Marketing
What is a target market?
The specific group of customers a business wants to reach.
What is a budget?
A plan for how money will be earned and spent.
A business has strong revenue but is struggling to pay its bills on time. What financial issue might this indicate?
A cash-flow problem.
What is customer satisfaction?
How well a product or service meets or exceeds customer expectations.
True or False: You should memorize a PI definition word-for-word and say nothing else in a role-play.
False
What is branding?
Creating an identity/image for a business, product, or service.
What does profit mean?
Revenue minus expenses.
Your team is missing deadlines because nobody knows who is responsible for each task. What management strategy could help?
Clearly assign responsibilities and establish deadlines.
A hotel notices that guests frequently ask the same question at check-in. What could this tell management?
There may be an information or communication issue that could be addressed proactively
What is the difference between knowing a PI and demonstrating a PI in a role-play?
Knowing it means understanding the concept. Demonstrating it means applying it to the specific business situation and explaining its importance
Why is market research important?
It helps a business understand customers, competitors, and the market.
Why is it important for a business to track expenses?
To control spending and understand financial performance.
Two departments blame each other for a project failure. Before deciding who is responsible, what should the manager do?
Gather information, communicate with both departments, and identify the actual cause of the problem.
A hotel has high occupancy but declining guest satisfaction scores. Why might occupancy alone not be enough to measure performance?
High occupancy measures how many rooms are being used, but doesn't measure the quality of the guest experience.
Your judge gives you a scenario involving an unhappy customer. Name two PIs that could potentially apply and explain the connection.
Open-ended. They must justify their choices.
A clothing company wants to know which products college students are most interested in. What should they do?
Conduct market research / identify customer needs.
A business has $50,000 in revenue and $38,000 in expenses. What is its profit margin?
24%
Why is communication important in a business?
It helps employees and managers share information and work effectively.
A restaurant wants customers to return more frequently. Identify two strategies it could use and explain how they could affect customer loyalty.
Loyalty programs, personalized service, promotions, improved customer experience, feedback programs, etc.
You are given the PI “Explain the importance of customer service.” Give a real-world example of how you could use it in a role-play.
open-ended
A company has a great product but almost nobody knows it exists. What area should the company focus on?
Promotion
A manager is deciding whether to spend $5,000 on advertising. What financial information could help determine whether the investment is worthwhile?
Expected return/revenue generated, costs, profit, ROI, etc.
Employee turnover has increased significantly. Identify three possible factors management should investigate before deciding how to fix the problem.
Compensation, workload, management style, workplace culture, communication, scheduling, opportunities for advancement, employee satisfaction, etc.
A hotel receives complaints about long check-in times, inconsistent room cleanliness, and slow responses to requests. What should management do first, and what information should it collect?
Identify the underlying causes and collect customer feedback, employee feedback, service-time data, complaint patterns, and operational information.
You're halfway through your role-play and realize you haven't addressed one of the PIs. What should you do?
Address it naturally by connecting it to the situation, rather than awkwardly stopping the role-play to recite a definition.