Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 103, Making a Sales Call.
This is English as a Second Language podcast, episode 103.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan from the Center for Educational Development, beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Today's podcast is about making a telephone call for a salesperson.
Let's get started.
Last week I was at a business luncheon and I met a woman named Dana Okri who was heading a new startup.
I have been a sales rep for EurekaCorp for three years now, and our bread and butter is data management software.
I told her briefly about our products over lunch, and she had given me her card.
I decided to follow up with a call.
I dialed her direct line, and fortunately, I got a hold of her on the first try.
Hello, Dana Okri.
Hello, Dana.
This is Kevin Abrams from Eureka Corp.
I don't know if you'll remember me, but we met last week at the Chamber of Commerce luncheon.
Oh, yes.
Hi, how are you?
Great.
Do you have a few minutes right now for me to tell you a little bit more about the data management tools our company has to offer?
It won't take long.
Actually, I'm really swamped right now, and I'll be going into a meeting in a few minutes.
Is there any literature you can send me?
Oh, sure, I understand.
I'd be happy to send you a promotional packet about the programs that I think might best suit a company your size.
Would it be okay if I called again to see if you have any questions?
Let's do this.
Since I'm not sure when I'll get a chance to read the material, why don't I give you a call if I have any questions?
Now, I'm really sorry, but I have to get going to this meeting.
No problem at all.
I won't keep you any longer.
I'll put a package to you in the mail and we'll go from there.
Sounds good.
Thanks for your time.
No problem.
Bye-bye.
Our story begins with a man talking about how he was at a business luncheon And he met a woman named Dana who was heading a new startup.
A business luncheon, L-U-N-C-H-E-O-N, is a formal business lunch, usually with many people.
The woman was named Dana.
In other words, her name was Dana.
And she was heading a new startup.
To be heading something means to be the boss, the person who is organizing and leading it.
A startup is two words.
It's a noun which refers to a new company.
Particularly in the internet world, we talk about startups, meaning new internet companies.
But it can also just mean any new company, a startup.
The man says he's a sales rep for Eureka Corp.
A sales rep, R-E-P, R-E-P stands here for representative.
So when someone says they're a sales rep, they mean they're a sales representative, which is just another name for a salesperson, someone who sells for a company.
He mentioned that the bread and butter of their company, his company, is data management software.
The expression, our bread and butter, mean this is where we make most of our money.
This is the most important part of our business.
So a business can have many different branches or divisions or sections, but usually there's one, what you might call core C-O-R-E, or main principal, primary business, and that's where you make your most money.
That's what the expression here means, our bread and butter.
It means that's where we earn the money to literally buy our bread and butter is the original, I'm sure, connection.
Data management software is a computer program that helps people organize information.
The woman gives the sales rep her card, meaning her business card, and the man decides to follow up their conversation with a call.
The verb follow up or to follow up is used when you talk to someone or have a conversation or an email and you agree to do something, or you have an appointment or something that you need to continue talking about.
One of the people in the conversation says may follow up.
That is, I talk to you on Monday and you say you're going to think about buying one of my products.
I call back on Friday to follow up, in other words, to check to see if you are still interested.
And you can use this expression in lots of different places.
Sometimes, for example, if you go to the doctor And the doctor says well, you're okay now, but I want you to come back in two weeks for a follow-up appointment.
Here it's used as an adjective.
This is an appointment so that I can check you again.
So that's the meaning of follow-up.
With a call, of course, means with a telephone call.
He says he dialed her direct line, and fortunately, he got hold of her on the first try.
To dial means, of course, to dial in a telephone.
To press the numbers means to dial.
The direct line in a company that has many different... people working in it.
Often times you have a general number where you call and you get a secretary or the operator and you have to ask for somebody in the company that you want to speak with.
The direct line would be the number directly to that person.
You don't have to go through the operator.
The man says he fortunately got a hold of the woman on the first try.
To get a hold of means to reach someone, to be able to, the other person answered the phone.
I got a hold of you or I'm trying to get a hold of you.
I'm trying to call you so that when you are there to pick up your phone.
The man says that he got the woman on the first try or on the first attempt.
The first time he tried he was able to reach her.
The woman answers the phone and the man says, hello, Dana, this is Kevin Abrams from Eureka Corp.
I don't know if you'll remember me, but we met last week at the luncheon at the Chamber of Commerce luncheon.
The expression.
I don't know if you'll remember me, but is what you would use when you're calling someone and you only met them once, maybe twice.
They may, in fact, not remember who you are.
So it's kind of a polite way of saying, do you remember me?
I don't know if you'll remember me, but we talked on the telephone last week.
Now, here they met at a Chamber of Commerce luncheon.
And the Chamber of Commerce is a private group of businesses that it's like an organization that businesses in a specific area usually can belong to.
So Los Angeles has a chamber of commerce.
And they have meetings and they do all sorts of things to help businesses in a particular area.
And most American cities have a chamber of commerce.
Commerce, of course, is business.
And a chamber literally is a big room where everybody sits.
But here it just means an organization, a business organization.
The man asked Dana if she has a few minutes right now.
Do you have a few minutes right now for me to tell you a little bit more?
Meaning is this a good time?
Do you have time right now to talk?
Do you have a few minutes?
The man, Kevin, says, it won't take long, meaning it won't take up a lot of your time.
I won't talk to you very long.
It won't take long.
The woman says she's really swamped right now.
To be swamped, S-W-A-M-P-E-D, means to be very busy, to be extremely busy.
I'm swamped right now.
She asked the man if he has any literature he can send her.
And here literature means information, printed information, a letter, a brochure, a catalog that he can send her.
We also use literature, of course, to mean books and usually good books, fiction books and so forth.
But here it just means in a business setting, if someone says, do you have any literature on it?
They mean, do you have anything printed, something you can give me that I can look at?
Kevin says, sure, he will send her a promotional packet.
A packet is just a collection of information, usually more than one thing in a packet, P-A-C-K-E-T.
It's kind of like a package, a packet is.
Promotional.
To promote something is like to market it, to try to give people information so that they will buy it.
The verb to promote means to advertise, to make known, to tell other people.
We'd like to promote ESL podcast.
We want other people to come and listen to us.
The adjective is promotional packet.
It's a packet of information, a set of pieces of information that are about ESL, that particular product.
Kevin says he thinks he can send her information about what might best suit a company.
To suit a company means what would be appropriate for you, what would be correct or right for you.
We use this verb in a lot of different ways.
You can say, for example, about a piece of clothing, a shirt or a pair of pants.
That doesn't suit you, meaning it's not right for you.
It's not appropriate for you.
The man then asks would it be okay if I called again?
He's asking permission.
Is it okay?
Would it be okay if I call you again?
And the woman says let's do this?
And when someone says let's do this, they're proposing, they're giving them another option, another possibility.
And here it's clear the woman wants to get off the telephone.
So she tells the salesperson what she wants to happen.
She says, let's do this.
Why don't I give you a call if I have any questions?
That expression why don't I is when you are proposing something to someone and you want them to agree to you, to your idea.
Why don't you call me tomorrow means could you please call me tomorrow.
The woman then says she's very busy and she has to get going, meaning she has to leave, she has to go to her meeting.
I have to get going.
The man says oh, I won't keep you any longer.
When someone keeps you, that means that they are preventing you from going.
You may hear someone say I don't want to keep you means I don't want to delay you, to make you stay here.
And so he says, I don't want to keep you any longer.
He will mail the package or the packet in the mail and will go from there.
The expression will go from there means I'll send you the package, you look at it and then we'll see what happens.
So it's a general expression to mean we will continue on in this conversation or this relationship, whatever it is, after you receive, in this case, the package or some other event happens.
The woman says, sounds good, meaning, okay, I agree.
That sounds good means that's something I agree with.
And the man, Kevin, thanks her for her time, and she says, no problem.
And remember, when somebody thanks you in English it's more common informally for people instead of to say you're welcome, many people say oh, no problem, meaning it did not cause me any problem, it's okay.
Now let's listen to the dialogue this time at a native rate of speech.
Last week I was at a business luncheon and I met a woman named Dana Oakry who was heading up a new startup.
I have been a sales rep for EurekaCorp for three years now, and our bread and butter is data management software.
I told her briefly about our products over lunch and she had given me her card.
I decided to follow up with a call.
I dialed her direct line and fortunately I got a hold of her on the first try.
Hello, Dana Okri.
Hello, Dana.
This is Kevin Abrams from EurekaCorp.
I don't know if you'll remember me, but we met last week at the Chamber of Commerce luncheon.
Oh, yes.
Hi.
How are you?
Great.
Do you have a few minutes right now for me to tell you a little bit more about the data management tools our company has to offer?
It won't take long.
Actually, I'm really swamped right now, and I'll be going into a meeting in a few minutes.
Is there any literature you can send me?
Oh, sure.
I understand.
I'd be happy to send you a promotional packet about the programs that I think might best suit a company your size.
Would it be okay if I called again to see if you have any questions?
Let's do this.
Since I'm not sure when I'll get a chance to read the material, why don't I give you a call if I have any questions?
Now, I'm really sorry, but I have to get going to this meeting.
No problem at all.
I won't keep you any longer.
I'll put a package to you in the mail and we'll go from there.
Sounds good.
Thanks for your time.
No problem.
Bye-bye.
That's all we have time for from Los Angeles, California.
I'm Jeff McQuillan.
We'll see you next time on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
This podcast is copyright 2006.
