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BEP 253 – English for Meetings: Decision-Making Meetings (1)

Business English, English for Meetings, Popular Lessons /

Business English Meetings - Making Decisions 1

Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on decision-making in English meetings.

Success in business depends on making good decisions. But making good decisions is not just an individual skill. It’s a group skill. Several people come together to discuss an issue, explore options, and decide which path to follow. With good information, a good decision-making process, and good meeting skills, the participants should be able to make the best decision possible.

So what kind of skills might be useful in decision-making meetings? Today we’ll explore techniques such as framing a decision, inviting discussion, and referencing criteria. We’ll also cover raising concerns and requesting more information.

In the dialog, we’ll hear a group of people at an engineering firm trying to decide on a tech support company to hire. Scott, as senior partner, is leading the meeting, while Anne and David and Kelly are participating. The group discusses their options in order to figure out the best company to hire.

Listening Questions

1. What does Scott say is the basic question they have to answer?
2. What consideration does Kelly bring up in the discussion?
3. What piece of information about City Tech does David want to know?

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English for Telephoning

This business English eBook on Telephone English features MP3 audio, PDF and online lessons on key English language skills for working on the telephone in English.

These business English lessons are also available in our English for Telephoning eCourse App:
Download from the Apple App Store (iOS).

Telephone English eBook Course

  • Unit 501 – Answering the Phone
  • Unit 502 – Taking a Message
  • Unit 503 – Leaving a Voicemail Message
  • Unit 504 – Making an Appointment
  • Unit 505 – Discussing Travel Arrangements
  • Unit 506 – Checking on an Order
  • Unit 507 – Dealing with Customers (Part 1)
  • Unit 508 – Dealing with Customers (Part 2)
  • Unit 509 – Handling Sales Calls
  • Unit 510 – Handling a Problem on the Phone
  • Unit 511 – Dealing with an Angry Caller (Part 1)
  • Unit 512 – Dealing with an Angry Caller (Part 2)
Sample PDF Transcript Sample Quiz Sample MP3

eBook & Members: use the links below to access the resources (right-click to save MP3/PDF).

Title
Transcripts
Podcasts
PhraseCasts
Quizzes
Complete Set/ZIP
Answering Calls
Taking a Message
Voicemail
Appointments
Arrangements
Checking an Order
Inquiries 1
Inquiries 2
Sales Calls
Handling Problems
Angry Customers 1
Angry Customers 2

Business English News 28 – Eurozone Recovery

Business English, Business English Vocabulary, Business News, Finance and Accounting /

Eurozone-Flag

In today’s Business English News lesson, we look at the situation in Europe as the Eurozone begins to recover. Since emerging from its longest-ever recession last summer, the Eurozone recovery has been muted at best. While recent reports show some positive signs, the region still has a long way to go in addressing some of its imbalances.

Free Resources: Study Notes | Online Practice | Mobile Quizzes

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BEP 252 – English Idioms of Choice (Part 2)

Business English, Business English Vocabulary, Business Idioms /

Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on idioms related to choices and their consequences.

Every day in work and business we are faced with tough choices. Do we choose vendor A or vendor B? Employee A or employee B? Location A or location B? Or maybe even location C? Making the right choice typically involves evaluating all the options and discussing them with others. So how do we discuss the choices we face? How do we talk about the options we’re presented with so that we can make the right choice? Well, luckily, English has lots of great idioms for these types of discussions. So whether you’re talking with colleagues, bosses, or friends, you can use the expressions we’ll learn in today’s lesson.

Today we will rejoin a conversation between three friends: Harry, Wendy, and Thomas. They’ve been discussing a difficult situation, and decision, that Harry faces. Harry hired a company to build out his new store, but the company hasn’t finished the job and now Harry is trying to figure out what to do. In their conversation, you’ll hear many idioms related to choices and their consequences.

Listening Questions

1. What did Harry’s partner want to do at first?
2. What does Thomas seem to think about Harry’s chances in court against the construction company?
3. After considering all the options, Wendy says Harry must decide between two things. What are they?

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BEP 251 – English Idioms of Choice (Part 1)

Business English, Business English Vocabulary, Business Idioms /

Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on English idioms related to choices and their consequences.

We all love choice. Whether we’re buying something, deciding on a career, hiring a new employee, outsourcing operations, or looking for a new office location, we like a range of options to choose from. And the less choice we have, the more powerless we feel. Just imagine if you had no choice in life and business.

But this isn’t to say that choice is easy. On the contrary, life and work are full of really tough choices. In fact, we spend a lot of each day thinking, discussing, and arguing about decisions. And for this reason, English has lots of great idioms for talking about choices. Today we’ll look at some of these idioms and how to use them.

You will hear a conversation between three friends, Harry, Wendy, and Thomas. Harry has been planning to open a new store and he’s had some trouble with the contractor he hired to do the construction. He is now faced with some tough choices about how to get the work finished so he and his partner can open their new store. In their conversation, you will hear many idioms related to choice.

Listening Questions

1. What did Harry think about the contractors when he hired them?
2. What does Thomas think about Harry’s decision?
3. Besides going to court, what other option does Harry say he has?

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Skills 360 – English Communication Skills (2): Clarifying

Business English, Business Skills 360, Communication /

*** Get all the Skills 360 lessons in our free Business English App for iPhone & iPad:
Download from the App Store

Welcome back to Skills 360 for today’s lesson on how to improve your communication skills.

Communication between people is never perfect. Even with the people closest to us, who you might think we can understand very well, there is miscommunication. Sometimes we don’t hear things correctly, or we don’t hear them at all, and sometimes people don’t express ideas precisely. That’s enough to complicate the situation, but then we can throw in implied meaning and our own understanding of what’s being said indirectly. But have no fear. There are ways to work though the minefield of communication and make everything clear. And that’s exactly what we’ll look at today: clarifying what people have said.

Free Resources: Transcript | Quizzes | PDF Transcript

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Skills 360 – English Communication Skills (1): Listening

Business English, Business Skills 360, Communication /

*** Get all the Skills 360 lessons in our free Business English App for iPhone & iPad:
Download from the App Store

Welcome back to Skills 360 for today’s lesson on how to improve your communication skills.

We spend a lot of time looking at different ways that you can make other people understand your ideas. But what about your ability to make sure you understand what other people are saying? Some people say that there’s a good reason we have two ears but one mouth: because we should spend twice as much time listening as we do speaking. And business leaders have emphasized the importance of good listening skills as the foundation of good communication.

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BEP 250 – Strategic Negotiations 4: Reaching Agreement

Business English, Negotiating /

Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on strategic negotiations.

Negotiating a good partnership requires the right balance of determination and compromise. You lay out your opening position and try to get as much as you can out of the deal. But you have to accept that you can’t get everything you want. You need to find common ground and reach a satisfying agreement. And that takes skill.

But like all skills, negotiation is something you can learn. And today we’ll look at several techniques for reaching agreement, including easing off an aggressive position, proposing an exchange, and making a counterproposal. We’ll also cover how to propose a compromise and summarize areas of agreement.

In the dialog, you’ll hear Mike and Lisa negotiating a strategic partnership. Mike represents a US auto parts company called Sigma, while Lisa is leading the negotiation for NVP, a Japanese distributor. Together, they’re trying to work out a deal for NVP to distribute Sigma’s products in Asia.

Listening Questions

1. What does Lisa initially propose as an exchange?
2. What does Mike propose to offset the costs of buying out their Chinese partner?
3. What is the final compromise on staffing for the deal?

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BEP 249 – Strategic Negotiations 3: Countering a Position

Business English, Negotiating /

Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on strategic negotiations. This is actually the third part in our ongoing series on advanced negotiations and follows on from what we covered in BEP 241 and 242.

Business is a competitive game, but companies don’t always have to work against each other. Sometimes they work with each other to form strategic partnerships. By combining forces they can often make more money than they would working alone.

But forming a good partnership isn’t easy. It involves getting together and working out an arrangement that makes sense for both parties. And that means both companies are going to have to give something to get something. This give and take is established in the strategic negotiation, which is what we’ll look at today. We’ll cover some useful techniques for negotiations, including laying out an opening position, presenting a counter position, and emphasizing a deal breaker. We’ll also cover how to use strategic tentativeness and make a strategic threat.

As you may remember, the discussion centers around a US auto parts company called Sigma and NVP, a Japanese distributor, who are trying to establish a strategic partnership. Previously, we heard Mike from Sigma map out a negotiating position with his colleagues back in the US. Now he’s going to call talk to Lisa, who is the lead negotiator for NVP. Through this negotiation, Mike and Lisa are trying to work out a deal for NVP to distribute Sigma’s products in Asia.

One thing you’ll notice is that Lisa is a non-native English speaker with an Asian accent. As a regular listener, you’ll know we like to bring you a variety of spoken accents, because that’s what international business sounds like these days. And perhaps just as important as listening to different native accents, is listening to non-native accents. After all, you may often find that the person on the other end of the phone or across the meeting table is a non-native speaker of English just like you! Let us know what you think by posting a comment on the site.

Listening Questions

1. What part of the deal does Lisa emphasize is essential for her company?
2. Which aspects of business does Mike want to share costs on?
3. What does Mike say at the end of the dialog that might worry Lisa?

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VV 38 – Business English Vocabulary: Internet Marketing 2

Business English, Business English Vocabulary, English Video, Marketing English /
YouTube video

In this Business English Vocabulary lesson, we’ll look at activities related to search engine marketing, or SEM.

Companies use SEO, or search engine optimization, to improve a web page’s SERP position. This involves activities such as link building as well as on-page optimization, in which advertisers use keywords to attract search engines. Accepted approaches to SEO are referred to as White Hat SEO and attempts to trick search engines are called Black Hat SEO.

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