The Marketing & e-Business Pop Quiz Archive
Below are the winners of each prize giveaway and the answers to quiz questions.
If you have questions or suggestions for a future topic, contact us at .
November 2008 (latest quiz):
Quiz Link: "The Wisdom of Crowd" by James Surowiecki
October 2008:
Quiz Link: "Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior" by Or and Rom Brafman
Winner: Donald Mack, Siemens Energy & Automation
Answers: Our tendency to avoid the pain of loss distorts our thinking when we place too much emphasis on short term goals. Our inclination to ascribe certain qualities to a person or item based on initial perceived value is called value attribution. The more we become aware of the factors affecting the perceived value of a person or item, the less likely we are to be swayed by value attribution.
September 2008:
ISA Marketing & Sales Summit Zune giveaway
Winner: Donald Lupo, Acromag
August 2008:
Quiz Link: "Google Analytics 2.0" by Mary Tyler and Jerri Ledford
Winner: Andrew Pakula, Stealth Computer
Answers: Unique visitors are people who may have been to your site in prior months. A web site conversion is a web site visitor who meets a goal you set. Two of the most useful web analytics are depth and length of user visits.
July 2008:
Quiz Link: "Cure Unknown -- Inside the Lyme Epidemic" by Pamela Weintraub
Winner: Deborah Kernan at Bio-Rad Laboratories
Answers: The CDC estimates there are 200,000 new cases of Lyme Disease each year in the US. Unfortunately, there really is no test for Lyme; the tests they do have are only about 30% accurate. Less than 50% of all people infected ever show the ³bulls-eye² rash. Lyme is a complex disease and physicians are fairly unschooled in its diagnosis and treatment. As a result, it is often misdiagnosed as multiple sclerosis, psychiatric disorders, rheumatoid arthritis, alezheimers, and more.
May 2008:
Quiz Link: "Ultimate Guide to Google AdWords" by Perry Marshall and Bryan Todd
Winner: Jen Rogers at AirSprite
Answers: The correct answers are: The position of a Google pay-per-click ad is determined by bid price and keyword performance. Google's quality score is determined by all of these factors: keyword click-through rate, ad relevance, and historical keyword performance. The most important program attribute to track is conversions.
April 2008:
Quiz Link: "Creating Customer Evangelists" by Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba
Winner: Don Mack at Siemens Energy & Automation
Answers: The correct answers are: In this day of heavy competition, to evangelize you have to have a product that makes people feel attached. Demonstrating technical benefits is NOT a way to create emotional attachment with customers. It is not true that only outrageous or edge products are buzz worthy.
January 2008:
Quiz Link: "One Billion Customers: Lessons from the Front Lines of Doing Business in China" by James McGregor
Winner: Donald Wiencek, B&B Electronics
Answers: The correct answers are: To do business, you must understand the history. The Chinese government uses competition from foreign businesses to reform its own system and companies. When negotiating, the Chinese expect to get concessions from you.
November 2007:
Quiz Link: "Selling is Dead" by Marc T. Miller
Winner: Jen Rogers, AirSprite
Answers: The correct answers are: Senior execs believe their sales teams perform poorly because of ineffective management of sales opportunities. Peter Drucker did NOT say that sales effectiveness is improving in leaps and bounds. Selling innovation is difficult because buyers are resistant to buying the riskiness of "new".
October 2007:
Quiz Link: "Made to Stick" by Chip Heath and Dan Heath
Winner: Greg Faubert, MessageWay
Answers: The correct answers are: The "Curse of Knowledge" is that once we know something, it’s hard to imagine what it was like not to know. Research has shown that we are typically overconfident about how much we know. Stories do not provide you with a better ability to listen.
July 2007:
Quiz Link: "Call to Action" by Bryan & Jeffrey Eisenberg
Winner: No winner this month.
Answers: The correct answers are: If you have to choose, spend your time and money saying the right things. Assuming the reader is an expert user is NOT one of the KISS principles of web design. Baby boomers are driven, self-reliant, and impressed by authority.
June 2007:
Quiz Link: "Don't Make Me Think" by Steve Krug
Winner: No winner this month.
Answers: The correct answers are: If you want a great site you have to get rid of “happy talk” intros. Site navigation can be a little different on the home page. The mission statement is not mandatory for the home page.
February 2007:
Quiz Link: "The Little Blue Book of Advertising" by Steve Lance and Jeff Woll
Winner: Mike Carson, Harold Beck
Answers: The correct answers are: Focus groups have an important role to play as a way inside the hearts and minds of customers. A great creative director will guide and manage. It's important to "walk the halls" twice a week for at least two hours.
December 2006:
Quiz Link: "Changing Minds" by Howard Gardner
Winner: Frank Yacano, SYWARE, Inc.
Answers: It takes about 10 years to become an expert in a domain. The most important ingredient for a leader to have is integrity. To change the minds of learners, educate them in disciplinary modes of thinking.
October 2006:
Quiz Link: "Our Iceberg Is Melting" by John Kotter
Winner: Sandra Potts, Primary Systems, Inc.
Answers: The first step to successful change is creating a sense of urgency. To have the biggest impact on behavior, create compelling experiences that change feelings. To ensure change is established, never let up until the new way of life is firmly established.
September 2006:
Quiz Link: "A Whack on the Side of the Head: How You Can Be More Creative" by Roger von Oech
Winner: Jan Bunting, General Dynamics
Answers: Success tends to lock you into a pattern. When looking for new ideas, reverse your viewpoint. Metaphors are mental maps that make complex ideas easier to understand.
August 2006:
Quiz Link: "The Anatomy of Buzz" by Emanuel Rosen
Winner: No winner again. ::sheesh:: We may have to start rewarding the worst set of answers!?!
Answers: Advertising can kill buzz, Tell customers you care about them only
when you mean it. Don't measure buzz by asking your company president.
July 2006:
Quiz Link: "PyroMarketing" by Greg Stielstra
Winner: No winner again this month. Guess we're going to have to make the questions easier!
Answers: Promote to the people most likely to buy. The HP Deskjet is not an example of PyroMarketing success. PyroMarketing demands advertising honesty.
June 2006:
Quiz Link: "The Little Red Book of Selling" by Jeffrey Gitomer
Winner: No winner this month.
Answers: When selling, it's not who you know that's most important, it's who knows you. The two most important words in selling are "you" and "why." You can make them buy if you can make them laugh.
April 2006:
Quiz Link: "Cold Calling for the Clueless" by Ceri Ruenheck
Winner: Chris Chariton, GlobalSpec
Answers: The most important part of a telemarketing campaign is the mail list. A telemarketing script does not guarantee to make a sale. The most important person to pitch first is the gatekeeper.
March 2006:
Quiz Link: "Clients Now!" by C.J. Hayden
Winner: Stephen Prettyman, Rohm and Haas
Answers: The correct answers are: People outside your target market don't belong in your pipeline. Self-sabotaging thinking or behavior most often stops a person from following through. The best way to know if your goals are realistic is to compare them with those of more senior execs.
February 2006:
Quiz Link: "The Five Paths to Persuasion" by Robert Miller and Gary Williams
Winner: Natalie Rudolph, Rudolph Biomedical
Answers: The correct answers are: The strongest desire for skeptical decision makers is self-absorption. Thinking decision makers thrive on information. Persuasion is primarily about your customer, not you.
December 2005:
Quiz Link: "Getting to VITO" by Anthony Parinello
Winner: Sohail Iftikhar, Intech Process Automation
Answers: The correct answers are: There are two ways to determine VITO's core values: ask and look at VITO's current business relationships. Product features are NOT part of your "hook." In getting to VITO, you should spend most of your time on underpromising and overdelivering.
November 2005:
Quiz Link: "Virus of the Mind," by Richard Brodie
Winner: Holy cow, we stumped everyone in November's quiz about "Virus of the Mind."
Answers: The correct answers are: A meme is not a virus-like way of hindering communication (it enhances communication). The neuro-linguistic programming technique known as "embedding" packages memes to make people more susceptible to them. To create a mind virus you need a method of infiltration, a way of reproducing faithfully, and a means of spreading to other minds.
October 2005:
Quiz Link: "The
Tipping Point," by Malcolm Gladwell
Winner: Alice Santarlasci, Mettler Toledo
Answers:The "Law of the Few" focuses on connectors, mavens, and persuaders. All these events exhibited a tipping point: the midnight ride of Paul Revere, the AIDS epidemic, and Hush Puppies. The Wildfire Epidemic is not one of the rules of the Tipping Point.
September 2005:
Quiz Link: "The
Fall of Advertising & the Rise of PR," by Al Ries & Laura Ries
Winner: Mark Zaccaria, Zebra Technologies
Answers: The best use of advertising is to defend an existing brand.
Buyers are increasingly inclined to reject the messages of ads. The two major
sources for finding out what others think are media and word of mouth.
July 2005:
Quiz Link: "Secret
Formulas of the Wizard of Ads," by Roy Williams
Winner: Ed Boutilier, Stealth Computer
Answers: Every ad is a story about someone or something. Great writers
involve the listener as an active participant; they may forget what you said,
but they will never forget how you made them feel; when placing ads, frequency
is most important.
June 2005:
Quiz Link: "Sun
Tzu's The Art of War plus The Art of Marketing," by Gary Gagliardi
Winner: Natalie Rudolph, Rudolph Biomedical
Answers: Organization is not part of Sun Tzu's five element system;
war is the most important skill in the nation; and for a successful battle,
you must seek momentum.
April 2005:
Quiz Link: "Selling
the Invisible," by Harry Beckwith
Winner: Tim Hallett, Transcoil
Answers: Making the invisible visible is the province of marketing. The
industry that least understands how to make the invisible visible is technology.
There's nothing unique about it, so never develop a strategy based on price.
March 2005:
Quiz Link: "The
Anatomy of Buzz," by Emanuel Rosen
Winner: No winner this month. We'll post another set of questions in
a following issue.
Answers: The answers are: Buzz is indeed a component of the marketing
mix. The best way to ensure the continuing spread of buzz is to unevenly distribute
information. Broadening your distribution channel will not help create buzz.
February 2005:
Quiz Link: "The
22 Immutable Laws of Marketing" by from Al Ries and Jack Trout
Winner: David Prince, Dovetail Internet
Answers: The law of leadership is being the first product in a category.
Marketing is a battle of perception. One of the best ways into a prospect's
mind is to admit a negative and turn it into a positive.
January 2005:
Quiz Link: "Sales
Closing for Dummies" by Tom Hopkins
Winner: Jed Green, Stealth Computer Corp.
Answers: To attract and maintain the attention of your customer, do
not avoid breaks just so you don't lose continuity. The single biggest reason
customers don't buy is they feel they were never asked. Engineers are among
the worst closers.
December 2004:
Quiz Link: "Bottom-Up
Marketing" from Al Ries and Jack Trout
Winner: Paul Gruhn, L&M Engineering
Answers: Marketing strategy should be developed from a deep knowledge
and involvement in the tactics of the business. The best approach to winning
business customers is a narrow focus on a selected niche market. One of the
key aspects of bottom-up marketing is to be prepared to make changes in the
product and company.
November 2004:
Quiz Link: "The
Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement" by Eliyahu Goldratt
Winner: Jason Smith, Raymond Corporation
Answers: TOC stands for Theory of Constraints. The most effective basis
for process improvements is eliminating bottlenecks and applying TOC. The
biggest obstacle to improving processes is "all of the above" (inability
to propagate TOC messages throughout the company, inability to translate TOC
into workable procedures, and inability to persuade decision makers to change
measurements).
October 2004:
Quiz Link: "Sell
More Through Effective Technical Presentations" by Paul Gruhn
Winner: Susan Pedrosa, Racine Federated
Answers: For computer-based presentations, 20 point is the smallest
font that is recommended for readability. When giving presentations, it is
good practice to break complex graphics into multiple slides. When doing web-based
presentations, it is taboo to use builds or transitions as not all browsers
support that capability.
September 2004:
Quiz Link: "Crossing
the Chasm: Marketing & Selling High-Tech Products to Mainstream Customers"
by Geoffrey Moore
Winner: Duane Hampton, chemical engineer
Answers: The Revised Technology Adoption Life Cycle places the "chasm"between
early adopters and early majority. It is difficult for technology products
to "cross the chasm" between these groups because there is no reference
base to provide support with the market. Dissection of a product's positioning
is not required for word of mouth marketing to develop in a particular market.
June 2004:
Quiz Link: "One-to-One
Fieldbook: The Complete Toolkit for Implementing a 1to1 Marketing Program"
by Don Peppers and Martha Rogers
Winner: Robert Sigal, chemical engineer
Answers: The four implementation steps for a 1:1 marketing program
are identify, differentiate, interact, and customize. British Airways, Dell
Computer, and Great Plains have 1:1 marketing programs in common. Functional
integration in 1:1 marketing is coordinating sales, marketing, and customer
service so individual customers are addressed seamlessly.
April 2004:
Quiz Link: "e-Business
in Manufacturing: Putting the Internet to Work in the Industrial Enterprise"
by Shari Worthington and Walt Boyes
Winner: Nigel Burton, Microsoft
Answers: Internet time means replying to electronic questions the same
day. The last C in the Gartner Collaborative Commerce framework is Community.
The biggest hurdle manufacturers face in this customer-driven world is upgrading
the company's internal information architecture.
March 2004:
Quiz Link: "The
Trusted Advisor" by Maister, Greene, and Galford
Winner: Chris Federer, Netivity Solutions
Answers: In the Trust Equation, T=(C+R+I)/S, T = trustworthiness, C=
credibility, I = intimacy, S = self-orientation, and R = reliability. Flattery
does not belong in the rules of relationship building. Taking a point of view
will not help to quickly gain trust.
January 2004:
Quiz Link: "Automation
Unplugged" by Jim Pinto
Winner: First place - Frank Yacano, SYWARE. Second place - Martin
Sklar, Alvamed; Will Delsman, NK Technologies; Jeff Cawley, Northwest Analytical;
John West, HHC Lewis; and Scott Welsby, Lion Precision.
Answers: Buy from whoever provides the best support. In a global environment,
hire local. Horizontal applications are fairly generalized, include features
and functions that can be applied to a variety of products and systems across
different markets, and tend to become cumulative across markets.
December 2003:
Quiz Link: "Automation
Unplugged" by Jim Pinto
Winner: First place - Torulf Wiberg, Deterministic Control. Second
place - Frank Yacano, SYWARE; Tim Hallett, Transcoil; Bill Tice, Raytheon;
Scott Kempf, Harold Beck; and Steve Hammond, Ircon.
Answers: Disintermediation is bypassing reps and distributors, eliminating
exclusive product representation, and selling direct via the Internet. In
a competitive environment you must increase your value. The best network depends
on your needs.
November 2003:
Quiz Link: "Automation
Unplugged" by Jim Pinto
Winner: Denise Jones, Yokogawa
Answers: Siemens is the largest industrial automation company in the
world. Declining business is causing consolidation. The PLC was first invented
in the USA by Dick Morley and his team. There are 10-15 industrial automation
companies in the world with sales over $1B. There are 1-10 industrial automation
companies in the US with sales between $100M and $1B.
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