Category Archives: Sales

BEP 85 INT (Transcript & Exercises) – Sales: Informal Product Presentation

In many countries and cultures around the world, informal occasions – such as a friendly meal or a game of a golf – are more important to the sales process than a formal presentation in the boardroom. And so in this episode, we’ll be studying language for presenting our products in such casual situations (often called “soft selling”). In particular, we’ll see how you can sell your products in relation to your customers’ needs with a few soft-sell techniques.

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Study Notes
Phrases & Practice

BEP 85 INT – Informal Presentation – Listening Quiz

BEP 85 INT – Informal Presentation – Gap-fill Exercise

BEP 85 INT – Informal Presentation – Dialog & Vocabulary

BEP 85 INT – Informal Presentation – Turning Questions Around

BEP 85 INT – Informal Presentation – Raising Points of Interest

BEP 85 INT – Informal Presentation – Talking About Benefits

BEP 85 INT – Informal Presentation – Making Comparisons

BEP 85 INT – Informal Presentation – Vocabulary Review

BEP 85 INT – Informal Presentation – Flashcards

Listening Questions:

1) Were Matt and Paula able to go to the tunnel face, that is, the end of the tunnel?

2) What is the main point of interest that Matt and Paula pursue in the discussion?

3) What are the advantages that Matt and Paula’s device have over traditional surveying methods?

BEP 84 INT (Transcript & Exercises) – Sales: Site Visit

The language we’re going to study in this Business English Podcast lesson will be useful for anyone who needs to host visitors. No matter whether we are giving journalists a demonstration of a factory, or introducing potential customers to your work site, or giving government officials a tour of a project, we need to show people around and point out areas of interest.

In the listening, Stanley Wang works for China Western Railroad Construction Company. He is the site agent – that is, the person in charge of a construction site – for a railway tunnel that is being built. Matt and Paula – who work for a small engineering company called TunnelTech – are visiting potential customers in China. As the dialog begins, Stanley is getting ready to take them into the tunnel for a look around.

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Study Notes
Phrases & Practice

BEP 84 INT – Site Visit – Listening Quiz

BEP 84 INT – Site Visit – Gap-fill Exercise

BEP 84 INT – Site Visit – Dialog & Vocabulary

BEP 84 INT – Site Visit – Preliminary Formalities

BEP 84 INT – Site Visit – Introducing the Project

BEP 84 INT – Site Visit – Highlighting Points of Interest

BEP 84 INT – Site Visit – Vocabulary Review

BEP 84 INT – Site Visit – Flashcards

Listening Questions:

1) What does Stanley point out in the tunnel? What language does he use to draw everyone’s attention to it?

2) What are the advantages of the machine that Stanley describes?

3) Stanley mentions two safety hazards. What are they?

4) What is the question that Paula asks Stanley about the hazards?

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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Study Notes
Phrases & Practice 		BEP 65 ADV Questioning 2 – Quiz

BEP 65 ADV Questioning 2 – Gap-fill

BEP 65 ADV Questioning 2 – Transcript & Vocabulary

BEP 65 ADV Questioning 2 – Language 1

BEP 65 ADV Questioning 2 – Language 2

BEP 65 ADV Questioning 2 – Vocabulary Flashcards


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


Listening Quiz: BEP 64 ADV – Advanced Questioning Techniques (Part 1)

1) What does Brad think of the Stratos’ facility?

2) How long has Stratos been located in its current location?

3) How long has Stratos been located in its current location?

BEP 62 ADV (Transcript & Activities) – Persuasion 3

In the first two shows (BEP 59 & BEP 60) of this Business English Pod series on persuasion, we saw how getting your audience’s attention and demonstrating a clear need were essential to the persuasive process. We learned that in the indirect method of persuasion you should demonstrate the problem before you offer a solution.

After you have established the need, you then describe the future benefits if your proposal is accepted. This is the visualization step: Talk about how accepting your proposal will have positive future outcomes or maybe how not accepting it will have negative outcomes. Finally, you need to make a concrete, specific call to action – what the audience can do right now to implement your proposal.

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Study Notes
Phrases & Practice 		BEP 62 ADV – Persuasion 3 – Quiz

BEP 62 ADV – Persuasion 3 – Gap-fill

BEP 62 ADV – Persuasion 3 – Language 1

BEP 62 ADV – Persuasion 3 – Language 2

BEP 62 ADV – Persuasion 3 – Language 3

BEP 62 ADV – Persuasion 3 – Vocabulary Flashcards


Listening Quiz: BEP 62 ADV – Persuasion 3

1) How long will it take Swift to get back the investment in air conditioning?

2) How much extra profit can Swift make per year by adopting Nick’s proposal?

3) What specific action does Steve ask his manager’s to take?