Self-study
Salesperson: Conclusion When a salesperson is successful, it is certain that that person has been in sales for at least three years. ████ ██ ███████ ██ ███████ ██ █ ████████████ ███ ████ █████ █████████ █ ██████ ██████ █████ ███ ███████ ████ █████ ████ ██████ ███ ██████ ██ █████ █████ █████ ██████████ █ ██████ ████ ███ ██████████ ████ █ ███████████ ██████ ██ ██████
Summarize Argument
The author concludes that if a salesperson is successful, then that person has been in sales for at least three years. He supports this with two conditional premises:
(1) To be successful as a salesperson, it’s necessary that one establishes a strong client base.
(2) If one spends at least three years establishing a client base, then one can make a comfortable living in sales.
Identify and Describe Flaw
The author says that to be successful in sales, you need to establish a strong client base. But he doesn’t prove that to establish that client base, you need to spend at least three years in sales. So his conclusion that any successful salesperson has spent at least three years in sales isn’t supported by his premises. In other words, he fails to consider that some salespeople might establish their client base in less than three years and still be successful.
18.
The reasoning in the salesperson's ████████ ██ ██████████ ██ █████████ ██ ███ ███████ ████ ██ █████ ██ ████████ ███ ███████████ ████
a
salespeople who have █████ █████ █████ ██████████ █ ██████ ████ █████ ███ ███ ██ ██████████ ██ █████
The author doesn't fail to consider this possibility. According to his conclusion, spending 3+ years in sales is necessary for being successful, not sufficient. This allows for the possibility of some salespeople spending 3+ years in sales and not yet being successful.
b
some salespeople require █████ ████ █████ █████ ██ █████ ██ ███████ █ ██████ ██████ ████
The author fails to consider this possibility. He never proves that to establish a strong client base, one must spend 3+ years in sales. Some people might establish their client base in less time and so be successful without spending 3+ years in sales.
c
a salesperson who ███ ███ █████ █████ █████ ██████████ █ ██████ ████ ███ ███ ███████ ██ █████
The author concludes that someone who hasn’t spent three years in sales will not succeed in sales. Unlike (C), he fails to consider the possibility that a salesperson who hasn’t spent three years developing a client base may succeed in sales.
d
it takes longer ████ █████ █████ ███ █ ███████████ ██ ███████ █ ██████ ██████ ████
The author doesn’t fail to consider this possibility. He mistakenly assumes that a salesperson must spend at least three years developing a strong client base. This allows for the possibility of some people spending longer than three years establishing it.
e
few salespeople can ██████ ██ █████ █████ █████ ████████ █ ██████ ████
The author may not address this, but it isn’t a flaw in his argument. Just because most salespeople can’t afford to spend three years building their client base doesn’t affect the conclusion that spending three years in sales is necessary for success.