In today’s 925 English lesson, we’re going to learn how to make comparisons and talk about similarities in English.
Every day, we compare products, companies, jobs – all kinds of things! We talk about how they are different, and how they are the same or similar.
925 English is a new series of English lessons for beginners. 925 English lessons focus on English phrases and expressions that you can use in work and business. Members: PDF Transcript | Lesson Module | Quiz | MP3 Audio
Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on socializing in English with your clients on the phone.
There’s an old saying that you should never mix business and pleasure. And sure, it might not be a good idea to get too close to your customers and clients. But if you are all business, and you shy away from anything personal, you’ll seem cold. And people won’t connect with you.
Ultimately, you have to find the right balance. You want to be personable, but not nosy. You want to be friendly, but not pushy. And you have to take your time. A conversation with a new customer will be naturally more formal than with an established one. That’s true not only in person, but on the phone as well.
In our last lesson, we learned about paying a visit to a client’s office. Today, we’ll look at checking in with a client by phone. As you’ll hear, we often make friendly conversation at the beginning of the call, and you might find yourself showing understanding of a client’s personal situation. But eventually you’ll want to switch from the personal to business. And once you’re talking business, you might mention personal connections, gauge needs, and discuss developments in your industry. This is all part of maintaining and building a relationship with your client.
In today’s dialog, we’ll rejoin Markus, an account manager for a company that sells servers. Markus is calling up a client named Jana. He wants to check in with her, find out how she’s doing, and see if she needs anything. And you’ll hear him strike a balance between business and personal issues.
Listening Questions
1. Jana mentions a personal issue at the start of the conversation. What is it?
2. When Markus switches from personal matters to business, what topic does he mention?
3. How does Markus ask Jana about their server needs?
Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on socializing in English with your clients.
Business is all about relationships. And the stronger your relationships are, especially with customers or clients, the more successful you’ll be. This is why we call up our customers or drop by their office. Sometimes we’ve got important business to take care of, but sometimes all we need to do is say hello and check in.
In fact, visiting with clients often sounds like a chat between friends. We might talk about sports, about family, about travel, or about mutual friends. Of course, it takes a while to get to this level with a customer. But once we’re there, our conversations are likely to be an interesting mix of the personal and professional.
Bouncing between these two modes naturally is the secret to the client visit. You might find yourself starting out by introducing some interesting piece of news. At some point, you may want to gauge the client’s satisfaction with your products or services. And the conversation may also turn naturally to gossiping about the competition. If a client needs a decision or information, you may have to promise to check back on it. And finally, you might want to make a social invitation, and move the relationship-building out of the office.
In today’s dialog, we’ll hear Markus, who works as an account manager for a company that sells computer servers. He is visiting the offices of one of his clients, a large Internet service provider. We’ll hear Markus chatting with Jose, his main client contact, and Tricia, another manager.
Listening Questions
1. What news does Markus deliver to Jose?
2. What does Markus say about his company’s competitor?
3. What does Markus offer to do next Friday?
Early energy sources were simple; fire was discovered to heat things, and then along came conversion – such as fire under a kettle producing steam. But times have changed, and the impact of using non-renewable sources of energy, or fossil fuels, is one that we can no longer afford to ignore. Putting the climate change debate aside, there are real commercial opportunities that businesses and governments can, and should, consider.
As author and marketing master Seth Godin once said: marketing is a competition for people’s attention. And in today’s hyperconnected world, that competition is really tough! Standing out from the crowd requires us to put a lot of energy into marketing.
The best companies spend this energy strategically. They direct their marketing efforts at the right people, with the right methods. And if you sit around a table with a good marketing team, you’ll need to understand – and use – the special language of marketing. For example, you might hear expressions like “to increase customer engagement.” Or “to capture market share.”
In English, this kind of expression is called a collocation. A collocation is a natural combination of words. Native speakers use collocations all the time without thinking about it. They don’t say “catch” market share, or “trap” market share. They always say “capture” market share. They remember the words together. And you can too. You can learn collocations to understand better, and to sound more natural.
In this lesson, we’ll look at collocations used to discuss marketing. We’ll hear a dialog between three people on a marketing team: Nathan, Camille, and Theo. In our last lesson, the team talked about market research. Today, we’ll hear them talking about some specific marketing activities. They’ll use lots of marketing collocations to describe their activities. Try to pick these out, then we’ll go through them later in the debrief.
Listening Questions
1. What does Camille say was the goal of the magazine and TV ads?
2. What type of marketing activity does Camille say they need to improve?
3. What does Nathan identify as the main purpose of the activity that Camille said they need to improve?
