Vitacorp, a manufacturer, wishes to make its information booth at an industry convention more productive in terms of boosting sales. The booth offers information introducing the company’s new products and services. To achieve the desired result, Vitacorp’s marketing department will attempt to attract more people to the booth. The marketing director’s first measure was to instruct each salesperson to call his or her five best customers and personally invite them to visit the booth. Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the prediction that the marketing director’s first measure will contribute to meeting the goals of boosting sales? (A) Vitacorp’s salespeople routinely inform each important customer about new products and services as soon as the decision to launch them has been made. (B) Many of Vitacorp’s competitors have made plans for making their own information booths more productive in increasing sales. (C) An information booth that is well attended tends to attract visitors who would not otherwise have attended the booth. (D) Most of Vitacorp’s best customers also have business dealings with Vitacorp’s competitors. (E) Vitacorp has fewer new products and services available this year than it had in previous years.

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Vitacorp, a manufacturer, wishes to make its information booth at an i

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devdubey

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26 Aug 2016, 11:35

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sayantanc2k

devdubey

I feel that an answer choice that people who are called by Salesperson will probably attend the booth.. Isn't that more appropriate. I am not convinced with C as it assumes that mere calling and inviting top customers to booth will surely translate into their visit. And the rest will follow. Pls explain why implicit assumption has not been addressed

This is a strengthening type question, not an assumption type question. Therefore "must be true" criterion is not required to be satisfied here.
Calling the customers MAY (not MUST) result in a crowded booth, which in turn may draw more customers.

Although mere calling does not ensure the following events, but it may actually. Hence this is a strengthening statement.

Understand and thanks. However, so in case of answer choices as provided , I must take assumption to be true and based on that see answer choice which strengthens teh argument. Please tell my understanding is correct or not

sayantanc2k

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26 Aug 2016, 13:19

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devdubey

sayantanc2k

devdubey

Yes, your understanding is correct. But when I took the test, my thought process was different:

Does this choice IN SOME WAY support / weaken the argument? (What you imply by "assume" is what I thought as "in some way".)

SeregaP

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We need to find an answer supporting that the first measure of manager would increase attendance
C supports it
If you feel stuck between A and C, try negation technique:
Vitacorp’s salespeople do not routinely inform each important customer about new products and services as soon as the decision to launch them has been made. Neither support nor weaken

An information booth that is well attended does not tend to attract visitors who would not otherwise have attended the booth. THis one does weak the manager's measure

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24 Jun 2017, 06:00

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C strengthens the main premise. C is much better than A because "attract new customers" win "provide information".
Clearly, "provide information" is not a premise, but just gives the definition, or the role of the booth.

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16 Aug 2017, 10:12

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Answer choice 'C' clearly supports marketing director's plan. Well, attended booth will attract more people.

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06 Aug 2018, 21:56

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sayantanc2k, can you please clarify why D is incorrect? By calling the best customers will Vitacorp not ensure that best customers buy Vitacorp's products instead of its competitor's.

Bunuel

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(A) Vitacorp’s salespeople routinely inform each important customer about new products and services as soon as the decision to launch them has been made.
evn if informed daily, doesnot imply they will come. hence partial info.

(B) Many of Vitacorp’s competitors have made plans for making their won information booths more productive in increasing sales.
competition is not good for company sales. hence its opposite

(C) An information booth that is well attended tends to attract visitors who would not otherwise have attended the booth.
this imply chances of attracting more no of customers. it might leads to increase in sales.

(D) Most of Vitacorp’s best customers also have business dealings with Vitacorp’s competitors.
again competition kills!. opposite

(E) Vitacorp has fewer new products and services available this year than it had in previous years
no of products not relevant.

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08 Oct 2018, 02:28

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tusharkhatri18

Although I got my answer correct, but I pre-assumed something different than given in the answer choice. Please check whether this my pre-assumption is also correct:

The marketing director wants to promote sales using word of mouth.

Thanks and Regards
Tushar

Hey Tushar, this pre-assumption is unnecessary. The marketing director want to promote sales period - we are told this. word of mouth is just the tool he has decided to use, it is not a goal in and of itself.

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08 Oct 2018, 02:31

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gsingh0711

sayantanc2k, can you please clarify why D is incorrect? By calling the best customers will Vitacorp not ensure that best customers buy Vitacorp's products instead of its competitor's.

Bunuel

The fact that the best customers have dealings with other companies is bad news, not good - it means they may decide to buy from the other companies, and therefore it weakens, not strengthens, the prediction.
you seem to be answering an opposite question: given that d) is true, is the plan still a good idea? the answer to this may be "yes", but this is not what we are asked - we are asked whether D) being true strengthens the prediction.

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By making your existing customers to attend the booth, you will show to the rest of the visitors that you have an increased audience , so you will boost your sales .

Correct answer: C

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08 Jun 2022, 20:27

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Hi, I dont understand why D is wrong as it says that VC's best customers also are customers of its competitors. SO if best customers are to come to VC's booth then they will buy its new products and not competitors' products. So why is D wrong? Pls help.

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sv2023

Notice that the fact that Vitacorp's best customers are customers of its competitors does not make us more confident that inviting them to the booth will increase sales.

We already have some confidence that inviting them to the booth will increase sales. After all, an increase in sales is the expected result of inviting them to the booth.

Now, from choice (D), we have new information that they are also customers of competitors. Does this information mean that inviting them to the booth will increase sales even more? No. If anything, it indicates that they may buy from competitors instead even if they are invited to the booth.

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22 Jun 2022, 16:07

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sv2023

Remember that we're talking about Vitacorp's BEST customers here -- that means that they're already buying Vitacorp's products. In order for (D) to work, we have to assume that visiting Vitacorp's booth will cause the best customers (1) to purchase MORE of Vitacorp's new products than they normally would have and (2) to purchase LESS of the competitors' products.

Those are awfully big assumptions, and we have no way of knowing whether either is true. Maybe those customers will visit the booth and say, "Hey, the new stuff looks great, so we're excited to continue buying our usual amount!" In other words, we have no way of knowing whether (or how) the booth visits will impact customer behavior, and there's no evidence suggesting that booth visits will cause the best customers to purchase more from Vitacorp and less from competitors.

Choice (C), on the other hand, tells us that those booth visits WILL likely have an effect: the booth will be "well attended" if many of those best customers show up to the booth, and a well attended booth "tends to attract visitors who would not otherwise have attended the booth." And if the marketing department succeeds in attracting those additional visitors, then they'll succeed in their attempt to attract more people to the booth -- and that's exactly what the marketing department wanted to do to "achieve the desired result" (of boosting sales).

Do we know for sure that those additional customers will buy stuff? No, but (C) gives us a solid reason to expect that the measure will contribute to meeting the goal of boosting sales, without having to make any unwarranted assumptions. That makes (C) a much better choice than (D).

I hope that helps!

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I also chose D as my answer for this question; I kind of struggle to understand the logic here
The question asks about the director's measure, which is calling the 5 best customers; this action is intended to boost their sales within current customers and maybe prevent them from buying from competitors.
While C is talking about attracting ppl who don't visit the booth, these may not be the best customers invited by sales forces. So how can it support the director's measure ?
please help

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The Logic Chain

Goal: Boost sales
Strategy: Attract more people to booth
Measure: Call 5 best customers, invite them

The Gap

If only your best customers show up... so what? They ALREADY buy from you. How does this boost overall sales?

What C Provides

C says: "A well-attended booth attracts visitors who would not otherwise have attended."

NOW it clicks:

Best customers show up → Booth looks busy → Others are attracted → More visitors → More sales

Simple Analogy: You see two restaurants — one empty, one packed. Which do you try? The busy one.

Same logic. Best customers are the seed crowd that makes the booth look popular, attracting others who wouldn't have come.

Why D is Wrong

D says: "Best customers also deal with competitors."

So what? This is just a fact. Visiting a booth doesn't mean they'll buy more or stop dealing with competitors. No connection to boosted sales.

Key Insight: The best customers aren't the destination — they're the bait.

Answer: C

henrywilliams