Archive for August, 2007
BEP 63 PP (Transcript & Exercises): Indirect Persuasion in a Social Context
The persuasive process we learned in BEP 59, 60 & 62 is useful not just for formal business situations, but across all sorts of contexts that come up many times every day. You don’t always want to use the indirect approach to persuasion, but it’s often very useful.
Here’s an example of the persuasive process at work in an everyday situation: Julie is persuading her husband, Steve, to try a new vacation spot.
The podcast practice section and online exercises provide further opportunities to brush up your skills and language for the final step of the Monroe Sequence - Asking for Action.
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.
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?
BEP 61 PP (Transcript & Actvities): American Sports Idioms in a Business Meeting
This is the first in a series of Business English Practice Pods that review and extend the language that is covered in the regular podcast. Practice pod dialogs will revise key language but in different situations. Also, they give you more opportunities to practice what you’ve learned.
We’ll hear several phrases from Sports Idioms 1 & 2, plus a few new ones, being used in a new context - a business meeting.
BEP 60 ADV (Transcript & Activities) - Persuasion 2: Establishing the Need
Listening Quiz: BEP 60 ADV - Persuasion 2: Establishing the Need
1) What’s the highest temperature in the welding room?
2) What does Steve present first – the problem or the solution?
3) What kind of strategies does Steve use to paint a vivid picture of the need for his solution?
