The interest of consumers in Company A's product is directly affected

Question

The interest of consumers in Company A's product is directly affected by the weather. When the weather is good, salespeople working for Company A are not contacted by any potential customers. The weather in Company A's area is good for about three quarters of the days of the year. A local competitor offering the same product, Company B, is equally affected by the weather. Based on these factors, it follows that __________.

A. the employees in Company A's sales department can only have an impact on up to 12.5% of their sales opportunities

B. both Company A and Company B are likely to go out of business due to a lack of sufficient revenues earned from sales

C. Company A is likely to surpass Company B in the number of sales it creates during periods of bad weather

D. the employees in Company A's sales department will always be restricted to having control over only 25% of their sales opportunities

E. Company B and Company A would benefit from moving their operations to an area with worse weather conditions than those of their current area

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saugata64 · Answer

Since the sales of Company A and B are better when the weather is worse, only answer choice that can be inferred is option E.

A. the employees in Company A's sales department can only have an impact on up to 12.5% of their sales opportunities -   wrong as salespeople of each company can have 25% of sales opportunities

B. both Company A and Company B are likely to go out of business due to a lack of sufficient revenues earned from sales -   cannot be inferred because of lack of info

C. Company A is likely to surpass Company B in the number of sales it creates during periods of bad weather -   cannot be inferred because of lack of info

D. the employees in Company A's sales department will always be restricted to having control over only 25% of their sales opportunities -   cannot be inferred because of extreme language

E. Company B and Company A would benefit from moving their operations to an area with worse weather conditions than those of their current area -  correct

PranavVyas · Answer

When weather is good Company A salesperson not contacting customers, so their sales will be limited for remaining quarter of year. Similar with Company B also

IMO-D

saugata64 · Answer

Quite confusing between D & E. But D says that sales in Company A will always be restricted to 25 % of the opportunities. Can we predict the future with such certainty?

But option E says Comp A & B would benefit if they moved their operations to a different area - may or may not be true in future.

PranavVyas · Answer

Moving operations could involve other cost and challenges which may outweigh potential increase in sales opportunities.so without any additional information, we cannot conclude that moving to an area with worse weather would be beneficial, making option E incorrect.
That my opinion.
So I choose option D

Akshayarun · Answer

E is the better option when compared to other however isn’t it possible that there are multiple other competitors in the area with worse weather which could cancel out the potential benefit. Can anyone explain?

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Bunuel · Answer

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

The interest of consumers in Company A's product is directly affected by the weather. When the weather is good, salespeople working for Company A are not contacted by any potential customers. The weather in Company A's area is good for about three quarters of the days of the year. A local competitor offering the same product, Company B, is equally affected by the weather. Based on these factors, it follows that __________.

A. the employees in Company A's sales department can only have an impact on up to 12.5% of their sales opportunities

Incorrect.

This is a "Complete the Argument" format question. The missing argument part follows the phrase Based on these factors which indicates it is based on the premises. Therefore, the missing part is the conclusion, and this is an Inference question:

Premise A: the weather affects Company A's product sales
 +
Premise B: when the weather is good, no customers contact Company A
 +
Premise C: the weather in Company A's area is good for 3/4 of the year
 +
Premise D: Company B is affected by the weather in the same way
 =
Conclusion: ?

This answer choice is in no way supported by the premises and cannot, therefore, complete the argument. The sales representatives of Company A have a chance of making an impact on anyone who calls them and provides a sales opportunity, not just 12.5% of the callers.

Note that the figure of 75% refers to the part of the year when people don't call Company A, rather than to a proportion of its callers. Also, even if only 25% of the callers were available to salespersons, just because there are two companies doesn't mean each of them receives an exact half, or 12.5%.

B. both Company A and Company B are likely to go out of business due to a lack of sufficient revenues earned from sales

Incorrect.

This answer choice makes an unsupported leap from the premises and cannot, therefore, complete the argument. We have no data on the revenues earned by either company; theoretically, they could cover their expenses and even create a profit. The idea that the revenues that are earned from the sales during bad weather are not sufficient to prevent bankruptcy is not backed by any evidence.

C. Company A is likely to surpass Company B in the number of sales it creates during periods of bad weather

Incorrect.

This answer choice makes an unbased leap from the argument and cannot, therefore, offer a logical conclusion. No comparison between any factors belonging to the two companies is made so we have no reason to believe that Company A will become more successful.

D. the employees in Company A's sales department will always be restricted to having control over only 25% of their sales opportunities

Incorrect.

This answer choice is in no way supported by the premises and cannot, therefore, complete the argument. The sales representatives of Company A have a chance of making an impact on anyone who calls them and provides a sales opportunity, not just 25% of the callers.

Note that the figure of 75% refers to the part of the year when people don't call Company A, rather than to a proportion of its callers.

E. Company B and Company A would benefit from moving their operations to an area with worse weather conditions than those of their current area

This answer choice takes a logical next step to form a based conclusion. Since both companies are negatively affected by good weather, moving to an area with worse weather is likely to have a positive effect on their business.

Rick_0x · Answer

I narrowed it down to B and E. After going through the answers and analyzing, I understand why B shouldn't be considered as the answer because of lack of info of revenue during the bad weather period but in the question, it is only mentioned that "The interest of consumers in Company A's product is directly affected by the weather" but whether it is true for company B, is not mentioned in the passage. So how can we say the same will be true for company B as is mentioned in the option E (that B would benefit from worse weather) ?

kakarot10 · Answer

D is wrong: companies have sale opportunities for only 1 quarter in a year which is 100% of the probable opportunities)

A : can be confusing and time consuming , if we start calculating the exact period

E : tells that the opportunities for both companies are less , and it won't change in near future. It is better to relocate. And E is the answer , as it logically completes the argument

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VerbalBot · Answer

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The interest of consumers in Company A's product is directly affected

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