Business English : Selling
What do you like about shopping? What don't you like?When did you last visit these retail outlets? What did you buy?• a (street) market
• a convenience store
• a supermarket
• a department store
• a specialist retailer
• a shopping centre/mall
• an online retailer
Find the appropriate meaning for each sentence.
1- Look at these qualities needed to succeed in sales. Which do you think are
the top four?
• personality • honesty • appearance • confidence • knowing your product
• organizational skills • ability to close a deal • ability to deal with people
2- Which of the qualities in Exercise A is the most important?
Work in pairs.
Student A: Read the article and match each of these headings (a-h) to one of the paragraphs (1-8).
a) Motivation e) Main finding of the survey 1
b) Professionalism f) Why women make the best salespeople
c) TV g) What the survey asked
d) Personal qualities h) The woman who would make the best salesperson
Student B: Read the article and match each of these headings (a-h) to one
of the paragraphs (1-8).
a) Know your business e) Numbers, numbers, numbers
b) Appearance f) Know how far you'll negotiate
c) Confidence g) People dislike selling 1
d) The sales mindset h) Develop a sales process
Business English : Selling Women on top in new sales industry survey A new survey of the sales industry shows
who sales professionals believe make the
best salespeople and the qualities needed
in order to succeed.
1 A new survey of over 200 sales professionals has found that two-thirds of women and over half of men believe that women make the best salespeople, underlining the growing reputation of women in the sales industry.2 The survey was carried out for Pareto Law, a recruitment a n d training company. It questioned sales professionals o n what they considered to be the most important qualities for a salesperson . It also asked who would be most likely to succeed.3 Both men (53%) a n d women (66%) a g reed that women do make better salespeople, with Hillary Clinton voted as the top female celebrity most likely to succeed in a career in sales.4 When asked why women make the best salespeople, men believe the main reason is that women are better a t actually closing a deal, while women stated they are better than men when it comes to dealing with people. Other female skills highlighted included being more organised and being able to handle more work, while male skills were identified as strong personalities and selling skills.5 Jonathan Fitchew, Managing Director of Pareto Law, said: "Television programmes have increased people's interest in the sales industry, but have also highlighted the different approaches of men a n d women to the same sales issues."6 When it comes to the individual qualities required to become a successful salesperson, men ranked honesty as most important (53%), while women placed most value o n personality (47%). Both ag reed that integrity was also key, coming third overall ( 4 1 % ) . Good looks came at the bottom of the list, with only 3 % of sales professionals ranking this as important.7 This focus o n professionalism, rather than the hard sell, supports the fact that over half of the sales professionals questioned believe that the reputation of sales has improved over the last 1 0 years, with 55% of men and 47% of women considering this to b e the case.8 Both men (87%) and women (86%) ag reed that the top incentive for salespeople was money, with the average sales executive expecting to earn between £25-35k, including bonuses and commission, in their first year of work. Other incentives included verbal praise, overseas holidays and cars.
Work in pairs.
Student A: Ask Student B these questions about their article.
1 What should you do if you are not inwardly confident?
2 What do you need to know well?
3 What do ' 30 seconds' and '15 seconds' refer to?
4 What should you do when you are rejected?
5 What should you focus on?
6 What do you need to know when negotiating?
7 What sales mindset should you have?
Student B: Ask Student A what these numbers refer to in their article.
a) two-thirds b) half c) 53 d) 66 e) 53 f) 47 g) third
h) 41 i) 3 j) 10 k) 5 5 l) 47 m) 87 n) 86 o) 25-35
Modals 2: must, need to, have to, should
1 We often use must, need to and has/ have to to say that something is compulsory o r necessary.
We must be patient when our goals are for the long term.
Companies have to advertise to let consumers know they exist.
I need to have the figures before next Monday's meeting.
2 We use had to to refer to a past obligation.
When / lived in Tokyo, I had to learn Japanese.
3 We use should and shouldn't to give advice or to suggest the right course of action.
A CV should be printed on good·quality notepaper.
It shouldn't be more than two pages long.
Should often follows the verbs suggest and think.
I suggest/think we should aim at the top end of the market.
4 We use should to say that something is likely in the future.
Interest rates should come down soon - that's what the economists are predicting.
5 We use don't have to and don't need to if something is not necessary.
You don't have to queue up when you buy online.
If you buy now, you don't need to pay anything until next year.
6 We use mustn't I must not when things are forbidden or against the law.
Drivers must not park their vehicles by a traffic light.
Compare the uses of mustn't and don't have to in this sentence.
In many companies, employees mustn't wear jeans, but they don't have to dress formally.
7 We use must to say we are sure of something because of what we know.
He must be very rich - he drives a Ferrari.
8 Have to is more common in questions than must.
Do we have to make a decision now?
Follow the following link to practice the Grammar Topic
Work in two groups, A and B.Group A: Look at the following negotiating tips Group A: Negotiating tips• Be friendly. • Pay attention to the other side's body language.
• Have clear aims. • Don't change your plan during the meeting.
• Tell the other side what you want. • Listen carefully.
• Never be the first to make an offer.
Group B: Look at the following negotiating tips.
Group B: Negotiating tips• Be strong and try to win. • Summarise often the points you agree on.
• Prepare carefully before you negotiate. • Change your strategy during the negotiation if
necessary.
• Ask a lot of questions. • Never show any emotion.
• Have a lot of options.
Business English : Selling 1 Each group agrees on the five most important negotiating tips on its list.2 Form new groups with members from Groups A and B. Agree on a single listof the five most important tips from both lists.
You are going to hear a conversation between Martin, Sales Manager of Pulse, an electric-car company, and Chen, an official from the Urban Transport Department of a city in China.
1 Why does Chen want to buy electric cars for the Transport Department?
2 Which of these do they discuss?
• quantity • price • discounts • colours • delivery • warranty • models
3 What will they discuss after lunch?
Martin and Chen are continuing the negotiation. They discuss these points.
four-seater car
• colours
• after-sales-service
• radio/CO player and sat-nav system
Student A:
You are Martin. You want to:
1 sell Chen some deluxe four-seater models of your cars.
Price: €20,000; discount of 5% for first order
2 offer only two colours for your two-seater cars: white and black.
Extra colours will raise the price by 5%.
3 send a Pulse mechanic to China every six months to service the cars.
You can train local mechanics at a cost of€200 per hour.
Student B:
You are Chen. You want:
1 to buy an additional five deluxe four-seater cars. Negotiate on the price. Try to get a
10% discount on the order;
2 four colours for the two-seater cars: black, white, red and blue;
3 after-sales service: visits every three months from a Pulse mechanic; a training course
for a local car-repair firm.
Read your role cards. Try to agree on the points you negotiate.
USEFUL LANGUAGE
STATING AIMS REJECTING SUGGESTIONS 
Business English : Selling
We're interested in buying 10 cars. I'm afraid not. It's company policy.
We'd like to start the scheme in June. Unfortunately, we can't do that.
We must have delivery as soon as I'm sorry, we can't agree to that.
possible.
GETTING AGREEMENT MAKING CONCESSIONS
That's very reasonable, don't you think? - We could possibly deliver by August.
That sounds a fair price to me. - That could be all right, as long as
Fine./OK./Great! you pay more for a longer period.
-We can do that, providing you make
a down payment.
BARGAINING
If it works, we'll increase the order FINISHING THE NEGOTIATION
later on. Right, we've got a deal.
If you increased your order, we could Good, I think we've covered everything.
offer you a much higher discount. OK, how about dinner tonight?
That might be OK if you can guarantee
delivery by then.
