Negotiation is something we all have to do on some level. You might be part of a team discussing a huge contract, or on the phone trying to get a good deal on office supplies, or in your manager’s office asking for a raise. Negotiation happens every day. In fact, you might say that in business everything is negotiable.
Discussion Questions
1. In your job, what do you have to negotiate?
2. How do you usually prepare for a negotiation?
3. What do you think are the keys to successful negotiation?
If you’ve ever worked or attended a trade show, you know that there are a lot of people and companies competing for attention. And you can stand there all day having casual conversations with people but never make a solid business connection, let alone sign a deal.
That’s why first you have to separate the good prospects from the bad. Then you have to make a connection with the good prospects and find out what they need. If you can manage that, then you’re on your way to closing a deal. And this is what we’ll be looking at today.
Closing a deal at a trade show requires a few essential steps. You need to show a customer that you are listening to them, build trust, and offer good solutions. Then you will be in a good position to ask the person to buy. These are all ideas that we’ll hear in today’s dialog.
We are going to rejoin Jenny, who works for a packing company called D-Pack. She is talking with Andrew, whose company is looking for a redesign of their packaging. Jenny has assessed Andrew’s needs and now wants to make a deal.
Listening Questions
1. What concerns does Andrew have?
2. What solution does Jenny offer?
3. What is Andrew’s final decision?
This is the third lesson in our Business English Pod series on doing business at a trade show.
Trade shows are great opportunities for finding potential customers. And if you’ve got the right attitude and communication skills, you should be able to make some sales.
Now, if you’ve managed to make a connection with a strong lead and the person comes back for a second appointment, what do you do next? How do you know you’ve got a real buyer in front of you and not just someone fishing around for information? You can’t just let a prospect browse your catalog and ask you questions. You need to take charge and find out exactly what and who you’re dealing with.
Questioning skills are key. And this is what we’ll focus on today. We’ll start by looking at how to ask open-ended questions. Then we’ll get into asking about needs, buying authority, budgets, and timelines. If you can do this right, you’ll be in a great position to actually make a sale.
We’ll join Jenny, who works for a packaging company called D-Pack. She’s sitting down with a potential customer named Andrew who has returned for a chat about D-Pack’s products. Jenny is going to ask a lot of questions to assess what Andrew needs and how D-Pack can help.
Listening Questions
1. What does Andrew say his company’s needs?
2. Why does Jenny ask Andrew if he’s a purchasing manager?
3. When does Andrew’s company need the work done?
Previously, we looked at some of the main ideas and vocabulary for bonds, including such terms as yield, coupon, and maturity. In this financial English lesson, we’ll look at the different types of bonds. And we’ll explain some of the key terms related to how bonds are priced and traded.
Bonds have been a hot topic in the news recently. But what exactly are bonds and how do they work?
In this financial English lesson, we’ll explain some of the main ideas and vocabulary, starting with key terms such as yields, coupons, and maturity. Then we’ll get into different types of bonds. And finally we’ll look at how governments use bonds to finance their borrowing needs.
The value of ‘likes’ and ‘tags’ grew exponentially when Facebook filed its S-1 papers last month. Facebook will launch an Initial Public Offering (IPO) in May, paving the way for 27-year old founder Mark Zuckerberg, his staff, and even a graffiti artist to become exceptionally wealthy.
This month’s Business English News lesson features lots of great vocabulary for talking about company valuations, growth and social networks. Use the links below to access the free transcript and quizzes for this lesson.
Review key language and techniques from our recent series on language for job interviews (BEP 204 and BEP 205).
This challenge has 10 questions. For each correct answer you receive 10 points. For each wrong answer you loose 5 points. Your total score at the end of the quiz is the amount of time you have to play the hoops game and get as many balls as possible into the net (eg. 55 points quiz score = 55 seconds of game time).
Course Builder is an online app for building custom courses from Business English Pod lessons. Use the advanced search features to find lessons, drag them into your preferred order, and save to your courses dashboard.
Here’s a step-by step guide to building your first course with Course Builder. You can also watch a short video explaining how to use Course Builder here: Course Builder Guide Video
How to Make your First Course
1. Go to the Course Builder homepage. If not logged in already, you will be prompted to login with your existing BEP membership username and password.
3. Give your course a name and enter your objectives.
4. Set the course visibility to either Private (default) or Public. The default setting is ‘private’, which means that only you and the site administrator can view your course. If you set your course to ‘public’, your course will be published to the course list on the BEP website.
5. Click the “Create Course” button to save your course details and go to the lesson search page.
6. Enter a search term (eg. ‘describing trends’) and select specific categories you want to search (eg. ‘Presentations’, ‘Sales’, etc.). To search all BEP lessons, leave the categories unselected (or click the reset search form button). To list all the lessons in a category, leave the search terms box empty. Once you’ve entered your search terms, click the ‘Search for Lessons’ button.
7. A list of lessons matching your search criteria is now available below the search box. Click the green “+” button to select lessons to add to your course. Your selected lessons will start to appear in the ‘Edit Lessons’ section on the right of the page.
8. Click ‘Save Lessons’ to save your selections. You can repeat steps 6 and 7 until you have found all the lesson you want to add to your course. In the “Edit Lessons’ section, drag the selected lessons to your desired order and click the “Save Lessons” button.
9. Click the ‘Save Course’ button.
10. Click ‘View Course’ button to view your saved course and update your progress. A lick to the BEP page for each lesson you selected is listed on you course page. Your saved courses are also listed on the Course Builder homepage.
This is the second of a two-part Business English Pod lesson on job interviews for when you’re changing jobs or switching careers.
You can’t do the same thing for your entire life. That’s why you’ve chosen to make a change, to take your skills and experience and apply them to something new. But this comes with a challenge. How can you convince an interviewer that you’ve got what it takes to make the switch?
This is especially true for those of us who are more “mature.” There’s an old saying: “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” Well, your task in the interview is to show why this saying is wrong. And you need to demonstrate why an “old dog” brings a lot more to the table than a younger dog.
In today’s lesson, we’ll rejoin Patrick, an accountant who’s interviewing for a position with an advisory firm. Frank and Nina are conducting the interview. We’ll hear Patrick demonstrate some key interview skills; he’s going to answer hypothetical questions, highlight transferable skills, and demonstrate research. He’s also going to make polite suggestions and ask good questions.
Listening Questions
1. Why does Patrick talk about his work developing junior accountants?
2. What is Patrick’s suggestion about training and development?
3. What does Patrick want to know about the position?
This is the first of a two-part Business English Pod lesson on English job interviews for when you’re changing jobs or making a career shift.
You’ve racked up a lot of work experience and you’re proud of your special accomplishments. And you know enough to have clear opinions about how things should be done. But it’s time for a bit of a change. Maybe you’re switching careers altogether, or maybe you’re just looking to change roles. Regardless, you’re going to have to explain your accomplishments and express your opinions carefully in order to a make a good impression.
In an interview, it’s not just about what you say, it’s about how you say it. You will be asked some difficult questions, and you may only have one shot at it. The stakes are high, and the competition may be great. You need to sell yourself and demonstrate why you are the right choice for the position.
In this lesson, we’ll hear Nina and Frank interviewing Patrick. Patrick is a seasoned accountant looking for a career shift. He’s applying for a job with one of the major accounting advisory firms. Patrick is going to highlight his unique experience, politely criticize his former employer, admit challenges, and talk about past conflict. These are all tough things to do well, but Patrick handles them wisely.
Listening Questions
1. Why is Patrick talking about changes to a company’s internal controls?
2. How does Patrick describe financial meetings with executives?
3. How does Patrick say he dealt with the executives?
