You're listening to Business English Pod, the Business English podcast for professionals on the move.
Hello, and welcome back to Business English Pod.
My name's Edwin, and I'll be your host for today's lesson on English collocations related to sales.
Sales is at the heart of any business.
Without the hard work of salespeople, who move prospects down the funnel, turning interest into sales, no business would even exist.
But the game of sales is constantly changing.
Good salespeople and good companies learn to adapt to changes in the marketplace, in consumer preferences and in the competition.
In this lesson, we'll listen in on a sales team meeting in a pharmaceutical company.
The team is discussing past performance and future strategy.
During their discussion, they use many expressions that we call collocations.
A collocation is just a natural combination of words that native speakers learn as one expression.
For example, the first collocation you'll hear is sales volume, which refers to the number of units sold in a given period of time.
Native English speakers use collocations like this automatically, and people in a certain field of work share an understanding of these special expressions specific to their area.
By studying these collocations in different fields, you'll improve your vocabulary and sound more fluent.
As you listen to the dialogue, try to pick out some of these collocations and we'll discuss them later in the debrief.
In the dialogue, we'll hear Fran, Gus, and Nick.
Fran is a sales manager and she's just finished talking about the past year's sales results.
Now she wants to talk about reasons for their disappointing results and strategies for improving them.
The three colleagues use many sales-related English collocations and vocabulary specific to the pharmaceutical industry.
As you listen to the dialogue, try to answer the following questions.
1.
What is the group hoping to increase or improve by discussing sales performance and strategy?
2.
What does Fran believe is the reason for a reasonably good third quarter?
3.
What if better sales analytics help the company understand?
So that wraps up our look at sales volume on key accounts this year.
Unless there's any questions?
No, seems pretty clear.
Good, because I know we've gone over a lot of info and it's not really the greatest news overall, I realize.
So now for the important question.
What are we going to do about it?
You mean strategies for growing sales, yeah?
Well, we've made a lot of strategic changes already.
True enough, but even though marketing has been doing some really great work, when we look at most of our account portfolios, we don't see a ton of improvement.
Not yet, but I'm optimistic.
We've got better sales analytics, and that's been a huge boon on several fronts.
Yeah, great data, but it hasn't really translated into anything yet.
Did we have even one quarter when all of us actually met our quota?
No, we didn't.
What about Q3?
I beat my targets and I thought everyone else fared pretty well.
Still, not exactly much to celebrate there.
I guess we could chalk it up to seasonal fluctuations.
But on the whole, we're really not where we want to be.
If these strategies you mentioned aren't working, Nick, then why not?
Let's see if we can identify some of the roadblocks.
All right.
Well, we've got better sales analytics, as you said, Nick.
And that has helped us develop a better understanding of customer buying habits.
And that's certainly a good thing.
Right.
But I'm not sure we have up-to-date competitive intelligence.
We're getting beaten to the punch on new leads.
The landscape has changed, drastically.
And I don't just mean Obamacare.
That's old news.
You mean restricted physician access?
Yes.
And the total office call only goes so far in overcoming that.
We can't just throw a few free samples around anymore.
True.
Things have changed.
Trust is harder to build.
And I think you're right, Gus.
It seems like some of the other guys have dealt with that and they're satisfying customer needs despite the chill in the industry.
Okay, so is this really about what the other guys are doing or what we could be doing better?
Now let's go through the dialogue again and look at the language and collocations used during the meeting.
So that wraps up our look at sales volume on key accounts this year, unless there's any questions?
Fran is talking about sales volume which, as we learned in the introduction, refers to the number of units sold in a given period of time.
Volume is expressed in numbers, and therefore we often talk about it increasing, decreasing or staying the same.
Let's practice some more examples of this collocation, sales volume.
With so much competition, it's not surprising our sales volume is down.
Our approach is to offer low prices to build sales volume quickly.
Now their discussion hasn't been about sales volume overall, but rather sales volume on their key accounts.
In sales, an account is a customer, often a repeat customer.
A key account is one of several of a company's most important customers.
Key accounts are often treated differently or separately from other customers, since they bring in a lot of revenue.
Managing a key account isn't just about making product sales, but about collaborating strategically.
What are some other ways we can use key account?
Let's try a couple more examples.
Despite a drop in new customers, our key accounts have performed well.
I look after our key accounts in the automotive sector.
Now back to the dialogue, as Fran introduces the important question she wants to answer in the meeting.
No, seems pretty clear.
Good, because I know we've gone over a lot of info and it's not really the greatest news overall, I realize.
So now for the important question.
What are we going to do about it?
You mean strategies for growing sales, yeah?
Well, we've made a lot of strategic changes already.
We've learned that the news about sales volume on their key accounts is not the greatest.
In other words, they haven't been selling as much as they want to.
So Fran wants to know what they're going to do differently.
As Nick says, they need strategies for growing sales.
As you can probably guess, growing sales means increasing sales.
We often use this expression when we are talking about strategies or deliberate attempts to increase sales.
Think about growing plants or vegetables.
It takes a lot of care and planning.
Let's run through some more ways of using the collocation to grow sales.
I'm sure that increasing our advertising budget will help grow sales.
Since we started our online store, we've been able to grow sales by 30% a year.
Nick mentioned that they have already made some strategic changes.
Let's hear what Gus thinks about the situation.
True enough, but even though marketing has been doing some really great work, when we look at most of our account portfolios, we don't see a ton of improvement.
Gus is concerned that the strategic changes they've made haven't improved their account portfolios.
We've learned what a sales account is.
Well, all of a salesperson's accounts together are called the portfolio.
It's just a group of related pieces of work.
A salesperson's account portfolio includes all of the customers or accounts they deal with.
Your portfolio can grow, shrink, or change as you develop new customers and lose old ones.
Let's practice some other ways of using account portfolio with a couple of examples.
Let's start Juan out with a small account portfolio and see how he does.
Just this month, I've added two new customers to my account portfolio.
Nick feels a bit more positive than Gus does.
Let's listen.
Not yet, but I'm optimistic.
We've got better sales analytics and that's been a huge boon on several fronts.
Nick says that he's optimistic or feeling confident about the future.
The reasoning he gives is that they have benefited a lot from better sales analytics.
The word analytics comes from the verb to analyze, which means to examine something in great detail to understand it better.
Analytics is software that analyzes complex data.
In the digital age.
Many companies rely on sophisticated sales analytics to understand their performance, make predictions and develop strategies.
Let's try some more examples of sales analytics.
To understand our customers, we need to take a good look at the sales analytics.
With improved sales analytics, we can forecast revenue more accurately.
Does Gus agree with Nick about the benefits of their improved sales analytics?
Yeah, great data, but it hasn't really translated into anything yet.
Did we have even one quarter when all of us actually met our quota?
Gus agrees they have good data, but this hasn't resulted in improved sales.
As he explains it, the data hasn't translated into any changes in sales.
In fact, Gus questions whether they even have one quarter where everyone met their quota.
A quota is the amount that a salesperson is required to sell in a given time period, often a month or a quarter.
It's like an expected target.
If you reach that target, we say that you meet your quota.
How else can we use the collocation to meet a quota?
Let's run through some more examples.
I just need to sell another $10,000 and I'll meet this month's quota.
I'm confident we can meet our quota if we push hard this week.
So, was there a quarter when everyone met their quotas?
No, we didn't.
What about Q3?
I beat my targets and I thought everyone else fared pretty well.
Nick believes that the third quarter, or Q3 as he calls it, was a good one, explaining that he beat his targets.
While meeting a quota means reaching the target, if you beat a target, then you go beyond the goal.
Now here's the interesting thing about collocations.
Not all words combine naturally, even when the meanings are related.
For example, although we say beat a target, we don't normally say beat a quota.
But we can say that you meet a target.
This is just a reminder that you can't just create new collocations.
Rather, they are established by what native speakers say or don't say.
So what other ways can we use the expression to beat targets?
Let's practice with some more examples.
No wonder Tony won the sales award.
He's beat his targets for 18 straight months.
I like a challenge, but it's going to be tough to beat these targets.
Nick was pretty upbeat about the third quarter.
What does Fran think?
Still, not exactly much to celebrate there.
I guess we could chalk it up to seasonal fluctuations.
Fran doesn't share Nick's excitement about the third quarter.
In fact, she thinks they could chalk it up to or blame it on seasonal fluctuations, which affects a lot of companies' sales.
If something fluctuates, it goes up and down, often naturally or according to a pattern.
If it fluctuates seasonally, then it goes up and down depending on the season or time of year.
For example, many retail companies see an increase in sales in the holiday season at the end of the year.
That's a seasonal fluctuation.
Let's try some more ways of talking about seasonal fluctuations in sales.
Busy summers are just part of the seasonal fluctuation in the real estate market.
It looks like a bad month, but that's because of seasonal fluctuation.
Overall, it's been a good year.
Now let's hear Fran continue in her assessment of the situation.
But on the whole, we're really not where we want to be.
If these strategies you mentioned aren't working, Nick, then why not?
Let's see if we can identify some of the roadblocks.
It's not enough just to realize that they're not reaching their targets or their strategies aren't working.
They need to know why.
And an important part of that is identifying roadblocks.
A roadblock is any obstacle or challenge that stops you from reaching something, just like when the police block the vehicles on a road for some reason.
But for businesses, a roadblock might be something like a bad economy or tough competition.
When you figure out what these roadblocks are, we say you identify the roadblocks, which is what Fran wants the group to do.
What are some other ways of using the collocation to identify roadblocks?
Let's practice a few more examples.
A good manager works with her staff to identify roadblocks and overcome them.
We've identified high leasing costs as a roadblock to relocating downtown.
Now let's hear Gus introduce what he thinks are the roadblocks they face.
All right.
Well, we've got better sales analytics, as you said Nick, and that has helped us develop a better understanding of customer buying habits.
Before discussing the roadblocks, Gus wants to acknowledge the benefits of the sales analytics that Nick mentioned.
What that data has done for the company is given them good information on customer buying habits.
Buying habits are the behaviors of consumers.
It's not just about what they buy, but also about where, when, why, and how.
For example, some people like to shop online for discount goods and others like to buy high-end products from retail outlets.
These are different buying habits.
Let's practice a few more ways of talking about customer buying habits.
We see some huge generational differences in customer buying habits.
People shop around a lot more for a car these days.
You know customer buying habits have changed.
Next, Gus identifies some of the road blocks that Fran wanted to discuss.
And that's certainly a good thing.
Right, but I'm not sure we have up-to-date competitive intelligence.
We're getting beaten to the punch on new leads.
The landscape has changed, drastically.
And I don't just mean Obamacare.
That's old news.
Gus is talking about how the landscape, or the overall industry, has changed.
And one important roadblock in this changing landscape is a lack of competitive intelligence.
In this case, intelligence isn't exactly about brains and smarts, but about detailed information and knowledge.
Competitive intelligence is information about the industry, market forces, competing companies and their products.
This kind of information helps a company make strategic sales decisions.
As Gus points out, if you don't have good competitive intelligence, then other companies might beat you to the punch.
That just means they will get potential customers or leads before your company does, because they know more.
Let's run through some more examples of competitive intelligence.
If our competitive intelligence is right, then we are about to break into the top three suppliers for Europe.
Other companies are seeing a decrease in sales according to our competitive intelligence.
What other ways has the landscape changed?
Let's listen.
You mean restricted physician access?
Yes, and the total office call only goes so far in overcoming that.
We can't just throw a few free samples around anymore.
The group is talking about some issues that are specific to the pharmaceutical industry.
Restricted physician access refers to hospitals that restrict or severely limit the ability of salespeople to pitch products to their doctors.
And the total office goal is an approach to drug sales that involves engaging everyone in a workplace, including nurses and office managers.
All in all, Fran and Gus are pointing out how sales in their industry have become more difficult because of these roadblocks.
Nick has something to add as well.
True.
Things have changed.
Trust is harder to build.
And I think you're right, Gus.
It seems like some of the other guys have dealt with that and they're satisfying customer needs despite the chill in the industry.
Okay, so is this really about what the other guys are doing or what we could be doing better?
Nick is agreeing with Gus's assessment, particularly that other companies are finding ways to continue satisfying customer needs despite these new roadblocks.
The whole point of sales is to convince a customer that your product will satisfy their needs or solve a problem.
For pharmaceutical companies.
They want to convince doctors that their drugs are a great solution to specific medical problems.
Let's try some more ways of using this collocation to satisfy customer needs.
If you want to satisfy customer needs, you need to know what motivates them.
Getting daily feedback from social media has helped us satisfy our customers' needs more accurately.
As you heard at the end, Fran doesn't just want to talk about what other companies are doing.
She wants to focus the conversation on what they can do to improve.
Now that they've identified some of the roadblocks, they can begin to strategize.
Now it's your turn to practice some of the collocations we've looked at in this lesson.
In a moment, you'll hear a series of sentences with a word replaced with a beep.
Repeat the whole sentence, including the missing word.
Remember a collocation is two or more words that we commonly use together, so pay close attention to the words before the beep.
For example, if you hear, We need to do more research on customer buying.
You can say, We need to do more research on customer buying habits.
After each response, we'll provide the correct answer.
Ready?
Let's give it a go.
Check the latest sales and tell me how last month looked.
Check the latest sales analytics and tell me how last month looked.
Looks like you've got some great customers in your account.
Looks like you've got some great customers in your account portfolio.
Being busy at Christmas is just part of the seasonal in retail.
Answer.
Being busy at Christmas is just part of the seasonal fluctuation in retail.
If you're having difficulties, then maybe I can help identify some.
If you're having difficulties, then maybe I can help identify some roadblocks.
It's only the 22nd of the month and I've already met my monthly Answer.
It's only the 22nd of the month and I've already met my monthly quota.
That's all for this lesson on collocations for talking about sales.
We've covered lots of vocabulary and collocations for talking about sales results, research and strategy.
In our next lesson we'll hear the group use more useful collocations as they discuss ways of improving sales.
Thanks for listening, and see you again soon.
