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BEP 203 – Trade Show English 2: Qualifying Prospects

Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on doing business at a trade show.

If you can connect with the right people at a large event like a trade show, you can get a lot of great sales leads and maybe even close some deals. Making these connections is all about your attitude and the way you communicate.

But trade shows come with challenges. One of these difficulties is focusing your time on those good prospects. This means that you need to be able to identify a bad prospect and to make your conversation with him brief. Doing this requires a combination of common sense, a focus on business, and some tact.

Today we will learn how to disengage from a bad prospect. But first, we’ll hear how to engage in small talk, show interest, and get people to talk as these are all essential steps in determining if a prospect is worth pursuing.

We’ll rejoin Kevin, who works for a packaging company called D-Pack. He is talking with Mick, who represents ElectroHome Cleaning. Kevin is going to both begin and end a conversation with Mick, who turns out to be not such a great prospect.

Listening Questions

1. Why does Kevin ask Mick about ‘product demos’?
2. What does Mick say about cleaning products?
3. How does Kevin bring the conversation to a close?

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BEP 202 – Trade Show English 1: Engaging Potential Customers

Business English, Marketing English, Sales English / February 12, 2012

Welcome back to Business English Pod. My name’s Atalie, and I’ll be your host for today’s lesson on working at a trade show.

Trade shows can be fantastic opportunities to meet good prospects, network with others in the biz, and even close sales. But there are definite dos and don’ts about working the trade show circuit.

At a trade show, there are a lot of people. That means a lot of potential customers and leads, but it can also be easy to waste time on bad prospects. So you have to be outgoing to draw people in, but you also have to figure out quickly who is really worth talking to. And to engage good prospects and get rid of bad ones, you need excellent communication skills.

In this lesson, we’ll look at how to be approachable, connect with customers, and make a quick pitch. We’ll also learn how to pass a prospect off to another team member and how to set up an appointment.

We are going to hear Kevin and Jenny, who work for a Chinese packaging company called D-Pack. They’re working a booth at a large trade show. They are dealing with Andrew, who works for a manufacturing company. Andrew has come by D-Pack’s booth, and Kevin and Jenny have to work their magic.

Listening Questions

1. What does Andrew’s company want to do?
2. Why does Kevin talk about their big US clients?
3. What are Jenny and Andrew going to do at 10:00 the next day?

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BEN 14 – Battle of the Mobile Platforms

Business English, Business English Vocabulary, Business News, IT and Tech / February 5, 2012

The battle for smartphone supremacy has reached new heights in recent months, with industry heavyweights Apple and Google leading the charge over long-time mobile powerhouses like Research in Motion and Windows.

Get the low-down on the brief, but constantly developing, history of the smartphone market in this month’s Business English News lesson. We feature lots of great vocabulary for talking about mobile communication, sales and technology. Use the links below to access the free transcript and quizzes for this lesson.

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BEP 201 – Making the Most of Meetings in English (2)

Business English, English for Meetings / January 29, 2012

Welcome back to Business English Pod for the second part of making the most of your meetings.

What’s the difference between a good meeting and a bad meeting? An effective business english meeting and one in which people talk but nothing really gets done? In many cases, the difference is in the person running the meeting. Whether he or she is the regular chairperson or a facilitator brought in from the outside, that person needs to make sure the meeting meets its objectives.

So how can you do that? How can you make meetings work? That’s what we’re looking at in this series. And the skills and techniques we’re demonstrating are useful not just for meetings. They can also be applied to all types of group discussions.

Today, we’re going to learn how to encourage quiet people, push for clarity, avoid committing to a position, conduct satisfaction checks, and praise good work. We’ll rejoin Tony, Annette, and Jake as they discuss solutions to a problem in their company. The meeting is being run by Liz, who has been brought in from another department to make sure the meeting is effective.

Listening Questions

1. What does Jake think is one of the basic problems?
2. Why doesn’t Liz want to give her opinion?
3. What are they going to talk about next?

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BEP 200 – Making the Most of Meetings in English (1)

Business English, English for Meetings / January 22, 2012

This is the first of a two-part Business English Pod lesson on making the most of your business english meetings.

Today’s lesson is officially our 200th BEP episode and this week we’ll also be rolling past 30 Million downloads. So a hearty thanks to every one of you for helping us reach this amazing milestone. It’s been a fantastic journey and we’re looking forward to the next 200. If you’d like to share in the celebration, please think about rating or commenting on our podcast page in iTunes.

This week also sees the roll out of our Course Builder app for premium members. You can check out the video on the website to see just how easy it is to build a personalized course with Course Builder.

So, have you ever announced a meeting and seen people roll their eyes? “Oh no, not another meeting,” they seem to be saying. But every organization needs meetings. They are important when we need to discuss an issue, share information, plan, or make decisions. The problem is that not every meeting is an effective meeting. In fact, there are some good reasons why a lot of people consider meetings a waste of time.

So the question is: how can you run a meeting that people come out of feeling positive? How can we make the most of our meetings?

Running a good meeting requires both leadership and tact. You need to guide the group towards its goals and keep the meeting on track. Today we’ll talk about how you can do this. We’ll look at how to keep the discussion moving and how to focus on the issues, rather than on people or items that aren’t on the agenda.

In this lesson, we’ll listen in on a meeting at a company that is dealing with unhappy staff. Tony, Annette, and Jake are managers, and they’re trying to figure out exactly what the problem is. The meeting is being run by Liz, who has been brought in from another department to help out. You will hear Liz use several techniques to keep the meeting on track.

Listening Questions

1. What is the purpose of this meeting?
2. What does Jake say is an important issue?
3. Why does Annette think the employee surveys are not useful?

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