Useful Phrases For Doing Business In English
When it comes to English for business youll find there are a number of expressions that you probably wont encounter in casual speech. Here are five expressions that you might hear if you are going to a business meeting or you are in a business situation.
1. Manage expectations
To manage expectations means to ensure that the client has realistic expectations. For example, a company may take an order to deliver a certain amount of products. The client, who does not know how long it takes to manufacture and prepare a product might expect in a week. When you manage their expectations you make sure they know exactly how long it will take and what to expect. In this way, the client is not disappointed, and you are not under increased pressure from an unhappy client.
Example: We need to manage their expectations so they know they will not get delivery of the product before April.
Anyone who has to deal directly with clients will need to know how to manage expectations.
2. At the 11th hour
If you do something, or deliver something at the 11th hour then you are doing it at the last minute. If you had two weeks to write a report but you leave it until the last minute, you are doing it at the 11th hour.
Example: Jane always delivers her reports at the 11th hour. One day she will miss the deadline if she is not careful.
A company might finish a project at the 11th hour, or an individual can finish a task at the 11th hour.
3. The lion’s share
The lions share is the largest share. If you are talking about a competitor and the fact that they have the lions share of the market, then they have most of the business.
Example: Martins have the lions share of the market as they make 80 percent of the sales. We need to increase our efforts to increase our market share.
This is phrase is generally used when referring to companies or organisations.
4. Dot your i’s and cross your t’s
If you are told to dot your is and cross you ts you are being told to make sure you get all the details right. You have to check and recheck your information to make sure that the end result is perfect.
Example: This project could bring in 2 million dollars in sales so make sure you dot your is and cross your ts. We need to make sure everything goes smoothly.
A manager or director will use this expression to ensure employees and other colleagues are careful when preparing the project.
5. Get your foot in the door
To get your foot in the door means to get an introduction to someone or something. You can get your foot in the door of a company by getting an introduction to the director or by selling a small amount of product to a company. If you do well and make a good impression, you can go on to increase your involvement with the client or the company.
Example: Make sure they agree to trial our latest products so that you can get your foot in the door. If they like it we can introduce the rest of our product line to them.
Both individuals and businesses can get their foot in the door.
Sales Sells The First One, Service Sells The Rest
No business is just a buy-and-sell business in todays competition driven world. Customer service and superior after-sales have emerged as the two critical success-oriented techniques and the core drivers of competitive advantage.
Excellent after sales support can help improve customer retention, streamline service process, maximize efficiency and reduce overhead costs. But there are still a lot to it- customers of a business can be new ones, or current ones returning to buy more. The significance of good customer service can be seen in the fact that it costs 5 times as much to win a new customer than it is to retain the current one. This particularly goes well with short-term growth as the cost of acquiring new customers is typically much greater than the cost of retaining existing ones. With excellent after sales the repeat business is generally much cheaper for the company as their sales process is usually less intense. This is how the dictum goes Sales sells the first one, Service sells the rest. Let us understand this better with the help of an example. A mobile phone manufacturer may be a market leader, but if it has poor customer service, the customers may switch to its rivals. To stay ahead of the competition, he has to provide exceedingly good after-sales support that could bring back the customers- repeat customers we say them.
This repeat business can become much cheaper for the mobile manufacturer as its sales process would now be less intense and become more of an “order” taker effort. In contrast, poor after sales support could have made the sales process much more intensive. This would have required the sales function to overcome that poor after-sales support with more sales techniques like demos, sales calls, presentations, etc., which inculcate a higher cost.
On the flip side, happy servicing brings in loyal customers, and loyal customers are free advertising as they will not only tell others of the great service they have received, but also come back to buy again.
Why Companies are Unable to Provide Quality After-Sales Support
Many companies are unable to provide the high degree of after-sales support because they consider customer service as a cost and investment, and not a profit center. It does not make good sense as spending few bucks for keeping your customers happy would not only make them your regular customers, but would also act as revenue stream for you. Effective customer management with the help of Service Management Software and other service automation tools can actually be bundled into the original sales offer.
There can never be more opportunity to invest in sales and foster valuable connections by delivering excellent customer service and support.
[Top]Direct Sales Is One Of The Best Ways To Make Big Money
There are many ways to make big money on the Internet. I personally have found direct sales to be one of the best ways to make money online and make alot of it. Why do I say that?
1. Higher commissions. Companies are willing to compensate you for your efforts at a higher commission rate than you can make in other ways.
For example, Primo Vacations is a big ticket direct sale opportunity. You earn $500 on every $697 sale you make. This works out to over a %70 commission rate.
Some companies will cut checks directly to you. In the Primo Vacations example you are your own business owner and the money is paid directly to you on a completed sale.
There are examples of high commission rates in other business models such as affiliate marketing. In many ways selling other people’s products as an affiliate marketer is a direct sales approach.
ClickBank is an example of an affiliate program where you can earn up to 75% commissions selling ebooks. The downside to this is these are not really big ticket items, so you have to make more sales to really make big money.
2. You are in control. People who want to have control over their income love direct sales opportunities.
When you go to work your boss tells you how much are going to make. Generally every Friday you get a paycheck and you know exactly what it is going to be.
In direct sales the more you sell the more you are going to earn. For people who are self-motivated this is an excellent way to make a lot of money.
Unlike other business models such as network marketing, you are not relying on a downline to earn you money. This is why so many people fail in network marketing.
Unless you are in an MLM program that offers products that pay a high commission, many times people never make enough money to justify staying in business. Therefore they quit.
3. Easy to focus. This is one of my favorite things about direct sales.
Your focus is strictly on selling your product. You may need to do marketing on the Internet to drive traffic to your website.
You might need to follow up with people via phone or email to answer questions. However, your focus is on generating leads and selling your product.
You are not worried about blogging every day. You are not worried about adding new web pages. If you can get focused on selling direct sales is the way to go.
There is no doubt the direct sales is one of the best ways to make big money if you promote the right product. Look for big ticket items that will pay you commissions of $500 or more and you can make a lot of money.
[Top]Different Types Of Wine Brand
Many wine collectors and buyers look at the brand of wines. They are particular on the brand of wines when they buy them for their collections. For most brands of wine, you may notice the labels and packages to be presentable and attractive for the buyers. Most wineries have the advantage of applying creativity on their packaging, labeling, and bottle designs.
Popular wine brands like Robert Mondavi, Barefoot, Mariposa, Kendall-Jackson, Chteau Ste Michelle and other top wine brands know the importance of their labeling. They know it can provide the success or failure of the wine.
If you have visited wine shops, you may see their displays from the lifeless approach to the most colorful and flamboyant designs of the bottles. Countries like the United States and Canada apply this kind of approach in labeling wine brands.
However, it is very important for most wineries and wine shops to sell and produce quality fine wines. If you’re just starting out on learning wines, you may find yourself confused with those intimidating labels and bottle designs. Here are some tips on how to choose the right brand, labels, and types of wines you want to purchase.
1.Try to find the wine shops that have trained and experienced staff that will help and guide customers on what brand they want to buy.
2.Find good recommendations in the newspapers and on the Internet where you can find online wine experts.
3.Purchase fine wine in stores that are known in taking proper care on their inventories. They should have accessories and cooling systems that can sustain the needed temperature and shielding of the bottles from sunlight and humidity swings. Don’t buy from shops that don’t take proper care of their wines.
4.Before going to the wine shop, make sure that you have a list of the wine brands that are widely known by wine experts and collectors. Some wine shops offer wine tasting to ensure customers that they buying quality fine wine.
5.If you are already sure of the brand of wine you would like to buy, consider buying by bulk and by cases of 12. You may be offered discounts when you get more than two bottles.
Top brands of wines are produced and exported all over the world. The recognition of good quality of popular wine brands show the increase of sales and expansion in the market. In fact, wine sales in the United States have immensely expanded from 40 million cases of wine to 60 million cases sold in 2005.
[Top]POS system and its advantages and disadvantages
If you are considering starting a business – whether it be a small or big one – you may consider about getting a point of sale system or POS system for you to use.
What is a point of sale system anyway?
Well, apparently to make things easier and for you to not get too worked up in your business, systems have been devised and invented to do so. There are different kinds of point of sale systems that exists nowadays; it is pretty much useful when it comes to terms of inventory while some point of sale systems are useful when it comes to terms of salary.
As amazing as point of sale systems sounds and before you go rush to the store that sells one – you should at least consider a few things first before doing anything; like knowing the different advantages and disadvantages for example:
Advantages
The main or primary advantage of getting a point of sale system would be the fact that everything will surely be smooth and not to mention organized when it comes to your business.
There are systems of POS that can be used for inventory and you can be assured that everything from your stocks that have huge value or low value will surely be listed. Also, you won’t have a problem with salary or what is due to your employees, since POS systems have a version or kind of system that is dedicated to make things easier for you – the employer – in terms of payment.
Disadvantages
On the other hand, when it comes to disadvantages – the only thing that business owners can say about POS systems is that it needs to be maintained from time to time and not to mention updated, for that matter.
To add, the one who should operate the point of sale system should be one that has been trained to do so – imagine what would happen to it in the hands of someone who does not know what to do much less know what he is doing?
There are quite a lot of companies that offer point of sale systems – like the Fedelta Point of Sale systems for example. Why don’t you check out their website – fedeltapos.com – and weigh the advantages and disadvantages in getting a point of sale system for your business! I just hope whatever the decision is, it could greatly improve your business as a whole. Even more you will not regret about it.
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