ creates customer dissatisfaction by missing an important

delivery deadline

True

15. As a rule, the elasticity of demand for B2B products and

services is ‘perverse’ and the elasticity of demand for B2C

products and services is ‘normal’

False

16. Derived demand means that the demand for a product is

created by the demand for other products which it is used to makeTrue

17. Business customers seldom employ professional buyers False18. Organisational buyers generally spend a lot of time and effort

when making straight rebuy decisionsFalse

Business to Business Marketing, by Brennan, Canning & McDowell, Sage, 2010

19. Put the following steps in the buying process into the correct order from 1 to 8

The wrong order The right orderInformation search Purchase initiationNegotiations Formation of evaluation criteriaFormation of evaluation criteria Information searchImplementation Shortlisting for RFQEvaluation of quotations Evaluation of quotationsShortlisting for RFQ (request for quotations) NegotiationsSupplier choice Supplier choicePurchase initiation Implementation

20. In addition to an Initiator, a Buyer and a Decider, the normal roles found in a B2B buying

centre are:

(a) Gatekeeper, Influencer, Evaluator(b) User, Influencer, Gatekeeper (c) Purchasing manager, quality manager, accountant(d) Managing director, Secretary, Purchasing director(e) None of the above is correct

You are the sales manager of a company that sells industrial cranes. One of your sales executives has been to visit a client and has made a note of the key buying criteria that the client is concerned about. Which criteria would you say are ‘task’ and which criteria would you say are ‘non-task’? (Notice that the buying criteria have been recorded verbatim by the sales executive in the language used by the client, so some of the descriptions are a little curious.)Buying criterion Insert ‘task’ or ‘non-task’21. ‘I want a bigger b****y crane than those b*****s down the road, because I’m not having them showing me up’ (referring to his competitors)

Non-task

22. ‘It had better be more reliable than the last [expletive] crane I bought; that one kept on breaking down’

Task

23. ‘You lot always tell me that you’ve got competitive prices … well, [expletive]! … You had better give me a really good price or I’m not [expletive] interested’

Task

24. ‘Quite frankly, I don’t much like the Germans. It’s not made in Germany, is it?’

Non-task

25. ‘What’s the maximum load it will carry?’ Task26. ‘Can you tell me about the kind of servicing deals you offer? What about routine maintenance?’

Task

27. ‘I hear that your boss takes his favourite customers to play golf at Wentworth every now and then. You know, I quite enjoy the occasional round of golf.’

Non-task

Business to Business Marketing, by Brennan, Canning & McDowell, Sage, 2010

Business to Business Marketing, by Brennan, Canning & McDowell, Sage, 2010