Category Archives: Communication

BEP 154 ADV – Motivating Your Team 2

This is the second in a two-part lesson on motivating your team.

There are many strategies you can use to motivate people. One way is to reward them. This reward can be emotional, such as acknowledgement or praise for a job well done. Or, it can be more concrete, like a cash bonus or a prize.

In this lesson, we’ll look at motivation through rewards. We’ll discuss how to acknowledge your team’s efforts and give praise. We’ll also look at how to introduce challenges, friendly competition, and incentives. Finally, we’ll talk about some ways to finish up a meeting so that your team feels energized for the work ahead.

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BEP 95 ADV (Study Notes & Activities) – Resolving Conflict 2

This is the second in a two-part series on resolving conflict, in which we’ve been focusing on solving everyday disagreements in the office. Ben, a new training specialist at a manufacturing company, feels that he is doing an unfair share (that is, too much) of the work in his department. Gerry, Ben’s manager, talks with him to solve the problem.
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BEP 94 ADV (Study Notes & Exercises) – Resolving Conflict 1

In this two-part series on resolving conflict, we’ll be studying useful language for discussing and resolving disagreements.
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BEP 65 ADV (Transcript & Exercises) – Questioning Techniques (Part 2)

This is the second in a two-part Business English Pod series on questioning techniques. Last time in BEP 64 we looked at making small talk and gathering information with open questions, getting specific information with probing questions and guiding the conversation by showing interest.

This time we’ll learn several more advanced questioning techniques, including direct questions, to get information from someone who is being uncommunicative, reflective questions, to guide the conversation, and hypothetical questions, to suggest possible action. Together these techniques form a series that can be used to drill down to the information you need.

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Listening Quiz: BEP 65 ADV – Advanced Questioning Techniques (Part 2)

1) LCD TVs produce a lot of heat. Why is this important to Brad’s sales pitch?

2) What are Andy’s main priorities in selecting conformal coatings to protect the circuit boards Stratos produces?

3) What are the main good points of the coating that Brad wishes to sell to Andy?

BEP 64 ADV (Transcript & Exercises) – Questioning Techniques (Part 1)

Questions are an important part of almost every conversation. So being able to ask good questions is critical to communication. How can we make our questioning more effective and efficient? In this two-part Business English Podcast series we’ll be looking at some answers.

The communication skills we’ll be learning can be used in any situation, but we’ll be focusing in on an area where questioning techniques are particularly important: needs analysis. This refers to analyzing the needs of a customer as part of the sales process. We’ll study a series of questioning techniques that can be used to “drill down to” – that is, get to or uncover – the information you want.

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Study Notes	Phrases & Practice	BEP 64 ADV Questioning Techniques – Quiz BEP 64 ADV Questioning Techniques – Gap-fill BEP 64 ADV – Online Transcript & Vocabulary BEP 64 ADV Questioning Techniques – Language 1 BEP 64 ADV Questioning Techniques – Language 2 BEP 64 ADV Questioning Techniques – Vocabulary