hello and welcome to the fourth English
today business DVD in this DVD you can
watch another four episodes of our story
on the job followed by the business
skills section that looks at another
aspect of win-win language will then
look at the following language topics
describing the stages in a business
transaction expressions used at
International Business fairs the
language and delivery techniques used in
presentations so have fun and enjoy your
viewing
Oh
who's in charge of delivery to the blue
moon bookshop Anand I why they've just
telephoned complaining that they haven't
received anything yet well that's
impossible
I sent the delivery five days ago that's
just it
I don't understand what could have
happened the merchant I should have
arrived by now and call the shipping
agents to find out what's up hello
am i speaking too fast shipping this is
Anne Baxter from pilgrim publishing I'd
like to follow up on the merchandise we
sent five days ago sorry
that's impossible there must be some
mistake
you can't have delivered it our client
has just telephoned saying that they
haven't received anything yet okay okay
I'll take a look at the paperwork and
get back to you bye bye
fast claims that the goods were signed
for by the consignee Rachel go get the
bill of lading we need to look into what
caused this mistake
Gary are you sure you provided the exact
address
certainly I still remember it it's 35
Lafayette Avenue Orange that's it all
right what about the duty do you
remember paying it duty excuse me mr.
Stevens but worried you members are not
required to pay duty merchandise is free
to move between the member states and
duty is no longer required nor is
documentation you what does Europe have
to do with it uh excuse me but orange is
in France isn't it good god Gary blue
moon is an orange but not in France
orange is a city in Massachusetts USA
call the book shop immediately what an
idiot that's why I paid less on freight
charges and was budgeted
hello pilgrim publishing this is Anne
Baxter hello this is Victoria Lane I'm
calling in regards to the shipment I was
wondering if you had any news yet
yes actually unfortunately there's been
a misunderstanding but don't worry we're
taking care of things on our end and you
should receive could you tell me exactly
what's happened
my boss is extremely upset the shipping
documents were in order according to the
bill of lading the supply should have
already arrived can you explain why the
merchandise is blocked in the custom
warehouse customs oh no you see I'm
afraid there's been a slight problem in
addressing the goods and they've been
sent to a destination in France instead
of Massachusetts France Massachusetts
what are you talking about the
merchandise was destined for China China
excuse me are you the owner of the blue
moon in orange Massachusetts no I'm not
I work for Spectre we're a multinational
sporting goods manufacturer I'm speaking
with fast shipping well actually no this
is pilgrim publishing I'm afraid you've
got the wrong number but we do have
something in common we both use the same
life is funny i dial a wrong number and
who do I call a publishing house maybe
it's face nice young woman as well what
was her name and Baxter that's right we
use the same couriers and are both
having problems with deliveries what a
strange coincidence mrs. Lee have you
spoken with fast shippers yet not yet
the numbers always busy we have to
figure out what's happened this delivery
delay is costing us a lot of money the
courier assured us that the merchandise
didn't have to pass through customs that
it would have left their warehouse with
the customs bill already compiled
without any additional customs
requirements that's right considering
the shipping costs they're so high
because they include all international
delivery costs such as transit loading
and unloading assembly and warehouse
storage costs just a moment I've got it
did you remember to attach the
certificate of origin mrs. Lee the
certificate of origin I don't really
know what that is it's never been
required for our shipments the
certificate of origin is that document
which states the merchandise is country
of origin for customs purposes it's
absolutely necessary for companies doing
business in countries which don't belong
to the EU provided upon customs
officials request and China is one of
those countries I'm sorry mrs. Collins I
didn't know I swear it up until now I've
never taken care of shipments this is
going to be one very expensive mistake
oh by the way I'll be taking our losses
caused by this delay out of your salary
four-inch France orange Massachusetts
that's an understandable mistake but
orange China you see what can happen if
the goods are addressed to the wrong
place it can be very costly as we saw in
the video now let's look at that process
of buying and selling that transactional
process and the commercial documents
which are related to that but first do
you know other terms for the word goods
other ways of saying goods there's
products merchandise and also freight do
you know that Freight FR e GH t yeah all
four of them we use products goods
merchandise and freight so let's look at
that process now and imagine that we are
a buyer a potential buyer we would like
to buy something and so we contact a
seller look at the screen which will
give you the list of the documents which
we would need to do this transaction the
first one is the buyer makes an inquiry
now inquiry can be written with an e at
the beginning or an I and inquiry so
what's that well that's an to ask if
goods are available what the price of
those goods are what the conditions of
delivery are and also what the terms of
payment are so we as the buyer make an
inquiry now the potential seller sends
back another document which is called
the offer or the quotation in that
document the seller offers to sell us
the required goods the goods that we
have ordered at their price and in there
with their conditions after that we as
the buyer decide if we want to go ahead
and if we do then we make the order
that's the third document the order now
in the order we have all the full
particulars and details of the goods
that are to be supplied by the seller so
we have the inquiry then the quotation
and now the order after the goods are
then packaged and they are prepared for
transportation usually we contact a
shipping agent now a shipping agent are
the people who actually organize the
transportation of merchandise and
they're also called freight forwarders
you see that word again
freight freight forwarders or shipping
agents now that can be by sea by land or
by air depending on where the goods are
going and what the goods are okay so we
decide to make the order now the actual
process involved at the beginning of
payment starts with what we call a pro
forma invoice a pro forma invoice now
this is like an ordinary invoice but in
fact it's not the real one it has all
the details of the transaction but it's
not yet the real invoice and that's
often given to shipping agents who are
doing the transportation the most
important document of payment is the
invoice the invoice or the bill now in
the invoice it's the document that
describes the goods the freight the
merchandise the quality of that the
quantity and the price also the terms of
payment and the delivery and the invoice
is sent to the buyer with the goods it
accompanies the goods then we as the
buyer have to actually buy the goods and
to do that payment
takes place now the safest way to pay
for goods is still the letter of credit
and this is used extensively because
it's the safest way because why because
what it is is and it's an agreement
between two banks the banks of the buyer
and the banks of the seller and when the
two banks agree it's a much safer
condition of payment and as you heard in
the video you heard the words consignor
and Kansai nee well the seller is the
consignor and the consignee is the buyer
okay I hope that gives you some idea of
what the whole selling and buying
transaction is about and also the main
documents that you need in that process
okay great so see you again in the next
lesson bye welcome back arrey how was
the International Book Fair in Frankfurt
great i cultivated a number of
interesting contacts that could lead to
great opportunities i also participated
in a very important conference on the
current state of affairs in the
international book market oh do tell
Gary yes okay but just a brief summary
because I've really got to get going mr.
Stephens wants a report on the trade
fair ASAP and I've been away for three
days so I've got a ton of work to catch
up on any case a number of the top
company representatives from the largest
international publishing houses
participated the most interesting
presentation was surely that of John
Schuhmann one of the top experts in the
publishing sector and what did he have
to say excuse me just a moment
it's one of my contacts from Frankfurt
as I was saying John Schuhmann using the
most current data as his starting point
he determined that the publishing market
is growing slowly and that the number of
readers is stagnant it's
readers who already buy books and who
want to increase the size of their
libraries who are responsible for sales
to cut a long story short the current
crisis has been around for a while
unfortunately yes
just the other day a friend of mine from
Amsterdam in the publishing trade was
telling me that his company has had to
let 15 people go since the beginning of
the year you're kidding
does that mean that we could become
redundant no Rachel I just finished
telling you that the trade fair was a
huge success
we've just got to look at these things
over the long term it's the latest
technologies that will offer the most
success in this market what do you mean
I'm talking about digital editing we are
on the cusp of a revolution in
publishing in other words the transition
from printed publishing to digital
publishing I'm afraid I don't agree with
you Gary internet email cd-rom DVDs and
all electronic gadgets put together will
never substitute the joy of reading a
book I know I know Rachel you are a
Luddite but this is the future the owner
of a multimedia publishing house from
Stockholm told me that they were able to
greatly lower production distribution
and warehousing costs all due to digital
publishing not only that but just think
of the level of interaction we can
achieve with readers via Internet and
besides that just a moment excuse me I
bet it's one of your important contacts
from Frankfurt yes as a matter of fact
it is judging from your expression I'd
say that these contacts are mostly
female
oh hi Victoria
why we're into the meeting this morning
which meeting the meeting the mrs.
Collins called with all the department
heads to come to grips with a situation
and I quote to discuss the means with
which we can improve both production and
company efficiencies no one told me
anything I bet she did that on purpose
my darling boss she wanted to get back
at me for a mistake I made on a shipment
she always keeps me out of the loop on
all the important developments and makes
me do the work of a secretary I hate her
come on Victoria chin up things would
get better
not sure about that Paul anyway tell me
what did you discuss at the meeting well
you can imagine the tone the mrs.
Collins used she prefers cold and
distant she urged us all to work even
harder to overcome this difficult moment
for the company
according to her we should be working
24/7 365 listen to this she told the
warehouse manager to calculate the
efficiency of workers more precisely as
they go about their tasks and if
necessary to lengthen their hours then
she invited mr. Rover the personnel
director to evaluate the necessity of
any new hiring she told him that from
now on each and every short-term or
long-term plan must first be evaluated
and approved by her
I always said she was a dictator yeah
and she claims that we should be
delighted at her flexibility and the
many corporate heads she knows would I
resort with a huge personnel cats to
improve the situation
Oh what an understand
woman you bet then she added the
companies need to meet deadlines and to
work within strict budget in order to
keep crying satisfied and remain
competitive in the market finally
referring to you she reminded us all the
delays and errors in projects are
absolutely unacceptable
what you doing Victoria
are you taking notes no I'm writing my
letter of resignation
did you hear what she said she said I'm
writing my letter of resignation now do
you remember what that means letter of
resignation it means she wants to resign
she wants to leave the company and quit
her job poor Victoria
well let's now turn back to what we said
at the beginning of the lesson which was
international fairs and look of some of
the language which is useful for you
related to those now if you decide to
represent your company in an
international fair you are called an
exhibitor look at the screen and
exhibitor and what you have in order to
display your things is a stand it can be
small it can be large but it's a stand
also we use booth now when you go to the
fair the hard work begins because you
have to set up or build the stand then
when it's ready you display which means
to show you display your goods your
products or your services then at the
end of the week usually it's a week you
take down the stand now if you're on the
stand it's really hard work and I want
to help you with some phrases that can
be useful when visitors are walking past
now as they work walk past you often
want to invite them on to the stand
sometimes they will talk to you directly
but other times they just want to come
on and look around so you could say do
come in and have a look around have a
look around now another thing we use
which is very nice is please feel free
to browse please feel free to browse
browse which is also computer language
it means to look at things calmly okay
now obviously you don't want to abandon
them so you could say if you need my
help
don't hesitate to ask if you need my
help don't hesitate to ask me okay now
obviously with potential clients there
comes a time where you will be talking
about prices so often a question that
they will ask you is what price discount
do you offer on large quantities price
discount okay or what discount do you
offer on upfront payment which is an
American term or cash in advance which
is the British term so that means you
pay upfront you pay before receiving the
goods now when you're answering
questions like that it depends on the
person you're talking to because they
might be from Japan from Germany from
America so an important question to ask
is which currency would you like me to
quote you in which currency it could be
yen it could be pounds it could be
French francs for example so which
currency would you like me to quote you
in now you could also say for example
our price is ex-works
fob or chief now these might be familiar
to you they are the specific Incoterms
incoterm means the international
contract terms okay let's move on
payment now that's an important
consideration the question could be what
are your terms of payment and you might
answer want to answer well we usually
work with a letter of credit and as we
said before in the previous lesson
letter a letter of credit is probably
the safest term of payment then delivery
questions could be how long will it take
you to deliver after confirmation of the
letter of credit other
possibilities are they will ask you what
are your delivery conditions can you
shorten your delivery time now shorten
means reduce it so can you shorten your
delivery time to for example 15 days and
another thing is transportation which
freight forwarders do you remember that
shipping agents which shipping agents or
freight forwarders do you use now if you
have to produce things then you could
ask the question for example or say
state we need 60 days production time
another word for production time is lead
time so we need 60 days production time
lead time from receipt of the letter of
credit that's very important these
conditions are extremely important to
state at the beginning of your business
relationships then when you've talked
and when it's time for the client to
leave you exchange business cards so you
could say here is my business card with
our company details you can reach me on
this number anytime during office hours
notice we say you can reach me you can
phone me you can contact me then after
the fair you can say for example let me
know if you need anything or give me a
call if you have any queries queries
another word for questions don't
hesitate to contact me if you need help
okay
and then just wish them have a good trip
back because they've probably travelled
from another country alright well I hope
that helps you in some way to deal with
the situation when you're on the stand
and good luck because it's really hard
work okay thanks very much and see you
in the next lesson bye
Paul don't tell me this is true are you
really gonna leave yes Paul
I just can't stay here since mrs.
Collins has arrived the work climate has
become unbearable she never misses an
opportunity to humiliate me and to
assign me the most demeaning tasks and
what are you gonna do now well I've got
in touch with a number of companies this
afternoon for example I have an
interview with a publishing house
publishing house you're not gonna become
an author are you precisely you know
it's always been a dream of mine I don't
think the interview is gonna focus on my
literary talents but Paul you look awful
what's the matter I'm gonna be concerned
about things we're having a meeting with
a major shareholders of Spectre to take
a look at the balance sheets and is that
a problem well as you know the year-end
balance sheets provide an overview of
the economical fiscal and fiduciary
effectiveness of our management and I
certainly hope the scrutinizing the
books won't uncover inconvenient
discrepancies that could lead to a
change of a company leadership what
exactly are you referring to as you know
things haven't been rosy lately even if
there has been a slight improvement in
share prices during the last quarter
however at the same time the outstanding
debts to our suppliers have also
increased in other words our revenues
don't cover our expenses the situation
is serious then that's right
I'm afraid we'll need to resort to
additional outside financing have been
calculating the various balance sheets
entries to understand what's causing our
debts and try to develop a plan of
attack to get our weak points under
control
the results are anything but encouraging
as you well know the solidity and
integrity of our financial core assets
are indispensable to keeping our
production capabilities intact
and revenues flowing I certainly
wouldn't want to be in your shoes at the
meeting no kidding I am predicting
lightning and thunder
I wish I didn't have to participate
perhaps I could come down with a sudden
case of flu or something
how about kidney inflammation our
campaigned by high fever caused by a
highly contagious virus mysteriously
present in the company you'll laugh but
now that you won't be here I'll have to
double the work by the way they don't
happen to need someone else at the
publishing house you were speaking about
so you're a sacred author as well no but
I can do a lot of things for example use
a computer make photocopies send faxes
that should be enough shouldn't it what
a clown I'm gonna miss your jokes fall
yes I see I understand but it has to be
done by Friday is that possible good
good it's very important we'll be in
touch thank you goodbye mrs. Lee you've
got an exceptional CV well thank you mr.
Stevens I don't quite understand why you
left Spectre according to this you're in
a position of considerable
responsibility that's true I was very
satisfied with my job at the beginning I
had a very prestigious position and many
high-profile projects were sent my way
however once Spectre was taken over by a
Japanese multinational things just took
a turn to the worse my boss was let go
many of my colleagues was transferred
and I was relieved of my duties and of
course well maybe I shouldn't tell you
please do no reason to be afraid
well the truth is I just didn't get
along with my new boss I appreciate your
frankness sincerity is one of the main
qualities that I look for in my
employees but tell me mrs. Lee how are
your bookkeeping invoicing and
administrative skills excellent I would
say but I wanted to speak to you about
and are you familiar with the publishing
market yes to a certain degree but as I
was saying ever since I was a child I've
always been fascinated by you can tell
me about your dreams at another time
mrs. Lee currently we're busy with our
year-end balance sheet and I need a
well-trained assistant to prepare an
assessment of our administrative
expenses and to study our assets and
liabilities you considering your
experiences appear to be a
it fit well Thank You mr. Stevens but
once this emergency has blown over I was
wondering if perhaps you could take me
into consideration as a as a yes as an
author I'm quite talented my literature
professor at university used to
encourage me this is not a school and
this is Lee I got in touch with you to
speak to you about our marketing office
that's what I'd like to hire you for
please don't be offended but keep your
dreams to yourself for the moment as far
as books are concerned we can get
started in the bookkeeping immediately
certainly but later we'll see we'll see
did you notice how mr. Stevens was
reading a CV it was Victoria's
curriculum vitae when he was doing the
interview with her well often in reality
people doing interviews don't have time
to read the whole CV and so if you're in
the interview you have to look at the
information very quickly and just get
the general understanding of it so what
he was doing he was skimming for
important information and that's what I
want to talk to you about now are the
four skills that we use for reading
which are skimming scanning extensive
reading and intensive reading so let's
call on the screen to look at those now
the first thing that I talked about was
skimming which is what I said mr.
Stevens was doing and that means that
you read quickly in order to get the
most important information or to get the
gist the gist is the general
understanding the most important
information to get the gist and this is
what you will do in your job for example
if you're you have to use read a
newspaper quickly magazines business and
travel brochures for example so you read
them quickly to pick out the important
information that's skimming the second
one is scanning now we use scanning in
order to extract particular information
a particular piece of information so for
example if you want to see a particular
television program you scan it if you
want to think about travel if you want
to see what train or what plane leaves a
train or a plane schedule you scan it
and pick out the particular information
important for you also a conference
guide when there are many speeches you
scan and pick out the one relevant to
you so that skimming scanning what about
extensive reading now extensive reading
is the type of reading you use when you
want to obtain a general understanding
about a subject so for example it could
mean for you reading a market strategy
book or a novel or a magazine article
which is related to your job so
extensive reading for general
understanding and the last one is the
intensive reading and that is for very
close very accurate reading for detail
and that's where you read for every word
it's important to understand every word
and every fact obviously and in this
case you would use it with like a
bookkeeping report very important to
look at the details an insurance claim
or for contracts terribly important to
read every word that is intensive
reading so remember that when you you're
in your workplace it's important to be
able to move between skimming scanning
extensive reading and intensive reading
sometimes in English you are tempted to
want to understand every word so use the
dictionary it takes ages it's just not
necessary remember check on what the
task is that you want to achieve and
then choose whether you need to skim or
scan and don't bother about the words
that you don't understand go for the
particular information all right
so happy reading bye and see you in the
next lesson
excuse me
my name is Victoria Lee today is my
first day at work and I'd like to know
great great way to start where is
everybody mr. Stevens told me I was
going to make my new colleagues and they
were going to explain everything wonder
if I've come to the wrong Department ah
you must be the new arrival pleasure to
meet you
I'm Rachel pleasures all mine my name is
Victoria Leigh mr. Stevens asked me to
show you the office and explain
everything so over there is the fax in
the photocopier this is your desk and
computer what else oh yes you'll find a
coffee machine down the hall but please
remember few breaks and please keep them
short this gentleman
is Gary Reynolds head of marketing how
do you do I'm Victoria mr. Stevens tells
me that we're going to be working
closely together I must say it's quite a
pleasure to spend so much time with such
a lovely young lady happily married
woman married with a son as a matter of
fact
well done Victoria let him know who's
who
Gary's the kind of guy who can't control
himself with attractive women thank you
for the compliment Rachel let's get down
to work
here's an analysis of last year's
investments as you can see we've
consistently improved our bottom line in
all sectors even if as far as I'm
concerned we need to move more
aggressively into the market what
exactly do you mean well improve our
e-commerce play for example let's
imagine for a moment that pilgrim were
to develop an advanced online catalog
that would allow users to purchase
directly online don't you think that
this way we could dramatically cut our
distribution costs certainly but what
does mr. Stevens think well he's a bit
old-school in his way of thinking
according to his worldview we should
focus on sales through more traditional
channels I on the other hand would be
thrilled if you saw things more along my
lines
why don't we develop a realistic
marketing strategy that includes
possible ecommerce earnings perhaps we
could convince him together I'm afraid I
can't at the moment Gary I've got to
focus on the bookkeeping to begin with
listen why don't we have a little dinner
together tonight and then continue
working at my house I'm married remember
Gary statistics accounts reports not
much has changed from Spector and I was
hoping for a more creative position oh
hello you must be the new hire I'm at
Baxter I'm Victoria Lee I recognise your
name have we met before
I don't think so Oh perhaps we met at
the Red Lion pub I often go there with
my friends no it doesn't sound familiar
actually I have a son so I don't get out
much but still I've heard your name
before just a moment now I remember we
met on the telephone when I was still
working expector we both had that
problem with our career fast
oh yes I remember now you were having
problems with a shipment to to China
gosh what a coincidence
well who would have ever thought we
would end up working together so how are
things going well it's still too early
to say today's my first day at work I
presume you've already met Gary yes
earlier we're working on a project
together and I bet he's already invited
you out to do that yes as a matter of
fact and he's probably told you that he
loves working with charming young girls
such as yourself yes and how do you know
he always uses the same line he did the
same with me
how original well I'm pleased that
you've joined us here and what I hope
will become great friends this will I'm
sure we will know very nice and who
knows maybe that telephone call was
destiny
so let's talk about making presentations
I think it's very important when you
decide to make a presentation to give it
a good structure because that will help
you when you're actually giving it so
let's look at some of the language which
will help you give the presentation
structure okay and let's call on the
screen to help us with that um first
it's important to draw everybody's
attention to make sure people are quiet
so you could say for example shall we
start
shall we begin or let's get started all
right now those are ways to draw the
attention of the audience then you need
to greet them so you could say for
example good morning everyone which is
quite informal good morning everyone
more formal would be good morning ladies
and gentlemen that's more formal so you
greet them then you introduce yourself
so it would be like this and an example
would be let's get started
good morning everyone let me introduce
myself my name is Louise Evans and I'm
in charge of marketing okay so you give
your name and also your position of
responsibility in the company so you can
say I'm in charge of or I'm responsible
for marketing then you need to introduce
the topic of your presentation so you
could say the aim or the purpose watch
the pronunciation the aim or the purpose
or the objective of my presentation
today is to talk about the marketing
strategy so three words aim objective or
purpose good
you could also say for example I'd like
to give you a brief overview or an
outline now that's quite similar to
summary it means a general picture so
I'd like to give you an overview or an
outline
of our marketing strategy then you need
to usually divide the presentation up
into three or four or five points so we
could say I'll divide my presentation up
into four notice we say I'll divide my
presentation up in two is quite
complicated that I'll divide my
presentation up into four points now
another word for points is items or we
could say headings areas sections or
subjects
please don't say arguments because an
argument means a heated conversation
between two people so I'll divide my
presentation up into four main points
items headings areas sections or
subjects then you need to look at the
verbs that you can use because you can
say then firstly I'd like to discuss the
marketing strategy I'd like to introduce
the marketing strategy I'd like to look
at look at is the same as analyze or
consider I'd like to explain that means
talk about the details so that people
understand I'd like to examine I'd like
to show and I'd like to illustrate these
are the main verbs that you would use
when describing what you're going to do
so firstly you could say firstly
secondly and finally or last of all so
you see divided up into sections firstly
secondly finally last of all now it's
often a good idea to talk about the
duration the length of your presentation
because often business presentations can
be too long and boring and if you say
for example my presentation shouldn't
take longer than 30
minutes people are psychologically
prepared and feel happier that they're
not going to have to sit through a whole
load of slides on a long long
explanation give them a time reference
then you need to decide when you're
giving your presentation if you want
people to interrupt you during it or if
they should ask questions at the end of
your presentation now if you want to
invite participation during the
presentation you could say for example
please feel free to interrupt if
anything's not clear okay please feel
free to interrupt if anything's not
clear if you want to ask questions now
sometimes in a shorter presentation you
would prefer to take questions at the
end of the presentations so you could
say something like this if you have any
questions could you could I ask you to
keep them until the end of the
presentation let's look at that again
it's not easy if you have any questions
could I ask you to keep them until the
end of the presentation when I'll be
very happy to answer them all right so
there you keep control of how much
interruption you have in your
presentation so we've said firstly I'd
like to discuss or I'd like to talk
about the marketing strategy now when
you want to move on to the second point
you can say in English good now let's
move on to my next point move on to my
next point
another possibility is good that brings
me to my next point
so that's moving the presentation
forward if somebody interrupts you and
you don't want to handle the
interruption at that moment you can say
yes that's a very good question but can
I come back to that later so recognize
the question
that's a good question to show that
you're going to deal with it but then
say can I come back to that later and of
course if you say that make sure you
remember that question make a mental
note and always answer it then to
conclude the presentation you can say
I'd like to finish by saying that or I'd
like to conclude by saying that or you
can say in conclusion I think we should
in conclusion and the very last things
to say
usually thank you very much for coming
thank you for it your attention is not
necessary because you're doing the work
they're there to listen to you so it's
just better I think to say that's it
that's it which means it's finished and
thank you very much thank you very much
for coming or thank you very much all
right
so I hope that helps you with your
future presentations remember structure
is very important and it will help you
remember things more clearly so good
luck with any presentation that you do
in the future and good luck in general
with your business English bye
hello and here we are for the last
business talk program hi there today
we'll look again at win-win language but
this time we'll concentrate on the
language of negotiation and small talk
we saw last time that those three
fundamental points organization
simplicity and appropriate language are
very important in any context but let's
have a look now at how win-win language
can produce positive results in a
negotiation Eric and I are going to act
out an example of a supplier asking for
a price increase to cover transport
costs as you listen keep in mind team
spirit and a positive approach listen
James I'm afraid we're going to have to
increase the cost of our deliveries to
you we can't go on delivering at the
price we agreed last year the cost of
fuel is too high at the moment I'm sorry
Carol but I can't accept any changes to
our agreement at the moment but James
we're losing money on every delivery we
make we have to do something I think my
company would prefer to look for another
supplier in that case I'm really not
prepared to change what we agree I'm
sure other supplies will be just as
expensive and you know we've always met
our deadlines no how do you keep to your
agreement or I'm going to look for
another supplier
now this was a typical I win you lose
situation okay now let's have a look at
a possible outcome if win-win language
had been applied
listen James I'm afraid we're going to
have to increase the cost of our
deliveries to you we can't go on
delivering at the prices we agreed last
year the cost of fuel is too high at the
moment Carol this is very difficult
let's try to see if we can find an
alternative solution good idea why don't
we try to break down your costs and see
if we can help you make some savings
well as I said the problem is simple
it's the high cost of fuel how about
trying to reduce the number of trips if
we can order in bigger quantities surely
you can save on the fuel it might be
possible give me some time to make some
calculations okay shall we talk tomorrow
and see if we can reach an agreement
that works for both of us the results in
this situation is very different
Eric was friendlier in his approach and
didn't immediately turn down my request
first he tried to find out exactly what
I wanted yes the idea is to look for
alternative solutions that make both
parties happy let's have a look now at
how the same language I used in the
negotiation can also work in a more
informal situation like a business lunch
this time we're deciding where to go for
dinner this evening a clear I win you
lose situation would be what would you
like to do this evening I'd like to go
to a fish restaurant hmm unfortunately
my wife doesn't like fish well I'm sure
the restaurant will serve something else
for her well yes all right I know a good
fish restaurant could you pick me up at
the hotel hmm yeah sure
this time I'll apply it some win-win
language let's see what happens what
would you like to do this evening how
about going to a fish restaurant does
your wife like fish hmm unfortunately
she doesn't no problem
why don't we try to find a restaurant
that your wife likes that can offer me
some good fish as well great idea I
think you're like her favorite
restaurant they do fish too fine let's
meet at the restaurant I can take a taxi
from the hotel oh of course that will
pick you up at the hotel
okay well we haven't got time for
anything else today so goodbye bye-bye
so if you're negotiating or deciding
where to go for an informal business
dinner win-win language can really make
a difference let's have a look at the
four phrases used in both win-win
situations that made this difference how
about how about trying to reduce the
number of trips why don't we why don't
we try to find a restaurant that your
wife likes let's let's try to see if we
can find an alternative solution shall
we what time shall we meet when placed
at the beginning of a sentence these
phrases involve the other person and
keep them involved in the conversation
even in informal situations it's
important that no one comes away feeling
they've lost so this technique can be
very useful the key to small talk is
simplicity use open questions where did
you go on holiday last year they keep
the conversation going try not to use
closed questions did you go on holiday
last year they only require a yes-or-no
answer which can often finish a
conversation prepare some simple
responses to things that people may tell
you that's interesting congratulations
oh how terrible that's too bad
fantastic amazing most important prepare
an appropriate way to say goodbye I
think it's time for me to get back to
the hotel thank you for a lovely evening
I'm afraid I have to be leaving soon
I still have to finish some work it's
been wonderful meeting all of you well
it's been really nice talking to you use
win-win language and everyone