Business English Pod / ESL Podcast / Page 23

BEP 92 – English for Sales: Features, Advantages, Benefits (or FAB Presentation)

Business English, ESL Podcast, Intermediate English, Presentations in English, Sales English /

For today’s Business English Podcast lesson, we’re going to focus on the “classic sales” approach to selling products and services. This approach is based on explaining the features, attributes and benefits of your products using the “FAB” technique.

The FAB technique is useful for people working in the manufacturing and retail trade – anyone who has to present products. In particular, we’ll look at how this approach can be applied in the Merchandizing business. Merchandizing is the trade name for businesses involved in the design and manufacture of clothing and household items.

In the dialog, we rejoin Marco and Francesca on their trip to a fashion trade show in the U.S. Their company, Viva, has just created an exciting new line of clothes. With the help of their American partner, Foxtrot, they are hoping to get a couple big sales contracts with U.S. department stores.

The listening takes place in the Foxtrot showroom. We’ll hear Francesca speak to a potential customer, Bill, who is a buyer for Bancroft’s, a retail chain store that targets professional women.

Listening Questions

1. What is the key feature of Viva’s fall colors this year? Can you name some of the colors?
2. Why is the Viva Professional line more expensive?
3. As described in the dialog, what are the main benefits of Viva’s clothing line?

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BEP 91 – Interview English: Asking the Interviewer Questions

Business English, ESL Podcast, Job Interview English /

BEP 91 - Interview English: Asking the Interviewer Questions

There is one question that you will definitely be asked in any job interview, a question for which you should always prepare a response. That is: “Do you have any questions for me?”

In this Business English lesson, we will focus on how to deal with this question. We’ll talk about what interviewers expect from you and we’ll emphasize the importance of preparation. We’ll also study how you can use this opportunity to “interview the interviewer” – that is, to find out whether the company is a good fit for you. Meanwhile, we’ll talk about how, for the interviewer, this is a chance to put your company in the best possible light.

In the listening, we will return to Yala Santos’ interview. Remember, she is an HR specialist at a manufacturing company who is interviewing for an HR manager position in a business unit of a fast moving consumer goods company, Fun Beverages International.

Listening Questions:

1. What is Yala’s first question for the interviewer?
2. How does the interviewer respond?
3. Yala’s second question is a little tougher – what does she ask?

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BEP 90 – English for Job Interviews: Discussing Weakness

Business English, ESL Podcast, Job Interview English /

BEP 90 - job interview english - discussing weakness

In this Business English lesson we continue to look at the language and skills of interviewing for jobs in English.

So far in this series, we’ve examined two common question themes that you will likely be asked in almost any interview. They were, “Tell me about your previous experience?”, and “What is your most significant accomplishment?”

In this lesson, we will likewise deal with another extremely common question. Unfortunately, it’s almost as challenging to answer as it is popular to ask. It requires you to think about possible problems with your working style and personality, and to give an answer that demonstrates professionalism and the ability to present your weakness as a strength. That’s right, you guessed it, the question is: What’s your greatest weakness?

Talking about your weaknesses tests a unique skill: It investigates your ability to present a drawback as an advantage. Thus, the theme of this episode is “be positive”, and that’s the main point that we’ll be focusing on.

Listening Questions – Good Example

1. What is Sherry’s weakness?
2. Did this weakness affect her GPA (exam scores)? How?
3. Does Sherry explain the positive aspects of the weakness she describes?

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BVP 02 – Human Resources: Training Manager

Business English, Business English Vocabulary, ESL Podcast, Human Resources /

In the second part of our new ESL podcast series on business vocabulary, we continue with the topic of human resources (HR) by looking at useful language and collocations to describe the role and responsibilities of a training manager.

In this fast-changing global world, everything is moving. To make a successful business, it’s not enough just to follow yesterday’s trend. Companies and people need to constantly acquire new skills to succeed in tomorrow’s marketplace. This means driving new training initiatives to enhance performance. However, not all training is equally successful. To ensure training effectiveness, it’s important to track results and to have standard criteria for measuring outcomes.

In this podcast, we’ll listen to Andrea, a training manager, describing her function and responsibilities. Afterwards, we’ll study some key vocabulary. Then we’ll practice what we’ve learned.

Listening Questions

1) What kind of training programs does Andrea run?
2) Does Andrea work with vendors? What for?
3) What do the five letters in SMART stand for?

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BVP 01 – Human Resources: HR Manager

Business English, Business English Vocabulary, ESL Podcast, Human Resources /

Today we’re kicking off a new series of ESL business vocabulary podcasts based on people talking about their jobs. In these episodes, we’ll learn vocabulary and language that are useful across a wide range of different professions and industries.

In this podcast we’ll hear an HR manager, Greg, describe his work and responsibilities. Afterwards, we’ll study some key vocabulary. In particular we’ll be focusing on how words are collocated, or used together. Then we’ll practice what we’ve learned.

When we think about human resource managers, many of us just think of hiring and firing, but actually, as Greg explains, the job involves a lot more than that. HR handles everything from job evaluations to settling disagreements between workers and management.

Listening Questions

1) What type of employment programs does Greg develop and manage?
2) Are there several HR managers or only one in Greg’s company?
3) Greg says that HR managers play a special role in companies that are unionized. What is this role?

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