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?

Download: Podcast MP3

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?

Download: Podcast MP3