Qangos - acronym for Quasi-autonomous Non-government Agencies.
Qualified Available Market - the individuals and organisations in a
particular market who are interested in a product, can afford it, and who
are not prevented from purchasing by any access barrier or legal restriction.
Qualifying the Prospect - asking questions to discover whether a prospective
buyer has a need for the product, can afford it, and has the authority
to buy.
Qualitative Marketing Research - marketing research which is not generally
quantifiable; research which seeks insights into a marketing situation
but which does not require statistical accuracy. Qualitative research
techniques include focus groups, depth interviews and projection techniques
such as free associations, psychodrawing and psychodrama. See Quantitative
Marketing Research.
Qualitative Objectives - objectives which cannot be expressed in quantifiable
terms; for example, a salesperson might set as an objective in a specific
period the acquisition of certain product knowledge, or the forming of
a close business relationship with the buyer from a major account. See
Quantitative Objectives.
Quality Circles - a management technique with its origin in Japanese
industry, developed as a means of increasing productivity; groups of autonomous
workers, responsible for their own output, meet together voluntarily to
plan their work so that a better quality product results and so that the
work of other autonomous groups further down the production line is not
delayed.
Quality Controls - measures taken by organisations to ensure that all
legal requirements, and consumer expectations, of their products are met;
good product performance, achieved by efficient quality control, helps
to ensure that consumers will become repeat purchasers.
Quality Creep - a phenomenon which, in a counter-productive way, impels
a manufacturer to enhance a product over time, increasing its price and
thereby diminishing its appeal to the market segment for which it was originally
intended.
Quality Modification - any change made to the quality of a product.
Quantitative Marketing Research - marketing research that can be quantified;
the collection of data that can be expressed in numerical terms.
Quantitative Objectives - objectives which can be expressed in specific
numerical terms; for example, a salesperson might set as an objective for
his or her territory "to increase sales revenue of Product X by 10%
in 1991".
Quantity Adjuster - see Price-Taker.
Quantity Discount - a price reduction made to encourage a purchaser
to order a larger quantity than would otherwise have been purchased.
Question Marks - a classification of products or strategic business
units used in the Boston Consulting Group Product Portfolio Analysis.
Question Marks are products characterised by low market share in a high
growth market; also called Problem Children.
Question Method - handling a buyer's by making the prospect answer
his or her own objection. If, for example, the buyer objects that the
item being considered for purchase is excellent but that the price of $500
is too high, the salesperson responds by asking, "Why do you feel
that way?" or "Are you willing to invest $500 in an asset that
will return you 100% per annum?"
Questionnaire - an instrument used for soliciting responses in a marketing
research survey; a list of questions.
Questionnaire Pre-testing - the trialling of a questionnaire to be
used in a marketing research study on a small sample of respondents from
the target group prior to its full-scale use in order to eliminate ambiguities
and other design problems.
Quick Ratio - one of three financial ratios commonly used to evaluate
a firm's liquidity; calculated by dividing current assets less stock on
hand by current liabilities. See Acid-Test Ratio; Current Ratio.
Quota - any restriction imposed by law on the quantity of a product
which can be produced or imported; a form of protectionism. See Protectionism;
Sales Quota.
Quota Sample - a nonprobability sample, chosen without regard to location,
representativeness, etc. from individuals who meet certain specified criteria.
