Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s business English lesson on making your initial sales approach.
Sales is right at the core of business. It’s how you connect people with products, and turn products into profits. But most sales aren’t made with a single conversation. There’s a process involved. This process involves many different steps, and at each step, a good salesperson has to use their skills to keep the process moving forward.
In this lesson, we’ll focus on the initial step of the sales process: making the approach. This is when you talk to the potential customer for the first time. You want to establish a good rapport and ask some questions to start learning about their needs. We’ll learn how to compliment a prospect and ask open-ended questions. We’ll also cover how to show interest to get more information, show that you’ve done some background research, and reference other business connections. With these skills, you can get off to a good start with your prospect.
In today’s dialog, we’ll hear a salesperson named Aaron, who works for a company that sells refrigeration and cooling equipment. Aaron is visiting a new hotel in Thailand and talking with Eva, the hotel’s manager and Robin, the head chef. He has arranged to visit the hotel and hopes to start building a relationship and finding out about their needs.
Listening Questions
1. How does Aaron compliment his prospective customers?
2. What does Aaron show interest in to get more information?
3. What business connection do Aaron, Robin, and Eva have in common?
Download: Podcast MP3
