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.
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.
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?
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?
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.
In this Video Vocab lesson, we look at English vocabulary related to Internet marketing.
One of the most common approaches to Internet marketing is PPC, or pay per click advertizing, with ads displayed on websites organized into content networks. The ads are sold by CPC, or cost per click, to advertisers, who hope for a high CTR, or click-through rate. The ads are linked to landing pages, intended to encourage visitors to make a conversion. To measure effectiveness, advertisers use analytics software to determine the CPA, or cost per acquisition.
Imagine you’re on an airplane during a flight across the Pacific. You have to spend several hours seated right beside another person. You want to be friendly and perhaps find out what this person does and who this person is. So you turn to him or her and open your mouth to speak.
And what do you say? How do you start a conversation and then keep it going? Well, in any kind of travel situation it is useful to know some common topics and techniques. Today, we’ll look at asking a person about their destination and their purpose for traveling. We’ll also learn how to invite detail by echoing, identify a point of intersection, and summarize your work.
In the dialog, we’ll join Connie and Scott, who are sitting beside each other on a flight to Hong Kong. Connie starts up a conversation with Scott and uses many common and simple, though not always easy, ways of making small talk with strangers in a travel situation.
Listening Questions
1. What is the purpose of Scott’s trip?
2. What do Scott and Connie find they have in common?
3. What kind of work does Connie do?
Traveling, whether for business or pleasure, will put you into all sorts of situations with people you don’t know. They could be sitting beside you on a train, in an airport lounge, or on a ferry ride. And what if you want to strike up a conversation with these people? What can you say to get the conversation going, and to keep it going?
Well, making conversation with strangers is a useful skill, and there are some great techniques you can learn for these situations. Today, we’ll look at how to start off a conversation by commenting on your surroundings, as well as how to ask about someone’s travel. We’ll also learn about reacting with interest, telling a personal story, and giving your name.
In the dialog, we’ll hear Scott and Joe, who find themselves sitting next to each other in an airport lounge waiting for their flights. Scott strikes up a conversation with Joe, and the two demonstrate a typical interaction that you might hear between two travelers.
Listening Questions
1. What is Joe and Scott’s first topic of conversation?
2. What does Joe mention that Scott shows interest in?
3. At what point in the conversation do Joe and Scott introduce themselves?
Microsoft has been busy since CEO Steve Ballmer announced his retirement last summer. On top of buying Nokia, introducing a new tablet lineup, and tweaking Windows 8, they searched high and low for a viable replacement for Ballmer. Even with the recently announced hiring of Satya Nadella as CEO, last year may have been Microsoft’s annus horribilis.
