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BEP 347 – English Sales Collocations (Part 2)

Business English, Business English Vocabulary, English Collocations, Sales / September 17, 2019

Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on English collocations for talking about sales.

Sales has never been tougher. In the digital age, competition for people’s attention is fierce. And customers are armed with more knowledge than ever before. For these reasons, companies can’t get lazy about their approach to sales. They need to be strategic; they have to find new ways to manage customer relationships, and they need effective ways to track how they’re doing.

In this lesson, we’ll listen to a pharmaceutical sales team discuss new strategies to improve and track their performance. In their discussion, you’ll hear a lot of what we call collocations. Collocations are just groups of words that combine naturally. For example, if you want to say that someone finishes making a sale, you can say that he “closes a sale.” Everyone uses that verb “close.” Nobody says “shut” a sale or “do” a sale. The correct collocation is “close a sale.”

Native speakers learn and use these collocations naturally. And if you want to improve your vocabulary and sound more fluent, you can learn to use them too. As you listen to the dialog, try to pick out some of these collocations and we’ll discuss them later in the debrief.

In the dialog, we’ll listen to a discussion between Fran, Gus, and Nick. In our last lesson, the team discussed the need to improve their company’s sales. Now they’re talking about ways to do that. During their discussion, they use many English collocations related to sales.

Listening Questions

1. What does Nick think his colleague Dennis is doing wrong?
2. What does Nick believe is an outdated way of measuring their success?
3. What does Nick believe will happen if they improve their performance metrics?

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BEP 346 – English Sales Collocations (Part 1)

Business English, Business English Vocabulary, English Collocations, Sales / September 8, 2019

Hello and welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on English collocations related to sales.

Sales is at the heart of any business. Without the hard work of salespeople who move prospects down the funnel, turning interest into sales, no business would even exist. But the game of sales is constantly changing. Good salespeople, and good companies, learn to adapt to changes in the marketplace, in consumer preferences, and in the competition.

In this lesson, we’ll listen in on a sales team meeting in a pharmaceutical company. The team is discussing past performance and future strategy. During their discussion, they use many expressions that we call “collocations.” A collocation is just a natural combination of words that native speakers learn as one expression. For example, the first collocation you’ll hear is “sales volume,” which refers to the number of units sold in a given period of time.

Native English speakers use collocations like this automatically. And people in a certain field of work share an understanding of these special expressions specific to their area. By studying these collocations in different fields, you’ll improve your vocabulary and sound more fluent. As you listen to the dialog, try to pick out some of these English collocations and we’ll discuss them later in the debrief.

In the dialog, we’ll hear Fran, Gus, and Nick. Fran is the sales manager, and she’s just finished talking about the past year’s sales results. Now she wants to talk about reasons for their disappointing results and strategies for improving them. The three colleagues use many sales English collocations and vocabulary specific to the pharmaceutical industry.

Listening Questions

1. What is the group hoping to increase or improve by discussing sales performance and strategy?
2. What does Fran believe is the reason for a reasonably good third quarter?
3. What have better sales analytics helped the company understand?

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BEP 336 – English for Discussing Change Management (2)

Business English, Business English Vocabulary, English Collocations, Management English / February 9, 2019

Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on English collocations used to discuss change management.

In the 21st century the pace of change is very fast. And businesses have to fight to keep up, to adapt to changes in both the world and the economy. In meeting rooms around the world, people are debating issues of change. How do we attract and retain millennials? How do we make good use of emerging media? How do we become more efficient? How can we outsource? The list of questions goes on and on.

In today’s lesson, we’ll listen to a meeting in a company that has experienced a lot of growth. But with success comes growing pains. They’re talking about restructuring their company, and trying to figure out exactly how to go about it.

During their discussion, you’ll hear many English expressions that we call “collocations.” A collocation is a natural combination of words. For example, you’ll hear people talking about making a “smooth transition.” We don’t say “soft” transition or “clean” transition. Native English speakers always say “smooth transition” because that’s what they grew up hearing, so now it’s a natural collocation.

Even if you didn’t grow up with English, you can learn these natural expressions. By studying business English collocations, you’ll improve your vocabulary and sound more fluent. As you listen to the dialog, try to pick out some of these collocations and we’ll discuss them later in the debrief.

In the dialog, we’ll hear Lauren, Finn, and Jake. They’re trying to determine how to take the company they founded to the next level. In particular, they’re talking about how to involve company employees in their discussions about change.

Listening Questions

1. According to Finn, what do they need to show employees rather than just telling them?
2. Besides talking to employees, what does Lauren think they will need to assess?
3. What does Jake say they will do during the “discussion phase” of the process?

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BEP 335 – English for Discussing Change Management (1)

Business English, Business English Vocabulary, English Collocations, Management English / January 26, 2019

Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on English collocations for discussing change management.

Change is a constant. Nowhere is this more true than in business. Just look at the list of Fortune 500 companies from 50 years ago. You might be surprised by how many of those well-known companies are now gone. So what’s the difference between a company that survives and one that dies? A lot of it is about how they manage change.

In this lesson, we’ll listen to a meeting featuring three colleagues who are trying to figure out how to restructure their company. During the discussion, you’ll hear lots of useful expressions that we call “collocations.” And what is a collocation? Well, it’s just a group of words that go together naturally. You heard me use the expression “restructure a company.” That’s a collocation. The words go together as one expression.

Native speakers learn collocations naturally. They simply repeat expressions that they’ve heard hundreds of times. If English is your second language, however, it might not come so automatically. But, by studying collocations, you can improve your vocabulary and sound more fluent at the same time. As you listen to today’s conversation, try to pick out some of these business English collocations and we’ll discuss them later in the debrief.

In the dialog, we’ll hear Jake, Finn, and Lauren. The company they founded has grown, and now they need to carefully manage the transition to a larger company.

Listening Questions

1. What does Finn think is required to manage change in their company?
2. What does Lauren say is the first step in change management?
3. What does Jake believe is driving change in the company?

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BEP 324 – English for Discussing Company Performance (2)

Business English, Business English Vocabulary, English Collocations, Finance and Accounting / May 13, 2018

Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s Business English vocabulary lesson on how to describe company performance.

Every company’s goal is to make a profit. But how they go about that is different. Different industries, different business models, different approaches – There’s no simple recipe for success. And there’s no simple, single way to measure whether a company is performing well.

Instead, we look at many different factors when we measure company performance. We’ve also got a lot of different expressions in English for discussing the topic. And many of these English expressions are what we call “collocations.”

What’s a collocation? Well, it’s just a natural combination of words. Ever heard the expressions “turn a profit” or “boost the bottom line?” We don’t say “grow a profit” or “up the bottom line.” Those simply aren’t natural collocations. And if you say something like that, you won’t sound natural.

So studying collocations is a great way to sound more natural with your vocabulary. You can learn combinations of words, rather than single words on their own. As you listen to the dialog today, try to pick out some of these collocations, and we’ll discuss them later in the debrief.

In the dialog, we’ll rejoin a meeting at a private equity firm. Three colleagues, Maria, Claudia, and Taylor, are talking about some of the companies they’ve invested in. They’ll use lots of great collocations as they discuss the performance of these companies.

Listening Questions

1. What does Claudia think about SmartMoney?
2. What does Taylor think they should do before selling off SmartMoney?
3. What has Claudia been focusing on with Byron Industries?

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BEP 323 – English for Discussing Company Performance (1)

Business English, Business English Vocabulary, English Collocations, Finance and Accounting / May 5, 2018

Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on English for talking about company performance.

The economy is in a state of constant change. Companies grow, and companies shrink. New companies are born, and old ones disappear. And you don’t have to be an investor to get excited about the boom and bust of markets and the story of how company’s respond. But if you are an investor, your whole retirement might depend on whether companies make the right moves at the right time.

This makes company performance a popular topic around the business table, or at the pub. And when we talk about company performance, we often use special expressions called collocations. An English collocation is a combination of words that are commonly used together, such as “company performance” or “state of change.”

Native speakers use these collocations automatically. In fact, our brains store these groups of words together, as if they were one word. You can learn to remember and use these collocations too. Studying collocations is a great way to learn vocabulary and sound more natural. So, as you listen to the dialog, try to pick out some of these collocations and we’ll discuss them later in the debrief.

In the dialog, we’ll hear Maria, Claudia, and Taylor, who work at a private equity firm. Basically, it’s their job to invest in the right companies for maximum profit. The three are discussing the performance of several companies they’ve chosen to invest in.

Listening Questions

1. Why does Claudia feel positive about Ranger Gold’s performance?
2. What is Taylor worried will happen if Ranger Gold builds a new mine?
3. What does Maria think Intuition Software needs to do to remain profitable?

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Business English Games – English Vocabulary for Marketing

Games / November 12, 2017

Test you marketing English. Do you know your marketing mix from your strategic placement? Test yourself on English vocabulary for marketing from our BEP 315-316 and VV 45-46 lessons. Play the game.

You can review the all the marketing vocabulary featured in the game in these lessons:

BEP 315 – Discussing Marketing Activities 1
BEP 316 – Discussing Marketing Activities 2
VV 45 – 4 P’s of Marketing 1
VV 46 – 4 P’s of Marketing 2

BEP 316 – English for Discussing Marketing Activities (Part 2)

Business English, Business English Vocabulary, English Collocations, Marketing English / November 4, 2017

Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on English collocations for discussing marketing plans and activities.

As author and marketing master Seth Godin once said: marketing is a competition for people’s attention. And in today’s hyperconnected world, that competition is really tough! Standing out from the crowd requires us to put a lot of energy into marketing.

The best companies spend this energy strategically. They direct their marketing efforts at the right people, with the right methods. And if you sit around a table with a good marketing team, you’ll need to understand – and use – the special language of marketing. For example, you might hear expressions like “to increase customer engagement.” Or “to capture market share.”

In English, this kind of expression is called a collocation. A collocation is a natural combination of words. Native speakers use collocations all the time without thinking about it. They don’t say “catch” market share, or “trap” market share. They always say “capture” market share. They remember the words together. And you can too. You can learn collocations to understand better, and to sound more natural.

In this lesson, we’ll look at collocations used to discuss marketing. We’ll hear a dialog between three people on a marketing team: Nathan, Camille, and Theo. In our last lesson, the team talked about market research. Today, we’ll hear them talking about some specific marketing activities. They’ll use lots of marketing collocations to describe their activities. Try to pick these out, then we’ll go through them later in the debrief.

Listening Questions

1. What does Camille say was the goal of the magazine and TV ads?
2. What type of marketing activity does Camille say they need to improve?
3. What does Nathan identify as the main purpose of the activity that Camille said they need to improve?

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BEP 315 – English for Discussing Marketing Activities (Part 1)

Business English, Business English Vocabulary, English Collocations, Marketing English / October 28, 2017

Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on English collocations for discussing marketing activities.

Great marketing is at the heart of business success. This was just as true 100 years ago as it is today. Of course, the digital age has brought new methods of marketing, but the basic goals of marketing haven’t really changed. I mean, first of all, you want customers to know about your products and services. In the world of marketing, that’s what we call “brand recognition.” But it’s not just about recognition, it’s about making sales, and “capturing market share.”

As you heard, in describing the goals of marketing, I used two expressions that you might be familiar with: “brand recognition” and “to capture market share.” We call these kind of expressions collocations. A collocation is a natural combination of two or more words to talk about a single idea. You might think of collocations as chunks of language. And it’s usually easier, and more natural, to remember these chunks rather than learning individual words.

Every area of business has its own special expressions, or collocations. And learning these collocations will help you not only understand what others are saying, but communicate your own ideas more clearly. In this lesson we’re going to focus on collocations you can use to talk about marketing activities.

In today’s dialog, we’ll listen to a discussion by a marketing team at a home furnishings company. You’ll hear Nathan, who is leading the meeting, as well as Theo and Camille. They are discussing the company’s market research, their goals, and how to measure progress toward those goals. Try to pick out the collocations they use, and we’ll talk about them later in the debrief.

Listening Questions

1. What does Theo say the process of market research has helped them do?
2. What does Camille say the data from research has helped them do?
3. Near the end of the dialog, what does Nathan say they’ve talked about doing?

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BEP 305 – Business English Collocations for Emphasizing (2)

Business English, Business English Vocabulary, English Collocations, Presentations in English / May 13, 2017

Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on business English collocations for emphasizing a point.

Speaking English well isn’t just about speaking correctly. It’s about choosing words that make an impact, and about influencing people’s thoughts and feelings. And if you study the habits of great speakers, you’ll hear them use emphasis effectively. A great speaker won’t just say he “recommends” something. Instead, he might say he “strongly recommends” something. That word “strongly” triples the impact.

But how would you know that we say “strongly recommend” and not “heavily recommend” or “deeply recommend?” Well, “strongly recommend” is the natural combination of words that native speakers use. These natural combinations of words are called collocations. A collocation is just two or more words that native speakers commonly use together. And you can learn collocations of emphasis to sound more natural and increase the impact of what you say.

In this lesson, we’ll listen to the end of a presentation on the topic of leadership. Maria is summarizing her main points. During her presentation she uses several collocations to emphasize her ideas. Try to pick out these collocations, and we’ll talk about them later in the debrief.

Listening Questions

1. Maria asks her listeners to think of a person. What type of person does she ask them to think about?
2. What does Maria say about a great speech that isn’t supported by action?
3. What does Maria think about people’s search for meaning in work?

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