CSE Communication & Negotiation Skills 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A prospect says, 'Your competitor offers the same features at 20% less.' What is the best sales engineer response?
- Immediately match the competitor's price
- Acknowledge the concern and redirect to total value and TCO (Correct answer)
- Dispute the claim and defend your pricing
- Ask the prospect to share the competitor's proposal
Correct answer: Acknowledge the concern and redirect to total value and TCO
Redirecting to total cost of ownership (TCO) and overall value shifts the conversation from price to business impact.
Question 2: Which active listening technique involves restating the speaker's message in your own words to confirm understanding?
- Mirroring
- Paraphrasing (Correct answer)
- Probing
- Summarizing
Correct answer: Paraphrasing
Paraphrasing restates the speaker's message in new words to confirm accurate comprehension.
Question 3: During a technical demo, a stakeholder interrupts with an off-topic question. The best approach is to:
- Ignore the question and continue the demo
- Answer fully and abandon the demo agenda
- Acknowledge the question, note it in a parking lot, and continue (Correct answer)
- Ask the stakeholder to hold all questions until the end
Correct answer: Acknowledge the question, note it in a parking lot, and continue
A parking lot captures the question respectfully while keeping the demo on track.
Question 4: In negotiation, the term 'ZOPA' refers to:
- Zero Option Pricing Agreement
- Zone of Possible Agreement (Correct answer)
- Zone of Preferred Alternatives
- Zero-sum Outcome Pricing Analysis
Correct answer: Zone of Possible Agreement
ZOPA (Zone of Possible Agreement) is the range where both parties' acceptable outcomes overlap.
Question 5: A customer sends a vague email complaint about your product. The most effective first response is to:
- Send a detailed technical rebuttal
- Apologize and offer a discount immediately
- Reply asking clarifying questions to understand the specific issue (Correct answer)
- Forward the email to your support team without responding
Correct answer: Reply asking clarifying questions to understand the specific issue
Clarifying questions ensure you understand the real problem before proposing a solution.
Question 6: Which communication style is most effective when presenting complex technical specifications to a non-technical executive?
- Use full technical jargon to establish credibility
- Focus on business outcomes and avoid unnecessary technical detail (Correct answer)
- Provide a complete architecture diagram as the centerpiece
- Read directly from product documentation
Correct answer: Focus on business outcomes and avoid unnecessary technical detail
Executives prioritize business impact over technical depth, so framing specs as outcomes is most persuasive.
Question 7: The 'feel, felt, found' technique in objection handling is designed to:
- Dismiss the objection quickly and pivot to closing
- Acknowledge the prospect's concern, build empathy, and offer a resolution (Correct answer)
- Challenge the validity of the objection with data
- Delay addressing the objection until end of meeting
Correct answer: Acknowledge the prospect's concern, build empathy, and offer a resolution
Feel, felt, found validates the prospect's concern, builds rapport, and guides them toward a positive outcome.
CSE Communication & Negotiation Skills 2
A prospect says, 'Your competitor offers the same features at 20% less.' What is the best sales engineer response?