Pack 3 Question 14: Phil, a salesman, needs to decide which...

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EMPOWER  gmat    CR Question Pack 2

Question 14: Sales Jobs

Phil, a salesman, needs to decide which of two job offers to take. Company A pays a weekly salary plus a commission on all his sales. Company B will only pay a commission on his sales, though the rate of commission is considerably higher than it is at Company A. Phil eventually decides to take Company A, believing that by doing so, he will be better off financially.
 
 Which of the following best strengthens the decision that Phil has made regarding his choice of job offers? 
 
(A) Company B has been in business for half the number of years that Company A has been in business.
(B) The product that Phil would be selling if he worked for Company B has a higher profit margin than the product Phil would be selling if he worked for Company A.
(C) Company B sells nearly all of its product during the winter, while Company A sells its product consistently throughout the year.
(D) Phil has become acquainted with many of Company B’s customers through his previous job.
(E) Company A is now offering a health insurance policy to all of its salespeople that is more generous than what the company offered in previous years.

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prateekchugh · Answer

Phil, a salesman, needs to decide which of two job offers to take. Company A pays a weekly salary plus a commission on all his sales. Company B will only pay a commission on his sales, though the rate of commission is considerably higher than it is at Company A. Phil eventually decides to take Company A, believing that by doing so, he will be better off financially.

Premise 1: Phil, a salesman, needs to decide which of two job offers to take. 
Premise 2: Company A pays a weekly salary plus a commission on all his sales. Company B will only pay a commission on his sales, though the rate of commission is considerably higher than it is at Company A.

Earning from company A = $100 Fixed salary per week + 10% commission on the sales
Earning from company B = 30% commission on the sales

Conclusion: Phil eventually decides to take Company A, believing that by doing so, he will be better off financially.

Phile Choose Company A

Assumption: Phil chooses company A because the earning was consistent because of fixed salary. If sales is low for 6 months than he will not earn well in company B. Therefore he chooses Company A.
   
Which of the following best  strengthens  the decision that Phil has made regarding his choice of job offers?

(A) Company B has been in business for half the number of years that Company A has been in business.

Phil do not care about experience, but he just care about the money. Incorrect

(B) The product that Phil would be selling if he worked for Company B has a higher profit margin than the product Phil would be selling if he worked for Company A.

Good then he should join company B. But we need to strengthen his decision to join company A. Incorrect

(C) Company B sells nearly all of its product during the winter, while Company A sells its product consistently throughout the year.

Correct: If company B sells only in winter, then Phil can earn only few months. Remaining months he will not be financially well. That is why he prefer company A because the company A sells all year round.

(D) Phil has become acquainted with many of Company B’s customers through his previous job.

We need to talk about finance, not about customer acquaintanceship. Incorrect

(E) Company A is now offering a health insurance policy to all of its salespeople that is more generous than what the company offered in previous years.

We do not know about company B health insurance policy. This is not strengthening the conclusion. Incorrect

Akp880 · Answer

Phil, a salesman, needs to decide which of two job offers to take. Company A pays a weekly salary plus a commission on all his sales. Company B will only pay a commission on his sales, though the rate of commission is considerably higher than it is at Company A. Phil eventually decides to take Company A, believing that by doing so, he will be better off financially.

Which of the following best strengthens the decision that Phil has made regarding his choice of job offers?

Expanation:

(A) Company B has been in business for half the number of years that Company A has been in business.
 Weakens the decision  that Phil has made regarding his choice of job offers.

(B) The product that Phil would be selling if he worked for Company B has a higher profit margin than the product Phil would be selling if he worked for Company A.
 Weakens the decision  that Phil has made regarding his choice of job offers.

(C) Company B sells nearly all of its product during the winter, while Company A sells its product consistently throughout the year.
 Correct.As this option indicates that sales occur only for few months in company B while in company A sales occur throughout the year ,hence Phil will be at financially better position if he choose company A due to better prospects of greater no of sales supported by a fixed weekly income.

(D) Phil has become acquainted with many of Company B’s customers through his previous job.
 Irrelevant .We are concerned about financial aspect only.

(E) Company A is now offering a health insurance policy to all of its salespeople that is more generous than what the company offered in previous years.
 Irrelevant. We are concerned about financial aspect only.

Hence C is the correct answer.

piyush0122 · Answer

Phil, a salesman, needs to decide which of two job offers to take. Company A pays a weekly salary plus a commission on all his sales. Company B will only pay a commission on his sales, though the rate of commission is considerably higher than it is at Company A. Phil eventually decides to take Company A, believing that by doing so, he will be better off financially.

Which of the following best strengthens the decision that Phil has made regarding his choice of job offers?

(A) Company B has been in business for half the number of years that Company A has been in business.-  Incorrect choice.This option choice is completely out of scope. It is not possible to determine the financial benefits a person will have by joining a company from the number of years a company has been in the business. 
(B) The product that Phil would be selling if he worked for Company B has a higher profit margin than the product Phil would be selling if he worked for Company A.-  Incorrect choice. The product of company B has higher profit margin than that of company A, but higher profit margin does not necessarily means that the commission on sales is higher. so this choice is also out of scope. we cannot determine the financial benefits a person is going to get from the profitability of the product. 
(C) Company B sells nearly all of its product during the winter, while Company A sells its product consistently throughout the year. Correct choice. If company B sells all its products during the winter then the scope of earning money in the other months is very less. So this can affect the financial stability of a person in the other months. As company A sells its product consistently throughout the year, this ensures that a person working in company A earns consistently throughout the year. Hence, Phil made a right decision by taking the offer made by company A. 
(D) Phil has become acquainted with many of Company B’s customers through his previous job. Incorrect choice. This choice weakens the argument. 
(E) Company A is now offering a health insurance policy to all of its salespeople that is more generous than what the company offered in previous years. Incorrect choice. Again this choice is also out of scope as we cannot infer anything about financial stability of a person from the health insurance policy offered by the company.

TarPhi · Answer

(A) Company B has been in business for half the number of years that Company A has been in business.
So? Irrelevant.

(B) The product that Phil would be selling if he worked for Company B has a higher profit margin than the product Phil would be selling if he worked for Company A.
Profit margins do not relate to sales commissions. Irrelevant.

(C) Company B sells nearly all of its product during the winter, while Company A sells its product consistently throughout the year.
BINGO! If he works for B, he'll probably only make money in the winter whereas if he works for A, he'll make money through the year.

(D) Phil has become acquainted with many of Company B’s customers through his previous job.
So? Irrelevant.

(E) Company A is now offering a health insurance policy to all of its salespeople that is more generous than what the company offered in previous years.
So? What about company B? No info provided hence Irrelevant.

Biswadip · Answer

The conclusion reads "Phil eventually decides to take Company A, believing that by doing so, he will be better off financially."
So we need some answer that addresses the financial side of Phil.
1. Company B has been in business for half the number of years that Company A has been in business.
So what?  What happens if the products of company B are more popular to buyer that products of company A? The duration of companies in market is irrelevant.  
2. The product that Phil would be selling if he worked for Company B has a higher profit margin than the product Phil would be selling if he worked for Company A.  Weakener, weaken the conclusion that the reason of joining company A falls apart. 
3. Company B sells nearly all of its product during the winter, while Company A sells its product consistently throughout the year.  Perfect, directly take us to strengthen that Company A makes more profit than company B. And thus Phil can earn more commission  
4. Phil has become acquainted with many of Company B’s customers through his previous job.  Again so what? How can that make any difference? Even it can be possible weakener that attacks his decision to join company A. 
5.Company A is now offering a health insurance policy to all of its salespeople that is more generous than what the company offered in previous years.  No, we are not looking for any insurance related advantage, our concern is on financial benefit.

EMPOWERgmatVerbal · Answer

Official Explanation:

Phil, a salesman, needs to decide which of two job offers to take. Company A pays a weekly salary plus a commission on all his sales. Company B will only pay a commission on his sales, though the rate of commission is considerably higher than it is at Company A. Phil eventually decides to take Company A, believing that by doing so, he will be better off financially.
 
 Which of the following best strengthens the decision that Phil has made regarding his choice of job offers? 
 
 (A) Company B has been in business for half the number of years that Company A has been in business. 
 (B) The product that Phil would be selling if he worked for Company B has a higher profit margin than the product Phil would be selling if he worked for Company A. 
 (C) Company B sells nearly all of its product during the winter, while Company A sells its product consistently throughout the year. 
 (D) Phil has become acquainted with many of Company B’s customers through his previous job. 
 (E) Company A is now offering a health insurance policy to all of its salespeople that is more generous than what the company offered in previous years.

Question Type:   Strengthen
  Boil It Down:   Company A offered weekly salary & commission. Company B offered only commission, but a higher commission than Company A. Phil chose Company A.
  Goal:    Find the option that best strengthens the argument for choosing Company A over Company B.

Analysis:

This question asks you to strengthen the conclusion.
 
 Conclusion:  It is a good idea, financially, for Phil to join Company A.
 
 Evidence:  Job A pays a salary + commission, unlike Job B, which only pays commissions, though Job B has higher commissions.
 
To strengthen the conclusion, we need information that shows that the salary + commission job will be better for Phil. Choice C does this by showing that working for B will provide Phil with a steadier income, and this can be viewed by Phil as “better” financially.

(A) Company B has been in business for half the number of years that Company A has been in business.
 This doesn’t directly impact Phil’s financial situation. We can’t take this as meaning that the company is more successful or that in some other way it is better for Phil. We have to stick to only what the choice states.

(B) The product that Phil would be selling if he worked for Company B has a higher profit margin than the product Phil would be selling if he worked for Company A.
 We are told that Phil is paid a commission on the selling price, not on the profit, so we can’t say how this would affect Phil financially.

(C) Company B sells nearly all of its product during the winter, while Company A sells its product consistently throughout the year.
 This is the correct choice. It is reasonable for Phil to prefer a steady income rather than one that only generates an income for a part of the year. It’s a good reason why choosing Job A is the better offer from a financial standpoint.

(D) Phil has become acquainted with many of Company B’s customers through his previous job.
 If anything, this would weaken the conclusion to choose Job A. If Phil knows customers of Job B, working there could help him financially.

(E) Company A is now offering a health insurance policy to all of its salespeople that is more generous than what the company offered in previous years.
 The comparison is irrelevant. We need a comparison between the two companies. It could be that Job A has improved its health insurance, but Job B still has a much better policy.

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